Sottsass puts the spotlight on latest Monceaux mare marvel Starlet's Sister

Among the many jewels contained within the broodmare band at elite Normandy nursery Ecurie des Monceaux it was Prudenzia who had sparkled the brightest in recent years, the daughter of Dansili having produced high-class fillies Chicquita and Magic Wand and her yearlings having grossed more than €6.5 million at auction.

But even she is in danger of being outshone by another Monceaux mare in Starlet's Sister, a ten-year-old daughter of Galileo and Del Mar Oaks third Premiere Creation.

Starlet's Sister, a non-winner but placed for Alain de Royer-Dupre, has produced Pattern winners from her first three foals and her third offspring, the Siyouni colt Sottsass, came with a withering late run to cut back favourite Persian King and win the Prix du Jockey Club in record time at Chantilly on Sunday.

The dam's first offspring, the Myboycharlie filly Sistercharlie, finished second in the Prix de Diane for Henri-Alex Pantall and owner Peter Brant's White Birch Farm and was later exported to the US, where she became a champion on turf last year by winning four Grade 1s – the Jenny Wiley Stakes, Diana Stakes, Beverly D Stakes and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf – for new trainer Chad Brown.

Her second foal, the Acclamation filly My Sister Nat, was trained by Francis-Henri Graffard and took the Group 3 Prix Bertrand de Tarragon and finished placed in the Prix Chloe and Prix de la Nonette last year.

Sottsass, saddled by Jean-Claude Rouget for Brant after the owner gave €340,000 for him through Oceanic Bloodstock at the Arqana August Yearling Sale, had advertised his Classic claims with a wide-margin success in the Listed Prix de Suresnes at Chantilly last month. Having proved a top-drawer colt with his Prix du Jockey Club triumph he has been introduced at 16-1 for the Arc.

What makes the achievements of Starlet's Sister all the more admirable is that her early produce are the result of relatively inexpensive covers: Myboycharlie was commanding a €6,500 fee for the mating that came up with Sistercharlie, while Acclamation was at €35,000 in the year before My Sister Nat was born and Siyouni was pitched at €20,000 in 2015, when Sottsass was conceived.

Starlet's Sister, a sister to Prix Cleopatre winner Leo's Starlet, has a two-year-old colt by Charm Spirit named Radiant Child who is also owned by Brant after he was bought by Oceanic Bloodstock for €400,000 at Deauville last August, and a Fastnet Rock yearling colt.

She has a Dubawi filly foal at foot and was covered by Darley's kingpin sire again this year.

Sottsass was bred in the year after Aga Khan Studs stallion Siyouni made a fine impression with his first two-year-old runners and his fee was increased from €7,000 to €20,000. The Haras de Bonneval resident's price has risen again every year since then, to the point that it reached €100,000 for 2019.

Those price hikes have come on the back of Siyouni posting 30 stakes winners, headed by the Classic-winning fillies Ervedya and Laurens and the Group 1-placed colts City Light and Le Brivido. Sottsass marks an important new milestone for the stallion, as a first son to strike at the highest level of competition.

Sottsass is the second stakes winner by Siyouni out of a Galileo mare, after this season's five-length Pretty Polly Stakes scorer Maqsad, an apparent non-stayer when eighth in the Oaks on Friday. It would be no surprise to see many more runners bred on the cross in years to come, as breeders are bound to mine the stallion, a son of Pivotal out of a Danehill mare, as an effective outcross for the many high-class and/or well related daughters of Galileo on studs across Europe.

Siyouni: son of Pivotal could be a popular option for Galileo maresCredit: Aga Khan Studs

Sottsass becomes the 26th Group/Grade 1 winner produced by a Galileo mare, just a day after the 25 mark was reached by the Declaration Of War filly Winning Ways scoring in the Queensland Oaks in Australia.

Furthermore, he is the second Classic victor of 2019 who boasts Galileo as broodmare sire, after 2,000 Guineas hero Magna Grecia, a son of Invincible Spirit.

Ecurie des Monceaux manager Henri Bozo was on hand to watch his graduate strike at Chantilly and he said after the race: “This is the eighth Group 1 winner we have bred since 2010. It's a great reward for everyone who works at the farm, the whole team, and also the people who trust us and buy horses from us.

“Buying [Starlet's Sister] was a bit of luck really but she's by Galileo and he brings a little magic. She's been quite an amazing mare and is still very young.

“We're good friends with the Aga Khan Studs and are very proud and happy to provide Siyouni with his first Group 1-winning colt.”

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