Via Sistina's impressive rise continues after another career best in the Pretty Polly

Via Sistina continued her rise through the ranks in the Group 1 Yulong Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday, taking Group 1 honours on her first attempt and beating some good fillies and mares in the process.

George Boughey’s five-year-old earned a career-high mark of 121, which is the third best performance in the Pretty Polly in the last ten years, bettered only by multiple Group 1 winners Magical (2020) and Minding (2016).

It also puts Via Sistina in exalted company having achieved such a rating as a five-year-old, as only seven mares that age or older have been rated higher in the last decade in Britain and Ireland. Six of those won Group 1 races against the boys at such an age, the sole exception being Tarnawa, who was a close second in the Arc. That gives an indication of the type of races in which Via Sistina could now be a major threat with the mares’ allowance.