Sioux Nation has his first runner on opening day at the Curragh

Group 1 Phoenix Stakes winner Sioux Nation will have his first runner at the Curragh on Saturday as daughter Ocean Quest makes her debut on the opening day of the Irish Flat season.

The filly contests the first race on the card (1.25) for Jessica Harrington and Shane Foley at the scene of her sire's greatest triumph. Ocean Quest was bred by Dr TK Chah and is a half-sister to Rhythm Of Zain, a triple winner as a juvenile in 2021.

They are the first two runners out of Gold Zain, an Aqlaam half-sister to German 2,000 Guineas winner Poetic Dream and Group 3 winner Who Knows. Ocean Quest's second dam Zain Al Boldan won the Lingfield Oaks Trial.

A son of Scat Daddy, Sioux Nation won the Phoenix Stakes at two for Aidan O'Brien and Coolmore having previously tasted victory in Royal Ascot's Norfolk Stakes.

Ante-post favourite to be the season's leading first-season sire, Sioux Nation went on to win the Group 3 Lacken Stakes at three and was third to Havana Grey, another stallion with his first runners this season, in the Flying Five Stakes back at the Curragh.

Race card

Retired to Coolmore, he has 161 registered two-year-olds in his first crop and has the numbers to mount a concerted challenge for the sires' crown.

Among Ocean Quest's rivals is the regally bred Finsceal Go Deo, a daughter of triple Group 1 winner Finsceal Beo. Representing the same Micheal Ryan, Jim Bolger and Kevin Manning team as her Classic-winning dam, Finsceal Go Deo is a Kingman half-sister to Beresford Stakes winner Ol' Man River.

Midnight Toker, a €300,000 Goffs Orby purchase for Peter Brant from Kilminfoyle House Stud, also makes his debut in the same race. Trained by Ger Lyons, he is an Acclamation half-brother to the Group 3 winner K Club and the Listed-placed Back To Brussels.

Later in the afternoon, last season's 1,000 Guineas and Prix Rothschild winner Mother Earth makes her seasonal reappearance in the Group 3 Park Express Stakes (3.41).

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