It's Australia day! Coolmore freshman posts two new winners

Anything you can do, I can do better: only hours after his fellow freshman sire Kingman was represented by Persian King, a six-length winner of a Chantilly maiden, as well as the second home in that race, Australia also delivered a one-two in a Curragh maiden on Saturday and followed that up with a wide-margin scorer of a Beverley novice stakes.

Australia supplied only two of the runners in the John Sisk & Son Irish EBF Maiden for two-year-old colts and geldings over a mile at the Curragh but they filled the gold and silver medal positions.

View result and watch replay of Sydney Opera House winning

Result and replay of Brassica making it a double for Australia

Sydney Opera House, trained by Aidan O'Brien and ridden by son Donnacha, made most of the running and found plenty when pressed to win by a comfortable one and a half lengths from his Edward Lynam-trained paternal half-brother Patrick Sarsfield, who also raced prominently and kept on.

Third home in the contest was Norway, a son of Australia's sire Galileo and a brother to Derby hero Ruler Of The World and half-brother to multiple Group 1 winner Duke Of Marmalade.

Sydney Opera House, who was making his third start, was bred by the Pocock family of Stringston Farm in Somerset and is the ninth foal out of the winning Salse mare Sitara, who was bought by Robert Pocock for just 10,000gns at the Tattersalls December Sale in 2002.

Sydney Opera House (left) gets off the mark at the CurraghCredit: Patrick McCann

Sitara has proved to be one of the breeding stock bargains of the century as besides Sydney Opera House – given quotes of 33-1 for the Derby – she has also produced last year's Melbourne Cup hero Rekindling and Chester Vase winner and Irish Derby second Golden Sword, both sons of High Chaparral, as well as the dam of Grade 2-placed Julie's Love.

Sydney Opera House was sold by Stringston Farm to Rathbarry Stud as a foal at Tattersalls for 165,000gns, and resold by Rathbarry to Coolmore and partners for 525,000gns in the same ring at Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale.

Sitara was also a shrewd acquisition because her pedigree improved leaps and bounds after her purchase by Stringston Farm. She is a half-sister to the Listed-winning Darshaan mare Puce, who is now ancestress of Chicquita and Magic Wand, and to Shouk, who became dam of Group 1-winning half-sisters Alexandrova and Magical Romance.

Sitara has a Gleneagles yearling filly due to sell at Book 1 next month and a Toronado colt foal, while she was covered by Intello this season.

Australia's second winner on Saturday was Brassica, who broke her maiden at the second time of asking for trainer Sir Mark Prescott and owner Denford Stud by two and a half lengths over 7½f at Beverley.

The filly was bred by Ashtown Holdings and is the first foal out of the Listed-placed Acclamation mare Lasilia, a half-sister to last month's Hungerford Stakes and Supreme Stakes runner-up Dream Of Dreams.

Lasilia is in turn out of Vasilia, an unraced Dansili half-sister to the brilliant sprinter Airwave, whose Listed-winning daughter Meow is the dam of Group 1-winning pair Clemmie and Churchill. Ill-fated Nunthorpe Stakes winner Jwala was another half-sister to Airwave and Lasilia.

Lasilia has a Zoffany yearling filly heading to the Goffs Orby Sale – where Prescott bought Brassica for €50,000 in 2017 – and she was covered by Lope De Vega this year.

It has been a fruitful 24 hours for Australia, as he posted another new winner on Friday when Almania scored at Sandown on his second start.

The dual Derby hero, who stood at Coolmore this year at a fee of €35,000, now has seven individual first-crop winners to his name including the three-length Prix du Calvados scorer Beyond Reason.

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