Whitsbury Manor's Sergei Prokofiev rapid out of the first-season sire stalls as Arizona Blaze lands Curragh opener

Sergei Prokofiev was a rapid and precocious sprinter on the track and the Whitsbury Manor Stud stallion was quick off the mark at the Curragh, his son Arizona Blaze landing the opening race of the Irish Flat season on Monday.

Winning for Amo Racing and Adrian Murray – who also teamed up to win the 2023 event with subsequent Phoenix Stakes victor Bucanero Fuerte – the colt was well supported as the 11-8 favourite. He proved game in victory, pulling a length and a quarter clear of Make Believe's Rowdy Yeats.

Sergei Prokofiev's first runner was bred by Andrew Bengough and partners out of the Equiano mare Liberisque, a winner of a Chelmsford handicap over ten furlongs at three. 

Arizona Blaze is a half-brother to two winners in Dreaming Spires (by Cityscape) and Sailthisshipalone (Havana Gold), while their dam is out of the Galileo mare Jane Austen, winner of the Listed Finale Stakes for Aidan O'Brien and Coolmore over a mile and a half. 

Arizona Blaze had sold to Amanda Skiffington from Fittocks Stud for 36,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, while he then made £82,000 to Rodrigo Goncalves and Aguiar Bloodstock at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale last August. 

Sergei Prokofiev: high-class juvenile and Whitsbury Manor Stud sire is off the markCredit: Whitsbury Manor Stud

Sergei Prokofiev, a Canadian-bred, was a lightning quick performer for O'Brien and the Coolmore partners, having sold to the team for $1,100,000. 

A son of the influential and much-missed Scat Daddy, he won on his second start at two by seven and a half lengths before a first black-type success in the Listed Rochestown Stakes, which he won by four lengths. 

He headed to Royal Ascot for the Coventry Stakes and was beaten only by Calyx and subsequent treble Group 1 winner Advertise, but further success came later that year in the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes at Newmarket, where he showed a powerful turn of foot to easily dispose of his rivals. Sergei Prokofiev also won at three when capturing the Listed Cork Stakes at Navan that March. 

The colt was retired to Whitsbury Manor for the 2021 season at a fee of £6,500, while he has remained at £6,000 subsequently. His first yearlings in 2023 sold for up to 220,000gns. He will have plentiful representation on the racecourse this year and in the future, with 150 mares covered in his first three seasons at stud. 

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