A stellar first mating for Soul Sister as injury recurrence forces her retirement to stud

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Here, Martin Stevens chats to Daylesford Stud manager Chris Lock and unearths an exclusive on Soul Sister. Subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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Last year’s Oaks winner Soul Sister has been retired after a recurrence of the injury that ruled her out of the second half of last season. 

The Frankel filly has been transported to Ireland for a suitably prestigious mating before joining her owner-breeder Lady Bamford’s broodmare band at the idyllic Daylesford Stud in Gloucestershire.

Soul Sister ran only five times in less than a year, but proved she was right out of the top drawer in that short space of time. 

She was sent out by John and Thady Gosden to take a backend Doncaster maiden on debut at two, flopped in the Fred Darling Stakes on her three-year-old bow due to the desperate going at Newbury, and bounced back to win the Musidora Stakes by four lengths and the Oaks by a length and three-quarters.

She then finished a creditable third behind the high-class colts Feed The Flame and Adelaide River in the Grand Prix de Paris, on what turned out to be her final start, as injury intervened later in the summer and has ruled her out of running at four.

“The plan was to keep Soul Sister in training, but unfortunately she had a little recurrence of last year’s niggle, and we felt it was in the filly’s best interests to retire her,” says Daylesford Stud manager Chris Lock.

“We felt there was no point trying to bring her back in two or three months only to find the injury had come back even worse. So Lady Bamford made the decision to retire her, and thankfully the filly had started cycling, so we could quickly get all the paperwork done and get her to Ireland to be covered by Sea The Stars.

Soul Sister will be heading to Sea The Stars for her first matingCredit: Edward Whitaker

“She’s going to be covered within the next week, hopefully. Lady Bamford is a huge fan of Sea The Stars – she has been for many years now – so it’s a bit of a no-brainer, really. That should be a good, solid start for her, and we’re all looking forward to seeing what she produces next year.”

It’s no surprise that Lady Bamford is so enamoured with Sea The Stars, as she aims to breed Classic types rather than here today, gone tomorrow two-year-olds, and that’s exactly what the sire delivers on a consistent basis.

The purchase of Soul Sister’s dam Dream Peace for 2,700,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale of 2013 was made in the same spirit.  

The now 16-year-old mare is a Dansili three parts-sister to Poule d’Essai des Poulains runner-up Catcher In The Rye from the family of top-class middle-distance fillies L’Ancresse and Moonstone, and she had a lot of talent over a trip as well, winning the Group 2 Prix de la Nonette at Deauville and finishing second in consecutive renewals of the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga.

Dream Peace has done exactly what Lady Bamford hoped for, by producing not only Soul Sister but also the Group 3 winner Dreamflight and Group 3-placed Herman Hesse, all by Frankel.

“It was a very easy decision, she went back to Frankel this year,” says Lock. “I’m pleased to say she’s well in foal now. 

“She’s got a two-year-old filly by Le Havre who we saw in pre-training the other day, and appears to be going very well, and also a yearling filly by Sea The Stars, who’ll obviously be retained. She has no foal this year.

Dream Peace, the dam of Soul Sister, selling to Hugo Lascelles for 2,700,000gns at the 2013 Tattersalls December Mares SaleCredit: Laura Green

“Soul Sister was Dream Peace’s sixth foal but the first to be female, so we were sweating a bit at one point, but there’s plenty of fillies in the family now, which is brilliant for the future of the stud.”

Soul Sister isn’t the only Pattern-winning retiree to Daylesford Stud. Also new to the stocklist are Random Harvest, a homebred daughter of War Front and the Listed-winning Pivotal mare Seta who won Group 3s at San Siro and Ascot; and Rosscarbery, a daughter of Sea The Stars and the Listed-winning Authorized mare Rose Rized who was bought in training for 1,000,000gns and won three Group 3s and was Group 1-placed.

“Random Harvest went over to Ballylinch Stud to be covered by New Bay and was scanned in foal two days ago,” reports Lock. 

“We’ve got some very nice foals and yearlings by New Bay on the stud, and Lady Bamford was keen to send a nice, young mare his way this season. Random Harvest should suit him down to the ground on pedigree and physique.”

Rosscarbery is also heading overseas, but a little further afield than Ireland; all the way to Kentucky, in fact. 

“Rosscarbery has gone to Justify,” continues Lock. “She was covered nice and early in the season, and took first time, which was great. We also sent him Queen Of My Heart, who was the top lot at Arqana three years ago, but didn’t have things go quite her way on the track. She’s holding cover.

“It was a relatively easy decision. Justify is one of the best young stallions around, getting serious horses all around the world, so if you’ve got the mare, it makes sense to use him. Both suit him well. 

Rosscarbery (yellow) has been successfully covered by JustifyCredit: Patrick McCann

“I’d imagine Rosscarbery and Queen Of My Heart will both stay out in Kentucky, and be covered by him again next year before coming home with their foals, as a package.”

Soul Sister’s retirement also means that Daylesford Stud will find itself in the remarkable position of housing three homebred Oaks winners when she returns from Ireland safely in foal to Sea The Stars, all things being equal.

