YOU heard it here first. That was the somewhat cheeky headline to a piece I penned for this column back in March in which I predicted that the Sea The Stars colt Zelzal, then the winner of a maiden at Deauville, would be a horse to keep an eye on.

In fact I wrote: “I believe that the name Zelzal is one to etch on your mind. This Jean-Claude Rouget trained three-year-old could be a star, and I have good reason to think you will hear a lot about him.”

I am delighted to say that he went on from that debut success to win again, finish down the field in the French 2000 Guineas, bounce back with a Group 3 win and on Sunday he scorched to a new course record when landing the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat. His trainer is cautious about plans but is clearly in charge of a colt with tremendous talent.

Zelzal is the latest Group 1 winner for his sire Sea The Stars, also responsible this year for the dual Derby winner Harzand. Last weekend he also sired the Group 2 Summer Mile winner at Ascot, the five-year-old Mutakayyef who was improving on his recent listed win at York.

While Ling Tsui and her son Christopher were celebrating these successes, they were also cheering home a winner in their own family colours, Sunderland Holding Inc, at Tipperary. This was the John Oxx-trained Sea Of Grace and the significance of this victory was that it was for a daughter of their other stallion, Sea The Stars’ half-brother Born To Sea.

This is the first crop of racing age for Born To Sea, the son of Invincible Spirit who is also a half-brother to the perennial champion sire Galileo and to the Group 1 winner and sire Black Sam Bellamy. They all hail from the Arc winner Urban Sea, a half-sister to the classic winner and champion sire King’s Best.

Sea Of Grace was bred by Robert Norton at Newtownbarry House Stud, a nursery of some significance for a number of generations now, going back to the time of Robert’s grandfather Robert Westley Hall-Dare and continued by his mother Clody.

Robert sold Sea Of Grace as a foal at Goffs for €80,000 to Mark Dwyer’s Oaks Farm. She reappeared at the sales last August in Deauville as part of the La Motteraye Consignment and cost Mandore International Agency €260,000.

The dam of Sea Of Grace is Lady Dettoria and she raced for Clody Norton in France, winning there at three years and being placed a number of times. Sea Of Grace is her third foal and her third winner and she will hopefully try to better the performances of both her siblings who won at two, with the first foal Pepparone being listed-placed at that age.

Lady Dettoria is a half-sister to the Daylami gelding Cougar Bay who won in Ireland and the USA but his 15 placings included nine times in group/graded or listed races. Their dam Delimara, by In The Wings, was a listed winner in France and she was one of a pair of stakes winners out of the Group 1 Premio Roma winner Mariella. The other stakes winner was Mackla, successful at two in the Group 3 Prix d’Aumale and her granddaughter Marotta won the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary.