Smart juvenile filly Lady Penelope sold to Phoenix Thoroughbreds

Listed-placed two-year-old Lady Penelope, who has been supplemented for Sunday's Criterium International at Longchamp, has been bought by Phoenix Thoroughbreds in a private deal ahead of her Group 1 date.

The Joseph O'Brien-trained filly was originally owned by Matt Eves, whose Star Bloodstock outfit pinhooked her for £32,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale and re-offered her at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, where she failed to reach her reserve when bidding reached €45,000.

She was subsequently a wide-margin maiden winner at Down Royal before running second in the Listed Harry Rosebery Stakes and taking fourth in the Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte.

“We’ve been impressed with Lady Penelope’s progress this year,” said Phoenix Thoroughbreds CEO Amer Abdulaziz. “She seems to be getting better with every start, which suggests she might make an even better three-year-old.

“We’re looking forward to seeing her race in our silks at the weekend and if she can show improved form again, we’re hopeful she can go close. Whatever happens, with luck we will have a smart filly on our hands.”

Lady Penelope is by exciting first-season sire Night Of Thunder, whose early runners have also included stakes winners Night Colours, Pocket Square, Under The Stars, Molatham and Thunderous.

Bred by Kiltown Bloodstock, she is out of Step Sequence, an unraced daughter of Nayef and Listed scorer Crossover from the family of Group 1 winners Charm Spirit and Ransom O'War.

Lady Penelope, who faces only three rivals in the Criterium International, had been catalogued for the Tattersalls December Breeding-Stock Sale.

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