CLASSIC WINNNER FOR THE PEARLY SHELLS FAMILY

Magna Grecia won the 2.000 Guineas for the Coolmore group and trainer Aidan O’Brien in Newmarket on May 4th. The son of Invincible Spirit and the Galileo mare Cabaret gave his trainer a tenth win in the Newmarket Classic, and his female family its first British Classic winner since Sariska won the Oaks in 2009. Magna Grecia comes from the same female family as the Saint Pair foundation mare Pearly Shells, the winner of the Group 1 Prix Vermeille in 2002.

Pearly Shells’s grand dam, the Silly Season mare Fiddle-Faddle is the fourth dam of Magna Grecia, while Fiddle-Faddle’s dam Fiddlededee is the fourth dam of Sariska. Fiddlededee, who was bred by Lord Halifax in 1967 came from the best Classic family in Britain at the time as her granddam All Moonshine was a half sister to Hyperion, the winner of the Derby and the St Leger and multiple times champion sire.

The Haras de Saint Pair’s Pearly Shells went to Anodin this year while her daughter Pearl Banks has been covered by Shalaa, while Pearly Steph, a daughter of Pearl Banks, visits Dubawi. This year’s Saint Pair yearlings include a colt by Kendargent out of Pearly Shells and a colt by Le Havre out of Pearly Steph.