Gentildonna's Deep Impact sister Donna Attraente obliges on debut

Donna Attraente went one better than her legendary older sister Gentildonna as the two-year-old filly won on debut at Niigata in Japan on Sunday.

Gentildonna, the first three-year-old filly to win the Japan Cup and first horse to win back-to-back runnings of the race, could only manage second place on her first start.

By the phenomenal Deep Impact and out of Cheveley Park Stakes winner Donna Blini, Donna Attraente had the assistance of leading French jockey Christophe Lemaire for her racecourse debut. She showed signs of greenness in the straight, taking her time to get going but when Lemaire pushed the button, she responded well and ran out an easy winner of the 1800m newcomer's race.

Bred, like her seven-time Group 1-winning sister, by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Racing, Donna Attraente runs in the colours of Sunday Racing.

Donna Blini has a yearling full-sister to Gentildonna and Donna Attraente and a colt foal by King Kamehameha. Gentildonna, meanwhile, has produced three foals since retiring to stud with a two-year-old filly and yearling colt by King Kamehameha - who stands alongside Deep Impact at the Yoshida family's Shadai Stallion Station - and a filly foal by Maurice.

Gentildonna's sister Donna Attraente in the JRHA sales ring as a yearlingCredit: Michele MacDonald

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