The Weekly Wrap: Scene Is Set

A host of good fillies have won the G3 Prestige S. at Goodwood over the years, with the most recent Classic heroine to have emerged from the race being Billesdon Brook (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), who paid a handsome compliment to her breeder Bob McCreery in the months after his death in December 2016.

This year's winner Mise En Scene (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) will certainly have her second-season trainer James Ferguson dreaming of the first weekend of May next year at his local course of  Newmarket. And he has good reason beyond just his filly's performance to date as there's a 1,000 Guineas winner very close up in her pedigree. Mise En Scene's dam, the unraced Gadfly (GB) (Galileo {GB})), is a half-sister to Pam Sly's 2006 winner Speciosa (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

More immediately, the filly, who is now unbeaten in two starts, looks likely to try out the Rowley Mile for size this autumn as she hold entries for the G2 Rockfel S. and G1 Fillies' Mile.

“Mise En Scene has come out of her race great,” Ferguson told TDN on Monday. “I couldn't be happier with her. She is obviously very progressive. I was thrilled with how much she had come on from her first run but the way she won, it looks like there is still more to come. I think a step up to a mile, like Oisin [Murphy] said, will suit her perfectly. As for future plans, I will have to discuss it with the team but she definitely looks like a filly who could be competitive at the top level.”

Gadfly was herself bought by David Redvers for Qatar Racing from her breeder Newsells Park Stud for 375,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale and was offered again in the same ring three years later when in foal for the first time to Harbour Watch (Ire). She returned to Tweenhills under the ownership of the Gadfly Partnership and, following her trip to France to visit Siyouni, she has stayed at home and has a yearling colt by Roaring Lion, a Zoustar (Aus) filly foal and was covered this year by Kameko.

Newsells Park Stud also played a hand in a stakes winner over the water on Sunday when Sifting Sands (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) took his record to three wins from five starts with victory in the Better Talk Now S. at Saratoga. The 3-year-old's family also boasts a 1000 Guineas winner as Sifting Sands is a half-brother to the 2015 winner Legatissimo (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

Owned by White Birch Farm, the colt was the second Tattersalls graduate to win at the Spa that week for Peter Brant's operation following the listed John's Call S. success of Serve The King (GB) (Kingman {GB}), bred by Normandie Stud from a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to G1 Coronation S. winner Fallen For You (GB) (Dansili {GB}). It's safe to say that Tattersalls will be welcoming back plenty of American buyers and their representatives following a run of stakes wins by horses sourced as yearlings in Newmarket.

Glycon Seals Grand Run For Saint Pair

In its pomp, the Grand Prix de Deauville was one of the most prestigious races in France. After it was opened up to foreign horses, the mighty Hungarian mare Kincsem triumphed in 1878 as part of her incredible tour which included victories in the Goodwood Cup two weeks earlier and then the Grossser Preis von Baden just over a fortnight after her Deauville win–this all in the days before international travel for horses was as relatively easy as it is now.

Glycon (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) did not have anywhere near so far to travel as he is part of Jean-Claude Rouget's large satellite stable in Deauville but the 5-year-old once again signalled his liking for the seaside track with a determined victory three weeks after winning the G3 Prix de Reux over course and distance.

In so doing, he continued a glorious summer for his owner/breeder Andreas Putsch of Haras de Saint Pair, who on Thursday celebrated the second consecutive Group 3 win for his Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in Ireland. The latter is a grand-daughter of Putsch's G1 Prix Vermeille winner Pearly Shells (GB) (Efisio {GB}), who died in June at the age of 22.

Paying tribute when announcing the death of Pearly Shells, Putsch said, “She was the first mare who came to the farm when I bought Saint Pair in 2007 and we have built the farm around her. We shall all miss her presence here and will work hard to maintain her legacy in the future.”

That legacy and those of other carefully selected Saint Pair mares has been in evidence in the last week in particular. As well as Pearls Galore and Glycon, the latter's half-brother Glaer (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) broke his maiden in his breeder's silks at Saint Jean de Monts, while the Saint Pair-bred Amourdargent (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) won the first race on Deauville's final summer card on Sunday for Fabrice Vermeulen.

Glycon's 3-year-old half-sister Zoikes (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) is another to have made her way to America from the October Book 1 sale, having been bought by Mike Ryan for 450,000gns. She added to the clean sweep of winners-to-runners for her dam Glorious Sight (Ire) (Singspiel {Ire}) when winning at Indiana Grand last month for Brendan Walsh.

Sacred Sisters

The Juddmonte mare Sacred Shield (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}) is currently represented by one of the smartest juveniles in Ireland in Sacred Bridge (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), who has sailed unbeaten through four starts for Ger Lyons. They include the valuable Irish EBF Ballyhane S. and Friday's G3 Heider Family Stables Round Tower S. at the Curragh. The following day her elder full-sister Viadera (GB) claimed further laurels for the family when winning the GII Ballston Spa S. at Saratoga for Chad Brown. The 5-year-old had also previously been trained by Lyons, with her three Irish victories including a listed success at Killarney. Since moving stateside last year Viadera has also won the GIII Noble Damsel S. followed by the GI Matriarch S. at Del Mar last November.

