St John Gray’s Bankable mare Parisienne Chic has been a flagbearer for her late sire since becoming his first winner on 28 March 2015.
On Saturday she registered what her in-form trainer will regard as a deserved maiden stakes success.
Marco van Rensburg and Parisienne Chic are well clear (Pic – JC Photos)
Parisienne Chic also became Bankable’s first fairer sex stakes winner when storming home to win the R150 000 Listed Spook Express Handicap over the 2450m standside track.
Marco van Rensburg – who has formed a winning team with the veteran conditioner – got her up to hold off a late challenge from the ever game Patchit Up Baby by 1,20 lengths in a time of 154,50 secs. She went off at 8-1.
St John Gray (with trophy) in familiar pose in this file pic
From her sire’s one and only crop, Parisienne Chic has won 7 races with 19 places from 51 starts for stakes of R674 100.
She was bred by Nicola and Marc Coppez, formerly of Balmoral Stud.
Parisienne Chic was purchased by St John Gray at the 2014 Ready To Run Sale for R50 000.
She is out of the two-time winner Champs Elysees (Victory Moon) and hails from the family of Cover Look, Winter Fever and Orange Alert – the latter racing as Brilliant One in Hong Kong with six wins.
Bankable under Ryan Moore wins the 6f Mahab Al Shimaal, Meydan, Dubai (Photo: Horsephotos.com)
Bankable was the first son of Medicean (by Machiavellian) to stand in South Africa and died suddenly from colic complications in January 2012.
He has only 44 runners on the track, with 2015 Listed Derby Trial winner Bankable Teddy and stakes performers Banking April and Let’s Go Get It leading the charge, before being joined on Saturday by Parisienne Chic.
A handsome individual with a regal pedigree – being out of a Sadler’s Wells’ mare, in turn out of an Irish River/Habitat mare, Bankable won three times in Dubai including a Gr2 and Gr3 with a Timeform Rating of 122.
The only son of Medicean to have stood in South Africa, Bankable weighed in at a monstrous 560kg in training and his trainer, Herman Brown Jnr, described him as the best-looking specimen of a thoroughbred he’s been associated with.
Bankable earned over R20 million in stakes over distances from 1200-1800m.
