A first Classic winner for Dark Angel as Mangoustine lands French 1,000 Guineas

Yeomanstown Stud stalwart Dark Angel has proven he can get top-class performers, ranging from sprinters such as Harry Angel and the mighty Battaash to milers such as Persuasive and Raging Bull, and even high-class hurdlers such as Silver Streak.

And now the leading and highly durable sire can add a Classic winner to his CV as Mangoustine got the better of valiant Newmarket 1,000 Guineas heroine Cachet in the Emirates Poule d'Essai des Pouliches at Longchamp on Sunday.

The filly was bred by Ecurie des Monceaux, Lordship Stud and Qatar Bloodstock, and sold to David Redvers for €46,000 at the Arqana Select Yearling Sale in 2020, a price that now looks remarkable value and especially given her pedigree.

Mangoustine is the fourth foal out of the Zamindar mare Zotilla, who was fifth on her sole start for Alain de Royer-Dupré and owner Finn Blichfeldt.

Zotilla, who was a €95,000 purchase by Meridian International from Capucines at the Arqana October Yearling Sale in 2012, then sold to One Agency for €550,000 at the 2014 Arqana December Sale before being picked up by Blue Diamond Stud from Monceaux at the same sale in 2019.

The 11-year-old is a half-sister to Flotilla, a daughter of Mizzen Mast who struck in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2012 and then the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches the following year. The pair are also related to the lightly raced and unbeaten stayer Big Five, a Frankel gelding who struck in last year's Prix Right Royal at Chantilly, also in the silks of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani's Al Shahania Stud.

The trio are out of the American Graded winner Louvain, who is a Sinndar half-sister to Haydock Sprint Cup hero G Force, the stakes-winning Laajooj and the Group-placed Desert Poppy.

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