By Tom Frary
Alpha Centauri was one of the most celebrated racemares of the 21st century and her daughter Alpha (Sea The Stars) also has the wow factor based on her scintillating display at The Curragh on Sunday.
Lining up for the seven-furlong GAIN Equine Nutrition Irish EBF Fillies Maiden which had been won for the last four years by Aidan O'Brien, Coolmore and Flaxman Stables' homebred was facing a deep group of peers in the race taken recently by Lake Victoria, Ylang Ylang and Alpha Centauri's sister Discoveries who all went on to succeed at the highest level.
Sent straight to the front by Ryan Moore, the 8-11 favourite who had been a highly promising second on debut at Leopardstown earlier this month produced a penultimate-furlong effort which set her apart from her rivals to open up. At the line, all in attendance were in no doubt they had seen something special with six lengths the gap back to stablemate Ibelieveicanfly (Frankel), another filly from a Niarchos family who had been only 1 1/2 lengths behind the winner at Leopardstown. There was another 2 1/4 lengths back to Juddmonte's Livenka (Bated Breath), who had chased home Victorious on debut and set a smart standard in her own right.
She becomes the 24th TDN Rising Star for her illustrious sire and joins a group that includes Sea The Moon, Crystal Ocean, Star Catcher, Emily Upjohn and Aventure.
“Ryan said she was very unusual, he said she picked up with every furlong and picked up again going to the line,” the master of Ballydoyle said. “She's a big, strong powerful filly but she's a baby still. We had thought she could maybe go to the Chesham, but we decided to let the Justify colt go there and so that might have been a blessing in disguise as she had an easier time back here. I just spoke to Maria [Niarchos-Gouaze] and she said she's like her dam. She's 540 kilos and 16 3, but she does herself well and has a lovely mind like her dam. She's one for the Debutante-Moyglare route and is exciting.”
Oh, hello 👀
The superbly-bred ALPHA puts on a show in the opener @curraghrace.
She's been slashed into as short as 10/1 for the 1,000 Guineas.@WorldPool | @GAINEquine pic.twitter.com/pcj09n1mId
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) June 28, 2026
Pedigree Notes
Alpha is the fourth foal out of the accomplished dam, whose career tally included wins in the Irish 1,000 Guineas here, the Prix Jacques le Marois, Coronation Stakes and the Falmouth. Her aforementioned full-sibling Discoveries captured the Moyglare Stud Stakes and was third in the Coronation, while her half-sister by Sea The Stars' son Sea The Moon was Alpine Star, who like Alpha Centauri conquered that Royal Ascot feature as well as the Debutante and was second in the Prix de Diane, Jacques le Marois and Prix de l'Opera.
Another of the dam's half-sisters, Elitiste (Danehill Dancer), is responsible for Justify's two-year-old colt On Just Terms whose sole run so far saw him finish second in last week's Chesham. The dynasty's roll of honour seems endless, with the third dam being the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane heroine East Of The Moon (Private Account) and the fourth being the operation's great Miesque (Nureyev), linking the winner to a series of Niarchos A-listers including Kingmambo. Alpha Centauri's yearling filly is by Wootton Bassett, after which she was bred to On Just Terms' sire Justify.
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