THE $60,000 first prize for the Grade 3 Santa Barbara Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday was not one of the biggest purses on offer in the USA last weekend, but the outcome was welcome news in a number of quarters back in Europe.

The five-year-old Jeremy (Danehill Dancer) mare Queen Blossom ended an extended losing streak to win a race in which her trainer, Richard Blatas, had no fewer than four of the starters. He also supplied the third-paced Pantsonfire (Sir Percy), an Irish-bred four-year-old who was produced from the Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) mare Rubileo. Pantsonfire was bred by Peter Reynolds and his friend Robert Dore.