Group Three Win for Danehill Dancer’s Baby Sister
23rd September 2007
Rock of Gibraltar has been in rare form in both hemispheres this year and added a new stakes-winner to his tally when blue-blooded juvenile filly Unilateral (2f Rock of Gibraltar - Mira Adonde, by Sharpen Up) won the Group Three Firth of Clyde Stakes at Ayr on Saturday.A three-quarter sister to dual Group One winner and leading sire Danehill Dancer, Unilateral is from the grand producer Mira Adonde, now aged 21 and also the dam of stakes-winners Colossus and Adonesque.
Trained by Bryan Smart, the talented chestnut filly has put together a tidy record of two wins and two placings from five starts and earned her first Black Type success with a strong finishing effort to take the six furlong contest by three quarters of a length.
“She's a May foal, so she could be anything as she matures. And she's also a three-parts sister to Danehill Dancer, so what's she worth, now that she's won a pattern race?” Smart commented.
Bred by Gaines Gentry Thoroughbreds and Tower Bloodstock, Unilateral was purchased for a modest 85,000 guineas at the 2006 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale from the draft of Oaks Farm Stables.
She becomes the 18th stakes-winner worldwide for Rock of Gibraltar who will take his place at Coolmore Australia this spring when the shuttle stallions are released from Eastern Creek this week.
Unilateral’s famous older brother Danehill Dancer also chimed in with a stakes-winner on Saturday when four year-old mare Anna Pavlova (4m Danehill Dancer - Wheeler's Wonder, by Sure Blade) won the Listed Doonside Cup on the same program over a mile and a quarter.
She defeated colts and geldings to win by a length and three quarters in taking her record to eight wins from 16 starts for the Richard Fahey stable.
Unfortunately for Australian breeders Danehill Dancer is going directly back to Europe from Eastern Creek and will not cover in Australia this spring.