'She has the same confident air' - half-sister to star sprinter Regional set for Friday appearance at Tattersalls

Italian breeder Isabella Bezzera hopes to cap a memorable few months when she presents a Palace Pier half-sister to the Haydock Sprint Cup winner Regional as lot 813 in Friday's session of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

Ed Bethell's fast-improver was produced by Bezzera and her husband Guido's Razza del Sole, an operation near Varese which is run in tandem with Old Buckenham Stud in Norfolk.

The son of Territories was bought at this sale in 2018 by Emerald Bloodstock for 35,000gns, leaping up to 120,000gns when pinhooked by Lodge Park Stud at Book 2. 

Although a maiden winner for Richard Fahey, he was unearthed for just 3,500gns at the 2021 July Sale by Bethell and Tom Biggs of Blandford Bloodstock and raced through the ranks for his new connections, collecting prize-money in Qatar and winning the Listed Achilles Stakes before his path-finding Group 1 success at Haydock.

Bezzerra's love affair with Territories was cemented at the beginning of December when the homebred colt Master established himself among the top Italian juveniles with victory in the Group 3 Premio Guido E Alessandro Berardelli in Rome.

"Regional is certainly the most prestigious colt I have bred, winning a Group 1 in England against very strong horses is a dream come true for me and a beautiful image of Italian breeding," said Bezzera, who has bred the likes of Luca Cumani's Singapore Cup winner Endless Hall.

Palace Pier: an obvious choice to replicate the breeding of Regional

"I remember when I presented Regional as a foal at the November Sale five years ago as Old Buckenham Stud. A very athletic, correct and very good-walking foal, he's from a very interesting family too. The Listed-winning dam, Favulusa, is by Dansili and a sister to black-type winners and he had interested many buyers."

Bezzerra has a long association with the family as she bred Favulusa on behalf of the Rencati stable at Old Buckenham and bought her when that operation, which produced Italian heavyweight Falbrav, ceased activity six years ago. 

The mare is also responsible for Franz Strauss, by Golden Horn, who was fourth behind Westover in last year's Sandown Classic Trial and won twice for Bhupat Seemar in Dubai at the start of 2023.

The filly foal could be one of those to give Palace Pier a bump with his first crop, and it was the paternal line of Dalham Hall's elite miler that encouraged the breeder to send Favalusa his way. 

"I liked Palace Pier for his class, for his racing career, for his compact and balanced physique," explains Bezzera. "I thought of then repeating the cross of Invincible Spirit as with Regional.

"The filly physically resembles Regional as a foal. Strong, athletic, correct, she is a very good walker too with the same confident air."

Isabella Bezzera brings three foals to Tattersalls from Old Buckenham Stud

Old Buckenham brings two other foals to market during Friday's session, both sons of another young Darley stallion in Pinatubo.

"Pinatubo is a sire who is very interesting in terms of model, racing career and precocity," says Bezzera.

"The first in the ring [812] is the son of Mujadil Lachy, a young mare by Kyllachy who was a dual Listed winner. She has already produced a winner in France and a colt who made £220,000 this year at the Doncaster breeze-up.

"The second foal by Pinatubo out of Morellina [867] has a family with many black-type subjects also active in England, such as the good two-year-old Son [a winner and Listed placed at Salisbury for Richard Hannon and Julie Wood].

"Both colt foals are physically very athletic and correct, and I hope they will be of interest to the English market."

The last two days of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale are on Friday and Saturday, sessions beginning at 10am.

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