Triple stakes success for Frankel

Saturday saw three Frankel offspring achieve stakes wins, headed by Aga Khan homebred Darkaniya in the Gr.2 T von Zastrow Stutenpreis at Baden-Baden.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 3rd September 2023:

Francis-Henri Graffard trainee Darkaniya, who ran fifth in last month's Gr.1 Prix Jean-Romanet, added to a first blacktype win in July's Listed Prix de la Pepiniere and doubled a her stakes tally with victory in Saturday's Gr.2 T von Zastrow Stutenpreis at Baden-Baden. The 9-5 favourite lobbed along in seventh passing the judge first time and bounded forward to stalk the leaders in fourth along the backstraight. Inching into second rounding the home turn, she was shaken up to seize control approaching the final furlong and stayed on strongly under a late drive to prevail by a length and a quarter from Kolossal.

Darkaniya is the seventh of 10 foals and one of five winners from as many runners produced by Gr.1 Hong Kong Vase victrix and Gr.1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud third Daryakana. The February-foaled homebred, whose dam is a daughter of Gr.1 Prix de Diane and G1 Prix Vermeille heroine Daryaba, is a half-sister to Gr.1 Prix Ganay-winning sire Dariyan and Gr.2 Knickerbocker Stakes and Gr.3 Monmouth Stakes winner Devamani.

Earlier in the day UK import Soulcombe produced a late sprint to overhaul the field in The Listed Heatherlie Stakes at Caulfield, winning by three-quarters of a length. It was his second stakes win in Australia for Chris Waller's stable, after he claimed the Gr.3 Queen's Cup at Flemington on his Southern Hemisphere debut in November 2022.

Four-year-old Juddmonte filly Time Lock also registered her first blacktype success, cruising to two-length winning margin in the Listed Grand Prix de Craon.

The winner is the first foal out of Time Chaser, who is a full-sister to Passage Of Time's four-times Group-winning sire Time Test and a half to her Gr.3 Sovereign Stakes and Gr.3 Prix Quincey-winning son Tempus (Kingman). Passage Of Time, who was also third in the Gr.1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, is a full-sister to the Gr.2 King Edward VII Stakes winner Father Time and a half to the Gr.1 Falmouth Stakes heroine Timepiece (Zamindar) while this is also the family of the four times Group 1-winning Twice Over (Observatory) and the Gr.1 Matriarch Stakes heroine Viadera (Bated Breath) Time Chaser's yearling is a full-sister to Time Lock.