Who are we highlighting this week? - Analysis of the G1 winning 3YO’s for this season has made us realise how many horses on this list took giant strides from two to three, so we are looking into the crystal ball to find some juveniles we believe could end next season as G1 performers if not G1 winners.
Click here for the story on 3YO G1 winners this season.
This week our subject is a lovely filly in the Chris Waller stable who might be just the ticket to bring some overdue G1 glory to her branch of an illustrious family!
Her name is Satin Serenade, and she is a daughter of the global supersire Frankel.
Satin Serenade made her debut last month at Canterbury, starting as favourite in a 1250m 2YO Fillies Maiden.
Settling fourth behind stablemate and leader Miss Scandal (NZ), the youngster showed plenty of heart and acceleration to make up good ground in the closing stages, just falling a head short at the line to that daughter of Home Affairs.
To begin Satin Serenade's story, let's put the crystal ball into reverse and go back in time to the Autumn of 2011.
Among the best juveniles of that year was a cracking Flying Spur filly named Satin Shoes.
Trained by Clarry Connors, she burst onto the scene with wins in the Widden Stakes and G2 Silver Slipper.
On to the Golden Slipper!
One of the best Slipper winners, Flying Spur had already sired the 2007 heroine Forensics. Satin Shoes had many supporters when the big day rolled around.
She went out at odds of 8/1, but the Slipper market that year was dominated by the presence of superstar colt Sepoy.
Elusive Quality's spectacular son had blitzed through four undefeated starts in Melbourne, culminating in an unreal 4.3 length demolition job when claiming the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes.
Sepoy was second at his first start in Sydney, but punters had him as the raging favourite for the race that mattered most.
It proved to be a memorable Slipper, with the Magic Millions Classic winner Karuta Queen going out like a scalded cat to lead them for the majority of the race.
Sepoy and Foxwedge sat three lengths behind the hectic speed and Satin Shoes was glued to the favourite's tail, following his every move.
They barrelled into the straight and Sepoy hit top gear. He overhauled Karuta Queen in a couple of strides, and his backers rose to their feet with a roar of approval.
Satin Shoes had come around his heels and momentarily loomed in the firing line, but her brave effort ended. She faded late as Sepoy motored away from the field to win untouched.
Satin Shoes went to the paddock after the Slipper, but she had more success in store, though she would miss out on a G1 victory - and be narrowly denied at least one more G2.
Third in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes in the spring (Sepoy held off Foxwedge by a head), in the autumn the filly notched up G2 seconds in Adelaide and Sydney.
The tough and genuine mare raced for two more seasons to collect three more Group placings. Her last win came in the Listed Ortensia Stakes at Scone.
Satin Shoes was a high profile yearling purchase for the late Dr Edmund Bateman and his wife Belinda Bateman on the advice of James Harron, who was with De Burgh Equine at the time. They paid $700,000 to secure her at Inglis Easter from the draft of her breeder Cressfield Stud.
The mare was retained by Belinda, who has established a great family from her and owns all but one daughter. Satin Shoes just finished up her stud career this year, having produced six named foals - all fillies, each bearing the “Satin” moniker.
Her final two foals are yet to be named, a couple of very exciting colts by Anamoe and Extreme Choice!
Her first foal and only stakes winner to date was the Gimcrack heroine Satin Slipper (Pierro). She has made a grand beginning at stud with each of her foals to race a winner, headlined by the brilliant colt I Am Unstoppable (Vinnie). Undefeated at two and runner up in the G1 Coolmore at three, this young stallion will stand his second season at Oaklands Stud in 2026.
To Written Tycoon, Satin Slipper produced the stakes placed filly Satin Stiletto, already a winner producer.
Satin Slipper's full sister Satin And Silk, and half sisters Satin Ribbons (Capitalist) and Satin Socks (Medaglia D'Oro) each won multiple sprint races and have youngsters on the ground by the likes of Snitzel, Stay Inside and his sire Extreme Choice.
Satin Summer (Written Tycoon) and Satin Sparkle (Zoustar) are the youngest of the “Satin” girls.
The latter was unlucky not to win a race with four seconds in eight starts, and has been served by Stay Inside for her first foal.
Satin Summer, born in 2023, looks likely to add more black type success to the family, having won on debut over G2 placed colt Zambales and run third to the exciting Extreme Choice son Omolong in two of her three starts to date.
This carefully nurtured family is being given every conceivable opportunity to produce a G1 winner, so let's turn our attention to Satin Ribbons, the dam of Satin Serenade.
Trained out of the Snowden camp, the daughter of Golden Slipper winner Capitalist possessed the family brilliance in spades.
Her turf career was brief but resulted in three wins and two placings from six starts.
So highly did Belinda think of the filly, she sent her to GB for a dream date - a tryst with the legendary racehorse and freakish sire Frankel.
After Satin Serenade was foaled in Australia, her dam produced a filly to Extreme Choice before missing to Zoustar and was then covered by Home Affairs.
