WHEN the Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) mare Sevenna, a Group 3 winner in England, produces a winner, she gets a good one. Half of her foals of racing age have won, and all five of them have now been successful in stakes races.

While none have so far progressed to become Group 1 performers, it is nonetheless a noteworthy achievement by Sevenna, and that Gestut Ammerland-owned mare was purchased as a yearling at Baden-Baden for €43,000.

Her three-year-old son Sevenna’s Knight(Camelot) is the most recent to become a stakes winner, and his second win this year came at the weekend in the Listed Prix Michel Houyvet at Deauville. Last month the colt was catalogued to be sold at Arqana, but was withdrawn.

Also withdrawn from an Arqana sale this year was Sevenna Knight’s two-year-old full-brother by Camelot (Montjeu), and he had been purchased as a yearling at the same venue for €85,000, This year’s yearling out of Sevenna is a filly by New Bay (Dubawi).

The first of Sevenna’s offspring to graduate at stakes level was the Group 3 winner Savanne (Rock Of Gibraltar). She won the Group 3 Prix de Royaumont and placed a few times in Group 2 contests. To date she has four winning progeny. She was foaled a year before Sassella (Lope De Vega), a Saint-Cloud list winner and now a winner producer, and they were quickly followed by the eight-time winner and German list scorer, Samurai (Shamardal).

There was yet another group winner to appear, and this was the John Gosden-trained Sevenna Star (Redoute’s Choice). He looked a real prospect when he won the Group 3 Classic Trial at Sandown, but was a well-beaten tenth in the Derby won by Masar. After that he was sold a couple of times, his form deteriorated, and he managed as a seven-year-old to place a few times over fences for Emmet Mullins.

Best families

Sevenna’s Knight descends from one of the German stud book’s best families. You could fill lots of columns writing about it, but suffice to say that his third dam Slenderella (Alpenkonig) was the 1984 Group 2 Preis der Diana-German Oaks winner, and a more recent classic winner to appear in the immediate family was last year’s Group 3 Premio Parioli-Italian 2000 Guineas hero, See Hector (Counterattack).

This latest success for Sevenna’s Knight has started his sire on the path to another landmark. He is the 51st blacktype winner for the dual Derby winner, and this champion two and three-year-old also won the Group 1 2000 Guineas and Group 1 Racing Post Trophy. His first six crops have given us 10 Group 1 winners in Ireland, Britain, Germany, the USA, Australia and France.