HIGH-CLASS STARS SHINES AGAIN
Cloth Of Stars overcame an eight-month absence from the track to justify favouritism in the Group 3 Prix Exbury over 10 furlongs at Saint-Cloud on Sunday, the first turf pattern event of 2017.
A Group 1-placed Group 3 winner at the age of two, he ran just four times at three, starting off with wins in the Group 3 Prix La Force and Group 2 Prix Greffulhe. He was unplaced behind Harzand at Epsom but bounced back to finished third to Mont Ormel in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris.
Godolphin's colt is a 400,000gns graduate of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, he is a son of Gilltown Stud's outstanding young sire and Timeform 140-rated champion Sea The Stars (by Cape Cross), and he comes from a top distaff line.
He is the third foal out of Strawberry Fledge (by Kingmambo) and that mare is an unraced full-sister to Group 1 Oaks heroine Light Shift, dam of last year's Group 3 Gordon Stakes winner and Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf fourth Ulysses (by Galileo).
The mare is also a half-sister to Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Shiva (by Hector Protector), to dual Group 2 scorer Limnos (by Hector Protector), and to Burning Sunset (by Caerleon), the stakes-winning grandam of Derby runner-up, US champion and four-time Grade 1 star Main Sequence (by Aldebaran).
Lingerie (by Shirley Heights), the grandam of Cloth Of Stars, is out of champion three-year-old filly Northern Trick (by Northern Dancer), who won the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) and Group 1 Prix Vermeille in 1984 and chased home Sagace in the Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Cloth Of Stars, who is trained by Andre Fabre, is bred to achieve anything on the track and it would be no surprise to see him go on to success at the highest level before going on to a stallion career.
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LISTED DOUBLE FOR DARK ANGEL
Yeomanstown Stud's Group 1 winner and excellent stallion Dark Angel (by Acclamation) notched up a listed race double at Saint-Cloud on Sunday, providing the winners of both early-season classic trials.
Markazi, who was short-headed in a mile listed contest on the all-weather track at Cagnes-sur-Mer last month, won the Listed Prix Omnium II by two and a half lengths, taking his record to two wins from four starts.
The Aga Khan-homebred is trained by Jean-Claude Rouget, he is a half-brother to several winners, and he is out of Marasima (by Barathea), a half-sister to the useful dual-purpose horse Maralan (by Priolo).
Then the Richard Fahey-trained Melesina won the Listed Prix la Camargo, also over a mile.
She was bred by Duggan Bloodstock, she won the Group 3 Prix des Reservoirs over the same trip last year, and finished a staying-on fourth in the Group 3 UAE Oaks over nine and a half furlongs at Meydan last month.
Like Markazi, she clearly gets her speed from her sire and the amount of stamina in the distaff side of her family surpasses that found in the colt's pedigree.
She is out of Lastroseofsummer (by Haafhd), who won at up to two miles, one furlong on the flat and at up to two miles, three and a half furlongs over hurdles. The mare is a half-sister to the talented stayer Romantic Affair (by Persian Bold) and the notable horses that you can find farther back on the page include Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden winner and 1980's Group 1 Derby fourth Pelerin (by Sir Gaylord), and also the notably speedy Gwen (by Abernant) who chased home Pourparler in the 1000 Guineas of 1964.
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A TOI PHIL REPRESENTS SADLER'S WELLS LINE
The all-conquering Sadler's Wells (by Northern Dancer) sire line was responsible for a dozen winners at the recent Cheltenham Festival and its recent big-race tally was increased again when A Toi Phil justified favouritism in the Grade 2 Webster Cup Chase at Navan on Sunday.
The Gordon Elliott-trained seven-year-old had previously won at that same level over fences and over hurdles, he took the Grade A Coral.ie Leopardstown Handicap Chase in January, and his overall record now stands at six wins from 13 starts on National Hunt rules.
Gigginstown House Stud's gelding was bred, in France, by Dr Philippe Legault, he is out of an AQPS (autre que pur sang) mare who was unplaced on the flat, and she, Lucidrile (by Beyssac), is a full-sister to the Grade 2-placed Joly Bey and also to Key Phil, both of those geldings being prolific winners.
French-based Day Flight (by Sadler's Wells), the sire of A Toi Phil, won the Group 3 Gordon Richard Stakes, Group 3 St Simon Stakes, Group 3 Ormonde Stakes, and Group 3 John Porter Stakes, and he narrowly missed out on being classic-placed when taking fourth to Blue Canari in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby).
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ALFLORA SON WINS MIDLANDS NATIONAL
The blacktype tally of high-class performer and leading National Hunt sire Alflora (by Niniski), the long-time flag bearer for Shade Oak Stud, gained another name on Saturday when Chase The Spud won the Listed Betfred Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter.
This four-mile, one and a half-furlong marathon was run on soft ground, the Fergal O'Brien-trained nine-year-old landed the spoils by one and a half lengths from Mysteree, from whom he was receiving 3lbs, and he is now rated 139.
Christine Banks' homebred gelding is out of the one-time point-to-point scorer Trial Trip (by Le Moss) and his siblings include Aye Aye Charlie, a thrice-raced gelding who finished third in an Aintree bumper on his debut in early November and dead-heated in a similar contest at Southwell at the end of January.
That five-year-old is also trained by O'Brien and he is a son of the late Pitchall Farm stallion Midnight Legend (by Night Shift), the former high-class dual-purpose racehorse whose long list of top National Hunt offspring is headed by recent Grade 1 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Sizing John.
The pair are also half-brothers to the point-to-point scorer Posh Trip (by Rakaposhi King).
Model Lawyer (by Latest Model), the grandam of Chase The Spud, is a grand-daughter of great point-to-pointer Pensham (by Coalition), who won 44 times between the flags.
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ANOTHER OF NOTE FOR APPLE TREE
Mick The Jiver notched-up the biggest win of his career to date when beating Kilcarry Bridge by six and a half lengths in the Grade B Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Novice Handicap Chase Final over three miles at Navan on Sunday.
The Eoghan O'Grady-trained grey was bred by Robert and Shirley Carter, and he is a son of top-class middle-distance star Apple Tree (by Bikala), who has been based at their Beech Tree Stud for many years now.
He began his stallion career in his native France and his French-born offspring include Lough Derg and Pomme Tiepy.
Mick The Jiver is a half-brother to the dual bumper winning mare Maggie Aron (by Generous) and he is out of an unraced mare called Pems Gift (by Environment Friend).
She is a full-sister to the bumper, point-to-point and dual chase scorer Arctic Ghost and also to the triple hurdles winner Doris's Gift, and her own dam is Saxon Gift (by Saxon Farm), an unraced half-sister to the prolific Dear Do (by Swinging Rebel).
He won seven handicap chases in England and Scotland, plus a single point-to-point, and his siblings also include Shirley's Gift (by Scallywag), the unraced dam of Grade 1 Stayers' Hurdle and Grade 1 Sefton Novices' Hurdle hero Iris's Gift (by Gunner B).
Earlsgift (by Dusky Boy), the third dam of Mick The Jiver, won five times between the flags and although only three of her siblings won under National Hunt rules, one of them was the oustanding hurdler Browne's Gazette (by London Gazette), whose 11 wins included 1984's edition of the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Pems Gift has a four-year-old full-brother to Mick The Jiver that made €31,000 at last year's Tattersalls Ireland August NH Sale, and a yearling daughter of fellow Beech Tree Stud stallion Geordieland (by Johann Quatz).