LAST weekend provided a feast of top-class international racing including the Group 1 Ladbrokes St Leger Stakes at Doncaster.

For a few minutes it looked like a bit of history had been made, the first filly to win the event since User Friendly in 1992, but she and the runner-up had bumped a couple of times and, after a stewards’ inquiry, the placings were reversed.

Connections of Simple Verse have lodged an appeal so at the time of writing Bondi Beach has a classic victory to his name.

Had it been the filly’s name on the roll of honour then she would have completed a remarkable treble of Group 1 classics for her now Drakenstein Stud-based sire Duke Of Marmalade (by Danehill).

An apparent disappointment whose stud record was short of what might have been hoped of such a regally-related and top-class performer, his current crop of three-year-olds also includes the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) heroine Star Of Seville and the Group 1 Deutsches Derby scorer Nutan.

Instead, the current result of Saturday’s classic forms part of a sequence for another stallion as it was the first of four Group/Grade 1 winners last weekend for Coolmore Stud’s colossus Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells).

On Sunday his juvenile daughter Minding won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, Order Of St George ran away with the Group 1 Palmerstown House Estate Irish St Leger, and then Mondialiste took the Grade 1 Ricoh Woodbine Mile Stakes in Canada.

Bondi Beach was unraced at two. He was a short-head debut winner over 12 furlongs on heavy ground at Leopardstown in May and was a half-length runner-up to Radanpour in a listed contest over the same course and distance a few weeks later, that time on fast ground.

He short-headed Order Of St George in the Group 3 Curragh Cup in late June, and then, in an odd coincidence given what happened last week, he was carried across the track in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at York but with the half-length winner Storm The Stars keeping the race following an inquiry.

STAYERS’ DIVISION

Bondi Beach holds an entry in next month’s Group 2 Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup, and should he move into the stayers’ division, rather than return to middle-distances, then it would be an interesting choice from a pedigree perspective.

We know that some of the Galileos stay well, but this colt is out of an unraced mare called One Moment In Time (by Danehill) and she is a full-sister to the Group 1-winning miler Simply Perfect.

That star is the dam of the 10-furlong Group 3 scorer Mekong River (by Galileo), who has been well-beaten when trying further, and her own distance preference was in keeping with what one would expect of a horse with her pedigree, as her dam is the Group 1-placed miler Hotelgenie Dot Com (by Selkirk).

That mare is a half-sister to two broodmares of particular note, one of whom was also a leading two-year-old on the track.

Bianca Nera (by Salse) won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Group 2 Lowther Stakes in 1996, and in July her grandson Postponed (by Dubawi) won the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

He added to his tally in the Group 2 Qatar Prix Foy at Longchamp on Sunday, his previous record includes victory in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at York and he is a potential Arc candidate.

Postponed is out of Ever Rigg (by Dubai Destination), whose half-sisters Bite Of The Cherry (by Dalakhani) and Pietra Dura (by Cadeaux Genereux) were stakes-placed at 14 furlongs and nine and a half furlongs respectively, and the latter is the dam of the Grade 1-placed US Grade 3 scorer Turning Top (by Pivotal), a filly who is effective from eight to 10 furlongs.

Bianca Nera’s daughters also include Bijou A Moi (by Rainbow Quest) and she is the unraced dam of the 10-furlong Group 3 Winter Derby scorer Robin Hoods Bay (by Motivator).

The other notable sibling of Hotelgenie Dot Com and Bianca Nera is Crackling, and as she is by the Blakeney (by Hethersett) horse Electric she is the family member that you might have expected to stay 12 furlongs and further.

She did win over 12, and she was placed over two miles, but was only rated 36 after both those efforts, a world apart from the level at which so many of her relatives have performed.

What stands out about her, however, is that while most such lowly rated fillies amount to nothing of note at stud, if they even get the chance, the talent so evident in her relatives has also emerged through some of her descendants.

Her daughter Ronaldsay (by Kirkwall) won the Listed Warwickshire Oaks and is, in turn, the dam of the classic-placed seven-furlong Group 3 scorer and young Irish National Stud stallion Gale Force Ten (by Oasis Dream).

Crackling is also the grandam of the dual US mile Grade 3 winner Pickle (by Piccolo), a prolific filly who became the dam of the speedy multiple blacktype scorer Gusto (by Oasis Dream).

This is a family that has become established as a source of talented to top-class winners in the broad six to 12 furlongs range, which makes Bondi Beach’s emergence as a St Leger horse interesting.

His third dam, Birch Creek (by Carwhite), was Group 3-placed in Italy, and although a half-sister to the 14-furlong listed handicap scorer Busaco (by Bustino), her siblings also included Great Deeds (by Forzando), a Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes winner who was runner-up in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes.

Bondi Beach’s full-brother Bazaar won easily over 10 furlongs at Navan last year before being runner-up in a 12-furlong premier handicap at Naas, and Unicorn, whose entries include the Group 1 Dubai Dewhurst Stakes and Group 1 Racing Post Trophy, was an odds-on winner over a mile at Leopardstown five weeks ago.

He is bred to excel at around 10-12 furlongs, and should he have inherited the speedier influences of his dam’s family, a mile would not have been ruled out.

Now that we have seen him in action five times it is evident that such pace was not transmitted to him, and his more recent performances make a step up to two miles seem plausible, even if his pedigree hints at a potential limit to his stamina.