Zabeel Prince gives red-hot Lope De Vega a weekend Group 1 double

Lope De Vega fired in a notable Group 1 double over the weekend as Zabeel Prince produced a career-best performance to land the Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp on Sunday, a little over 24 hours after Phoenix Of Spain had given the sire a first Classic success in the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas.

The Ballylinch Stud sire, who is standing 2019 at a well-deserved career-high fee of €80,000, has now supplied nine top-level winners, with Zabeel Prince and Phoenix Of Spain joining the likes of champion juvenile Belardo, runaway Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Newspaperofrecord and the southern hemisphere stars Santa Ana Lane and Vega Magic.

Zabeel Prince, who was purchased for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum by Charlie Gordon-Watson for 325,000gns at the 2014 Tattersalls December Yearling Sale, boasts a pedigree befitting a Group 1 winner.

Bred by the Donworth family's Roundhill Stud in County Limerick, Zabeel Prince is the sixth foal out of Princess Serena, a 20-year-old daughter of Unbridled's Song who boasts a family in fine form.

Zabeel Prince wins the Earl Of Sefton Stakes at NewmarketCredit: Edward Whitaker

Princess Serena's eighth foal is Queen Power, a 500,000gns yearling who landed a warm-looking Listed race at Newbury earlier in the month. The three-year-old Queen Power is also a sister to the Listed-placed Majesty, with that pair being closely related to Zabeel Prince, as they are by Lope De Vega's sire, Shamardal.

Princess Serena has enjoyed a fine relationship with Shamardal, as she also produced the dual Group 2 winner - and four-time Group 1 placegetter - Puissance De Lune to Darley's Kildangan Stud stalwart.

Moreover, the first foal out of Princess Serena, who was bought by Roundhill Stud for $150,000 at the 2003 Keeneland November Sale, is Serena's Storm, who went on to produce Coronation Stakes and Moyglare Stud Stakes heroine Rizeena. Princess Serena also has a Gleneagles yearling filly on the ground.

It is not only the racecourse where Lope De Vega has been in fine form of late, as he supplied the €175,000 top lot at Friday's Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale, bought by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock.

Earlier in the month David Simcock went to €700,000 on behalf of owner Darren Yates to secure a Lope De Vega half-brother to Here Comes When at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale.

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