Christophe Soumillon pushes Siyarafina clear in the closing stages at Longchamp
PIVOTAL reached a landmark 30 individual Group/Grade 1 winners when his daughter, SIYARAFINA, bound clear to claim yesterday’s Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary at Longchamp. His Highness The Aga Khan is the owner-breeder of Siyarafina, who is now unbeaten in three starts for Alain de Royer-Dupre. CALA TARIDA, a first-crop daughter of GARSWOOD, was the eye-catcher of the race, flashing home in to fourth place after getting boxed in entering the straight. Siyarafina is closely related to SIYOUNI, another Group 1 winner by Pivotal, who is now carving out a reputaion as a quality sire in his own right at Haras de Bonneval. It appears that Siyarafina will now head to the Group 1 Prix de Diane, which was won in 2018 by Siyouni’s five-time Group 1 winning daughter, LAURENS, who also triumphed in the Prix Saint-Alary en route to Chantilly.
It was a marquee weekend for Pivotal, whose daughters supplied both Group 1 winners on Sunday’s card at The Curragh. HERMOSA (Galileo), added the Irish 1000 Guineas to her victory in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and MAGICAL (Galileo) won for the second time at the highest level in the Tattersalls Gold Cup. Hermosa is out of Beauty Is Truth (Pivotal), making her a full-sister to Hydrangea (Galileo), a dual Group 1 winner in 2017 for Coolmore. Meanwhile Magical is out of Halfway to Heaven (Pivotal), making her a full-sister to two Group 1 winners in the form of Rhododendron (Galileo) and The United States (Galileo).