She will join Sariska, who carried Lady Bamford’s famous all-maroon silks to victory at Epsom and the Curragh in 2009, and Star Of Seville, who scored at Chantilly in 2015.

“Sariska’s retired now, she’s out in the paddock as company for Tropbeau, who had a very nice Frankel colt as her first foal last year and is going back to Frankel on the strength of him,” says Lock. 

“Sariska will probably have her nanny hat back on when Soul Sister comes home, to help get her settled in. She does a great job looking after the late foalers and the youngsters now. 

"She’s in good shape, and did well over the winter. She looks five years younger than she is. She’s in good spirits, although she always makes sure she’s the boss of the field.”

Sariska, a wonderfully gifted racemare who also finished second to Fame And Glory in the Coronation Cup, hasn’t been quite so brilliant at stud, but the daughter of Pivotal does have four winners to her name, including the stakes-placed pair Snow Moon (by Oasis Dream) and Tygress (by Kingman).

Sariska: brilliant racemare has four winners to her nameCredit: Mark Cranham

Tygress has been kept in training with Andre Fabre at four, and Lock says: “She wintered very well, and is a big deal for the stud, as a Group 3-placed daughter of Sariska, so we thought we’d keep her in training. She ran an encouraging fourth in a Listed race at Longchamp yesterday."

 “Andre also has Sariska’s final foal Pellegrin, a full-sister to Tygress. She’s struggled to get out of mid-division in her races so far, but she looks good at home and Andre hasn’t given up on her, so fingers crossed there’s more to come. Both will obviously have a home here when they retire.”

Star Of Seville, a Duke Of Marmalade half-sister to St James’s Palace Stakes second King Of Comedy and Fillies’ Mile third English Ballet, has yet to make her mark as a broodmare, but has plenty of well bred progeny in the pipeline. She has a two-year-old filly and yearling colt by Dubawi, and has recently produced a beautifully bred foal. 

“Star Of Seville foaled a very nice Baaeed colt a few days ago and she’s going back to him on the strength of that,” says Lock. “He's a very smart model, we’re really happy with him. 

“Star Spirit, a Deep Impact mare who was Star Of Seville’s first offspring, gave birth to an equally nice Havana Grey filly this year and is now going to Starspangledbanner. We try to inject a bit of speed into the broodmare band here and there; not raw speed, but a bit of pace by our standards.

“Queen Of Comedy, a Kingman full-sister to King Of Comedy, had a lovely Sea The Stars chestnut colt this season and, again, we’ve repeated the mating because of that.

"Sea The Stars combined with a Classic family is exactly what Lady Bamford loves, and what we’re all about here.”

Tropbeau returns to Frankel off the back of her colt foal by the champion sireCredit: Racing Post / Scott Burton

Among the other blue-chip mares at Daylesford Stud, Suphala, a Group 3-winning daughter of Frankel, produced a No Nay Never colt this year and now heads to Sioux Nation; To Eternity, a Listed-winning Galileo full-sister to top-notchers Forever Now, Gan Amhras and Shantaram who has bred Lady Bamford’s Group 2 place-getter True Testament, returns to that horse’s sire Siyouni; and Queen Of Love, a Listed-winning daughter of Kingman, has a No Nay Never filly foal and is booked into Dark Angel. 

Furthermore, Dolphin, a placed Sea The Stars half-sister to Thistle Bird, has been covered by Wootton Bassett; Love Child, a Listed-winning Dark Angel half-sister to Brundtland, is visiting Zarak; and Alice Bamford’s Belmont Park Grade 2 winner Californiagoldrush visits Ace Impact.                                        

“We’ve got some really nice young stock coming through the ranks, and lots of exciting mares still at the outset of their careers with first foals and yearlings, so it’s an exciting time for the stud,” sums up Lock, who was celebrating another exciting winner for the operation on Sunday, when the Churchill filly Star Jasmine broke her maiden at Bath.

“I’m not saying we’ve definitely got another Oaks winner straight away, but I’m sure there’s a lovely filly or two somewhere among all those youngsters.”

It’s not entirely out of the question that Lady Bamford could be celebrating Epsom Classic success again this year, as it’s easy to see the once-raced Oaks entry Divine Presence – available at 100-1 in some places – quickly making up into a credible contender.

Star Of Seville: Prix de Diane winner has some beautifully bred stock in the pipelineCredit: Edward Whitaker

The daughter of Dubawi and Beautiful Morning, herself a Group 3 winner by Galileo out of George Washington’s only foal Date With Destiny, finished fourth at Lingfield over the Christmas period on her debut for the Gosdens. 

“She was unplaced but she didn’t help herself by sitting in the stalls and giving them all about a nine-length head start, so she ran okay in the circumstances,” says Lock. “John and Thady are very sweet on her, and have always said she was a nice filly.

“She’ll be out again soon enough this season, it’s just a case of waiting for some better ground. She’s also in the Prix de Diane, and John and Thady don’t tend to waste entries by making them just to keep owners happy.”

We’ll have to wait and see how much ability Divine Presence possesses. There are worse 100-1 shots in racing, you'd think.

For the time being, though, Daylesford Stud will have to content itself with just the three Oaks winners gracing its expansive, lush paddocks: Sariska, Star Of Seville and, from this year, Soul Sister.

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