‘A rare pearl to be put through the sales ring’ - Kirsten Rausing on Alpinista’s sister and more

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Here, Kitty Trice speaks to Kirsten Rausing about selling Alpinista's sister at Tattersalls Book 1 on Tuesday, plus her draft for Book 2 – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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The saying goes that lightning doesn’t strike twice, but for Kirsten Rausing the second bolt is pretty much guaranteed to hit Park Paddocks tomorrow.  

Rausing’s Staffordstown Stud sold the second highest-priced yearling at the Goffs Orby Sale last week, a Frankel half-sister to Albany, Duchess of Cambridge, Lennox and Park Stakes winner Sandrine – by Lanwades Stud sire Bobby’s Kitten – who went the way of Godolphin for €1 million. 

A lot more will be needed to take home the Frankel sister to Rausing’s masterpiece, the outstanding 2022 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Alpinista, offered by Staffordstown as lot 72  at Tattersalls Book 1. 

Reflecting on the team’s seven-figure yearling at Kildare Paddocks last week, Rausing says: “We’ve had some very good sales from that family previously, most of them at Goffs. I think we’ve topped Goffs Orby, and the sale preceding it when it wasn’t the Orby, three or four times with yearlings from this family.” 

While there has been some concern about the state of the market this sales season, Goffs Orby Book 1 held up pretty well, with the average up five per cent but the median dipping six per cent.

Rausing says on trade: “It was stratified, which we were expecting, but overall it was positive; the numbers were surprisingly good.” 

Alpinista’s sister, meanwhile, is the talk of the town in Newmarket, having travelled over from Staffordstown in County Meath last week. 

Alpinista's sister, pictured as a foal, with Alwilda

The precious cargo, whose sister won six Group 1s in all and who is a half-sister to the Listed-winning Alpenblume, by Kendargent, is held in the highest regard by her breeder. 

She says: “Most people haven’t yet seen her because she is, as we speak, travelling from Staffordstown Stud to Newmarket. 

“I hope the interested parties will find her to their liking. She’s a lovely filly and hard to fault in any way. I would say this filly is a bit taller than Alpinista and is, if anything, a better physical specimen than Alpinista. 

“She has the same presence, lovely walk and extremely nice temperament as her sister.”

Rausing’s ‘A’ family contains several A-listers. Alpinista, Alpenblume and this yearling are out of the German stakes winner Alwilda, a Hernando daughter of triple German Group 1 winner Albanova and half-sister to four black-type winners or performers, including All At Sea, the dam of English and Irish St Leger hero Eldar Eldarov. 

Albanova is in turn a sister to Alborada, a dual winner of the Champion Stakes. It is the exceptional family of Alouette, a stakes winner and Moyglare Stud Stakes-placed filly who is the blue hen of a brood carefully nurtured by Rausing. 

“All of them have a very nice, steady temperament, which is always helpful,” she says. “Sir Mark Prescott, who has trained most of them, will tell you that they are wonderfully tough and resilient, and that they’ll always come back for their feed, they’ll never go off it even after a tough race.”

Alpinista: champion mare for Kirsten RausingCredit: Edward Whitaker

With Alwilda, Alpinista and Alpenblume among Lanwades’ broodmare band, which will in due course also very likely welcome Alwilda’s Iffraaj two-year-old daughter Alpetta, Rausing is well stocked, which goes a long way to explaining the rare commodity on offer at Park Paddocks tomorrow.

She says: “I’m very well covered with Alwilda the dam, who has a colt foal by Frankel and is in foal to Sea The Stars, while I’ve also got Alpinista herself with a filly foal by Dubawi and in foal to Study Of Man, and Alpinista’s half-sister Alpenblume, who is carrying her first foal by Frankel. 

“There’s also a two-year-old half-sister to Alpinista called Alpetta, by Iffraaj, who is to date unraced. 

“And then I’ve got a number of fillies and mares also stemming from Alwilda’s dam Albanova and her sister Alborada. I’ve got no scarcity of the family and obviously this yearling filly is a rare pearl to be put through the sales ring.  

“One would hope that whoever buys her, in the fullness of time after her racing days, will surely breed her to the best stallions in the world. That would then also indirectly help my fillies and mares from the same family.” 

Staffordstown had also been due to offer at Book 1 the Siyouni colt out of British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner Madame Chiang, however he has been withdrawn due to a temporary setback. It is hoped he will now head to the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale. 

A half-brother to two black-type horses, including the stakes-winning and Group-placed Oriental Mystique, he hails from another of Rausing’s greatest families. 

Madame Chiang: Group 1-winning mare and fine producer for LanwadesCredit: Edward Whitaker

“He’s a very nice horse, quite like his dam in that he’s a full-coloured bay and a robust type,” she says. “He’s a product of two Group 1-winning parents, while Madame Chiang has bred nothing but winners; five winners from five runners and black-type winners under her name. 

“Again, it’s a lovely family which I’ve been working with for many years, it goes back to the fantastic mare Special, the ancestress of Sadler’s Wells, Kingmambo and Nureyev. It’s a nice bit of paper there.” 

