Now that the summer is high, St Mark's Basilica's stud career is readying for take-off and Saturday saw Coolmore's freshman have his first TDN Rising Star in Ballydoyle's exciting Diamond Necklace. Partnered by Wayne Lordan in The Curragh's Grand Hotel Malahide Irish EBF Fillies Juvenile Race, the half-sister to Magic Wand (Galileo) and Chicquita (Montjeu) who was the €1.7million Arqana Deauville August topper swooped on Ryan Moore's pick Minerva (Frankel) inside the final furlong for a smooth 1 1/2-length success.
“She'd been working lovely and is very exciting for next year,” Aidan O'Brien said. “St Mark looked for all the world a two-year-old, but he didn't win his maiden for another three weeks and we saw what he did as soon as he turned three. They are ahead of what he was doing and the Fillies' Mile could be for her this year-we have other fillies for the Debutante and Moyglare and those races beforehand, so we can give her the time and not rush her.”
This race has become an important staging post for the big Irish stables in recent times, highlighted by the wins of Hydrangea in 2016 and by A Lilac Rolla two years ago when she beat this yard's future luminary Opera Singer. Given the way Diamond Necklace travelled through the contest and brushed aside stablemate and solid yardstick Minerva and put a total of 3 1/4 lengths between her and Donnacha O'Brien's newcomer Lookingforarainbow (Justify), the daughter of the Phoenix heroine Damson (Entrepreneur), it will be a major surprise if she doesn't amount to anything other than another elite performer for the operation from here. She even recorded a time a second faster than the exciting Lyons colt Geryon had in the opener.
There is even more evidence in Diamond Necklace's immediate pedigree to suggest she is well ahead of the curve, with her aforementioned celebrated half-sisters Magic Wand and Chicquita still maidens entering their three-year-old campaign. Her other significant half-siblings Philomene (Dubawi) and Enemy (Muhaarar) hadn't raced until September of their juvenile years and if there is one thing this illustrious family guarantees it is improvement with racing experience.
The Listed Prix de la Seine winner Prudenzia (Dansili) has proven a revelation in her second career and she is promising to become a legacy mare via the top-level regular Magic Wand, who managed a win in one in the MacKinnon and is now the dam of the smart Group performer Ecstatic (Lord Kanaloa), and through the uber-talented Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita who is responsible for Dubawi's high-class stayer Emily Dickinson and American Pharoah's Nicest who was third in that Curragh Classic.
The second dam Platonic (Zafonic) is Fittocks gold, with her Group-winning flagbearer Pacifique (Montjeu) proving a font of class in her own right as the second dam of Night Of Thunder's exciting two-year-old filly Skydance-who was second in last month's Silver Flash-and her daughters Prudente (Dansili), Paratonnerre (Montjeu) and Ghalyah (Frankel) producing the Group winners Vespertilio also by Night Of Thunder, Perama by St Mark's Basilica's sire Siyouni and Scenic (Lope De Vega) respectively.
Prudenzia has been in the spotlight at the Arqana Sales throughout her broodmare career, with Chicquita selling for €600,000 as a yearling, her Galileo progeny Gulliver's Travels, Sinnamary, Truth and Magic Wand as well as Philomene and Invincible Spirit's Craven's Legend all selling for six-figure sums. Another Galileo, Je Ne Regretterien, was a €950,000 purchase at the August Sale and Enemy was €420,000. After Diamond Necklace's chart-topping presence at the prestige Normandy auction 12 months ago, it will be a surprise if Prudenzia doesn't do it again in nine day's time with her filly by Vespertilio and Skydance's sire Night Of Thunder, particularly given how potent Dubawi has proven with this family.
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