The Wertheimer family first won the Prix Marcel Boussac (gr. I) – France’s premier race for juvenile fillies – with Jacques Wertheimer’s Gold Splash in 1992. The brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, racing as Wertheimer et Frere took their first edition of the race with Juvenia in 1998. They repeated with Silasol (also successful in this year’s Prix Saint-Alary (gr. I)), and on Sunday achieved back-to-back triumphs courtesy of Indonesienne.

Starting at odds of 37-1 Indonesienne’s victory was obviously a surprise, not least because the Wertheimers were also represented by the previously undefeated Elusive Quality filly, Royalmania (who finished fourth). Despite her starting price, Indonesienne’s form was not at all bad. She’d won by three length at La teste de buch on her debut, then finished second, beaten 1¼ lengths to the subsequent Oh So Sharp Stakes (gr. III) winner Miss France, when trying concede 4 lbs. to that one in a conditions race at Chantilly.

Indonesienne’s is by Muhtathir, the only stallion of note by the Diesis horse, Elmaamul. Muhtathir was a high-class miler winning five group races in England, France and Italy, including the Prix Jacques le Marois (gr. I) and Premio Vittorio di Capua (gr. I). Muhtathir’s pedigree was something of a hurdle to overcome when he retired to stud in France, and he was only represented by 85 foals in his first two crops. However, those two initial crops contained a quartet of group/graded winners headed by the group/grade one scorers Doctor Dino, Mauralakana and Satwa Queen. The attention those runners drew to his potential merits saw Muhtathir attract much larger books, and from 2007 to 2010, he was represented by crops of 81, 76, 83 and 75. As so often happens though, bigger (and presumably better bred) crops, couldn’t recapture his earlier level of success, and those four crops yielded just two more group winners (although there were also another four listed winners).

At the time the decision to send Indonesienne’s dam, the Darshaan mare, Mydarshaan to Muhtathir for the 2010 breeding season the jury was still out of what he would with his better crops, who at the time were only two. Mydarshaan’s produce record was pretty much an unopened book at this time too, although she was soon to demonstrate her potential. Her first foal, Lumineux, a 2007 colt by Motivator, gained black-type by taking the Prix Ridgway in the spring of his three-year-old season, then after producing winners by Hernarndo and Sinndar, Mydarshaan produced the black-type placed Green Tune gelding Kamran. The following year came Indonesienne – Mydarshaan’s third black-type horse from five foals – and the mare also has a 2012 colt from the last crop by Montjeu and a 2013 filly by Motivator.

Given the point that Muhtathir and Mydarshaan were at in their prospective careers, the mating was one with obvious appeal. The cross of sons of Muhtathir’s grandsire, Diesis with Darshaan mares, was proving a very productive one with four stakes winners, three group, from 21 starters. And a look at Mydarshaan’s family provided another nudge in that direction. Mydarshaan’s dam, Mypreciousprospect, had not produced a stakes winner, but was half-sister to four black-type winners. One of those, Pyrus, was by Mypreciousprospect’s own sire, Mr. Prospector which tended to rule that line out of consideration, two of the others, grade one scorer, Matiara, and Precious Ring, were by Bering, whose son, American Post had yet to show his stallion potential, and who didn’t have another potential son to consider, but the fourth, Marathon, a three-time group winning and group one placed miler, was by Diesis.

Deeper analysis reveals that Muhtathir is a Native Dancer/Northern Dancer cross (his dam is bred on a cross of Northern Dancer over Native Dancer’s son, Raise a Native), and the dam of Mydarshaan is a Raise a Native (Native Dancer)/Northern Dancer cross. Add in the Muhtathir’s third dam, Fairway Fable is by Never Bend out of a Prince John mare, so very closely related to Darshaan’s grandsire, Mill Reef, and we can see that Mutathir’s dam has a rather similar background to Mydarshaan. All that considered, and given that Muhtathir was a proven sire at a reasonable fee, and that Mydarshaan was an unproven mare not yet worthy of a top echelon sire, the mating had obvious appeal.

As a footnote to the Prix Marcel Boussac (gr. I), we’ll mention that another surprise was Queen Catrine, a Pedigree Consultants recommended mating who had shown good form sprinting, but who handled the stretch out to a mile well, to take third, earning her first group one placing in the process. Bred by Mount Coote Stud, Queen

The Wertheimer family first won the Prix Marcel Boussac (gr. I) – France’s premier race for juvenile fillies – with Jacques Wertheimer’s Gold Splash in 1992. The brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, racing as Wertheimer et Frere took their first edition of the race with Juvenia in 1998. They repeated with Silasol (also successful in this year’s Prix Saint-Alary (gr. I)), and on Sunday achieved back-to-back triumphs courtesy of Indonesienne.

Starting at odds of 37-1 Indonesienne’s victory was obviously a surprise, not least because the Wertheimers were also represented by the previously undefeated Elusive Quality filly, Royalmania (who finished fourth). Despite her starting price, Indonesienne’s form was not at all bad. She’d won by three length at La teste de buch on her debut, then finished second, beaten 1¼ lengths to the subsequent Oh So Sharp Stakes (gr. III) winner Miss France, when trying concede 4 lbs. to that one in a conditions race at Chantilly.

