Kurious continues outstanding sequence for breeder Marie Matthews

The breeding career of Marie Matthews’ remarkable mare Easy To Imagine moved into another chapter as Kurious became her third Group-winning sprinter after the Coral Charge at Sandown.

East Yorkshire-based Matthews was part of an ownership interest in two sons of the unraced daughter of Cozzene and Coronation Stakes third Zarani Sidi Anna, and they resulted in a Prix de l’Abbaye triumph for Tangerine Trees and last year’s Nunthorpe for Alpha Delphini.

All of the mare’s six recorded runners have won races, including reliable performer Masai Moon. Kurious is her last reported foal.

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The Hot To Trot Racing syndicate is running the three-year-old, who has made swift progress in the care of Henry Candy. She won at the opening attempt over the same Sandown five furlongs last season and was not beaten far in the Queen Mary Stakes.

Now a regular down the Sandown chute, she was second in a hot handicap back in the spring and earned Listed honours in last month’s Scurry Stakes.

Kuroshiro is now making his mark at Clongiffen StudCredit: Patrick McCann

Upped to Group 3 level here, Kurious came under severe pressure from the front but showed real resilience along the rail, eventually halting the final challenge of Garrus by three-quarters of a length in a manner to suggest she could be running for top honours later this summer.

She represents a first Pattern winner for Kuroshio, who has found a home under the Compas Stallions banner at Clongiffen Stud in Ireland after a peripatetic start to life as a sire.

A Group 2 winner in sprint company in Australia, he has been in more demand after the exploits of the likes of Vintage Stakes runner-up Dunkerron. Star sprinter Bounding and even this year’s Investec Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck are from the family of a stallion who is advertised at €6,000.

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