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Deep Impact and the Aga Khan combine as Geniale lands Prix Messidor

The four-year-old colt is out of the Prix de Diane winner Sarafina

Deep Impact: the champion sire has now supplied 97 Group/Graded performers
Deep Impact: the champion sire has now supplied 97 Group/Graded performersCredit: Edward Whitaker

Deep Impact's influence was once again felt in Europe on Sunday when Japanese raider Geniale got the better of Jimmy Two Times in the Group 3 Prix Messidor at Maisons-Laffitte.

The four-year-old, a 97th Group/Grade winner for his sire, was sent straight into the lead by Yutaka Take and, despite conceding his advantage briefly with less than two furlongs to run, rallied gamely to prevail by a comfortable half a length.

Despite being a son of Deep Impact trained in Japan, the pedigree behind Geniale will be familiar to many in Europe, as he is the first foal out of Sarafina, a three-time Group 1 winner bred and raced by the Aga Khan.

The daughter of Refuse To Bend did not make the racetrack until she was three, but quickly made up for lost time when winning the Prix Saint-Alary and the Prix de Diane on her second and third outings respectively.

Sarafina after winning the Prix Foy at Longchamp
Sarafina after winning the Prix Foy at LongchampCredit: Edward Whitaker

She finished third in two more Group 1s - behind Midday in the Prix Vermeille and behind Workforce in the Prix De L'Arc De Triomphe - at three before returning at four to land the Grand Prix De Saint-Cloud by a neck from the redoubtable Cirrus Des Aigles.

Sarafina brought the curtain down on her racing career with a fourth-placed finish behind St Nicholas Abbey in the 2011 Breeders' Cup Turf, and was then sold to Teruya Yoshida's broodmare band in a private deal brokered by Eugenio Colombo.

"I bought Elusive Kate [for Yoshida] before the Breeders' Cup, so I spent the week of the Breeders' Cup in Kentucky. I fell in love with Sarafina's conformation at Churchill Downs. And it is a good pedigree too because of the Aga Khan," Colombo said at the time.

Geniale was bought by his owner Kieffers Co Ltd at the 2015 edition of the Japan Racing Horse Association Sale, where he fetched a winning bid of ¥160,000,000 (£1,093,480/€1,224,220).

He is also a half-brother to Plus, a winning the three-year-old daughter of Victoire Pisa.

Sunday's result is not the first time Deep Impact has made his mark in Europe this season, having already struck with 2,000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior and Prix du Jockey Club hero Study Of Man.


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Published on 22 July 2018inNews

Last updated 17:20, 22 July 2018

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