The matriarch of this immediate family is the outstanding Volksraad daughter Star Satire (NZ).
Bred by Windsor Park Stud, Star Satire was a precocious juvenile who trained on to become a G1 1400m WFA winner in her homeland, and the Co-Champion NZ 3YO Filly of 2000-01.
She was second to the mighty Tit For Taat in the 1600m G1 Bayer Classic, and beaten a neck by La Bella Dama in the G2 Eight Carat Classic at the same trip, before again finishing runner up in the G2 Phar Lap Stakes in the Australian autumn.
La Bella Dama proved her class when she won the G1 WFA Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington, with another great Kiwi mare of the era Cinder Bella in fourth.
Cinder Bella (a dual G1 winner in NZ) was the horse Star Satire had thrashed by three lengths in the G1 WFA Maori Otaki Stakes, running sizzling time.
A torrid run in the G1 Railway Stakes saw Star Satire almost put through the running rail, but she fought on for fifth place, and lined up to defend her G1 WFA crown next start. She ran a brave second at this penultimate racetrack appearance.
Star Satire would go right on with the job at stud, producing not only Satin Shoes, but dual G2 winner and G1 NZ Oaks placed Zarzuela (Zabeel) who also ran fourth in the NZ Derby. Both daughters have founded wonderful stakes producing families!
Star Satire was blessed with a combination of the ferocious powers of acceleration that both her sire and damsire were known to pass on.
The Kiwi breeders never miss a trick!
They were attuned very early to the merits of the Green Desert sireline.
As well as Volksraad, Desert Sun began his stud career in NZ, where he would sire not only La Bella Dama but most notably the immortal Sunline and Helsinge, dam of another legend Black Caviar.
Volksraad was a dual winner and G2 placed in GB from three starts. The nine time NZ Champion Sire would get G1 winners over all distances from his home at Windsor Park, but many of his best were sprinter - milers.
Volksraad forged a prolific nick with Sir Tristram, notably via his barnmate, Star Satire's damsire Kaapstad who, (despite placing in the G1 SAJC Derby) had been a very fast juvenile and possessed an elite turn of foot, even running fourth in a G1 Manikato Stakes.
This unusual versatility would prove to be a hallmark of many sires of the Eight Carat family, and Kaapstad was one of the first to faithfully pass it on.
One of the key genetic drivers of the cross was Volksraad's duplication of Princequillo's Blue Hen Somethingroyal via the half brothers Sir Gaylord and Secretariat - made even more potent by his own damline which was that of Princequillo's sire Prince Rose.
Sir Gaylord appeared through a daughter of his son Sir Ivor, who was Sir Tristram's sire.
Sir T in turn sex balanced Princequillo, and his third dam All Moonshine was carried and sex balanced by Volksraad through her influential son Mossborough. We'll soon see how this all works with Frankel!
But we can't forget to pay tribute to Satin Serenade's own elite damline.
Her fourth dam, the winning Kaapstad mare Satirical, was the final foal produced from the1980 NZ Broodmare Of The Year Crestello, a daughter of Crepello's son Crest Of The Wave.
Satirical was a half sister to G1 winning mare Silver Nymph.
Bred at the Royal Stud from the Queen's dual Oaks winner Mulberry Harbour, Crest Of The Wave was a full brother to Crenelle, dam of the Italian Derby winner Cerreto and ancestress of many fantastic stayers.
This is the family of Malva (1-e)
The sire Summertime was, like Crest Of The Wave, a great grandson of Malva's daughter Frankly, and had a profound influence at stud in NZ. He is carried by Written Tycoon.
Crenelle was bred 4m x 4f to Malva.
This damline goes back to the Foxlaw mare Doretta, imported into NZ in 1938.
Her grand dam was Folly by Sundridge, full sister to the champion NZ sire Absurd and half sister to another important sire Black Jester, all produced by Absurdity ( Melton x Paradoxical), herself a sister to Doxa from whom descend the studbook matriarchs La Troienne and her half sister Adargatis.
This amazing family (branch of 1-s) is that of Inchbonny, who had five foals - and none of them ever raced!
It traces to the unbeaten Cobweb (1824 Epsom Oaks,1000 Guineas).
Satin Serenade is bred
Danehill 3f x 5f, 4m sex balanced
Danzig 4m x 6f, 6m, 5m, 6m sex balanced
Mr Prospector 5m x 5m, 5f sex balanced
And Flying Spur sex balances all that Northern Dancer.
Well what about Satin Serenade's sire Frankel. An undefeated 10 x G1 winning superhorse, there was nevertheless some head scratching when the curtain came down on the great one’s career.
That was because Frankel was the ultimate expression of the Galileo / Danehill nick which had established itself as the great breeding cross of the era.
His grandsire Sadler’s Wells was toppled from his throne as GB leading sire in 2005 by Danehill, the sire of Frankel’s stakes-winning dam, Kind.