Put this colt's name on your own bit of paper for future reference.

After the excitement of Book 1, the team will have a busy time of things at Book 2 next week, with nine yearlings in the catalogue including well-bred progeny by Lanwades sires Study Of Man and Sea The Moon. 

Poignantly, there is a sole youngster by Rausing’s now retired Sir Percy (lot 690), a half-brother to the high-class Pondus who is out of a Green Desert close relation to German Group 1 winner Lady Jane Digby.  

Rausing says: “I’m very pleased with all my yearlings this year, and among them is a nice chestnut colt who is the very last yearling to be produced by Sir Percy. 

“He’s a magnificent horse out of Diablerette, who produced a good one called Pondus. It’s going to be quite bittersweet to see the last Sir Percy go through.” 

Sir Percy: the now retired Lanwades sire prevails in an exciting finish to the 2006 DerbyCredit: Paul Cranham

She adds: “I have to say I’m very pleased with them all, they’re a pretty homogenous group. The market in Book 2 is different from those in Books 1 and 3, but, as we know, Book 2 continues to provide more winners to catalogued horses than anywhere else in the world, so it’s a good sale for the buyer.”

Other notables from the Book 2 draft include an Oasis Dream colt out of an Archipenko half-sister to Eldar Eldarov (521), and a Study Of Man colt out of a Group-winning Invincible Spirit sister to Listed winner Aloe Vera and half-sister to Park Hill Stakes scorer Alyssa and Albaflora, second in the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes and Yorkshire Oaks (534). 

There is also a Study Of Man colt out of a Sea The Moon half-sister to City of York Stakes victor Shine So Bright (537); and a colt by Study Of Man out of an Archipenko daughter of Lady Jane Digby who is a half-sister to Listed winner Madame Ambassador and to the dam of 2024 black-type winner and Musidora Stakes runner-up Francophone (571).

As for Sir Percy, winner of the Dewhurst at two and a Derby hero at three for Marcus Tregoning, the venerable son of Mark Of Esteem is thoroughly enjoying a well-deserved retirement at Lanwades in Newmarket. 

Rausing says: “He’s in fine fettle and Marcus came to see him the other day and said, ‘The old boy looks so well I could throw a saddle on him tomorrow’ - but we decided against it!”

The bred-in-the-purple Study Of Man has done well with his first crop of three-year-olds this season. The son of Deep Impact and grandson of Miesque has 11 individual black-type performers from his first crop, headed by Prix Saint-Alary winner Birthe and Beresford Stakes victor Deepone. 

Another Group winner, Juddmonte’s Kalpana, hacked up when landing the September Stakes at Kempton last month and is set to bid for Group 1 honours on British Champions Day. 

Kirsten Rausing with Study Of ManCredit: Edward Whitaker

Also flying the flag have been Lanwades homebreds Francophone, a granddaughter of Lady Jane Digby who struck in the Height Of Fashion Stakes after finishing second in the Musidora Stakes, and Lingua Franca, a Listed winner in Germany this spring.  

Rausing, who has always steadfastly supported the Prix du Jockey Club winner, says: “Study Of Man has made a remarkable start at stud despite having covered relatively many fewer mares than his contemporary competitors. From his first small book, he’s the leading second-season sire in the northern hemisphere as of a week or two ago.

“He’s got ten per cent black-type winners to runners, which is almost unheard of these days; he tops all other stallions retiring that year, even in Europe, Japan and North America.” 

The Lanwades roster also features another Classic hero in Deutsches Derby victor Sea The Moon, whose 2024 highlights include Fantastic Moon’s score in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden.  

His daughter Terms Of Endearment has landed the Lillie Langtry and Bronte Fillies’ Cup for Henry de Bromhead, while as recently as Thursday he sired the one-two in the Group 3 Preis der Deutschen Einheit at Hoppegarten, Quest The Moon and Westminster Moon.

Rausing said of the son of Sea The Stars: “He’s so far had eight two-year-old winners this year, five of whom have won on their debut. 

“Hopefully, there will be a couple more to come before the season is over, while he’s also had Fantastic Moon win a Group 1 again, having taken the German Derby last year. He’s going well.”

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“I asked Richard Fahey where he was staying during the sale. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether he was joking or not when he said a caravan in town,” writes James Thomas as he relives his time at Goffs Orby Book 1 in his sale diary. 

Pedigree pick

A division of a fillies’ novice event at Wolverhampton (6.00) on a Monday evening is not perhaps the most glamorous of settings, however this particular contest contains a smattering of interesting newcomers plus a few with form in the book from big yards, so looks well worth checking out. 

Victoria Harbour, by Frankel, is a sibling to five winners, notably this year’s Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes winner Royal Rhyme (Lope De Vega), and the Group-placed Zabeel Queen, who is her full-sister.

They are out of Dubawi’s Listed-placed half-sister Dubai Queen, and the debutante was bred by Sheikh Mohammed Obaid.  

Other newcomers include Big Evs’ two-year-old half-sister Queen Of The Roses, by Ribchester, and Elite Racing Club homebred Kordylia, by Kingman and whose dam is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Ribbons and from the family of Soviet Song. 

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