Signs Of Blessing gives Invincible Spirit 14th top-level winner

Signs Of Blessing became the 14th individual Group/Grade 1 winner for Irish National Stud stalwart Invincible Spirit when landing the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville on Sunday.

Signs Of Blessing, a five-year-old gelding, was bred by Serge Boucheron out of the unraced Seeking The Gold mare Sun Bittern, who is herself out of the 2002 Cheshire Oaks third Sunray Superstar, a Nashwan sister to Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Nadia.

Further back it is the family of Beverley D Stakes winner Flawlessly and Anglesey Stakes winner Lake Como.

The 2016 Prix Maurice de Gheest is the fourth renewal to go the way of one of Invincible Spirit's progeny, after wondermare Moonlight Cloud claimed consecutive successes in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Invincible Spirit, a Group 1-winning son of Green Desert, stood the 2016 breeding season at a career-high fee of €120,000.

Sunday's victory provided the 19-year-old with his second Group 1 winner of the year, after the Clive Cox-trained Profitable took out the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The victory also means there is a significant update for one of the lots on offer at the Arqana August Yearling Sale in Deauville in seven days' time, with Haras du Mezeray consiging lot 129, Sun Bittern's fifth produce, a sister to Signs Of Blessing.