Stacelita (TrueNicks A) was foaled in France, but her pedigree is German on both sides. She is by the great German stallion, Monsun (from a sire line that goes back to 1935 English Triple Crown winner Bahram), out of a mare by Dashing Blade (by Elegant Air, from the Shirley Height/Mill Reef line), and is another example of how well Mill Reef/Shirley Heights and German strains combine. Stacelita goes back to the great German family of Schwarzgold, through a branch (Schonbrunn) developed by the Wildenstein family, and familiar in the U.S. through Turf Champion Steinlen, a half-brother to Stacelita’s third dam.

Another major European contest that fell to a German-bred was Gran Premio di Milano (gr. I). This fell to Quijano (TrueNicks A++), a son of Acatenango (from a male line that has been in Germany even longer than that of Monsun) out of a Unfuwain mare. A seven-year-old who took the Grosser Preis Von Baden (gr. I) two years ago, Quijano is one of two stakes winners from only three starters out of Unfuwain mares. In Germany, the Union-Rennen (gr. II) was captured byWiener Walzer, a German-foaled son of Dynaformer, out of the excellent racemare,Walzerkoenigin, a daughter of Kingmambo. The Dynaformer/Kingmambo cross now has three stakes winners – the other two are 2009 graded stakes winning and grade one placed filly, Gozzip Girl, and English highweight Ocean Girl – and Wiener Walzer was rated A++ before his victory, his first in black-type company. We’ve got a slight connection to this one, as we planned the mating for the granddam, and also arranged the reimportation of her sire, Keen (a brother to Kris and Diesis), to Europe from the U.S.

Finally, we’ll mention up-and-comer, Verglas, who had recent French 2,000 Guineas (gr. I) winner Silver Frost in his first Irish crop (he moved to the Irish National Stud after a promising start from limited opportunities in France). He added two stakes winners at the weekend. Alpine Snow, a three-year-old from the same crop as Silver Frost, won the Prix Urban Sea in France. Out of a mare by Diesis, he’s rated A++ on the Verglas/Sharpen Up gross. He’s another from a German family, his granddam being none other than Allegretta (dam of Urban Sea, so this is the family of Galileo, Sea the Stars, Anabaa Blue, King’s Best, et al). From his second Irish crop, just two, he now has stakes winner Love Lockdown (out of a Sadler’s Wells mare), who took the six furlong Rochestown Stakes.