Sisters to Al Kazeem and Mecca's Angel to contest same maiden

This year's Nunthorpe Stakes may be missing dual winner Mecca's Angel, but there could well be shades of the lightning fast grey elsewhere on Friday as her two-year-old sister Faay is set to debut over 7f at Newmarket's July course at 1.35.

Faay is the fourth foal out of the winning Atraf mare Folga, whose five offspring are all by Yeomanstown Stud's flagbearer Dark Angel.

They are: dual Group 1 winner Mecca's Angel, who was retired from racing at the end of her five-year-old campaign and was covered by the inimitable Galileo earlier in 2017; Markaz, a dual Group 3 winner who stood his first season at Shadwell's Derrinstown Stud earlier this year; the three-year-old filly Dirayah, an 825,000gns purchase by Oliver St Lawrence who is yet to race for trainer George Peckham and owner Fawzi Nass; and a colt by the son of Acclamation foaled by Folga in Februaru.

Folga, a winner over 5f and 6f, including at two, is a half-sister to French Listed winner Desert Kaya, and is out of the Group 3 winner Desert Dawn. Despite the family's proclivity for speed, none of Mecca's Angel, Markaz or Folga made a winning debut, so it will be interesting to see if Faay can show a touch more precocity than her high-achieving siblings did.

Should she make a winning start, she would immediately repay some of the 400,000gns Charlie Gordon-Watson parted with on behalf of owner Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah, best known for campaigning the likes of Daban, Dabyah and Nathra, at Book 1 of last year's Tattersalls October Sales.

Mecca's Angel powers away from Limato to land her second Nunthorpe StakesCredit: Mark Cranham

She is not the only full-sibling to a Group 1 winner in the ten-strong field however, as Roger Charlton is set to take the wraps off Kazeera, a Dubawi sister to Al Kazeem.

Kazeera is the 11th foal out of the Darshaan mare Kazeem, who in turn is out of the Group 3-winning and Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Kanz. Kazeem has produced four winners to date, most notably Al Kazeem, whose ten wins includ two Tattersalls Gold Cups, a Prince of Wales's Stakes, and a Coral-Eclipse. The nine-year-old son of Dubawi now stands at his owner and breeder John Deer's Oakgrove Stud, and currently has his first crop of two-year-olds on the ground.

Kazeera is also closely related to Makzeem, a steadily progressive son of Makfi also in training with Charlton. The Dubawi over Darshaan cross has also been responsible for Prix Saint-Alary heroine Sobetsu and Ribblesdale Stakes winner Coronet.

Also of note is the David Lanigan-trained debutante Narodowa, a daughter of Iffraaj out of the unraced Polish Precedent mare Zacheta. Bred by Rabbah Bloodstock, the filly is a half-sister to the Group 2 Joel Stakes winner Ransom Note as well as three other minor winners.

Her unraced dam is a half-sister to the 2002 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Marienbard, a son of Caerleon who also notched top-level wins in the Grosser Preis von Baden and the Deutschlandpreis.

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