She’s already given birth to two Breeders’ Cup winners, and now Senta’s Dream, who changed hands for just 14,000gns eight years ago, has a real chance of becoming the first broodmare ever to produce three individual BC winners.
Just look at this roll of honour:
- Breeders’ Cup 2002: Starine (Senta’s Dream’s dam) beats Banks Hill, Islington and favorite Golden Apples to cause an upset in the Filly & Mare Turf.
- Breeders’ Cup 2019: Starine’s granddaughter, Iridessa, beats Vasilika and favorite Sistercharlie for another surprise victory in the same race.
- Breeders’ Cup 2020: Iridessa’s half-brother, Order Of Australia, also causes a huge Breeders’ Cup upset as he takes the Mile from stable companions Circus Maximus and Lope Y Fernandez.
- Breeders’ Cup 2021: Can Santa Barbara, a half-sister to Iridessa, add to her family’s success on the big stage? She is favourite with UK bookmakers to win the Filly & Mare Turf. If she does triumph, her dam, Senta’s Dream, becomes the first broodmare with three individual Breeders’ Cup winners.
Yet, for the first five years of her stud career, such success seemed unlikely. Very unlikely.
Senta’s Dream, a UK-bred daughter of Danehill, and Starine’s first foal, never ran, but, although it took some time before she hit the bullseye at stud, she has more than made up for that disappointment as a broodmare.
Bred to Equiano, High Chaparral, Medicean, Motivator and Royal Applause, she produced two minor winners from five foals before being sold for just 14,000gns (US$20,340) at Tattersalls to BBA Ireland in 2013. She had commanded €300,000 ($354,000) as a yearling at Deauville eight years earlier.
Iridessa was a daughter of Derby winner Ruler Of The World. She was bred by Whisperview Trading, trained by Joseph O'Brien and ran in his mother Anne Marie’s silks when making a winning debut at Killarney as a juvenile.
Going off at 20/1, she beat an odds-on favourite trainer by Joseph’s dad, Aidan. It was a low-key start, but it was the beginning to a lucrative career that culminated with her Breeders’ Cup win at Santa Anita two years ago. After her debut, she was sold on to the Spanish-based Mrs Chantel Regalado-Gonzalez.
Next up was the G2 Debutante Stakes at the Curragh. Iridessa finished fifth. She was not the only future G1 winner among the also-rans that day. Behind her were dual 1000 Guineas winner Hermosa and Matriarch Stakes winner Viadera, who actually finished last.
Iridessa went on to run third in a listed event before stepping right up to win the G1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket, where she beat Hermosa at odds of 14/1. Iridessa looked the real deal, but she was consistently overlooked by the betting public. She was allowed to go off at 8/1 when she got the better of Magic Wand in the following year’s G1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh, and at 10/1 when she beat Hermosa once more in the G1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown two starts later.
A third-placed effort in the G1 Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket followed, and then she ran the race of her life to win the Filly & Mare Turf at 13/1. Initially, the plan was to keep her in training at 4, but a tendon injury forced her retirement in the winter and she was sold to Japan as a broodmare.
Unusual campaign
While Iridessa was a runner who delivered on a regular basis and was fairly consistent, half-brother Order Of Australia has been anything but.
Like Iridessa, he is a son of a Derby winner, Australia in his case, and he went into training with Aidan O'Brien, owned in partnership between his breeder Anne Marie O’Brien and Coolmore.
He ran fifth in a Naas maiden on his only start at 2. His 3-year-old campaign was most unusual for a horse destined to win a championship race over a mile. Prior to his 73/1 success at Keeneland, where he overcame a sluggish start to win by a neck, Order Of Australia had done his best work running fourth in the G1 Irish Derby and winning minor events over 10½ furlongs and 12 furlongs at Dundalk and the Curragh.
