Pedigree Pointers: Breeding expert Cassie Tully assesses the weekend winners at ParisLongchamp including Sottsass

A whopping ten Group One races took place across Europe this past weekend and we have thundered straight into the continent’s largest yearling sale in a bid to unearth the stars of the future.

It is especially motivating when seven of the weekend’s Group One winners were yearling purchases ranging in price from just €6,500 to €340,000 (the other three were homebreds).

The latter was the figure that sealed the purchase of this year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner at Arqana’s August Yearling Sale back in 2017.

And winning his third race at the highest level on Sunday after already securing both the French Derby and Prix Ganay, Sottsass has now earned his yearling price back ten-fold with prize money totalling over €3.4million.

Sottsass is just the third foal but also the third black-type winner out of the Galileo mare Starlet’s Sister. She placed once in just three starts on the racetrack herself and has proven much more prosperous in her second career.

Her first foal from a visit to Myboycharlie was the USA Champion Turf Female of 2018, Sistercharlie, who has a cool seven Group One wins under her belt as well as a placing in four more.

The second produce was by Acclamation and like her elder sister, My Sister Nat also raced initially in France before emigrating to the USA to run in the colours of Peter Brant where she won a second Grade Three event in August this year.

Sottsass is of course the third and he is by French-standing stallion, Siyouni (Pivotal).

Pivotal, who is celebrated in the broodmare sire realm, has not been as successful as a sire of sires despite having 18 Group One winning sons (several were gelded to be fair).

His son Siyouni, however, who won the Prix Jean Luc Lagardere at two, and began his life at stud quite humbly in the beginning commanding a fee of €7,000, has climbed his way to being one of the most expensive sires in Europe at present standing for a fee of €100,000.

Even though proving an exciting sire, Pivotal’s sire line was not guaranteed continuity through Siyouni as a strong filly bias developed in his best performers.

Sottsass has of course eased the stark percentages and established himself as both Siyouni’s best male performer to date (amongst the brilliant multiple Group One winning fillies Laurens and Ervedya, as well as this year’s French 1000 Guineas winner Dream And Do), as well as Pivotal’s most promising male line descendant.

The Galileo effect in this family is another factor that cannot be overlooked. While Sottsass does have a good female family of Stakes winners, his grandam placed in the Grade One Del Mar Oaks, and his dam’s half-sister also placed twice at the highest level, there actually wasn’t a Group or Grade One winner in the family until tracing back into the fifth dam.

The feats of Galileo as a broodmare sire have been touched on before, highlighted by the simple fact that he has produced 31 individual Group One winners. They are by 21 different sires and seven of them have not produced another Group One winner to any other broodmare sire.

In other words, seven sires have only produced a Group One winner out of a Galileo mare.

One further note to mention with Statlet’s Sister is that her two best progeny, the two Group/Grade One winners Sottsass and Sistercharlie, both still represent that famous Danehill/Galileo nick even though from different sire lines.

Galileo didn’t actually sire one of the Group winners at the weekend for a change, but his burgeoning young sire son Galiway did.

Bred and raced by brothers Alain and Gérard Wertheimer’s Wertheimer et Frere operation, Galiway raced only six times for Andre Fabre, winning the Listed Prix Le Fabuleux at three on his final start but also placing in two Group Three events.

He does, however, have quite the female family. He is out of the Danehill mare Danzigaway (yes, that cross again) who won a French Group Three and also placed twice in the Prix de la Foret.

Galiway is a sibling to dual Grade two winner and multiple Group One placed Silent Name, as well as two other Group One placed individuals Salto and Madaway and the dam of Group One performers Slalom and Folamour. His dam is then a half-sister to Group One producing sire Gold Away.

Galiway has two crops of racing age on the ground to date, which total just 31 runners. Thirteen of them have won (42%) including three at Stakes level – the Listed winning Wanaway, the Group Three winning Kenway, and Sunday’s eight length Prix Jean Luc Lagardere winner Sealiway.

If that wasn't impressive enough from such small numbers, they were all conceived off a mere €3,000 fee in France.

That fee did hike to €10,000 after his stirring first crop last year, and it is sure for another justified jump again for 2021. He is another to add to the growing list of sires that have produced Group One winners despite not winning one themselves.

Although having all their Ballydoyle horses withdrawn at the weekend, Coolmore still managed to have success, aside from Sottsass.

Their recent stallion acquisition Wootton Bassett has now had two Group One winners since their purchase in mid-August taking his tally to three, all still bred off the low €4,000-€6,000 fee with his most expensively bred crops just beginning to emerge.

His three top level winners have now won Group Ones ranging from five to ten furlongs after Wooded won the Prix de l’Abbaye on Sunday.

Princess Zoe winning the Group One Prix du Cadran was without a doubt the fairy-tale story of the weekend for everyone, but especially for her trainer and sire who would not be regulars in Group One flat company.

The latter in fact would be more familiarly known for his successful jumps progeny such as Triumph Hurdle winner Farclas. And the son of Montjeu who dead heated in the 2011 Irish St Leger has stood in Burgage Stud in County Carlow for a fee of €6,000 since his relocation from Germany in 2018.

Princess Zoe does come from solid German family of top, consistent performers. She is a half-sister to Germany’s leading older miler of 2017, Palace Prince, who is a multiple Group winner including the Group Two Badener Meile. While Princess Zoe’s dam is a half-sister to three multiple Group winning colts in Germany, all by Big Shuffle.

Arc weekend is like no other and there was certainly a lot of encouraging results from both smaller purchase prices and cheaper stallion fees. So, for now, back to Tattersalls for the value of the future.