The Ridgemont Highlands Team had plenty of good reason to cheer Stradivarius home in the Gr2 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup at York on Friday when the son of Sea The Stars scooped the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers’ Million.
Frankie’s parade ring joy (Pic: Aga Khan Stud – Twitter)
Stradivarius’half-sister Magical Eve, a stakes-placed daughter of Avontuur sire Oratorio, is expected to give birth to a Silvano foal in October and has a Jackson weanling at foot!
Sea The Stars has proved the sire of this week’s Ebor meeting at York, with his daughter Sea Of Class breezing to victory in the Yorkshire Oaks on Thursday and son Stradivarius scooping the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers’ Million by taking the Lonsdale Cup on Friday.
The favourite Stradivarius was ridden by Frankie Dettori and trained by John Gosden. Owned by Bjorn Nielsen, the chestnut got the upper hand in the final 200m to beat his old rival Count Octave.
Stradivarius, who won the Yorkshire Cup, Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup to earn the Stayers’ Million in the first season it was offered – was bred by owner Bjorn Nielsen and is the seventh living foal out of the Bering mare Private Life, a dual winner and Listed-placed over an extended 12 furlongs for the Wildenstein family.
The dam was bought on Nielsen’s behalf as a nine-year-old at Tattersalls in 2006 by Blandford Bloodstock for 70,000gns.
He has also produced German Gr3 winner Persian Storm, South African Listed-placed Magical Eve and Abu Dhabi Group 3 third Rembrandt Van Rijn.
Private Life is a half-sister to Listed winners Parisienne and Pretty Tough, with Parisienne featuring as granddam of Melbourne Cup hero Protectionist.
Private Life died in 2015 without appearing to have left a filly foal for Nielsen to breed from and continue the line – the Oratorio mare Magical Eve now based at Highlands.
