PIVOTAL mares are prized, and this picture is of Dr Dean Harron’s colt from the first crop of triple Group 1-winning miler Circus Maximus (Galileo). He is a son of Ma Grande Corniche, a daughter of the former Cheveley Park Stud stalwart who died last November.

Circus Maximus had King Of Comedy and Too Darn Hot in arrears when he won the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes at three, later adding the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp to his haul of victories. A year later he returned to Royal Ascot and claimed another Group 1, this time the Queen Anne Stakes.

He was placed five times at the highest level too, always against high-class opposition, and was runner-up to Order Of Australia in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile, and to Too Darn Hot and Mohaather in successive editions of the Group 1 Sussex Stakes. Last year, his first at Coolmore Stud, saw Circus Maximus cover in excess of 100 mares.

The unraced Ma Grande Corniche has seven winning siblings, including the Group 2 Australian runner-up Moyenne Corniche (Selkirk).

They are out of the listed winner Miss Corniche (Hernando), and she is one of 11 winning offspring from the stakes winner and Group 2 Sun Chariot Stakes and Group 2 Nassau Stakes runner-up Miss Beaulieu (Northfields).