Coolmore's support of Deep Impact rewarded once again with Fancy Blue

Coolmore's support of late Japanese sire phenomenon Deep Impact was rewarded once again on Sunday as the operation's homebred filly Fancy Blue dug deep to win the Prix de Diane at Chantilly.

The filly, providing rookie trainer Donnacha O'Brien with a first Classic success, follows in the footsteps of other Deep Impact progeny to have excelled in Europe for the Irish superpower, headed by 2,000 Guineas hero Saxon Warrior (now a stallion at Coolmore) and Fillies' Mile runner-up September.

Deep Impact, by Sunday Silence out of the Alzao mare Wind In Her Hair, was pinpointed by Coolmore as an effective outcross for the many mares descended from their totemic sire Sadler's Wells and his sons, and he consequently covered a handful of them at the Shadai Stallion Station each year leading up to his death aged 17 in 2019.

Coolmore were not the only European-based supporters of Deep Impact, though.

The Wildenstein family bred their Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Beauty Parlour from him, while the Niarchos family's support yielded Prix du Jockey Club scorer Study Of Man, who stood his first season at Landwades Stud this year.

Fancy Blue becomes Deep Impact's 47th top-level winner overall, joining an illustrious roll of honour that includes six scorers in the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) – Contrail, Deep Brillante, Kizuna, Makahiki, Roger Barows and Wagnerian – as well as international stars such as A Shin Hikari, Fierce Impact, Gentildonna, Real Impact, Real Steel, Tosen Stardom and Vivlos.

Fancy Blue is the seventh foal out of Chenchikova, a winning Sadler's Wells sister to Derby hero High Chaparral and Dante Stakes winner Black Bear Island, and a half-sister to Mora Bai, the unraced dam of smart middle-distance performers David Livingston and Hunting Horn.

Deep Impact: late sire boasts an illustrious progeny roll of honourCredit: Shadai Stallion Station

Chenchikova's five previous winners include Smuggler's Cove, who took the Star Appeal Stakes and ran third in the Dewhurst, and Casterton, who landed two Listed races in France. Both are by Fastnet Rock, another of the Coolmore partners' favoured outcrosses for their mares from the Sadler's Wells line.

Chenchikova has a two-year-old filly by Zoffany who was bought by Phoenix Thoroughbreds for €220,000 at the Arqana August Yearling Sale and is now in training with Ed Vaughan under the name Miss Chess.

The mare also has a yearling filly by Caravaggio and was covered last year by Saxon Warrior, the result of which is a filly foal closely related to Fancy Blue.

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