THE string of Group 1 winners that have emerged among those representing the Galileo - Danehill cross has ensured its popularity with breeders. Its list of blacktype scorers got another name on Sunday when Pretty Perfect won the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Salsabil Stakes over 10 furlongs at Navan.
The ground was described as soft-to-heavy, which likely played a part in the margins between the first three home, but a three and a half length defeat of previous listed scorer Glamorous Approach was a good effort, and that filly was eight and a half lengths clear of the third.
Pretty Perfect holds several classic entries, and she was bred by the Milanova Syndicate, named for the mare that produced Sunday’s winner.
She was fifth on her juvenile debut and won a seven-furlong Leopardstown maiden a month later, her only previous starts.
Milanova’s name may be familiar to some as she was twice Group 1-placed over 10 furlongs in Australia, but her Irish-born full-brother is instantly recognisable in many countries as he is the Group 1 star and Coolmore Stud stallion Holy Roman Emperor.
His tally of more than 50 stakes winners features classic stars Homecoming Queen, Mongolian Khan and Rollout The Carpet, plus additional Group/Grade 1 scorers Designs On Rome, Morandi and Rich Tapestry. His representatives last week included Parvaneh who advertised her classic potential with Group 3 victory over a mile at Cologne on Sunday.
CANADIAN
L’On Vite (by Secretariat), the grandam of Pretty Perfect, is an unraced full-sister to Canadian Grade 1 winner Medaille D’Or and to US Grade 2 scorer D’Accord, she is a half-sister to the Grade 1 stars and Canadian champions La Voyageuse (by Tentam) and L’Enjoleur (by Buckpasser), and so she is a daughter of the champion filly and influential broodmare Fanfreluche (by Northern Dancer), a mare whose descendants include the Group 1-winning major sires Encosta De Lago (by Fairy King) and Flying Spur (by Danehill).
This is a family that has cropped up many times here in the past, one that is no stranger to success at the highest level in the northern or southern hemisphere.
Fanfreluche, who was a full-sister to the classic-placed stakes winner Barachois, was out of the prolific Ciboulette (by Chop Chop) and so was a half-sister to classic sire Night Shift (by Northern Dancer) and to three mares from whom Group/Grade 1 horses descended.
Hasna (by Snippets), Australia’s champion two-year-old filly of 2002/03, is the great-granddaughter of her half-sister American Legacy (by Hail To Reason), for example, but the one who holds the attention for longer is Somfas (by What A Pleasure).
Her son Cristofori (by Fappiano) won the Group 3 Prix de Conde, his half-brother Russian Bond (by Danzig) won the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes, but it is their Group 2 Temple Stakes-winning brother Snaadee (by Danzig) who has appeared most often in recent pedigrees.
He is, for example, the broodmare sire of dual Group 1-winning sprinter and Dalham Hall Stud shuttle sire Brazen Beau (by I Am Invincible).
Their half-sister Sombreffe (by Polish Precedent) did her bit for the family by becoming the dam of the classic-placed German Group 1 winner Ransom O’War by Red Ransom), and another sister, Machaera (by Machiavellian), is the grandam of triple Group 1 mile star Charm Spirit (by Invincible Spirit). He began his stallion career at Tweenhills Farm & Stud, he is in his first season at Haras de Bonneval, and his first foals are on the ground.
Right now Pretty Perfect is just a thrice-raced listed scorer with some fancy entries, but with her pedigree and connections she could achieve anything, and with horses such as Holy Roman Emperor, Flying Spur, Encosta De Lago and Night Shift in her family, any future sons of hers could have added value.