Musidora winner Snowfall one of the last in line for late Deep Impact

Snowfall looks to have provided her late sire Deep Impact with one of his very few remaining chances to win a European Classic after her thoroughly professional performance from the front in the Tattersalls Musidora Stakes at York.

The omnipotent Japanese stallion died in 2019 after complications from a neck injury and information from the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association shows that he covered only 24 mares in his final season, but also has a far larger crop of two-year-olds still to come.

Coolmore and various associates have used Deep Impact as a powerful outcross for Galileo and Sadler's Wells mares, seen most notably when Saxon Warrior won the 2,000 Guineas and Fancy Blue last year's Prix de Diane and Nassau Stakes. Champions such as Winter and Minding were among those to visit him in his final years.

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Snowfall, bred by Roncon, Chelston and Wynatt, is from a very familiar Coolmore and Aidan O'Brien family as she is out of Best In The World, who did not show her best in the Musidora five years ago but ended up winning the Group 3 Give Thanks Stakes at Cork.

The dam is a full-sister to the brilliant Breeders' Cup and Arc heroine Found, who has also made a promising start with her own first foal, last year's Vintage Stakes scorer Battleground. Both are out of the top-class Red Evie.

While Snowfall is now among the favourites for the Cazoo Oaks, Deep Impact also has a potential Diane contender in the Niarchos family's Harajuku, recent winner of the Prix Cleopatre for Andre Fabre.

Oisin Murphy guides Starman to a first Group victory at YorkCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Earlier on the card, Starman became a 15th Group winner for Cheveley Park Stud stalwart Dutch Art in the Duke of York Clipper Logistics Stakes.

Beaten only once in four career starts, when tried at the highest level at Ascot on Champions Day, Ed Walker's colt is the standout from a small group of mares that owner-breeder David Ward keeps at Whatton Manor Stud.

Ward, a York aficionado, had already had a highlight at the Knavesmire when Starman struck in last year's Listed Garrowby Stakes. He is the second of only three foals out of Ward's minor winning Montjeu mare Northern Star, with his half-sister Sunday Star finishing third in the Group 3 Oh So Sharp Stakes for the same connections.

Dutch Art, the sire of three Group 1 sprinters in Slade Power, Mabs Cross and Garswood, would appear to have another son with that sort of potential as he continues to cover for a private fee at the age of 17.

Credit: Goffs UK

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