St Mark’s Basilica and Teona shine for Aga Khan Studs sires. Sea The Stars has enjoyed another prolific week, headed by Prix Vermeille heroine Teona and also featuring Stakes victories for champion Stradivarius, Adhafera and Manobo. Siyouni shone once again at the highest level thanks to St Mark’s Basilica, while H.H. the Aga Khan’s colours were carried to victory by Sagamiyra.

Sea The Stars is now ranked second in Europe with a total of 18 Stakes winners this season, and Teona became the 16th individual Group 1 scorer for the Gilltown Stud stallion when lifting the Prix Vermeille at ParisLongchamp ahead of triple Oaks winner Snowfall and Prix de Diane Joan Of Arc on Sunday. By Sea The Stars and out of Group 1 victrix Ambivalent, Teona is trained by Roger Varian who said, “We have always regarded this filly very highly. She enjoyed the good ground today and stays very well.” Teona holds an entry in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on 3rd October.

Sea The Stars was also in the headlines thanks to his champion stayer son Stradivarius who established a new European record with a 17th career Group success in the Doncaster Cup. John Gosden’s seven-year-old continues to show great enthusiasm for racing and is now likely to head to either the Prix du Cadran or British Champions Long Distance Cup.

In France, the sire was represented by three-year-old filly Adhafera who battled to a well-deserved first black-type win in the Listed Prix Joubert at ParisLongchamp after several placed efforts in Group and Listed company, and also by Manobo who ran out the ten-length winner of the Listed Prix de Turenne at Saint Cloud. Godolphin’s Manobo maintained his unbeaten tag in three outings and he is a son of multiple Group scorer Tasaday, herself out of the Aga Khan Studs-bred dual Group scorer Tashelka.

St Mark’s Basilica continued to fly the flag for his sire Siyouni, winning the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes. This was a fifth consecutive top-level win for St Mark’s Basilica, in a sequence which began last autumn with the Dewhurst Stakes, taking in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, Prix du Jockey Club, Eclipse Stakes and now Ireland’s flagship race. In an interview with Nick Luck, Aidan O’Brien was full of praise for the colt, “This horse has the Galileo traits of the will to win and also the speed from Siyouni, which is extra special.”

The famous green and red silks were successful in the Group 3 Prix du Pin with Sagamiyra who beat the colts to win her second Stakes contest over the seven furlong course at ParisLongchamp, following on from a second place in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild and the Mikel Delzangles-trained filly is now likely to contest the Group 1 Prix de la Forêt over the same track. From the family of Sagamix, Sagamiyra is by Sea The Stars’ stallion son Sea The Moon.

Updated on 14 September 2021.