The regard with which Left Hand was held by her connections last year was evident when, one month after making a winning debut over a mile at Longchamp, she took her chance in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac – Criterium des Pouliches over the same course and distance.
She finished fourth that day, behind Ballydoyle, Turret Rocks and Qemah, an effort of sufficient promise to suggest that she would be a likely pattern race winner in 2016. Her seasonal reappearance, however, was disappointing because she finished only sixth of seven in a one-mile conditions event on soft ground at Maisons-Laffitte in April. A month later she stepped up in distance for the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary, and although finishing a two-length fourth behind Jemayel was a much better effort, she was still sent off at 50/1 in the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) over a half-furlong farther at Chantilly in June. It was that race, however, that confirmed the promise of her juvenile form as she came within half a length of producing a shock in the classic and of ending the unbeaten run of La Cressonniere. Her victory in the Group 3 Prix Psyche at Deauville was an odds-on success and she was one of the market leaders when beating Endless Time and The Juliet Rose by half a length and three-parts of a length in the Group 1 Qatar Prix Vermeille nine days ago. That prestigious race turned into something of a sprint, as many French races do, thereby making the form had to interpret with confidence. It is no surprise, therefore, that she is available at around 14/1 for next month's Group 1 Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot. She is trained by Carlos Laffon-Parias, she is a Wertheimer brothers homebred, and her recent Chantilly success makes her the latest in a long list of Group 1 winners for the distaff side of her family. Left Hand is a daughter of Dalham Hall Stud's classic star and outstanding stallion Dubawi (by Dubai Millennium), whose 115 individual stakes winners include 24 who have won at least once at the highest level. His early sons at stud include the classic sire Makfi, and he looks a likely candidate to become an influential broodmare sire. She is the fourth foal out of the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu winner Balladeuse (by Singspiel) and that makes her a half-sister to the French 10-furlong listed scorer Bilissie (by Dansili). Her two-year-old half-brother has been named Acrobate (by Oasis Dream) and the mare had another Dansili (by Danehill) filly in February. The lightly-raced Maniaco (by Galileo), who was sixth in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris in July, is engaged in a conditions race at Saint-Cloud on Thursday and that Andre Fabre-trained three-year-old is out of Plumania (by Anabaa), the best of the string of successful siblings of Balladeuse. She won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and the Group 2 Prix Corrida, she was third in the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) and runner-up in two editions of the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, and her two-year-old son, Plumatic (by Dubawi), is very closely related to Left Hand. Plumania's yearling has been given the intriguing name Maniac (by New Approach) and the Sea The Stars (by Cape Cross) colt she had in April is her fifth foal. Balladeuse and Plumania are out of Featherquest (by Rainbow Quest), whose only win came as a two-year-old, and that mare is, in turn, one of eight winners out of the stakes-placed dual scorer Featherhill (by Lyphard). The star among the octet was Groom Dancer (by Blushing Groom), a prolific colt who won the Group 1 Prix Lupin, Group 3 Prix du Prince d'Orange, Group 3 Prix Daphnis and Group 3 Prix de Conde and who went on to become a successful sire, with winners at all levels. His best included the Group 1 scorers Groom Tesse, Sphenophyta and Lord Of Men, and the classic-placed Group 2 stars Dancienne, Maiden Tower, and Pursuit Of Love (successful sire), to name a few. His lightly-raced half-brother Tagel (by Cox's Ridge) won the Group 3 Prix Saint-Roman and finished third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and Slew The Slewor (by Slew O' Gold) was a pattern-placed stakes winner on both sides of the Atlantic. Like Featherquest, three of their sisters made their names at stud rather than as racehorses, with Sea Hill (by Seattle Slew) being the only one of the trio who was herself a winner. Her daughter Legerete (by Rahy) won the Group 2 Prix de Mallaret at Saint-Cloud and finished third in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp before going on to produce the Group 2-placed stakes winner Pilote (by Pivotal), while Sea Hill's one-time scorer Icelips (by Unbridled) made her name by becoming the dam of three stakes winners, most notably the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) winner and blacktype sire Falco (by Pivotal). Pieds de Plume (by Seattle Slew) was placed once as a three-year-old, but five of her offspring are stakes winners, including the Group 3 Kilternan Stakes winner Hearthstead Maison (by Peintre Celebre), listed scorer and Group 1 Premio Lydia Tesio runner-up Rave Reviews (by Sadler's Wells), and that one's listed-winning full-sisters Fermion and Sail. The fifth one is the French listed scorer Dirgam (by Galileo), and her progeny also include 2013's Group 1 1000 Guineas third Moth (by Galileo). The third of Featherquest's notable sisters is Keltshaan (by Pleasant Colony). She was unraced but is the dam of the dual Japanese Group 1 scorer Kinshasa No Kiseki (by Fuji Kiseki) and grandam of the Group 1 Australasian Oaks-winning full-sisters Abbey Marie (by Redoute's Choice) and Absolutely. All of this Group 1 talent falls under the first three generations of Left Hand's family, and its branches from those, and yet to stop there would be to leave out a major part of the family's story. The fourth dam of Left Hand is Lady Berry (by Violon d'Ingres), and in addition to being a winner of the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak, and an ancestor of all those aforementioned Group 1 stars, she is also one of those rare mares who produced at least three top-level winners at stud. Her son Le Nain Jaune (by Pharly) won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris in 1982, her daughter Indian Rose (by General Holme) was the Group 1 Prix Vermeille heroine of 1988, and Vert Amande (by Kenmare) won the 1993 edition of the Group 1 Prix Ganay, seven months after finishing third to Subotica (no relation) in the Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. And that's not all, because Rose Bonbon (by High Top), a dual stakes-placed daughter of Lady Berry, is the grandam of the outstanding filly Danedream (by Lomitas), winner of the Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Grosser Preis von Berlin and two editions of the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden, in addition to the Group 2 Oaks d'Italia. It remains to be seen if the classic-placed Group 1 scorer Left Hand can add to her top-level tally, but she is bred to achieve anything, both on the track and at stud, and that places her highly among the most intriguing members of her generation. 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