China Horse Club’s Princess Grace (USA) fell just short of making a winning Australian debut when third in the Group III Sapphire stakes at Randwick but made no mistake in her second in Saturday’s $200,000 Group III Hawkesbury Crown (1300m).
Ridden by Nash Rawiller for Chris Waller, Princess Grace (USA) scythed between runners in the straight to win running way by one and three-quarter lengths from the pacesetting Expat (Makfi) with a half-head back to Dalchini (Flying Artie) in third.
A US$1,700,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton’s Night Of Stars Sale, Princess Grace (USA) would rate among the best racemares imported to Australia.
She won seven of her 14 starts in the US, with five stakes wins highlighted by the Grade II Yellow Ribbon at Del Mar and the Grade II Mrs Reeves Stakes at Churchill Downs, her only start on dirt. She also placed in the prestigious Grade 1 Beverly D. and Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes.
Her sire Karakonte (JPN) was conceived in the US, foaled in Japan, raced in Europe and America, and stands at Gainesway Stud, Kentucky.
By the Storm Cat stallion Bernstein (USA), Karakonte (JPN) won the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas), Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and the 2014 Breeders' Cup Mile.
Carrying a 3x3 cross to the breed-shaper Sunday Silence, Princess Grace (USA) is a daughter of stakes-placed Masquerade by another Japanese-bred stallion Silent Name (JPN), a son of Sunday Silence.
Stable representative Charlie Duckworth said races like the Group 1 Myer stakes in the spring would be considered.