Sadler's Wells smoothly took over as leading broodmare sire in GB the same year, and topped that table until once more overtaken by Danehill in 2012.
Pedigree analysts mused about the potential disinclination of breeders to embrace a 3 x 3 or closer cross of either of them, or indeed of Galileo.
Where would all the high class racemares Frankel deserved, come from? Would the very nick which had created him ironically stymie his stud career?
Well we all know what Frankel did next.
Not only did he reach his century of Group/Graded winners faster than his sire Galileo, faster than Danehill, Dubawi and Deep Impact - he relished those close duplications.
The stallion has a particular affinity for the blood of Green Desert with multiple G1 winners bred from mares by Kingman, Oasis Dream and his son Showcasing, and Cape Cross.
His dual G1 juvenile Chaldean who is shuttling to Cambridge Stud descends from a Green Desert mare, as does his 5 x G1 hero and Royal Ascot legend Cracksman!
We can assume that Frankel will also be well disposed toward Satin Serenade’s damsire Capitalist, with his dam bred 3f x 3m to Danzig.
Newgate Farm’s 2016 Golden Slipper hero is just beginning his journey as a broodmare sire and is bred to be a good one!
His grand dam Compulsion is a G3 winning full sister to Danehill’s Golden Slipper victress Merlene, and half sister to the great sprinter Miss Pennymoney ( G1 Newmarket / Australia Stakes) - all daughters of Luskin Star's fine filly Bold Promise, the top juvenile filly of her generation and placed in the G1 Flight Stakes at three.
Bold Promise was bred 4m x 3m to Blue Hen Arietta ( Tudor Minstrel) via her sons the half brothers Idomeno and Sostenuto.
Their family (2-i) is that of Persian Gulf, who sired Frankel's sixth dam, while the Persian Gulf son Zarathustra sired the fourth dam of Volksraad.
Galileo's 6 x G1 winning miler Rip Van Winkle was from Volksraad's family tracing to that same Zarathustra mare.
Frankel's damlines also bring in Blushing Groom, who descends from a Tudor Minstrel daughter and is a relative of Pipe Of Peace - the sire of Capitalist's G1 winning ancestress Regal Peace.
Fusaichi Pegasus throws a Halo daughter into the mix and she is important for Frankel. Halo creates a sex balance of the mare Banish Fear (via his damsire Cosmic Bomb) meeting Frankel’s third damsire Stage Door Johnny (by Prince John, a son of Banish Fear's daughter Not Afraid)
Of course Halo also boosts the duplications of Danehill, who shares the same ancestress Almahmoud.
Frankel is bred 5m x 5f to La Troienne's great-grandson Buckpasser and appreciates further strains - it is Satin Serenade's own damline and prominent in Last Tycoon while Frankel's line of Blushing Groom brings in the sire Black Jester, half brother to Satin Serenade's ancestress Folly.
The sire Mossborough was mentioned at the top of this story. Mossborough is a very close relation to Northern Dancer's sire Nearctic (Nearco x Hyperion) being sired by Nearco out of Hyperion's three quarter sister in blood All Moonshine (My Babu), the grand dam of Sir Tristram.
Frankel's grand dam Rainbow Lake is bred 5f x 5m to Mossborough - her sire Rainbow Quest descends from a daughter, and damsire Stage Door Johnny carries Mossborough's great stayer the Arc winner Ballymoss.
While Sir Tristram is a brilliant nick,he is supported by
Arragon ( by Hyperion son Aureole x Nearco mare),
Welsh Saint ( by Aurole son St Paddy and son of a Mossborough mare), Flying Spur ( line to Northern Dancer's most important daughter Fanfreluche), Last Tycoon (inbreeding to Nearco's dam Nogara) and
Written Tycoon - (descends from daughter of Aureole son Piping Rock x Nearco mare) - all meeting with Frankel in this pedigree, it’s potent stuff.
There is linebreeding to these Blue Hens:
Lalun Bold Reason in Frankel, Never Bend is x2 and sex balanced in dam)
Red Sunset - carried by Crepello and Rasper in Satin Serenade's dam, her dam Dulce ( Asterus x Dorina ) was a full brother to champion Astrophel who sired the third dam of Stage Door Johnny. Major nick for producing a great filly! Sunline was linebred to Red Sunset.
Commotion - Volksraad descends from a daughter of her son Combat (Big Game), a half brother to Aristophanes by Hyperion whose son Forli sired matriarch Special ( Sadlers Wells)
And there's so much more!
Satin Serenade will soon step out for her three year old season, where the influence of Frankel will blossom to its full expression. I’m excited to see what this filly will do.
She looks like the perfect type to set on a Flight Stakes / 1,000 Guineas path.
Frankel stands at Banstead Manor, Newmarket.
His 2026 Fee Is 350,000 pounds - that's about $670,000 Aussie dollars!
