The Weekly Wrap: Class Will Out

It was something of a super Saturday for William Haggas and his team: five winners at five different racecourses in two countries, all within the space of 65 minutes.

Leading the quintet, of course, was Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), audacious last-minute heroine of the G1 Darley Irish Oaks, who denied Forever Together (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) a second Classic by a neck.

Though she carries an Irish suffix, Sea Of Class is very much a daughter of Italy, a racing and breeding nation with a rich heritage that has been beset by political strife.

We discussed the family in this column earlier in the season but further credit must be given to her dam, the listed winner Holy Moon (Ire) (Hernando {Fr}), who is now the dam of three Italian Oaks winners—Cherry Collect (Ire), Final Score (Ire) and Charity Line—an Irish Oaks winner, the G3 Premio Verziere winner Wordless (Ire), G2 Derby Italiano runner-up Back On Board (Ire), Listed-placed Magic Mystery (GB) and the 16-time winner Holy Ballet (Ire).

Bred by the Botti family's Razza del Velino, Sea Of Class is one of only two members of the immediate family not to have been trained in Italy by Stefano Botti, and she has half-brothers by Oasis Dream (GB) and Golden Horn (GB) to follow.

The fact that Sea Of Class is a late May foal has been the source of much comment. Sea The Stars's owner Ling Tsui bought out the breeders in a foal-share arrangement at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale and, sensibly, it was a full year before the neat chestnut filly entered training.

“She was never in training here last year, we didn't see her until the winter because she was such a late foal,” said Haggas on Monday morning as he cast his eye over his recently returned Classic winner while she posed for photos in the paddock at Somerville Lodge.

“She's very intelligent and she always had speed. When they've got speed and they're bred like that, you start to think to yourself this could be quite good. We ran her over a mile at Newmarket on her first start and she just got racing a bit too early and got beaten. It's rare we run one in a listed race as a maiden but she won next time.”

With her sire and paternal grandam having both won the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the same colours, the temptation is naturally strong to try to follow suit.

Haggas said, “She's not in the Arc but Christopher Tsui has only ever been to two Arcs and has won both, with Urban Sea and Sea The Stars—that's some record. But we have lots of things to think about. First of all is whether she's going to be training next year, which we were all up for before Saturday. So many horses, fillies especially, have very successful careers as 3-year-olds and then don't go on at four for whatever reason, so we'll have to see what Mrs Tsui would like to do. If she stays next year I think she ought to have a relatively light campaign for the rest of this year, but the other side of me thinks we should strike while the iron is hot. She only needs to have a small injury next year and that's gone, we've wasted time.”

Considering the rest of this season, he added, “The obvious races are the Yorkshire Oaks, the Vermeille, the Arc, Champions Day, the Breeders' Cup, and the Queen Elizabeth II in Japan. Even perhaps the mile-and-a-half race in Hong Kong if her owner would like her to go there. But we can't take all of those in so we have a lot to discuss. I know Mrs Tsui will probably say that she'll leave it to me, because that's how she's been and it's lovely, but she knows that we have different decisions to make now that the filly is a Classic winner.”

Aga Khan Families To The Fore
Along with a new Classic winner for resident stallion Sea The Stars, it's also been a week of reflected glory for the Aga Khan Studs.

With the operation having nurtured its bloodlines so carefully over decades, breeders of all sizes can't really go too far wrong when buying a filly or mare from the Aga Khan. Two such examples of this came over the weekend.

From two runners at Maisons-Laffitte yesterday, Japanese jockey-turned-trainer Mikio Matsunaga won the G3 Prix Messidor with Geniale (JPN) (Deep Impact {JPN}), the first foal of the Aga Khan's G1 Prix de Diane winner Sarafina (Fr) (Refuse To Bend {Ire}), who was sold privately to Teruya Yoshida at the conclusion of her racing career. Geniale is likely to remain in France to contest the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois, which this year will be worth €1 million.

