LOT 1870 in the upcoming Tattersalls December Sale, the catalogue for which was put online this week, is Bounce The Blues. She is consigned by Jamie Railton on behalf of Barbara Keller, who has raced some great fillies in recent years.

Already, the race record for Bounce The Blues, bred in Donadea, Co Kildaree by Jim Browne’s Kilnamoragh Stud, is out of date. At the weekend she won the Group 2 Premio Vittorio Di Capua over a mile in Milan, adding to a win in this year’s Group 3 Sceptre Stakes at Doncaster. Two years ago she won the Listed Whitehead Memorial Stakes at Naas for Browne, after which she was sold privately, and moved to Andrew Balding.

Bounce The Blues is now the best winner for her unraced dam Jazz Up (Cadeaux Genereux), and one of the best sired by Excelebration (Exceed And Excel). That former Coolmore sire was unlucky to be foaled in the same year as Frankel, finishing runner-up to him on four occasions. Without that superstar as opposition, Excelebration would have gone to stud as a six-time Group 1 winner.

Bounce The Blues and the Group 3 Athasi Stakes and Group 3 CL Weld Stakes winner Jazz Princess (Bahhare), along with the stakes-placed Sholaan (Invincible Spirit), were bred by Browne from a filly he bought through Mercury Bloodstock as an unraced two-year-old from her breeders, Darley.

Ten winners

Jazz Up is a half-sister to 10 winners, and out of the French listed winner Slow Jazz (Chief’s Crown). The best of these winners was Mister Cavern (Lion Cavern) who was a dual listed winner in Italy, while Slow Jazz had a listed-placed two-year-old daughter Zoola (Iffraaj).

Another winning daughter of Slow Jazz was Magadar, and she too ended up in the ownership of Browne and a resident at Kilnamoragh Stud. She cost €17,000 and went on to breed the Group 3 Prix Perth winner Miss O Connor (Roderic O’Connor) who won in the colours of Lael Stables. Another non-winning daughter of Slow Jazz, Randomizer (Elusive Quality), bred a stakes winner in the USA.

Slow Jazz was one of three stakes winners, among 11 winners in all, for her dam, the very smart racemare Blue Note (Habitat). The other pair won at Group 1 level, and they were the full-siblings Zieten (Danzig) and Blue Duster (Danzig). Zieten was three years older than his own-sister and was trained in France by Andre Fabré at two. He was unbeaten that season, winning the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes. He was later trained by Hilal Ibrahim and John Gosden.

Fertility problems

Zieten was retired from racing to stand at Haras du Logis. The best of his offspring were Seazun (Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes) and Torgau, the Cartier champion two-year-old filly in 1999. Zieten suffered from fertility problems and was retired from stud duty in 2009.

Blue Duster was the champion juvenile filly in Europe in 1995 when her victories included the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes and the Group 3 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot. She did not breed a runner close to her own ability, but her daughter Blue Symphony (Darshaan) did sell for 1,000,000gns as a broodmare and bred the Group 3 winners Fantasia (Sadler’s Wells) and Pink Symphony (Montjeu).

The latter mare has given this branch of the family a major boost in 2022, producing the Grade 1 Man O’War Stakes winner Highland Chief (Gleneagles). Meanwhile, Fantasia is the dam of a Group 3 winner.