AGAVE made a winning debut on Thursday at ParisLongchamp over a mile. She might not have been as impressive as her stablemate, the André Fabre-trained Chancellery who won the previous race, but she can be expected to improve, and she holds an engagement in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac.

A Juddmonte homebred, Agave is a daughter of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) and the first winner from Contribution, a daughter of Champs Elysees (Danehill). She is from a hugely successful family nurtured by the late Khalid Abdullah. Contribution won twice at three, over 12 and 15 furlongs, and she ran third in the Group 2 Prix de Pomone and Group 3 Prix Allez France. Her first foal, Destinado (Lope De Vega) was twice runner-up this year in France at three.

Contribution is a half-sister to six winners, one of which towers above the rest. Enable (Nathaniel) won 15 races, amassed more than €12 million in earnings, and 11 of her victories were at the highest level. If you name one of them, you need to name them all. They were the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes three times, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe twice, Yorkshire Oaks twice, Breeders’ Cup Turf, Eclipse Stakes, Oaks and Irish Oaks.

Champs Elysees could well become a leading broodmare sire, and he is in the earliest stages of that part of his career. The signs are good though. His daughters have only 147 foals of racing age, 133 of them being two, three or four. L’Excellence (Deep Impact), born in 2017, is a stakes winner in Japan, while the three-year-old Megallan (Kingman) is a Group 3 winner this year.

Maybe the time is right to be investing in mares and fillies by Champs Elysees.