The adage ‘blood will out’, definitely applies to new Gr2 winner Mon Petit Cherie. The Ridgemont -bred threw her hat into the ring for next month’s WSB Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas with a gutsy victory in the Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship last Saturday, on what was just her fifth racetrack appearance.
Mon Petit Cherie’s happy connections (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
A 21st stakes winner for Ridgemont ace stallion Rafeef, she is the second stakes winner out of the Galileo mare Exotic, the first being the fine sprinter Capitana, a winner of both the Olympic Duel and Laisserfaire Stakes, whose first foal incidentally, is a yearling filly by Rafeef.
Mon Petit Cherie joins Gr1 SA Derby winner Aragosta and his Gr1-placed own sister Mrs Browning as yet another Rafeef stakes winner sired from a daughter of breed-shaper Galileo, whose utter dominance as a broodmare sire continues unabated.
Taking it one generation further, Rafeef has also sired SA Oaks victress Frances Ethel, Zimbabwe Oaks winner Empress Of Jade and Gr3 winner Shantastic from daughters of Fort Wood, who like Galileo, is a son of Sadler’s Wells.
Mon Petit Cherie is a beauty (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Although Exotic managed just one win over 2400m, she hails from a female line which has churned out readily identifiable champions over the decades.
Her dam, the Danehill Dancer mare Ice Queen, won the Gr3 Noblesse Stakes and ran second in the Gr1 Irish Oaks, while grandam Wadud is a Nashwan own sister to Gr3 Gordon Stakes winner Rabah, an underappreciated stallion who spent his stallion career in South Africa and Zimbabwe, siring Gr3 Cape Nursery winner Firebolt in his first crop.
The next dam The Perfect Life, by Try My Best, proved her class when victorious in the Gr3 Prix du Bois and Listed Prix Imprudence, but more importantly, she was one of five stakes winners out of the Mill Reef mare Mill Princess.
A half-sister to Irish Derby victor Irish Ball, this modest one-time winner did Kilfrush Stud proud, for also amongst her five stakes winning progeny was Last Tycoon, an own brother to The Perfect Life. Successful in the Gr1 King’s Stand Stakes and Gr1 William Hill Sprint Championship, he was voted Europe’s Champion 3yo Sprinter and went on to become a successful sire.
Rafeef (Redoute’s Choice – ex National Colour)
Mill Princess left several daughters to be bred from, hence she is also grandam of champion Immortal Verse, who claimed both the Gr1 Coronation Stakes and Gr1 Prix Fresnay le Buffard Jacques Le Marois; Gr1 French 1000 Guineas victress Valentine Waltz and Gr1 French 2000 Guineas hero Tie Black.
Then there is her winning daughter Zelda, who has established another golden thread as the dam of champion sprinter Zipping.
The Gr3 winning Zelda produced the blue hen mare Beauty Is Truth, who of course is the dam of Gr1 winners Hydrangea, Hermosa and Moutonshoek-based sire The United States.
Black type updates for fillies and mares are an essential way to highlight the quality of their pedigree and Mon Petit Cherie’s breakthrough at stakes level yet again underlines the excellence of this power-packed family.
