WITHIN the space of just over an hour, the father and son combination of Acclamation (Royal Applause) and Mehmas both sired a Group 1 winner at ParisLongchamp.

The five-year-old mare Makarova (Acclamation) is a home-bred for Brightwalton Bloodstock, and she produced a career-best effort on her 28th start to land the five-furlong Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp by a little more than a length from the favourite Bradsell. Tom Marquand was on the Ed Walker-trained winner, and he beat his wife Hollie Doyle into second place.

The opening race on the card at ParisLongchamp, the one-mile Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac, produced a shock outcome, trainer Francis Graffard saddling the first two home, but not in the order many expected.

Zarigana was sent off favourite, but she was beaten a nose in the last stride of the race by the 33/1 shot Vertical Blue, a daughter of Acclamation’s son Mehmas. Both Vertical Blue and Makarova share one other thing in common; they are both out of daughters of Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), taking to six the number of Group 1 winners out of mares by the Gilltown stallion.

This victory was the fifth for Makarova, and arguably her best previous run was on her penultimate start, when she placed in the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh. She is a Group 3 winner in England, and the best of three winners to date from her dam Vesnina (Sea The Stars), a two-year-old winner. Vesnina is also dam of the pattern-placed Nina Bailarina (Lope De Vega).

Russian Rhythm

This brings us to Russian Rhythm (Kingmambo), a 440,000gns purchase by Chris Richardson on behalf of the Thompson family as a yearling in 2001, and the third dam of Makarova.

Russian Rhythm won seven of her 10 starts, twice successful at Group 2 level at two and second in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes. At three, she won four Group 1 contests, the 1000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes, Lockinge Stakes and Nassau Stakes.

After her outstanding racing career, Russian Rhythm was perhaps, at first sight, underwhelming as a broodmare. She only had six foals, four of which were winners, one was placed, and the unraced Zykina (Pivotal) is the dam of a Group 1 winner, last year’s Prix Jean Prat scorer Good Guess (Kodiac), and he has just completed his first season at Tally-Ho Stud.

Zykina’s own-sister Safina (Pivotal) was the sole runner from Russian Rhythm to earn any blacktype. At stud, she has gone on to breed two Group 3 winners, Potapova (Invincible Spirit) and Marenko (Exceed And Excel), and now her granddaughter Makarova is a Group 1 winner.

Another full-sister, the placed Barynya (Pivotal), is the dam of Zonderland (Dutch Art) and grandam of Positive (Dutch Art), both Group 3 winners. Another winning daughter of Russian Rhythm is Russian Finale (Dansili), and she too has kept up the family tradition and given us a Group 3 winner, Bashkirova (Pivotal) who was successful in the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes.

Rathbarry Stud

Acclamation is now a veteran at Rathbarry Stud, but what a stallion he has been. He has also sired a number of sons who have done well at stud, Dark Angel and Mehmas among them.

The latter stands at Tally-Ho, and Vertical Blue is his second Group 1-winning juvenile of 2024, after the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes winner Scorthy Champ.

Born in Ireland and bred by Haras Du Mont Dit Mont, Vertical Blue was foaled and raised by James and Lisa Kelly at Linacre Stud. According to James, “she had a very difficult start to life, and without the wonderful attention of Tom Austin and his team at Anglesey Lodge Vet Clinic, this Group 1 winner would not be here.

“Her dam Krunch (Sea The Stars) was the kindest mare. Her grandam Spinacre (Verglas) gave us one of our best days ever, and her great-grandam Spinamix (Spinning World) was part of our family and only left us this year. What a legacy she has left, all from a 10,000gns purchase by Lisa Kelly.”

Some discount

Spinamix died at the age of 25, having been bought as a four-year-old for the aforementioned 10,000gns, some discount from her foal valuation of 160,000gns. Placed at two, she bred 11 winners and four of them, including Spinacre, won blacktype races.

The other trio was made up of San Sicharia (Daggers Drawn), Tucuman (Hawk Wing) and Spin Cycle (Exceed And Excel).

Spinacre carried Lisa Kelly’s silks to victory in the Listed Flame Of Tara Stakes at the Curragh before being sold on. She has not had the most consistent breeding record at stud, hence the decision of Lordship Stud to sell her back in February at Tattersalls for just 10,000gns, in foal to Blackbeard (No Nay Never) who stood last year for €25,000. Now Spinacre is the grandam of a Group 1 winner. How a pedigree can turn on its head.

Six Group 1 winners in his first five crops of racing age is some start at stud for Mehmas, who retired to the breeding shed at three and, but for the odd length or so, he could have more Group 1 winners. With better books of mares in more recent years, on the back of his early success, it is odds-on that Mehmas’s career is going in one direction only.