WHITSBURY Manor Stud has had the family of the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes winner Exactly (Frankel) for many years, on occasions being grateful in hindsight not to have sold some of it at auction.

However, Exactly was bred by Coolmore, as her dam Heartache, a daughter of Kyllachy (Pivotal), was purchased six years ago by M.V. Magnier for 1,300,000gns. Leased to the Hot To Trot group by Whitsbury Manor, Heartache was a very smart juvenile, winning the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot, and the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes. On the latter occasion she beat none other than Havana Grey.

Heartache’s first visit at stud was with Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), and the result was a colt named Salt Lake City. He won the Listed Ruby Stakes at Killarney and sold last year for 100,000gns.

Heartache’s second produce is Exactly, and this juvenile deserved to win a blacktype contest this season, having put up a number of good efforts in defeat. Runner-up at Group 2 level, she also placed in both the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac.

Heartache has continued to visit Frankel (Galileo), and has a yearling filly and a filly foal by him. She is a daughter of Place In My Heart (Compton Place), and having failed to sell her for just £10,000 having just turned two, Chris Harper raced her and she won a listed race at Bath, ironically sponsored by Whitsbury Manor Stud.

Place In My Heart is a half-sister to the Group 3 Tetrarch Stakes winner Leitrim House (Cadeaux Genereux), and they are among six winners out of the stakes-placed Lonely Heart (Midyan). This is a female line that is a solid winner and stakes winner producing family, and all that it is lacking is a Group 1 winner.

Mind you, Lonely Heart’s winning half-sister Sacre Coeur (Compton Place) came close to making up for that omission when her Group 2-winning daughter, Stepper Point (Kyllachy), was second in two Group 1s, the King’s Stand Stakes and Nunthorpe Stakes. Maybe Exactly will be the one to take the family to the next level.

Twenty-four and counting for Vega

THIS has been a memorable year for Ballylinch Stud’s Lope De Vega (Shamardal), and it shows no signs of slowing down. On Saturday, he took his tally of Group 1 winners to 24 when the former Dermot Weld-trained Duke De Sessa scored an impressive win in the Caulfield Cup. A dual Group 3 winner in Ireland, the five-year-old gelding was winning for the first time since joining Ciaran Maher’s stable last year.

Bred by Newtown Anner Stud, and still part-owned by Maurice Regan, Duke De Sessa failed to sell at the Goffs Orby Sale in 2020, bidding stopping at £60,000. He went on to win a pair of Group 3 races at Leopardstown, and a listed race at Naas. He is out of the Group 3-placed, four-time winner Dark Crusader (Cape Cross), who is herself a half-sister to the Navan stakes winner Naughty Or Nice (Fastnet Rock).

Dark Crusader is a daughter of Monty’s Girl (High Chaparral), and she cost Newtown Anner €390,000 at the Goffs Million Sale in 2006. She never ran, but bred five winners. Monty’s Girl’s half-brother Subtle Power (Sadler’s Wells) won the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, and later went one better in the USA, landing a Grade 1 at Gulfstream Park.

In Australia

Lope De Vega’ has had a great deal of success with his runners in Australia, and Duke De Sessa is his sixth winner at that level there, joining Santa Ana Lane, Vega Magic, Gytrash, Vega One and Arapaho. Duke De Sessa’s also joins a stellar group of top-level winners this year sired by the 17-year-old sire. He has had two classic winners in France, Rouhiya in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas, and future Ballylinch stallion Look De Vega in the Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby.

Lope De Vega’s juvenile son Shadow Of Light is a dual Group 1 winner, the Middle Park Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes, while Carl Spackler has won Grade 1s twice this year in the USA, and Program Trading is now a three-time Grade 1 winner there.

Elizabeth Jane pays a tribute to uncle Kyprios

WHAT a year it has been for Kyprios (Galileo), with seven wins in an unbeaten season, and Fiona Craig revealed this week that the six-year-old will stay in training for at least another season, aiming to add to his career total of 15 victories, and winnings of more than £2.6 million.

This column has paid tribute to Kyprios and his dam Polished Gem (Danehill) on numerous occasions, and a summary is all that is needed now. A winner at two, Polished Gem had a perfect record at stud, with 10 foal, runners and winners.

Kyprios, the dual Irish St Leger winner Search For A Song (Galileo), and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes winner at Royal Ascot, Free Eagle (High Chaparral), are her three Group 1 winners, while eight of her offspring were successful at stakes level.

Polished Gem has four daughters, and one of these is Sapphire. A six-time winning daughter of Medicean (Machiavellian), from just 11 career starts, Sapphire gained her biggest triumph at Ascot in the Group 2 British Champions Fillies and Mare Stakes, and after that win the race was upgraded the following year to Group 1.

While she has yet to produce a runner close to her own ability, Sapphire has made a solid start to her breeding career, with four winners. Her first foal and son Jewel Maker (Invincible Spirit) has shown tremendous soundness and won nine times, including this year as a nine-year-old. Two daughters of Sapphire, Kiss For A Jewel (Kingman) and Federica Sophia (Galileo), have been group-placed.

Valuable addition

Now, at last, Sapphire has produced her first stakes winner, Elizabeth Jane (Dubawi), and what a valuable addition she will be to the Moyglare broodmare band. She won her only start at two over a mile, and looked to be a filly with great potential. Her fourth-place finish in the Group 1 Irish Oaks proved that she was more than useful, and now she is a stakes winner, after capturing the Listed Trigo Stakes at Leopardstown.

What would you do if you owned Elizabeth Jane? Would you whisk her off to stud as a stakes winner, or would you persevere with her and aim her at group races in 2025? Her dam had her best win at four, many of her close relations also improved with age and enjoyed their biggest successes at four and older. It will surely be a matter for discussion between Team Moyglare and trainer Dermot Weld. My vote, if I had one, would be to race on.