Lope De Vega brother to Breeders' Cup winner Aunt Pearl set for Leicester debut

Our resident bloodstock experts profile the well-bred eyecatchers and expensive purchases set to grace the track.

Matauri Bay

Irish Stallion Farms EBF Novice Stakes (2.30 Leicester, Sunday)

What's the story?

Ralph Beckett has won the last two runnings of this race and he debuts a well-bred newcomer this time around in Matauri Bay. 

It looks an interesting contest with several nicely bred individuals, but Valmont, Ballylinch and Ecurie des Charmes' Lope De Vega colt catches the eye with his pedigree and price tag, having sold to Alex Elliott for 500,000gns at Tattersalls Book 1 last October.

How's he bred?

Matauri Bay is the sixth foal out of Swedish winner and Listed-placed Matauri Pearl, a daughter of Hurricane Run and Grand Lodge mare Moonrise. Her four winners are headed by the Lope De Vega-sired Aunt Pearl, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf for Brad Cox in 2020. 

She subsequently sold to Masahiro Miki for $3 million at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Sale the following year. 

Matauri Pearl's other winners include Fall In Love, a Sea The Stars filly who came close to achieving black type on a number of occasions, including when fifth to Nashwa in the 2022 Prix de Diane. Also fourth in the John Musker Fillies' Stakes at Yarmouth last September, she sold to Js Bloodstock for €305,000 at Arqana's December Sale in 2023. 

Matauri Bay at Tattersalls Book 1 last yearCredit: Laura Green

Dragon Icon, by Lope De Vega, and Cape Cavalli, by Cape Cross, are Matauri Pearl's other winners. The 15-year-old produced a colt by Frankel this year. 

Who does he face?

Juddmonte debuts the Frankel colt Nightwalker, a half-brother to dual American Grade 1 winner Whitebeam, by Caravaggio. The two-year-old is out of the Oasis Dream mare Sleep Walk, a half-sister to Frankel's St Leger winner Logician, this year's Gordon Richard Stakes winner Okeechobee, American Graded scorer Suffused and French Listed victor Collide. They are in turn out of the Listed-placed Daylami mare Scuffle, a half-sister to Group 1 winner and sire Cityscape, and to high-class sprinter and top-level sire Bated Breath. 

Another interesting newcomer is Godolphin's Spectacular View, a son of Darley's first-season sire and champion juvenile Pinatubo. The 270,000gns Tattersalls December Yearling Sale purchase is out of the stakes-placed Teofilo mare Vivianite, a half-sister to another black-type performer in Glesga Gal, and hailing from the family of Fillies' Mile winner Crystal Music.

Mehmas colt Marchogion is a grandson of Australian Group 1 winner Lone Rock, while the Sea The Stars-sired Shah is a half-brother to the Listed-placed Ursuly and out of the Group-winning Shahah. She is out of an Olden Times half-sister to Dewhurst and St James's Palace Stakes winner Grand Lodge.

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