THE Group 2 Prix Corrida at Saint-Cloud this week was won by Sweet Lady, bred by Stratford Place Stud.

This was the fifth, and most important, success for the four-year-old who had previously been a winner at listed and Group 3 levels.

What was especially significant was that her win was the 100th success at group/graded level for the Ballylinch-based sire Lope De Vega, and the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained filly could well added her name to the list of 14 Group/Grade 1 winners already got by the dual classic-winning son of Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway).

Sweet Lady has quite an international pedigree. Purchased as a yearling for €100,000 at Arqana by Paul Nataf, she is one of a pair of stakes winners out of High Heel Sneakers (Dansili), herself a stakes winner in both England and the USA.

Her dam was a winning half-sister to Faaz (Fappiano) and he was an outstanding runner in Peru where a quarter of his 12 wins were at Group 1 status.

Go back another generation, to Sweet Lady’s fourth dam Miss Carmie (T V Lark), and she is the dam of triple Grade 1 winner and champion US three-year-old filly Chris Evert (Swoon’s Song), grandam of another champion in Chief’s Crown (Danzig).

Miss Carmie appears in the pedigree of a long list of winners at the highest level, and these include the Kentucky Derby heroine Winning Colors (Caro), Eskimo Kisses (To Honor And Serve), dual European classic winner Special Duty (Hennessy), Sightseek (Distant View), Tates Creek (Rahy), Prix de la Foret winner Etoile Montante (Miswaki), Kings Will Dream (Casamento), Obligatory (Curlin), Classic Crown (Mr Prospector), Querido Machito (Hurricane Cat), Dominican (El Corredor), Lambet Light (Capote), Missed The Storm (Storm Cat), Perfect Alibi (Sky Mesa) and Excellent Art (Pivotal), winner of the St James’s Palace Stakes.