Group 1 racing returns to Randwick on Saturday with the running of the $500,000 Winx Stakes (1400m) while the Group II Darley Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) features round six of the Dame Giselle - See You Soon rivalry.
A daughter of the boom French stallion Siyouni, See You Soon must be on first name terms with Dame Giselle as she has lined up against the daughter of I Am Invincible in all of her five starts to date.
Dame Giselle has finished ahead of her old rival in three of the five outings and despite carrying a 2kg penalty and an outside barrier draw we will be banking on her to increase the margin to two on Saturday.
Most associate the Simon’s Shoes family through the extraordinary deedsof her granddaughter Rough Shod who has spawned a dynasty as the ancestress of Gamely, Moccasin, Nantallah, Drumtop, Ridan, Lt. Stevens, Special, Nureyev, Fairy King, and Sadler's Wells.
However, Simon's Shoes also had a daughter named Carpet Slipper, who became the dam of Irish Triple Crown hero Windsor Slipper and the English One Guineas and Epsom Oaks winner Godiva.
Carpet Slipper also had a daughter named Vali who is the dam of the French Derby winner Val De Loir and the Epsom Oaks and Irish One Thousand Guineas winner Valoris whose son Valinsky (GB) stood with limited success in Australia.
Besides Val De Loir and Valoris, Vali left Kalila the dam of French Derby winner Roi Lear and the Prix Saint Alary winner Lalika.
Vali’s granddaughter Winta (FR) (Ramsin) found her way to New Zealand where she proved quite successful. The best of her four winners was the VRC Gibson Carmichael Stakes winner Winter Prince who sported a pedigree that sends breeding buffs into raptures as his sire Roi Lear and dam Winta both boast Vali as their granddam.
This line of the family could quite of easily died a natural death if it was not through deeds of Winta’s daughter Centuria, a wonderful producer for the Wallace family’s Ardsley Stud.
Back on the 2nd of October 2004, Centuria had the extraordinary achievement of having four of her progeny nominated for stakes races.
The charge was led at Flemington by the John Hawkes-trained Studebaker (Lord Ballina) in the GII Turnbull Stakes (2000m) with the Pat Hyland-trained three-year-old filly, Ballet Society (Stravinsky) contesting the GII Edward Manifold Stakes (1610m) and the John Hawkes-trained debutant Conestoga (Stravinsky) making her career debut in the Listed Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (900m).
Up in Sydney, Centuria had the Hawkes-trained Lady Perpetuate (NZ) (Lord Ballina) who was nominated for the Angst Quality (1400m) at Randwick but she did not take her place.
Ballet Society had to play second fiddle to one of the greats, Alinghi, in the Edward Manifold, Conestoga earned some valuable black-type when clocking in third behind Rossa Glory and Studebaker could not repeat his victory in the Turnbull Stakes he won 12 months previously. To be fair this must have rated one of the great editions of the race with the winner Elvstroem defeating Mummify while the unplaced runners included Northerly and Makybe Diva.
While Studebaker and Ballet Society performed heroically on the track they were put in the shade by Centuria’s top performer Cent Home (Lord Ballina) whose 12 wins included the Group 1 WRC Captain Cook Stakes and Group 1 Hawke's Bay Kelt Capital Stakes in his homeland while in Australia he was runner-up to fellow kiwi Sunline in the Group 1 All-Aged stakes at Randwick and was third behind Barkada and Northerly in the Group 1 CF Orr Stakes at Caulfield.
Let’s circle back to Ballet Society, a $95,000 yearling purchase by her trainer Pat Hyland.
Sporting the silks of Bill Frost, Ballet Society made her career debut at Sandown on February 14,2004 finishing sixth behind the Rory’s Jester filly Alizes. If that name sounds familiar it is because Alizes is the dam of one of the nation’s most valuable broodmares, Essaouira (Exceed And Excel) who is the dam of Group 1 winners Alizee and Astern as well as Newgate Farm’s lightly raced but highly talented new recruit Tassort.
After performing admirably in the spring of 2004 where she notched up placings behind Alinghi and Hollow Bullet in races like the Manifold Stakes and 1000 Guineas, Ballet Society was at her best the following autumn.
After defeating one old nemesis in Hollow Bullet in the Group III The Vanity at Flemington, Ballet Society travelled to Morphettville to take on another old foe in Alinghi in the inaugural running of the Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes.
Unfortunately, it was all over for Ballet Society in a matter of seconds.
She got rid of Blake Shin shortly after the start while Alingi continued on her winning way.
It was the only dark spot for Ballet Society for that prep. She reeled off three consecutive wins, the Group II Angus Armansco Stakes at Caulfield, the Group II Kewney Stakes at Flemington and the Group III BTC Sprint at Doomben before the winning run was halted when sixth behind St Basil in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap.
Retired with a record of 6 wins, 2 seconds and 1 third from 23 starts with earnings of $716,700, Ballet Society had made a very solid start to her career at stud when she was offered by Widden Stud at the 2017 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale when carrying a positive test to I Am Invincible.
China Horse Club Racing made the final bid at $350,000.
The first four foals of Ballet Society were all winners and included the stakes-placed Elusive Quality (USA) filly The Fairy’s Kiss who went through the Magic Millions Sales ring as her dam in 2017 selling to Aquis Sha Tin Synd/Blue Sky B'stock (FBAA) for $100,000.
Both parties would have been happy with their purchases. The Fairy’s Kiss’s daughter Steal My Kisses (I Am Invincible) won the 2018 Listed MRC Merson Cooper Stakes while Ballet Society foaled an I Am Invincible filly who went on to make $500,000 to the bid of Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock out of the Sledmere draft at the 2019 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
That of course is the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Dame Giselle who was edged out by See You Soon when both were making their career debuts in the Kirkham Plate at Randwick back in October last year.
A fortnight later Dame Giselle chose the right spot to reverse that decision in the $1 million Golden Gift at Rosehill Gardens.
With See You Soon missing, Dame Giselle finished a luckless third in the Listed Lonhro Plate but both prepped for the Golden Slipper by fighting out the Group II Reisling Stakes at Rosehill with Dame Giselle winning by the narrowest of margins.
Dame Giselle and See You Soon were bit players in the Golden Slipper with Dame Giselle clocking in seventh and See You Soon eighth behind the runaway winner Farnan.
The final showdown came in the $500,000 Group II Percy Sykes Stakes in April in what was a season finale for both.
See You Soon was third behind Snitzel’s wonderfully resilient Away Game while Dame Giselle was fourth.
China Horse Club elected to retain an interest in Dame Giselle, which has proven to be a wise investment as she has banked $862,200 in her six races to date.
Ballet Society has not had the best of luck in recent years. After missing in 2017, she foaled a Pride Of Dubai colt last season but missed to coverings by Harry Angel (IRE) and I Am Invincible.