A trip to Newmarket may be next for Sacred Bridge, who is being considered for the G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park S. on Sept. 25. Viadera meanwhile could aim to defend her title in the Matriarch before being retired to the paddocks.

Their dam was a dual winner for Sir Henry Cecil and represents a family which lit up the trainer's later years at Warren Place. Sacred Shield's half-sisters Clepsydra (GB) (Sadler's Wells) and Double Crossed (GB) (Caerleon) are respectively the dams of Sir Henry's Group 1 winners Passage Of Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}), Timepiece (GB) (Zamindar) and Twice Over (GB) (Observatory).

Stars Abound

Georges Rimaud gave TDN the lowdown on the progressive stud career of Siyouni (Fr) last week but his fellow Aga Khan Studs stallion Sea The Stars (Ire), representing the operation's Irish base at Gilltown Stud, has also been in the ascendant of late. 

Of course, much more was expected of the stud career of Sea The Stars than of Siyouni when they each retired to stud, and while it would be hard for the former ever to have kept pace with his high-achieving half-brother Galileo (Ire), Sea The Stars continues to merit his place in elite company.

Following the previous week's return to the winner's enclosure for one of the most popular horses in training, his son Stradivarius (Ire), Sea The Stars has been represented this week by the G2 Tote Celebration Mile winner Lavender's Blue (Ire), who recorded her third stakes victory for her breeder Benny Andersson. That was followed later the same evening by the first stakes win at Windsor for Ali Saeed's Teona (Ire), a daughter of the G1 Pretty Polly S. victrix Ambivalent (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}).

On Sunday, Sundoro (Ire), a half-sister to Pinatubo (Ire), notched her second win in France for Henri-Alex Pantall, and there have been a few notable Sea The Stars juveniles emerging of late. Moyglare Stud's homebred Eclat De Lumiere became his 12th TDN Rising Star at the Curragh on Aug. 21, the same day that The Queen's Reach For The Moon (GB) announced himself as a potential Classic contender with his facile victory in the G2 Solario S.

Both Siyouni and Sea The Stars have joined the illustrious trio of Frankel (GB), Galileo and Dubawi (Ire) in the top five stallions in Europe so far this season.

From Cheltenham To Deauville 

The Nathaniel (Ire) mare Burning Victory began her racing career at Deauville when trained locally by Stephane Wattel. Her debut fifth in the December of her juvenile season saw her finish not far off the winner Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) who has since gone on to bigger and better things, including clobbering Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) on the line in last week's G1 Prix Jean Romanet. 

Burning Victory had beaten Grand Glory in the race to become a top-level winner, though hers came in a Grade 1 over hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival after being sold to race on for Audrey Turley and Willie Mullins. But both of Burning Victory's wins since the Triumph Hurdle have come on the Flat and she clearly relishes revisiting her homeland, as she has been successful at Lyon-Parilly as well as in last week's Handicap de la Manche on her return to Deauville. Further travel may well be likely as the 5-year-old mare is currently third-favourite for the historic Cesarewitch at Newmarket on Oct. 9.

Inspirational Women Of The Turf

On Friday, different parts of the racing world were in mourning after the loss of two young women to cancer. Nini Vascotto was based in Sydney where she was social media manager for the Australian Turf Club and had developed a particularly strong bond with the champion racemare Winx (Aus). The 44-year-old was known to many racing fans globally via her own Twitter account, on which she became an inspiration in documenting with grace and courage her ten-year struggle with breast cancer.

In Spain, the closeknit training centre at Madrid's La Zarzuela racecourse was rocked by the passing of Belgian-born Leyla Ennouni, 46, a popular figure who started training in her own right in 2016 having previously spent time working in Newmarket for Luca Cumani and as assistant to Spain's champion trainer Guillermo Arizkorreta.

To the friends and families of Nini and Leyla we send our deepest condolences.

A brighter note was sounded on Saturday in the result of one of Newmarket's more curious races, the Town Plate. The legendary amateur contest, which is run over 3m6f of the July Course and part of the National Stud, is believed to have been first staged in 1666.

The winner of the 351st running of the Town Plate, Rachel Rennie, had originally intended to ride in the race five years ago until a cancer diagnosis in the weeks beforehand put paid to her plans. After successful surgery, eight rounds of chemotherapy and 20 rounds of radiotherapy, the 49-year-old returned to the saddle to post an emotional triumph aboard the 6-year-old Friends Don't Ask (GB).

Declaring her win to be the “culmination of the getting-back process”, Rennie intends to defend her crown in next year's race. Though she will be 50 in 2022, that is no age at all compared to one of her competitors on Saturday, Colin Moore, who is 79. The former jump jockey rode his sole winner 60 years ago.