RACING in South America does not feature very often in this column, but a recent Group 1 winner there caught my attention on a number of fronts.

Sixties Song travelled from his native Argentina, where he won the Group 1 Grand Premio Carlos Pellegrini late last year, to Chile and added the Group 1 Longines Gran Premio Latinoamericano to his curriculum vitae. With a pair of back-to-back Group 1 wins, four victories in all from seven starts as a three-year-old and a pair of runner-up finishes, he is considered by some as the leader of his generation in the region.

He is a son of Sixties Icon, the Norman Court Stud stallion who has shuttled to Argentina, and Sixties Song is his standout winner. The sire is also responsible for the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes winner Nancy From Nairobi, the Group 3 Italian winner Chilworth Icon, last year’s Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes winner Epsom Icon, as well as the French and English stakes winners Cruck Realta, Czabo and Audacia.

Sixties Song did not run at two, a path also followed by his sire who was trained by Jeremy Noseda. Sixties Icon did end his three-year-old season as the leading stayer of his generation in Europe after beating The Last Drop and Red Rocks in the Group 1 St Leger at Doncaster. This was in addition to landing the Group 3 Gordon Stakes.

At four he had a curtailed season, restricted to three starts, but won the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes over a mile and a half. Kept in training at five he won half of his eight starts and they were made up of three Group 3 races and a listed race.

A son of Galileo and the Oaks winner Love Divine, it was inevitable that he would find a place at stud.

What was somewhat unexpected, given his racing and pedigree profile, was that he would make such an explosive start at stud, nearly half of his approximately 20 winners in his first crop winning and placing him among the leading sires in 2012.

From relatively small initial crops he has maintained a strong 50% strike rate with his runners, and he could build on his list of stakes and group winners as the progeny of his better mares come on stream.

The dam side of Sixties Song is also very interesting and it is a female line very familiar to breeders in this part of the world. His third dam North Of Eden was trained by Dermot Weld and was placed on at least five occasions for him as a three-year-old. A daughter of Northfields, she was a half-sister to the Group 2 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial Stakes winner Theatrical (by Nureyev) who went on to become the champion grass horse in America, his five Grade 1 successes thereincluding the Breeders’ Cup Turf. He has become a noted broodmare sire.

Lack of a win on the racecourse did not hinder North Of Eden as a broodmare and four of her 10 winning offspring were stakes winners. Three of that quartet won at Grade 1 level, and she only narrowly missed out on joining the select group of eight mares who have produced four or more Group or Grade 1 winners.

The three winners at the highest level from North Of Eden are Paradise Creek (by Irish River), Forbidden Apple (by Pleasant Colony) and Wild Event (by Wild Again).

Paradise Creek joined his uncle Theatrical and was champion grass horse in the USA. His 14 wins included the Grade 1 Arlington Million, the Washington D.C International, the Hollywood Derby and the Manhattan Stakes, the latter in a course record time.

As if breeding three Grade 1 winners was not honour enough, two of North Of Eden’s daughters went on to produce winners at that level. Eden’s Causeway, a daughter of Giant’s Causeway, is the dam of Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes winner Eden’s Moon (by Malibu Moon), while Paradise River, by Theatrical’s sire Irish River, bred the Pleasant Tap colt David Junior who won the Eclipse Stakes and Champion Stakes in England and the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free in the UAE.

All of this is impressive but the Group/Grade 1 glory does not end there. North Of Eden’s Relaunch daughter Celestial Bliss was trained by Michael Kauntze and she raced twice. Having finished mid-division on her debut at Navan, she then finished last at the Curragh and was retired from racing. She bred five minor winners at stud, but her star has ascended again thanks to the progeny of a pair of her daughters.

The Forestry mare Celestial Woods won three times in the USA but she is excelling as a broodmare, three of her sons becoming stakes winners. All three are by Kitten’s Joy and they include current Grade 2 winner Camelot Kitten. However, the most notable of the trio is Bobby’s Kitten who was a listed winner last year for Dermot Weld but previously was a Grade 1 winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf. He starts his first year at stud in Lanwades at Newmarket this year.

The other daughter of Celestial Bliss worth highlighting is Blissful Song. This daughter of Unbridled’s Song took until she was four and five years of age to win in the USA, but her first three runners are winners and include Sixties Song and the high-class Candy Ride mare Celestial Candy. The latter has won 11 of her 18 starts, four of these victories coming in group races.