Onwards and upwards for Parri family's homebred Italian Oaks winner Auyantepui

Italian Oaks heroine Auyantepui will be on the move to Mario Baratti’s stable in Chantilly next week.

Having justified favouritism against ten rivals in the €407,000 Classic at the San Siro on Sunday, her owners the Parri family and OTI Racing are now excited to see how she will fare in the more competitive environment of French racing.

Giovanni Parri, whose family bred the filly and owned her outright until selling a 50 a per cent share to OTI Racing after she had claimed a Listed race last month, said: “The filly is currently in training with Nicolo Simondi and partner Lucia Lupinacci. Next week she will leave Italy and head to the Mario Baratti stable in Chantilly.

“He was a successful assistant trainer to Marco Botti and Pascal Bary, and now trains on his own accord.”

Auyantepui’s Italian Oaks victory took sire Night Of Thunder’s record to six individual Group winners from his first northern hemisphere crop, while he has 15 stakes victors worldwide thanks to Australian-bred son Cherry Tortoni scoring in Listed company at Flemington only the day before.

Auyantepui is the best performer to date from the winning Montjeu mare Sopran Enery, who is a three-parts sister to the Italian Derby winner and sire Cima de Triomphe, out of the Italian 1,000 Guineas heroine Sopran Londa.

Auyantepui and Claudio Colombi hit the front in the Oaks d'Italia at the San Siro

Parri added: “Auyantepui and her dam essentially represent our mission as breeders: to invest in the Italian female line - Longobarda-Sopran Londa - that had successful careers in Italy and abroad, both in racing and as broodmare.

“We bought Sopran Enery at the Arqana Sale. She’s a big mare, and when we chose Night Of Thunder we thought of giving her the possibility to have a Classic prospect. It's not easy to find the right stallion for Sopran Enery because she’s by Montjeu out of a Danehill mare.”

He continued: “Auyantepui, for her colour, quality, size and approach, has always been easy to recognise, ever since she was a foal. She knew what she wanted but, at the same time, if you had the right approach, she was very disposed to follow you.

“We always saw great qualities in her, but she needed time. For this reason she remained in pre-training until June of last year. In October we brought her to our farm again, and then we sent her to Nicolo Simondi at the beginning of 2020.”

Click here to read our special on Italian racing and breeding, featuring a Q&A with Massimo Parri