Sottsass off the mark at Deauville as 'out of the ordinary' Ultrafragola impresses on debut

The Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Prix du Jockey Club victor Sottsass recorded his first winner on Sunday when Ultrafragola made a successful debut in the Prix des Marettes at Deauville and the filly could not have been a more perfect candidate to be her sire's pathfinder.

She is a homebred for Peter Brant, who raced Sottsass, and is out of a mare who was one of a number of high-class fillies and broodmares Brant purchased to support the son of Siyouni when he retired to Coolmore Stud. 

Ultrafragola is trained by Jean-Claude Rouget, who also masterminded the career of Sottsass and was ridden to victory by Christophe Soumillon, the jockey who was in the saddle for the first four races of Sottsass's career including his debut as a juvenile at Deauville.

The filly ended up an impressive and easy winner from Bella India and Marques and Michel Zerolo, racing and breeding manager to Peter Brant and agent under the Oceanic Bloodstock banner, said the victory was not entirely unexpected.

"It's a great result especially for Sottsass and for Peter. We’ve liked her all along so it’s only half a surprise," he reported.

Zerolo was entrusted with assisting Brant in purchasing mares specifically for Sottsass and Toinette, the Grade 2 winner from the final crop of Scat Daddy, was one of the more expensive buys at $800,000 in November 2020 from Lane's End Farm.

"I bought the dam out of training at Keeneland and she was a multiple Group winner," Zerolo said. "She’s a very good daughter of Scat Daddy who cost a fair bit but she was bought specifically to go to Sottsass."

"He [Brant] bought plenty of mares to support Sottsass and he sent him his best mares."

Toinette won eight of her 13 career starts including the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes as a four-year-old and she was a triple Grade 3 winner. Toinette was also fourth to Rushing Fall in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes and filled the same position behind Get Stormy in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes.

The first foal out of New York stakes winner I Bet Toni Knows, a daughter of the Saint Ballado stallion Sunriver, Ultrafragola had earned a lofty reputation prior to her debut.

The exact same combination of connections, as well as Sottsass, had been a whisker away from winning the equivalent race for colts earlier in the card with Chauncey Gardiner beaten by Misunderstood.

Sottass is the sire of a winner

Jean-Bernard Roth, assistant to Rouget, said: "She is a filly who has been pleasing us for many weeks now and both she and the colt that was second earlier are two very good horses.

"The finishing places are obviously important but we’re delighted with both. The filly is beautifully balanced and has a great temperament, and she has won that in the style of a horse who is out of the ordinary."

With such glowing comments and the manner of her success, targets beyond even the end of season juvenile Group races sprung to mind and on the question of whether Ultrafragola would stay further, Zerolo was enigmatically confident.

He said: "The mother would go a mile and an eighth and then you have Sottsass..."

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