BRED in Ireland by Razza del Velino, Shavasana added the Group 2, Tattersalls-sponsored, Premio Oaks d’Italia to an earlier success in the Group 3 Premio Regina Elena, the Italian 1000 Guineas,

A listed winner as a two-year-old, Shavasana is now a six-time winner, and Hollie Doyle was in the saddle as the daughter of Gleneagles (Galileo) was successful for the first time in the colours of Katsumi Yoshida, owner of Northern Farm in Japan. Intriguingly, he also purchased the last filly to complete this particular classic double, Cherry Collect, 11 years ago.

Victory in the weekend classic means that her dam, So Many Shots (Duke Of Marmalade), is now responsible for a pair of Italian classic winners. Four years ago, her son Keep On Fly (Rip Van Winkle) won the Group 2 Derby Italiano, while another daughter of So Many Shots, Sidney Pearl (Australia) won twice in Norway but was stakes-placed in Italy.

Sold by her breeder for €57,000 as a yearling at the SGA Selected Yearling Sale, Shavasana has now pushed her winnings north of £250,000, and I have no doubt that her purchase price by Mr Yoshida will have left her previous owners with a nice boost to their bank balance.

Half of Shavasana’s six wins have been in stakes races, and that was also the outcome of So Many Shots’ racing career. Her best win was at Group 3 level and So Many Shots was placed in the Group 2 Oaks d’Italia. A €24,000 yearling buy, So Many Shots has seen a number of her stock pass through the ring at Goffs as a foal, the most recent being last year’s produce, a colt by Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), and Federico Barberini signed for him at only €85,000.

Nothing new

A couple of recent classic winners in the family is nothing new, and this is one of the best-known female lines in Italy. So Many Shots is the best of nine winners from Cland Di San Jore (Lando), a five-time winner. Her dam, the stakes-placed Claw (Law Society), won seven races and bred 10 winners, and she was out of the multiple stakes winner, and Group 1 Oaks d’Italia-third, Crodas (Shirley Heights), though that mare ‘only’ bred six winners.

Let’s return to Claw for a moment. Just one of her 10 winners was successful at stakes level, but she is grandam of seven such winners, five of whom are sons and a daughter of Claba Di San Jore (Barathea). Two of the quintet won the Derby Italiano, Awelmarduk (Almutawakel) when it was a Group 1 race, and Crackerjack King (Shamardal) after it was downgraded to Group 2. However, there was a Group 1 success for Crackerjack King when he took the honours in the Premio Presidente della Repubblica.

Claba Di San Jore is actually the dam of three Group 1 winners, and the other was her best runner. Jakkalberry (Storming Home) won the Group 1 Gran Premio di Milano in Italy, the Group 2 Dubai City of Gold Stakes in Meydan, and the Listed American St Leger in the USA. He was third in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic, and also occupied that same position in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup.

Gleneagles

Shavasana’s win in the Oaks d’Italia took the tally of Gleneagles’ Group/Grade 1 and 2 winners to 11, and Man O’War Stakes winner Highland Chief and Prix du Royallieu are the winners at the highest level from his first and second crops respectively.

Mention of Highland Chief brings me to a smart, if somewhat unusual winner this week, Pink Satin. A Fitri Hay homebred, this two-year-old daughter of Churchill (Galileo) won on her debut at Windsor, though the 11 runners eventually were sent off with a flag start due to the threat of lightning. She is the sixth winner for her dam, Pink Symphony (Montjeu), and the best of these is Highland Chief. Both he and Pink Satin are by sons of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells).

Pink Satin is trained by Paul and Oliver Cole, and it was the former whose name was on the purchase docket when Pink Symphony sold as a yearling for 400,000gns. She was kept in training until the age of four, was placed multiple times in listed races in England, but gained a hugely significant stakes victory in the Group 3 Give Thanks Stakes at Cork.

Blue Symphony

In 2012, M.V. Magnier spent 1,000,000gns on Pink Symphony’s winning dam, Blue Symphony (Darshaan), at the Tattersalls December Sale. At the time she was responsible for three winning daughters, Pink Symphony, multiple Group/Grade 3 winner Fantasia (Sadler’s Wells) who was class-placed in France, and Blue Rhapsody (Cape Cross). The latter mare was later responsible for Group 2 winner Western Hymn (High Chaparral), and he was twice placed in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

Hopefully Pink Satin will go on to become a group winner, as this is quite a tradition in the family. Her dam was one, her third dam Blue Duster (Danzig) was the best juvenile filly in Europe after she won the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes, and she was out of the Group 2 winner and hugely successful broodmare, Blue Note (Habitat).