FEW pictures gladden the heart than a foal and her dam enjoying the sunshine and some grass. The young lady captured here is a February 21st-born daughter of Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) and the Group 3 winner Mayhem (Whipper). She is the third offspring for Mayhem, and the first two have already caught the eye.

Mayhem raced for Anne Marie Hayes and currently resides at her and Brendan’s Knocktoran Stud. Winner of the Group 3 Prix Allez France at Chantilly and a listed race at Saint-Cloud, her placed efforts included running second in the Group 2 Qatar Prix de Royallieu at Longchamp on Arc weekend, beaten a short neck, and finishing third to the great Treve in the Group 2 Prix Corrida. In all she won five times.

Her first produce is a now three-year-old filly named Donnybrook (Invincible Spirit). She sold for €900,000 as a yearling at Arqana to Godolphin and is already a juvenile winner. Trained by John Gosden, she was third first time out over seven furlongs to another Godolphin runner who is now unbeaten in two starts. Dropped back to six furlongs, Donnybrook obliged at the second time of asking. She looks capable of becoming a stakes filly.

The Godolphin team obviously was aware of Donnybrook’s talent when attending last year’s Arqana yearling sale and this time they secured her Dark Angel (Acclamation) half-sister for €800,000. Donnybrook was the highest-priced filly at the sale in 2018, while the Dark Angel only had one to make more money. Brendan and Anne Marie are also delighted to report that Mayhem is safely in foal to Ballylinch Stud’s Lope De Vega (Shamardal).

Mayhem is one of seven winners to date from her unraced dam Hit The Sky (Cozzene). Three of the septet are stakes winners and include her full-brother Royal Bench (Whipper), a Group 2 winner in France. He was denied a Group 1 success when beaten less than a length in the Hong Kong Mile as a three-year-old. Hit The Sky’s third group winner is Memphis Tennessee (Hurricane Run) and he was placed in the Group 1 Irish Derby.

Seven winners

Hit The Sky’s seven winners have come from her first eight foals. The odd one out is Propel (Dubawi) who was sold as a yearling in 2013 at Arqana for a sale-topping €1.5 million. She has some well-bred produce to run for her. Waiting in the wings for Hit The Sky are a three-year-old filly Pie In The Sky (Gleneagles), a two-year-old filly Magic Sound (Kingman) and a yearling colt by Lope De Vega.

The best of Hit The Sky’s siblings is Group 2 Doncaster Cup winner Honolulu (Montjeu) and they are out of the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Cerulean Sky (Darshaan) who was placed in the Grade 1 E P Taylor Stakes and the Group 1 Prix Vermeille. She is an own-sister to stakes winner L’Ancresse (Darshaan) who was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish Oaks and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Going one better than her sibling was the Irish Oaks winner Moonstone, a daughter of Dalakhani (Darshaan) and therefore very closely related to Cerulean Sky. Moonstone’s five stakes-winning offspring include U S Army Ranger (Galileo), runner-up in the Group 1 Derby.