El Kabeir off the mark as Don Chicco strikes in Rome

El Kabeir became the latest first-season sire to get off the mark when Don Chicco struck at the Capannelle in Rome for trainer Agostino Affe on Sunday.

The two-year-old, who was bred by Mickley, Harc Syndicate & K Whitehouse, was making his second start and was an £8,500 purchase from Mickley Stud at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale.

He is out of the unraced Oasis Dream mare Otrooha, a half-sister to three winners who is herself out of a half-sister to the Shadwell-owned and bred Maraahel, a dual winner of the Hardwicke Stakes and multiple top-level placed.

Don Chicco finished three lengths in front Il Grande Gatsby, the son of another first-season sire in Churchill, with the Footstepsinthesand colt Ilgeng a further three and a half lengths away in third.

Yeomanstown Stud's son of Scat Daddy has 122 first-crop juveniles to represent him this term and his Between The Sheets had already run respectably to finish fifth at Ascot on Saturday.

El Kabeir was bred by Rustlewood Farm and raced in the colours of Zayat Stables for trainers John Terranova II and Bill Mott, for whom he notched up five wins and five placings from 19 starts.

The winner of the Grade 2 Jockey Club Stakes at two and two Grade 3 contests at three, the attractive grey was also third to Frosted in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes and was second in two further Graded races during his career.

He also finished a respectable fourth in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap as a four-year-old.

The first foal of the Unbridled's Song mare Great Venue - an unraced half-sister to Grade 2 winner Too Much Bling - the nine-year-old retired to Yeomanstown for the 2018 breeding season at a fee of €8,000.

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