EMOTIONS ran high after Sea Silk Road won the Group 3 Lester Piggott Stakes at Haydock on Saturday.

The four-year-old daughter of Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) is trained by William Haggas, and the race she won is named in honour of his later father-in-law. Haggas is married to Maureen Piggott. Not only that, but the filly was purchased by John Clarke for the Tsui family, and this win came just a little over a week after his death.

Perhaps, and hopefully, she can go on to Royal Ascot and avenge her half-length defeat there last year when she was runner-up to Magical Lagoon in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes.

Bred by Kildaragh Stud, Sea Silk Road cost Sunderland Holding 190,000gns as a yearling, and her Group 3 win is added to a listed success last year at Goodwood. She is the best of the three winners to date from the Doyen (Sadler’s Wells) mare Oriental Magic, and there will be plenty of excitement at Kildaragh where they have a yearling own-sister to Sea Silk Road.

While Sea Silk Road has amassed a worthy three wins, two at stakes level, this number pales in comparison to her two winning siblings. Of course, they are not in the same league as their half-sister, but the geldings Andaleep (Siyouni) and Vera Magic (Lope De Vega) have won eight and seven races respectively – a sure sign of soundness in the family.

A listed winner at two and group-placed in Germany for her owner-breeder Gestüt Auenquelle, Oriental Magic was acquired by Peter and Antoinette Kavanagh and she was runner-up in a listed contest in France for the latter.

Since going to stud she has proven not only to be a good producer of winners, her three runners to date all being successful, but also a good producer of sales horses. Andaleep sold for €180,000 as a yearling, Vera Magic realised 140,000gns, the three-year-old Indemnity (Lope De Vega) cost Highclere 200,000gns and is in training with Roger Varian, while the two-year-old Next Trick (Bated Breath) sold to Badgers Bloodstock for 90,000gns.

Rachael Blackmore

One of seven winners out of the stakes winner Oriental Pearl (Big Shuffle), Oriental Magic is a half-brother to Oriental Eagle (Campanologist), a leading stayer in Germany where he won the Group 2 Gerling Preis at Koln and the Group 3 German St Leger at Dortmund, He was sold to join Emmet Mullins and three years ago was partnered by Rachael Blackmore to victory in the Listed Martin Molony Stakes at Limerick, after dropping back in trip to a mile and a half.

Sea Silk Road’s third dam, the unraced Orange Bowl (General Assembly), bred 11 winners from a dozen runners, and her three stakes winners proved to be quite international, Oriental Pearl winning in Germany, Orange Touch (Lando) landing the Listed March Stakes at Goodwood, while Orange Cure (Cure The Blues) was a listed winner in Sweden.

Oriental Pearl’s full-sister Oriental Flower (Big Shuffle) bred Group 2 winner Oriental Tiger (Tiger Hill), and he was second in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden and third in the Group 1 German Derby, and she is the grandam of the Group 2-placed German runner Oriental Lady, later a listed winner in Australia, Interestingly, she is a daughter of Doyen, just like Sea Silk Road’s dam.

Sea The Stars is among the elite stallions in the world, after an illustrious career as a racehorse. He has amassed a notable 106 stakes winners to date, a number that continues to grow, and many of his best performers are household names.