'I knew this family had a toughness that most horses don't have' - Lady Charlotte taking Rebecca Philipps back to the top

A proper European Oaks filly appearing nearly 30 years after her granddam distinguished herself in a Classic is of no surprise to Rebecca Philipps.

Like someone building a replica of the Eiffel Tower out of matchsticks, breeding quality on a small scale is a painstaking and time-consuming pursuit but a worthwhile endeavour if you truly believe in it.

Philipps began with Mezzogiorno, who finished third to Lady Carla at Epsom in 1996 after winning a trial at Newbury and has continued with several more generations running in her blue and yellow armlets.

She has been delighted to see Lady Charlotte appear from the page as one of the continent's new names. Sold to agent Tomas Janda for 20,000gns at Tattersalls Book 3 and after winning several races in Poland, the Golden Horn filly was moved to Andreas Wohler by Marian Ziburske's Westminster Race Horses. She jumped into contention for Sunday's Preis der Diana (German Oaks) after staying on best in the Diana-Trial at the start of June. 

Connections pitched even higher and went for the Deutches Derby against the colts, where Lady Charlotte ran commendably despite being a bit keen and meeting interference to take ninth, beaten just over five lengths, and she should be very competitive back among her own sex in a field which includes Aidan O'Brien's Ribblesdale winner Garden Of Eden and the progressive Spirited Style for Godolphin.

Philipps was brought up with her stepfather Sir Robin McAlpine, who bred the likes of the famous half-brothers Beneficial (winner of the King Edward VII Stakes and a top National Hunt sire) and Jeune, who landed a Melbourne Cup.

She assisted McAlpine with racing interests in his latter years and took a great shine to Aigue, a winner by High Top, who was related to the 2,000 Guineas winner Mystiko.

Not long after the scion of the construction firm's death in 1993, Aigue produced Mezzogiorno, a daughter of Unfuwain.

"My stepfather bought Aigue's mother, Cecilia Bianchi, and I was very keen on the family," she says. "Aigue had a couple of instances of bad colic and survived so I knew this family had a toughness that most horses don't have.

"Mezzogiorno was gorgeous but she didn't make her reserve as a yearling, I think Henry Cecil was the underbidder, so I kept her and she went to Geoff Wragg, where all my horses were. I'd known him since I was 12 and was deeply fond of him, he was like an uncle to me."

Mezzogiorno, who was third in the Yorkshire Oaks, would become far more of a wellspring than her mother.

Philipps continues: "Her first two fillies were Monnavanna, by Machiavellian, who was very fast and won two Listed races. Then she then had Monturani, who was a bit of a slow burn but a lovely filly by Indian Ridge who won the Blandford Stakes at the Curragh. 

While Monnavanna is the dam of Manassas, who won the 2011 Buckingham Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot for Philipps, neither of those two had exceptional records from the paddocks.

Instead Lady Charlotte was bred out of their maiden Poet's Voice sister, Middle Creek.

"She went to John Gosden because Geoff retired," she says. "She was a very nice looking two and three-year-old, backward, but sadly no engine at all. But I like to keep my fillies and we bred from her.

Monturani: early star won at Newbury in 2002Credit: Edward Whitaker

"I have a bit of a theory that if you've got a good family often it's the ones that don't perform that then produce the stars."

Philipps, who has had a lifelong love of horses and is a member of the Jockey Club, breeds as a small business but jokes that it is something of a "second life" of hers.

She has had a highflying career in the world of words as a former deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday and has co-founded two publishing companies.

They have specialised in the health and lifestyle sector, such as with the best-selling Fast 800 series by the late Dr Michael Mosley. New River Books has quite a marquee name at the moment in Jessie Inchauspe, aka the French viral sensation Glucose Goddess.

Philipps' attention to detail extends to just about every horse she has bred, recalling the performances of each one in depth down to those that have not made her good books such as Lady Charlotte's brother Little Trilby, who is, less helpfully for the page, now hurdling in America.

She has been involved in partnerships for many years with John Troy, at whose Willingham House near Newmarket she boarded her mares, keeping several others at La Motteraye in France. Lady Charlotte was offered by Sophie Buckley of Culworth Grounds, who took over the mares from Troy when he took a step back. 

The filly made what she says was a "perfectly decent" price considering her uncommercial profile from a family that had gone a bit quiet. This is changing with a Group 3 in the bag and Philipps expects that there could be more developments elsewhere on the page, too.

"Mezzogiorno also had Mill Springs, who won the Noel Murless Stakes and was a punchy third in the Ascot Stakes," she says.

"Mill Springs had Molten Sea, who is in training with William Haggas. She's an incredibly nice Too Darn Hot and probably is just a slow, late developer.

Rebecca Philipps has a successful career as a publisher and journalist

"When this family has a gear, they're so honest and tough. Mill Springs had a very nice filly called Morning Poem with John Gosden, who won an incredible race first-time-out at Kempton and we really thought we had a star. 

"She had various problems but she got a Racing Post Rating of 97 and she's in foal to Kameko. Honestly, the family just get bigger and bigger, I've nearly kept them all. I've also got a St Mark's Basilica filly out of Mill Springs."

For all that she is so excited about the present and the future, what must ultimately be most satisfying for Philipps is that Lady Charlotte has proved once again that she was on the right track when she started out with Aigue and Mezzogiorno all those years ago

"There's black type all over the place but because they're middle-distance, people kind of come and go with them," she says. "I remember selling one out of Aigue for a lot of money, but they're a family people kind of know, I remember William Haggas bought one.

"If they want to breed, the owner of Lady Charlotte has potentially got a very valuable filly. When a family you've known basically all your life, that you love and are obsessed with, produces a star, it's just fantastic."

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