By Tom Frary
1st-LYP, €18,000, Mdn, 5-10, 2yo, 5fT, 0:57.93, g/s.
ON A SESSION (c, 2, Noble Mission {GB}–Destiny Calls {MSW-US, $644,220, by With Approval), sent off the 9-10 favourite, broke smartly as the stable's juveniles tend to and tanked along towards the fore. Beginning to assert passing the quarter pole, the $50,000 KEESEP yearling drew away in impressive fashion to score by 4 1/2 lengths from Donoratico (Fr) (Motivator {GB}). In doing so, On a Session becomes the first winner for his first-season sire (by Galileo {Ire}), the G1 Champion S.-winning brother to Frankel (GB). The prolific stakes-winning dam, who also has a yearling filly by Paynter and was bred back to Noble Mission for 2018, is a half to two other stakes winners descended from South Sea Dancer (Northern Dancer), a sister to the champions Northernette and Storm Bird. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, €9,000. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Theresa Marnane; B-Green Lantern Stables (KY); T-Mathieu Palussiere.
On A Session On A Mission…
On A Session was put through the ring by the Marnane family's Bansha House Stables at Goffs UK's Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale a month ago to the day, and while Amy Marnane admitted she was disappointed at the time that he was led out unsold at £60,000, she said on Friday, “I can assure you today I'm not.”
It was Marnane who signed the ticket for On A Session at Keeneland last fall from Pat Costello's Paramount Sales, and she said, “He was a lovely individual, nice horse, very good pedigree. The dam won 14 times in the U.S. and won over £360,000 and won five listed races. He just looked like a runner to me. We brought him home and he just matured and got real strong and he's a good model. We brought him to the Doncaster breeze-up sale and he did a lovely breeze, maybe didn't do an overly fast time but he moved well and covered ground and did a real genuine breeze. We brought him to the ring and there was nobody there for him.”
The story was similar for On A Session's Doncaster barnmate I'm The Man (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), a £28,000 Doncaster yearling who was also unsold at the Doncaster breeze-up. Both On A Session and I'm The Man have now raced in the colours of Amy Marnane's mother Theresa Marnane, and I'm The Man was a debut winner at Chantilly for trainer Mathieu Palussiere eight days ago-22 days after exiting the ring at Doncaster. Both colts will now aim for Royal Ascot, and a win there would make it a third-straight for the Marnane family: graduate Prince of Lir (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) won the G2 Norfolk S. in 2016, and Different League (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}), another Doncaster buyback, won last year's G2 Albany S. in the Marnane colours before being sold to Coolmore and Peter Brant for 1.5-million gns.
“We had Different League last year and she actually won the maiden [On A Session] won today and he will be going to Royal Ascot too. He was very impressive and he'll only come on for the run; he ran away with it. The jockey didn't touch him, so we're Royal Ascot dreaming and the jockey was very impressed with him.”
“I'm The Man went through the ring unsold and 22 days later he came out and won a real good maiden at Chantilly,” she added. “They've been two real impressive ones that have gone through breeze-up sales that didn't change hands. But they're running really well for us so we couldn't be happier.”
The Marnanes are unlikely to spend too much time celebrating, however, with business continuing at this weekend's Arqana Breeze-Up sale. Bansha House has nine juveniles catalogued.
“We have a really nice bunch of horses in France so hopefully they all breeze well, which they should do, and there'll be people there looking for them,” Marnane said.
There are three Noble Mission colts selling at Arqana on Saturday: lots 24, 102 and 136.
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