Shamardal mare Aljazzi now a Group 2 winner

ALJAZZI (GB) - 2013 bay mare

Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar's homebred mare Aljazzi put up one of the most visually impressive performances of last month's Royal Ascot meeting when she stormed clear of her rivals to take the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes by three and three-quarter lengths.

This came almost two months after she had finished third to Addeybb in the Group 2 bet 365 Mile at Sandown, her prior wins included last year's Group 3 Atalanta Stakes at Sandown, and that success followed her three-quarter-length second to Qemah in 2017's edition of the Duke of Cambridge.

She is trained by Marco Botti in Newmarket ​, her career tally of five wins from 14 starts also includes a pair of listed-race victories and her total earnings figure has passed the £250,000 mark.

The five-year-old is one of more than 110 stakes winners for Kildangan Stud's leading international sire Shamardal (by Giant's Causeway), whose list of top-level scorers includes last month's Group 1 King's Stand Stakes star Blue Point.

She is the first foal out of Nouriya (by Danehill Dancer), who won listed races at Yarmouth and York, and her grandam is Majestic Sakeena (by King's Best), an unraced half-sister to two stakes winners, one of whom is a broodmare of considerable note.

That is Shy Lady (by Kaldoun). She got her blacktype success in Germany as a two-year-old, and her star son Zafeen (by Zafonic), who was third in the Group 1 Prix Morny at that age, won the Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot shortly after chasing home Refuse To Bend in the Group 1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

He has had some moments of success at stud, and so has his half-sister Ya Hajar (by Lycius). She won the Group 3 Prix du Calvados at Deauville as a juvenile but her son Prince Of All (by Iffraaj) won the Listed Patton Stakes over seven furlongs at Dundalk as a three-year-old and was runner-up in the Group 3 Diamond Stakes over 10 and a half furlongs at the same venue.

Shy Lady is also responsible for three listed-race winners and two others who have been blacktype placed, and in addition to Majestic Sakeena, her own siblings include two others who have produced stakes winners at stud. The most notable of their results is the Group 3 Premio Tudini success of Special Cause's son Victory Laurel (by Holy Roman Emperor).

There is plenty more blacktype to be found in the fourth generation of the pedigree too as fourth dam Shy Princess (by Irish River) – a half-sister to Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile star Opening Verse (by The Minstrel) – was runner-up to Sakura Reiko in the Group 1 Prix Morny and later became the dam of Group 2 Diadem Stakes winner Diffident (by Nureyev), who was a successful stallion in India.

Also notable is that the fifth dam is the durable and talented Shy Dawn (by Grey Dawn), a multiple Grade 3 star who notched up 19 wins and 38 placings from 95 start, back in the 1970s, accumulating over $500,000 in prize money.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of Aljazzi's season turns out, and with her pedigree connections there is every reason to hope that she also has a notable broodmare career ahead of her.