IN 2007 the Oaks d’Italia was downgraded from Group 1 to Group 2 status.

As a consequence, it robbed Holy Moon, a bargain yearling buy and a daughter of Hernando (Niniski), from joining the elite club of mares who have bred four or more Group 1 winners.

Holy Moon is in the news this week thanks to her son Waterville’s magnificent win in the hugely valuable, and even more exciting, €600,000 Friends of the Curragh Irish Cesarewitch on Saturday. What a finish it produced, victory going by a neck to Waterville (Camelot) under Wayne Lordan, on just the colt’s sixth outing for Ballydoyle.

Bred by Razza Del Velino and foaled in Ireland, Waterville was sold as a foal at Goffs to MV Magnier for €280,000, consigned by Joe Hernon’s Castletown Stud. He is the 12th winner for his dam Holy Moon who was a listed winner in Italy, successful on five occasions, and what a bargain she was having been purchased at Goffs for a mere £2,600. That was in 2001 in case you think I have the wrong currency listed!

It will be most interesting to see if Waterville will still take up his appointment with the Tattersalls auctioneers at the end of the month. He is currently catalogued as Lot 275 in the Tattersalls Autumn Sale, and such is the strength of his female line that only the first dam is included on the page.

Dozen winners

Not only is Waterville the 12th winner for Holy Moon, he is also the mare’s twelfth offspring, and following on is the two-year-old Amleto (Sea The Stars), a 240,000gns yearling purchase by Sunderland Holding, and a colt foal by the Gilltown flagbearer.

Holy Moon’s best runner has been Sea Of Class (Sea The Stars), the ill-fated Group 1 Irish and Yorkshire Oaks winner who was just pipped by Enable in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Three of her siblings won the Italian Oaks, Charity Line (Manduro), Final Score (Dylan Thomas) and Cherry Collect (Oratorio).

The first two stepped up a level and captured consecutive running’s of the Group 1 Premio Lydia Tesio, while Cherry Collect was runner-up in the same race. The latter recorded a classic double as she won the Group 3 Premio Regina Elena-Italian 1000 Guineas.