Pedigree Insights: Sea Of Class

As the Oaks winner Forever Together led the seven runners into the final furlong at the Curragh three days ago, it looked as though Galileo was about to land his third Irish Oaks victory in the space of seven years. Although the filly kept on most gamely, she couldn't resist the late thrust by Sea of Class, a filly sired by none other than Galileo's exceptional half-brother Sea The Stars. In landing the Curragh classic Sea of Class became no less than the fourth Oaks-winning daughter of Holy Moon, the Hernando mare who had previously been responsible for three consecutive winners of the G2 Oaks d'Italia. While the Oaks d'Italia may not carry as much prestige as it once did – it last carried G1 status as long ago as 2006 – it still takes a very useful filly to win it. Holy Moon's first winner of the Oaks d'Italia was her Oratorio filly Charity Line, who also won the Italian 1,000 Guineas – the G3 Premio Regina Elena – on her way to earning a Timeform rating of 111.

Next came her Manduro filly Charity Line and her Dylan Thomas filly Final Score, both of whom were to add the G1 Premio Lydia Tesio to their victories in the Oaks d'Italia. Charity Line's Timeform rating stood at 115 after she had won her first six starts and Final Score achieved a rating of 113 after winning all five of her Italian starts. Final Score's one setback came when she was beaten just a couple of lengths into fifth place behind the future Irish Oaks winner Bracelet in the G2 Ribblesdale S.

The difficulties experienced by Italian racing since the economic downturn, which have resulted in the downgrading of many of its best races, make it tempting to dismiss Italian form without due thought.

It appears that the Yoshida family, of Shadai fame, have not been guilty of such prejudice. Cherry Collect has been resident in Japan since her racing career ended in 2012 and she has had four live foals for Northern Farm, starting with 2015 and 2016 fillies by Deep Impact, followed by a 2017 colt by Heart's Cry and a 2018 colt by Deep Impact.

Charity Line has produced a 2016 colt by Orfevre for Shadai Farm and a 2018 filly by Deep Impact. And Final Score has a 2016 Deep Impact filly called Noble Score for Northern Racing and a 2017 colt by Deep Impact's brother Black Tide.

The family's international status has been underlined by the fact that Cherry Collect's 2017 Heart's Cry colt and both of Final Score's youngsters have sold for the equivalent of over $1 million when they were offered at the Japan Racing Horse Association Sales. At ¥140,000,000 (roughly $1,250,000), Final Score's Black Tide colt ranked among the top dozen yearlings at the recent yearling session.

It was quite a different story when Sea of Class was offered as a yearling at Tattersalls' December Yearling Sale. This venue had no doubt been chosen because its date – November 21 – gave the late-foaled filly more time to mature than the more prestigious sales in the autumn. Her May 23 birthday will have deterred many potential buyers, especially when her sire Sea The Stars has a reputation for siring progeny which sometimes take a bit of time to reach their peak.

I suspect that the filly represented a foal share between Sea The Stars' owners and Razza del Velino, the owners of Holy Moon. Although she was the highest-priced filly at the sale, at 170,000gns, this was a comparatively modest price for a filly whose sire was priced at €85,000 at the time of her conception and whose dam Holy Moon had enjoyed such extraordinary success in Italy.

It wasn't as if Sea The Stars was experiencing a quiet spell. His runners earlier in 2016 had included an extensive team of Group winners, headed by his dual Derby winner Harzand, his fellow G1 winner Zelzal and the G2 scorers Across The Stars, Cloth of Stars, Endless Time, Makhtaal and Mutakayyef.

I have mentioned before that, when assessing Sea The Stars' stallion career, it is imperative to remember that he hasn't always enjoyed such strong numerical support as some of the other elite stallions. For example, he covered 83 mares in his second season in 2011, compared to Galileo's 215 and Dubawi's 139. Although this second crop numbered only 67 foals, as many as 12 of them were to become black-type winners, with a further six being Group placed.

Two years later, in his fourth season, Sea The Stars' book totalled 82 mares, compared to Galileo's 191, Dubawi's 136 and Frankel's 131. This gave him a 2014 crop of 74, which has so far produced six black-type winners headed by the dual G1 winner Stradivarius and Crystal Ocean, who is favourite to become a G1 winner in Saturday's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S.

Sea of Class is one of “only” 93 foals in Sea The Stars' 2015 crop, from a book of 113 mares. Of course, these crops were sired when Sea The Stars was comparatively unproven and before his fee was raised from its original €85,000 to €125,000 (and finally to €135,000 this year). In the first of those €125,000 years, Sea The Stars attracted 151 mares, followed by 119 in 2016 and roughly 175 last year, so he will have more ammunition in years to come.

Sea The Stars has to share credit for Sea of Class' talent with Holy Moon, a Listed winner over 11 furlongs in Italy. With the Prix du Jockey-Club winner Hernando as her sire and a daughter of Caerleon as her dam, Holy Moon is inbred 3 x 3 to the great Nijinsky, a stallion whose progeny had the high average winning distance of 11.2 furlongs. Consequently, it was no surprise to witness Sea of Class finishing so strongly at the end of a strongly-run mile and a half. Coincidentally, the 2015 Irish Oaks winner Covert Love was produced by a mare inbred 4 x 3 to Nijinsky.

. Sea of Class' second dam Centinela also had links to the Oaks d'Italia, as this race was won by her half-sister Bright Generation in 1993. Bright Generation has since become the second dam of Dabirsim, winner of the Prix Morny and Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and now a promising stallion. Sea of Class's fourth dam Madina was another Prix Morny winner.

The family should continue to throw up more smart performers, as Holy Moon's daughters have access to some of the world's top stallions. Holy Moon's own record may yet improve further, as her 2018 colt is by Golden Horn, who shares the same sire, Cape Cross, as Sea The Stars.