At the Curragh on Saturday Marie's Diamond (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) built on the precocity that allowed him to win on debut on Apr. 28 by showing plenty of class to win the G3 Anglesey S. for Middleham Park Racing and Mark Johnston, three weeks after finishing runner-up in the G2 Gain Railway S.

His dam Sindiyma (Ire) (Kalanisi {Ire}), winner of a 12-furlong maiden for Dermot Weld out of a half-sister to Sinndar (Ire), was bought from the 2013 Goffs November Sale by Tony Ashley for €20,000 when carrying to Casamento (Ire). Barren the following year, she then produced Marie's Diamond and his yearling full-sister.

Larchmont Lad (Ire), winner of the G2 Friarstown Stud Minstrel S., made Saturday at the Curragh a real banner day, not just for the often overlooked Coolmore sire Footstepsinthesand, but also for Italian breeders. The 4-year-old, who also won the G3 Somerville Tattersall S. at two, was bought privately last year by Cheveley Park Stud and was bred by Domenico Fonzo.

Do Hold Your Breath
It's a tough order for a young stallion attempting to shine on the Juddmonte roster when up against the likes of Frankel (GB) and Kingman (GB) but Bated Breath (GB), by the recently pensioned Dansili (GB), is holding his own and has had some representatives of note in the last week.

The David Lanigan-trained Worth Waiting (GB) has been near faultless since starting her racing career last November and she has won in each of the last three months. She brought up her hat-trick on Saturday in the listed Aphrodite S. at Newmarket and the Whatton Manor Stud-bred filly could be seen next at Glorious Goodwood in the G2 Qatar Lillie Langtry S.

Juddmonte's own juvenile Viadera (GB) also looks a filly with a bright future. Having won on debut for Ger Lyons at the Curragh at the end of June, the three-parts-sister to the Investec Blue Riband Trial winner Crossed Baton (GB) (Dansili {GB}) then returned to chase home Marie's Diamond for second in the G3 Anglesey S.

Another smart Bated Breath 2-year-old was seen in winning action for Roger Charlton at Newbury on Friday. Momkin (Ire), a fourth generation homebred for Prince Faisal's Nawara Stud, is a great grandson of Rafha (GB) (Kris {GB}), the G1 Prix de Diane winner who went on to produce the highly successful stallions Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Kodiac (GB).

Phoenix On The Rise
When Signora Cabello (Ire) (Camacho {GB}) won the G2 Queen Mary S. at Royal Ascot, Amer Abdulaziz, head of Phoenix Thoroughbreds, issued a statement of intent saying, “We need to dominate globally. We want to be the same level as Coolmore and Godolphin. We have a four-year plan and we have 150 horses within a year. We always set targets and we are going for it. It is very ambitious but you don't get anywhere without trying. You have to believe.”

Signora Cabello has now taken another step up the ladder with victory in Sunday's G2 Prix Robert Papin to remain unbeaten in her last four starts. Bought as a yearling from Tattersalls October Book 3 by Sean Quinn and Richard Knight for just 20,000gns, she raced initially for Zen Racing's Chris Edwards and Ross Sankey. Phoenix Thorougbreds became involved after the sharp filly had won the listed Marygate S. at York, her second victory of the season, and whatever Phoenix paid to race the filly with the Zen team is looking like money well spent for an operation with the aim of setting up a serious breeding wing. She may now head to the G1 Darley Prix Morny, which her trainer John Quinn won four years ago with The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}).

Signora Cabello is not the only juvenile filly in the Phoenix portfolio to have made this last week special for a team set on world domination. In Australia, the David Vandyke-trained Miss Quaintly (Aus) is being considered a potential candidate for the G1 VRC Oaks after winning at Doomben on Saturday, while the $625,000 Ocala breeze-up purchase Lyrical Lady became a TDN Rising Star when winning decisively on debut for Steve Asmussen at Saratoga. Both fillies are by the redoubtable shutter More Than Ready.