Throwing him in at deep end at the Breeders’ Cup, where he was also dropped considerably in distance, seemed a strange move. Yet when a top trainer does something we cannot quite understand, it often pays to take note. He was lucky to be part of the contest. Order Of Australia did not draw into the big field but ended up as the ‘also eligible’ horse. O’Brien also had him entered for the G3 Bryan Station Stakes on the day before the race, but when it became known that One Master would be scratched from the Mile, O’Brien decided to let the son of Australia take his chance in the BC Mile.
Drawn in stall 15, it seemed like a tough task and it took all jockey Christophe Soumillon’s qualities to pull it off. Ballydoyle inmates running 1-2-3 in a championship turf event is not exactly uncommon, but Order Of Australia was the least likely winner.
Is he really top class, or was it a fluke? Did he enjoy the turning track more than the venues he had been to in Europe, and did Lasix play its part?
Order Of Australia has been a bit in and out so far this season. He a below-par eighth behind world #1 Palace Pier when making his seasonal debut in the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, then ran a solid race to beat lesser rivals in the G2 Minstrel Stakes at the Curragh, before filling fifth behind Alcohol Free in the G1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and third, beaten 1¾ lengths, behind Palace Pier in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville.
That was a performance indicating that Order Of Australia may be rounding back into form. And that impression was confirmed when he ran second to new Shadwell star Baaeed in the G1 Prix de Moulin at ParisLongchamp nine days ago. TRC Computer Race Ratings rate his performances in his two most recent races higher than his win at Keeneland.
His next start is likely to be the G1 Keeneland Turf Mile on October 9 ahead of a possible attempt to win the BC Mile again.
Drop in class
Santa Barbara appears to have a far better chance of success at the Del Mar in November than her half-brother, having won two valuable contests on American soil already this season. The way the daughter of Camelot captured the G1 Beverly D Stakes at Arlington Park suggested she is a progressive sort and open to further improvement given more time.
Yet the Aidan O’Brien-trained, Coolmore-owned filly was highly touted at the beginning of the season. Her reputation then indicated that she may have been much further forward already back in April. She started 5/2 joint favourite for the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, finishing fourth to stablemate Mother Earth, and was readily beaten as a warm favourite, again at 5/2, in the Oaks at Epsom, finishing a distant fifth behind another stablemate, Snowfall.
With all due respect to Con Lima, winner of the G3 Saratoga Oaks on her subsequent start, meeting her in the G1 Belmont Oaks Invitational meant a drop in class for Santa Barbara, who overcame trouble in running to master the Pletcher filly by half a length.
Mean Mary was expected to be a tougher nut to crack at Arlington, but Santa Barbara beat her comfortably by three lengths in the Beverly D. That was over 9½ furlongs. The BC Filly & Mare Turf will this year be run over 11 furlongs, a trip that should suit her even better.
Before that, Santa Barbara may have a BC prep in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Keeneland on October 16.
Discovered by Bobby Frankel
Starine was one of several high-class turf runners recruited to Bobby Frankel’s team from Europe. While these were mostly owned by Juddmonte, Frankel owned Starine himself, having purchased her for around $150,000 and failed in his attempts at selling her on to any of his clients.
She was a late developing listed winner in France, where she also ran placed four times at the same level. Frankel clearly spotted a hidden talent as Starine’s last four starts before he bought her came at Cagnes-sur-Mer and Lyon Parilly. No prizes for guessing how Frankel’s previous assistant, Chad Brown, became so interested in scouting for fillies in France.
Starine improved markedly in Frankel’s care. Her Breeders’ Cup win at Arlington was a perfect ending to a excellent U.S. career. She had previously landed the G1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park and G2 Diana Handicap at Saratoga, and been placed in two other G1s.
All told, Starine won ten times from 2 to 5, and she earned $1,674,491.
Shortly after her biggest win, she was bought for $1 million by Newsells Park Stud at the Keeneland November Sales. Frankel’s $150,000 investment paid off handsomely.