Perfect start for Dubawi colt bought for 2.6m gns at Book 1

Prince Eiji - the most expensive colt sold at Tattersalls Book 1 last year - got his racing career off to the perfect start when winning the 7f Charbonnel Et Walker British EBF Maiden Stakes at Ascot on Friday.

The Dubawi colt is trained by Roger Varian - who signed the docket at 2.6 million guineas - and raced in the colours of Dubawi's owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid.

The winner was kept up to his work by Andrea Atzeni and fended off the fast-finishing Invincible Spirit colt Red Armada by half a length - two lengths clear of their nearest pursuer.

Watch Prince Eiji win impressively on debut

The race was aimed at two-year-olds with staying pedigrees and the conditions stipulated that a runner's sire or dam must have won over ten furlongs or further.

While Irish 2,000 Guineas winner and Derby third Dubawi never won beyond a mile, Prince Eiji was eligible to run as his dam Izzi Top, by Pivotal, won the Pretty Polly Stakes and Prix Jean Romanet - both Group 1 races run over 1m2f.

Prince Eiji is one of three Dubawi colts to sell for 2.6m gns at Book 1 - the others being dual Group 3 winner Glorious Journey, out of Coronation Stakes heroine Fallen For You, and Emaraaty, a son of Prince Eiji's granddam Zee Zee Top who boasts a Racing Post Rating of 116. That pair shared top billing at Book 1 in 2016.

Bred by Meon Valley Stud, Prince Eiji is a half-brother to Willie John - who broke the Tattersalls February Sale record this year when bought by Prince Eiji's connections for 1.9m gns - and Dreamfield, who was a close second in the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot this year.

Izzi Top is out of Prix de l'Opera heroine Zee Zee Top, whose dam is the 1986 Irish Oaks winner Colorspin, meaning Prince Eiji's first three dams have all won at the highest level.

Colorspin produced the champion older horses Kayf Tara - now a leading jumps sire - and Opera House. She is also a half-sister to the 1994 Champion Stakes scorer Cezanne, and Bella Colora, who precedes Zee Zee Top on the Prix de l'Opera roll of honour.

Prince Eiji is one of six descendants of blue hen Reprocolor to fetch seven figures for Meon Valley at the Tattersalls October Sale and its precedent, the Houghton Sale.

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