MARIA NIARCHOS, Flaxman Holdings Ltd

ANOTHER first for Jessica Harrington to win the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot with wonder filly Alpha Centauri, adding to victory in the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas. The filly is owned and bred by the Niarchos Family.

Alpha Centauri is the fourth winner from four runners for her unraced dam Alpha Lupi. Three are representatives of the Danehill sire line. Her first foal, Tenth Star, a son of Dansili, showed all his best form at two, breaking his maiden in the Listed Golden Fleece Stakes and being runner-up in the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes. He was followed by the Danehill Dancer filly Elitiste. Alpha Centauri, a granddaughter of Danehill Dancer, is her third winner from the line, while another filly Galileo Gal (by Galileo) won in the USA. She has a two-year-old So You Think filly and a yearling filly by Sea The Moon.

Alpha Centauri’s third dam is the celebrated Miesque who was multiple champion in France, England and the USA. Seven of her nine wins in France (from 12 starts) were in Group 1 races, including the Prix Marcel Boussac, the French 1000 Guineas and the Prix Jacques Le Marois twice. In England she raced twice, winning the 1000 Guineas and finishing second in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. In the USA she won the Breeders’ Cup Mile twice.

Maria Niarchos also bred the Group 1 French Derby winner Study Of Man in June.

PAT FITZSIMONS, Oak Lodge Bloodstock

BLUE Point won his sixth and most important race when he landed the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes on the opening day at Royal Ascot 2018. The former Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes hero is a group winner in each of his three seasons and has only once finished out of the money in 13 starts. Last year he was third to Caravaggio at the royal meeting, while at two he was placed in both the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes (runner-up to The Last Lion) and Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.

There was great delight with this victory at Springfield House Stud in Tipperary where Blue Point was raised. He was bred by Oak Lodge Bloodstock and sold as a foal for 110,000gns at the Tattersalls December Sale, purchased by Matt and Kate Sigworth’s Ebor Bloodstock. He was resold as a yearling from the family’s West Moor Stud for 200,000gns to John Ferguson.

The Fitzsimons family, through bloodstock agent John Walsh, paid 50,000gns for Scarlett Rose, the dam of Blue Point and Group 2 Railway Stakes winner Formosina, as a five-year-old, carrying her first foal by Starcraft, the subsequent multiple winner Esytopolishadimond. The daughter of Royal Applause, who had been placed a number of times, is a half-sister to seven winners, the best of which was Tumbleweed Ridge, a multiple group winner. Their sibling Tumbleweed Pearl bred the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes winner Gilded.

Scarlett Rose has a yearling colt by Shamardal’s son Night Of Thunder.

SHEIKH MOHAMMED, Godolphin

MASAR’S victory in the Group 1 Investec Epsom Derby was a career high for a colt bred and raced by Sheikh Mohammad and a son of his 2008 Derby winner New Approach. The three-year-old is from the immediate family of that sire’s best son Sea The Stars and his half-brother Galileo. His dam Khawlah was a dual classic winner in the UAE, winning the Group 2 Derby and the Group 3 Oaks.

Khawlah’s dam Villarrica was a winner and her offspring include the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano victor Vancouverite. Cape Cross has mated extremely well with this family and he is the sire of a group winner in three successive generations. Khawlah’s dam is a half-sister to the four-year-old Moonlight Magic, a three-time stakes winner in Ireland including the Group 3 Meld Stakes and Derby Trial Stakes. Also appearing close up is the brilliant Sea The Stars, unbeaten in six Group 1 races at three and now a leading sire.

Moonlight Magic is one of three stakes winners from Melikah, the best being Masterstroke who ran third in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Melikah was born the year before Galileo and their dam was the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea. Galileo is one of the most profound influences on the thoroughbred breed and his relation Masar today lines up for the Group 1 Coral Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.

ANDREW AND CATHERINE MAGNIER, Sweetman’s Bloodstock

FEW Irish Derby victories can match that of Latrobe in the 2018 edition for emotion, as the Joseph O’Brien-trained colt won in the hands of the trainer’s younger brother Donnacha, denying the powerful challenge from their father Aidan’s Ballydoyle. The third foal and winner for his dam, Latrobe is the best performer in the family. His siblings Diamond Fields and Entangling are both multiple winners by Fastnet Rock, the latter sold for €380,000 as a yearling. Diamond Fields won the Group 3 Gladness Stakes last year.

Their dam Question Times was stakes placed and her fourth foal, Latrobe’s two-year-old full-sister Pink Dogwood was pinhooked by Eddie O’Leary, costing 115,000gns as a foal and realising €380,000 last year. O’Leary also pinhooked Latrobe, paying €88,000 for him as a foal and receiving 65,000gns for him as a yearling. Andrew and Catherine Magnier represent the family’s Sweetmans Bloodstock and the brother and sister will be looking forward also to Question Times’ fifth offspring, a yearling colt by Zoffany. Question Times was purchased through BBA Ireland as a three-year-old for only 50,000gns. She is a half-sister to the Group 3 winner and Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes runner-up Sunday Times, the dam of current stakes winner Classical Times.