THE Group 2 bet365 Lennox Stakes also went to an older horse winning a pattern race for the first time.

The Clive Cox-trained five-year-old Es Que Love, who was bred by Newhall Ltd, was a handicapper last season, but kicked off the current campaign with a half-length loss to Hamza in the Group 3 Abernant Stakes, finished third behind Maarek in the Group 2 Duke of York Stakes, and was subsequently a half-length third to Music Master in the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes.

Between those latter two starts he was unplaced in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes and in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Ascot, and although he is a multiple pattern-placed winner in sprints, his pattern success came over seven furlongs, and he has also won over a mile.

Es Que Love is a son of Rathasker Stud’s classic-winning miler Clodovil (by Danehill), the stallion who has also given us the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes heroine Nahoodh, and the Group 2 scorers Gregorian, Laugh Out Loud, and Moriarty among a tally of 16 stakes winners to date.

For the winning mare Es Que (by Inchinor) he is a second pattern winner, as she is also the dam of last year’s Grade 1 Hong Kong Vase scorer Dominant (by Cacique), a multiple big-race winner in his adopted country following a career in England, where he was third behind Twice Over in the Group 2 York Stakes.

Dominant’s form also includes an honourable fifth behind Gentildonna in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March, in which he was beaten only two and a half lengths, and his career earnings are in excess of €1.5 million.

Es Que is a daughter of Bellona (by Bering), a French listed scorer who was third in the Group 3 Prix Penelope, and whose siblings include a pair of stakes winners, in addition to another pair of sisters who have made some notable contributions at stud.

The better of the stakes winners was In Clover (by Inchinor), who won the Group 3 Prix de Flore and the Listed Prix de Lieurey, and as that mare could be described as being a three-parts sister to Es Que, then Es Que Love is very closely related to the unfortunate filly We Are (by Dansili).

She won the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary by three lengths at Longchamp earlier this year, beating Vazira, but lost the race last week after it emerged that an ovarian tumour produced abnormal testosterone levels that led to her failing the post-race tests.

We Are has lost her blacktype, for now, but she has a pattern-placed dual stakes winning half-sister in Dream Clover (by Oasis Dream).

Bayourida (by Slew O’Gold), who is another of Bellona’s siblings, was a pattern-placed stakes winner in France before going on to become the dam of the listed scorer Telluride (by Montjeu), and the non-winning Forty Belles (by Forty Niner) is responsible for Party (by Cadeaux Genereux), the stakes winning dam of this year’s Listed Cocked Hat Stakes scorer Observational (by Galileo).

More notable, right now, is the fourth of Bellona’s successful broodmare sisters, the unraced Noyelles (by Docksider).

Her first foal is Lily’s Angel (by Dark Angel), the Group 3 winning 10-time scorer who came so close to taking the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown last year, and her second is Zurigha (by Cape Cross) who, in a bizarre family coincidence, failed a post-race test earlier this year and is set to lose one of her listed race wins.

Es Que Love now has a Group 2 win to his name, he represents the Danehill sire line, and he is a half-brother to a Grade 1 scorer, all factors that could see him attract some attention as a potential stallion, for whenever his racing days come to an end.