Thrilling Thursday in store for pedigree buffs with head-turning newcomers galore

Haydock, Leopardstown and Chelmsford all play host to fillies' contests on Thursday which are brimful of blue-blooded newcomers. 

The first place to start is Haydock, which has an intriguing event in the Betfred 'Play Fred's £5 Million'' Fillies' Novice Stakes (4.40). 

Blue Diamond Stud's debutante Haute Couture is a half-sister to the top-class Decorated Knight, being by Kingman and out of the brilliant Pearling, a Storm Cat sister to Giant's Causeway as well as You'resothrilling, the dam of champion two-year-old and dual 2,000 Guineas hero Gleneagles. 

The phenomenal Group 2 Cherry Hinton Stakes winner is also the dam of Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Marvellous, dual Group 1-winning juvenile Happily, Prix de Diane victress Joan Of Arc, multiple Australian Group winner Taj Mahal, plus the Classic or Grade 1-placed trio of Vatican City, Toy and Coolmore. 

Pearling (leading): dam of Decorated KnightCredit: Blue Diamond Stud

Another in the seven-furlong contest is Shadwell homebred Al Thariyaat, a Dubawi half-sister to the Listed-winning Al Asifah. The pair are out of the stakes-placed Lawman mare Aneen, a half-sister to Irish 2,000 Guineas hero and Derrinstown Stud sire Awtaad, as well as Listed winner and Group 3 1,000 Guineas Trial second Mehnah 

The opening Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden at Leopardstown (4.55), meanwhile, sees Aidan O'Brien saddle two Frankel youngsters out of brilliant performers in Mecca's Angel (Bedtime Story) and Newspaperofrecord (Giselle). 

Bedtime Story is the fifth foal out of the dual Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes winner and daughter of Dark Angel. Just a 16,000gns Tattersalls Book 2 purchase by trainer Michael Dods, Mecca's Angel won six black-type contests from ten career victories before her private sale to Coolmore, in a deal brokered by Blandford Bloodstock, in late 2016. 

Now 13, Mecca's Angel's two winners are headed by the classy Galileo filly Content, winner of the Group 3 Staffordstown Stud Stakes and a fast-finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last season. Mecca's Angel's first foal is the winning Galileo colt Hudson River, while the mare produced a filly by Frankel this season. 

Newspaperofrecord flies home in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies TurfCredit: Edward Whitaker

Stablemate and rival Giselle is the first foal out of Lope De Vega's Newspaperofrecord, a wide-margin winner of the 2018 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and the 2020 Grade 1 Just A Game Stakes. 

Newspaperofrecord was bred by Times of Wigan and is a half-sister to the stakes winner Classical Times, being out of Group 3 Sceptre Stakes winner and Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes second Sunday Times, a Holy Roman Emperor half-sister to the Listed-placed Shamardal mare Question Times, the dam of Irish Derby hero Latrobe and Oaks second Pink Dogwood. 

Newspaperofrecord, a 200,000gns Book 1 purchase by Klaravich Stables, was also sold privately. She produced a Frankel brother to Giselle last year. 

Another interesting newcomer in the race is the Jessica Harrington-trained Vega's Muse, a daughter of Lope De Vega and Group 3 Prestige Stakes winner Boomer. The Chasemore Farm-bred Book 1 graduate had a tricky start to life after her dam rejected her, but it seems it's a case of all's well that ends well. 

Dawn Approach: top-class racehorse and Classic-winning sireCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Back in Britain, at Chelmsford (7.15), Andrew Balding and Qatar Racing unleash Upton, a Kitten's Joy sister to their record-breaking 2,000 Guineas and Futurity Trophy winner Kameko. 

The Tweenhills sire has been making plenty of headlines of late, with three winners arriving in quick succession from his first crop, and there looks to be plenty more in the locker for the exciting stallion. 

Upton is the eighth foal out of the Rock Of Gibraltar mare Sweeter Still, an American Grade 3 winner during her own racing days. The 19-year-old is a half-sister to Group 1 Racing Post Trophy winner and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes third Kingsbarns, by Galileo, as well as Group 3 1,000 Guineas Trial winner Belle Artiste and the stakes-placed Elizabethofaragon.

The three-year-old is not the only well-bred newcomer in the race, with Daylight Chorus holding considerable interest as a Teofilo half-sister to champion two-year-old, 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace winner Dawn Approach. She is also a half-sibling to Dawn Approach's New Approach brother Herald The Dawn, winner of the Group 2 Futurity Stakes and second in the Group 1 National Stakes. 

Bred by Jim Bolger, whose fingerprints are all over the pedigree, Daylight Chorus sold to BBA Ireland for €245,000 at the 2022 Goffs Orby Sale.

Goffs London Sale

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