Daughter of Sea The Moon hands stallion his first Group 1 winner
The Jessica Harrington-trained Alpine Star (3 f ex Alpha Lupi by Rahy) kept her family’s good name in the Coronation Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) at Royal Ascot on Saturday as she repeated the heroics of her star sister Alpha Centauri (Mastercraftsman) - who won the Group 1 in 2018 - and in the process became Sea The Moon’s (Sea The Star) first elite-level winner.
Bred and raced by the Niarchos Family, the three-year-old filly showed a brilliant turn of foot to beat Sharing (Speightstown) by four and a quarter lengths with another length and a quarter back to Quadrilateral (Frankel) in third.
Speaking from her base in County Kildare, Jessica Harrington said: “It is absolutely amazing because I am sitting here, I can’t go racing, and watching it on the telly is very hard. I could not believe it because she was the only horse in the field that hadn’t had a run this year, but she is amazing. She is a half-sister to a complete superstar, Alpha Centauri, who gave me my first Royal Ascot winner. She was just amazing today, she did it so easy.
“She is very laidback and nothing like Alpha Centauri, who was a great big, very imposing filly. This filly is not very big, she is not a great colour – a little bit of a mealy chestnut. If you saw her trotting around in the string, you wouldn’t pick her out, but she has the most wonderful attitude.
“Frankie was probably squeezing her along before she turned in but every time you give her a squeeze, she will come for you. You are definitely very nervous when you are watching it the whole way from Ireland and it’s unbelievable.
“It is sad for Shane (Foley) that he isn’t allowed to come over and ride, but we are in very strange times. It is a very strange Ascot and I am absolutely thrilled to have a winner there. I only sent over three horses and I am delighted with how they all ran. It is a strange year and something that we will probably never forget.
“This was the plan and I don’t know about the next plan. I will talk to Maria [Niarchos-Gouaze], Electra [Niarchos] and Alan [Cooper] and then we will see what happens.”
The filly is out of unraced Rahy (Blushing Groom) mare Alpha Lupi - who is also the dam of multiple Group 1 winner Alpha Centauri and Listed winner Tenth Star (Dansili).
Alpha Lupi is out of dual Group 1 winner East Of The Moon (Private Account) - the dam of Group 3 winner Moon Driver (Mr Prospector), while she is the grandam of Evasive (Elusive Quality) and Autocratic (Dubawi), who raced as Captain Cook in Australia where he took out the JRA Cup (Gr 3, 2040m).
Further back this is the family of Molatham (Night Of Thunder), who won the Jersey Stakes (Gr 3, 7f) on Thursday and Listed winner Perfection (Dutch Art).
Sea The Moon becomes the first son of Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) to sire a Group 1 winner and he stands at Lanwades Stud where his fee for 2020 was £15,000.
