At Rosehill on Saturday unbeaten two year-old filly Gongs gave every appearance
of being a Golden Slipper contender next year when she powered clear of the
colts to score a stylish win.A homebred for Godolphin, the daughter of Darley's first season sire Dawn Approach (IRE) (by Galileo) is a powerhouse filly although as Sky Racing presenter Richard Haynes pointed out, she owes a great deal in her appearance to the sire of her dam Bel Esprit.
Bel Esprit also played a role at the Hong Kong International Day meeting at Sha Tin where the International Mile was won by Kiwi bred Beauty Generation, who is also from a daughter of Bel Esprit.
A five year-old gelding by Encosta de Lago's Group I winning son Road to Rock, Beauty
Generation has won seven races in total and first showed his potential here in
Australia when finishing second in the Group I ATC Rosehill Guineas under the
name of Montaigne.Bel Esprit is now the sire of the dam of over 100 winners headed by stakes-winners Beauty Generation, Group I NZ Thousand Guineas winner Costa Viva and stakes-winner Soldi Domani.
By Royal Academy (USA) from a daughter of Vain, Bel Esprit is completely free of Danzig blood and has a pedigree that also features Blue Diamond winner Mahaasin and New Zealand Champion 2YO Vin D'Amour.
As a racehorse he was all about speed and precocity, despite his notoriously dodgy looking front legs.
Pretty they were not, fast and sound they most definitely were and that's a fact worth remembering when you see his name in a yearling pedigree.
There are eight yearlings in Magic Millions from daughters of Bel Esprit (pictured below) , click here to see them.