Indonesienne’s is by Muhtathir, the only stallion of note by the Diesis horse, Elmaamul. Muhtathir was a high-class miler winning five group races in England, France and Italy, including the Prix Jacques le Marois (gr. I) and Premio Vittorio di Capua (gr. I). Muhtathir’s pedigree was the biggest hurdle to overcome when he retired to stud in France, and he was only represented by 85 foals in his first two crops. However, those two initial crops contained a quartet of group/graded winners headed by the group/grade one scorers Doctor Dino, Mauralakana and Satwa Queen. The attention those runners drew to his potential merits saw Muhtathir attract much larger books, and from 2007 to 2010, he was represented by crops of 81, 76, 83 and 75. As so often happens though, bigger (and presumably better bred) crops, couldn’t recapture his earlier level of success, and those four crops yielded just two more group winners (although there were also another four stakes winners).

At the time the decision to send Indonesienne’s dam, the Darshan mare, Mydarshaan to Muhtathir for the 2010 breeding season the jury was still out of what he would with his better crops, who at the time were only two. Mydarshaan’s produce record was pretty much an unopened book at this time too, although she was soon to demonstrate her potential. Her first foal, Lumineux, a 2007 colt by Motivator, gained black-type by taking the Prix Ridgway in the spring of his three-year-old season, then after producing winners by Hernarndo and Sinndar, Mydarshaan produced the black-type placed Green Tune gelding Kamran. The following year came Indonesienne – Mydarshaan’s third black-type horse from five foals – and the mare also has a 2012 colt by Montjeu and a 2013 filly from the final crop of Motivator.

Given the point that Muhtathir and Mydarshaan were at in their prospective careers, the mating was one with obvious appeal. The cross of sons of Muhtathir’s grandsire, Diesis with Darshaan mares, was proving a very productive one with four stakes winners, three group, from 21 starters. And a look at Mydarshaan’s family provided another nudge in that direction. Mydarshaan’s dam, Mypreciousprospect, had not produced a stakes winner, but was half-sister to four black-type winners. One of those, Pyrus, was by Mypreciousprospect’s own sire, Mr. Prospector which tended to rule that line out of consideration, two of the others, grade one scorer, Matiara, and Precious Ring, were by Bering, whose son, American Post had yet to show his stallion potential, but the fourth, Marathon, a three-time group winning and group one placed miler, was by Diesis.

Deeper analysis reveals that Muhtathir is a Native Dancer/Northern Dancer cross (his dam is bred on a cross of Northern Dancer over Native Dancer’s son, Raise a Native), and the dam of Mydarshaan is a Raise a Native (Native Dancer)/Northern Dancer cross. Add in the Muhtathir’s third dam, Fairway Fable is by Never Bend out of a Prince John mare, so very closely related to Darshaan’s grandsire, Mill Reef, and we can see that Mutathir’s dam has a rather similar background to Mydarshaan. All that considered, and given that Muhtathir was a proven sire at a reasonable fee, and that Mydarshaan was an unproven mare not yet worthy of a top echelon sire, the mating had obvious appeal.

As a footnote, to the Prix Marcel Boussac (gr. I), we’ll mention that another surprise was Queen Catrine, a Pedigree Consultants recommended mating who had shown good form sprinting, but who handled the stretch out to a mile well, to take third, earning her first group one placing in the process. Bred by Mount Coote Stud, Queen Catrine is by Acclamation out of Kahira, a King’s Best half-sister to the European Champion Sprinter Tamarisk.

The day before the Prix Marcel Boussac, another long-term Pedigree Consultants client, Chester and Mary Broman was on hand to see there homebred filly Artemis Agrotera (named after a Roman temple), take the Frizette Stakes (gr. I) on only her second lifetime start. Artemis Agrotera’s dam, Immerse, was purchased for $350,000 by the couple’s Chestertown Farm at the 1997 Keeneland November Sales. At that point, the mare’s yearling was an A.P. Indy colt that as Stephen Got Even would win the Donn Handicap (gr. II) and Gallery Furniture.Com Stakes (gr. II). The mare would subsequently produce Stephen Got Even’s stakes winning sisters Grand Merger and Indy Glory.

Runner-up in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (gr. II) in addition to her victory in the Videogenic Stakes, Indy Glory began her stud career with two visits to Fusaichi Pegasus. The first resulted in Time Squared, a colt who fetched $1,050,000 at the Keeneland April Two-Year-Old in Training Sale, and came close to a stakes victory when missing by a head to Pavarotti in the Round Table Stakes, with grade one winner Dominican in third. The second Fusaichi Pegasus from the mare, the filly Submerge, was a multiple winner for the Bromans, and also ran second in the East View Stakes at two. When it came time to choose a mate for Indy Glory for 2010, Fusaichi Pegasus’s son, Roman Ruler appeared to be making a promising start with a first crop of two-year-olds that featured six stakes horses including the grade one winning Homeboykris, graded winner Rule, and the stakes winning and graded stakes placed Seattle Ruler, who was out of a mare by A.P.  Indy.