Sunday's G1 Prix de Diane Longines at Chantilly features some big names in Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), Happily (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and With You (GB) (Dansili {GB}), but one flying under the radar with an Australian connection is the unexposed Lady Athena (Fr) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}).
Owned by John Hutchins and trained at La Teste by Yan Durepaire, the bay has just a course-and-distance conditions success to her name having won with enough authority to merit this jump in class May 18.
She represents the owner behind the MG1SW Australian Horse of the Year Typhoon Tracy (Aus) (Red Ransom), the operation's first champion. She was out of the A$1 million purchase Tracy's Element (Aus) (Last Tycoon {Ire}) and pre-empted the purchase of Element Hill Stud in Queensland, which houses circa 40 broodmares with the owner's son Josh at the helm.
Durepaire said, “I remember seeing her as a yearling when she was boarding with Anna Sundstrom where she was being prepared for the sales. It's easy to say it now, but she really did catch the eye. Arthur Hoyeau introduced me to Josh Hutchins who bred her in tandem with his parents. Our meeting went well and, when they decided to keep the filly with a view to racing her, they decided to send her to me after visiting the stable.”
Another first in Sunday's main event is provided by Castellar (Fr) (American Post {GB}), with the Spaniard Dario Hinojosa seeing his colours finally carried in the race. She beat the subsequently demoted Luminate (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) and Amazing Lips (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in the May 21 G3 Prix Cleopatre over this 10 1/2-furlong trip and could make for a memorable two days for her owner-breeder as Tuesday sees her year-older half-brother Recoletos (Fr) (Whipper) take in Royal Ascot's G1 Queen Anne. Bred at his Normandy stud at Valseme in the Calvados region, Castellar's presence in this line-up will be a cause for celebration in itself. “It's invariably a source of great joy to have a runner in such a race,” Hinojosa commented. “To have a runner in the Prix de Diane, with a filly which I bred, is a great satisfaction. I believe it's a very open race as all the winners of the prep races have a chance including Castellar.”
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