DAVID Eiffe bred the first two colts from the unraced Sally Is The Boss (Orpen) before sending her, through Paddy and Peter Kelly’s Ballybin Stud, for sale at the 2017 Goffs February Sale. She was due to foal weeks later to Alhebayeb (Dark Angel).

When the hammer fell at €2,200 in favour of Tom Cooke from Thomastown Farm, who could have imagined what a bargain he had acquired. On April 3rd she had a colt foal, and by the time Cooke came to sell him at Goffs in November, which he did for €16,000, his two-year-old half-brother Valle Inclan (Elusive Pimpernel) was unbeaten in three starts in France and Spain.

However, the best (and disappointment) was yet to come. That same spring Cooke used Night Of Thunder (Dubawi) on Sally Is The Boss. He stood at Kildangan, was in his second season, and his advertised fee was €25,000. The following spring a bay filly arrived, but when she sold at Goffs as a foal she realised what must have been a disappointing €17,000, being snapped up joyfully by Johnny McKeever.

Group 1 aim

That filly is Suesa, and she is surely on the ladder of success that will eventually end with a Group 1 win. Her recent victory, her fifth, came in the Group 2 King George Stakes over the minimum trip at Goodwood, adding to a pair of Group 3 wins and a listed success in France, all her wins being gained at Chantilly. Her only defeat to date, in six starts, came in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.

This three-year-old races now in the silks of George Strawbridge, and is trained in France by Francois Rohaut. Suesa was acquired following her first two victories for Georgiana Cabrero, and at the time she was trained by Carlos Laffon-Parias.

Excitement

While excitement builds about the future prospects for this star filly, Tom Cooke, utilising the services of the Kelly’s Ballybin Stud, also has something else to look forward to, and that is the yearling sale in Newmarket. There he will offer, in Book 2 of the sale, Suesa’s half-brother by The Last Lion (Choisir). That Group 1 winning juvenile only raced at two, showing great soundness by starting 10 times and getting better as the year went on. He beat Blue Point and Mehmas when he won the Middle Park Stakes.

It is no great surprise that a filly of the quality of Suesa should emerge in this family. Her grandam White Satin (Fairy King) only raced four times when trained by Aidan O’Brien just before he moved to Ballydoyle, She won and was placed in the Listed Tyros Stakes at the Curragh. The next dam was the consistent Canton Lightning (Rheingold). She won just one of her 10 starts, but was in the money eight times and placed in the Galtres Stakes at York.

Even better

After that the pedigree gets even better. Canton Lightning’s seven winning siblings are headed by the Group 1 Prix de la Foret winner Brocade (Habitat). In addition to being a very smart racemare, she went on to become an exceptional broodmare, producing a pair of Group 1 winners in Barathea (Sadler’s Wells) and his full-sister Gossamer. Barathea was a Group 1 sire for Rathbarry Stud, while Gossamer bred the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy winner Ibn Khaldun (Dubai Destination).

Night Of Thunder, winner of the Group 1 2000 Guineas and the following year’s Group 1 Lockinge Stakes, has made a sensational start at stud. He is sire of 23 stakes winners worldwide to date, headed by the Group 1-winning duo Thundering Nights and Kukeracha. Suesa is the best runner to date from his second crop. Those 23 stakes winners include 13 who have won at group level.