Mikki Isle a fitting Group 1 winner in wake of Brant's return

There was a certain symmetry to the fact that the sole Group 1 race last Sunday fell to a horse from a family once associated with Peter Brant less than 24 hours after the once influential industry figure confirmed his return to the business by acquiring the majority of the Wildenstein stock on offer at the Goffs November Sale.

The horse in question, Mikki Isle, was a brave winner of the Mile Championship at Kyoto in Japan. It was the five-year-old’s second Group 1 win for trainer Hidetaka Otonashi following the NHK Mile Cup in May 2014. Sunday’s success may have come off the back of a Group 1 drought but he has acquitted himself well this year by running second twice at the highest level, thereby demonstrating the kind of quality and consistency we have come to associate with Deep Impact’s progeny.

One of 27 Group 1 winners by Deep Impact overall and the ninth to score this year, Mikki Isle is a great-grandson of the top American filly Stella Madrid. The daughter of Alydar was trained by D Wayne Lukas on behalf of Brant, for whom she swept the Spinaway, Matron and Frizette Stakes during the summer of 1989.