BRED in Ireland by the Botti family’s Razza Del Velino, Sea Of Class sold as a yearling through Old Buckenham Stud at Tattersalls for 170,000gns. A daughter of Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), she was bought by McKeever Bloodstock on behalf of Sunderland Holding Inc, the racing and breeding name of the Tsui family.

Runner-up on her racing debut at Newmarket in mid-April, Sea Of Class was immediately thrown in at the deep end by trainer William Haggas when sent to Newbury for the Listed Haras de Bouquetot Fillies’ Trial Stakes over 10 furlongs. She duly obliged and the immediate belief was that she would contest the Oaks next week. That plan now appears to be firmly shelved, but she is an improving filly and her next outing will be eagerly anticipated.

Her victory had another significance as it means she is the ninth foal, ninth runner and ninth winner for her stakes-winning dam Holy Moon, and each are by a different sire. Holy Moon, a daughter of Hernando (Niniski), won five times in Italy, her most significant victory coming at three in the Listed Premio EBF Terme di Merano over 11 furlongs. Stretched to a mile and a half she was runner-up in the Listed Premio Giovanni Falck at Milan.

Holy Moon was bred by Stall E O S, a Norwegian entity, and sold as a yearling at Goffs to Alessandro Botti. She was raced by his father Giuseppe and uncle Alduino under their racing title of Dioscuri SRL and was trained by Alduino.

Five of her winners, most recently Sea Of Class herself, are stakes winners. The other four include no less than three successive winners of the Group 2 Oaks d’Italia – something of a racing and breeding record surely.

Cherry Collect (Oratorio) started that sequence in 2012, the year she also captured the Group 3 Premio Regina Elena (1000 Guineas). She narrowly failed to land the Group 1 Premio Lydia Tesio, a race that her two classic winning siblings did win. Cherry Collect is a broodmare in Japan where her first foal is a now three-year-old daughter of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence).

Cherry Collect was bought as a yearling by Milanese insurance broker Felice Villa at Italy’s SGA Yearling Sale for €65,000. She raced under the banner of Villa’s Scuderia Effevi. For €70,000 Villa also acquired Charity Line (Manduro) and she became a Group 1 winner at three. Both she and Cherry Collect were sold on a broodmares to different branches of the Yoshida family, no doubt at a substantial profit!

The next filly in the sequence was Final Score (Dylan Thomas) and she was bought privately by Villa. Like Cherry Collect, she was rated the champion three-year-old filly of her generation in Italy, an accolade that evaded Charity Line.

Holy Moon’s other stakes winner is Wordless (Rock Of Gibraltar) and she won a pair of listed races as a four-year-old. The fillies out of Holy Moon have been appreciably better than her colts, though Back On Board (Nathaniel) was runner-up last year in the Group 2 Italian Derby.

The 10th foal out of Holy Moon is a yearling son of Oasis Dream (Green Desert).

By some way Holy Moon is the best of the eight winning offspring of Centinela (Caerleon) who failed to even be placed on the track. She was the only one of her dam New Generation’s offspring to see a racecourse and fail to win. Next Generation (Young Generation) won three times and her six winners were headed by the Group 1 Oaks d’Italia winner Bright Generation (Rainbow Quest).

Bright Generation was also runner-up in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at two and she was Grade 2 placed in the USA. She is the grandam of the champion French juvenile of 2011 and now a leading young sire, Dabirsim (Hat Trick).

Sea Of Class is the 47th stakes winner for Sea The Stars, all coming from his first five crops of racing age. No less than 25 of these are group/graded winners and eight of them won at Group 1 level.

The Gilltown Stud resident stands alongside his dual Derby winning son Harzand, while his other winners at the highest level are Cloth Of Gold, his leading money earner with €2.3 million, Taghrooda, Stradivarius, Sea The Moon, Zelzal, Mekhtaal and Vazira.