2021 European Horse of the Year St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) has his first Australian foals arriving this spring following on from those born in the Northern Hemisphere earlier this year and one of those is a filly that has had a big pedigree update this year as she is a three-quarter sister to outstanding colt Paddington.
By St Mark’s Basilica’s sire Siyouni, the Aidan O’Brien trained Paddington has taken all before him this year reeling off consecutive Group I wins in the Irish 2000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes, Coral Eclipse Stakes and Sussex Stakes.
Like Paddington, the filly was born at Henri Bozo’s Ecurie des Monceaux nursery in Normandy and Bozo commented: "The mare has a very attractive filly foal by St Mark's Basilica, so she is a three-parts sister to Paddington. She's a gorgeous filly and has a lot of class."
Paddington was a 420,000 euro purchase from the Arqana Deauville October Yearling Sale and was the highest priced yearling by his sire at that sale, so it’s not surprising his three-quarter sister also has star quality!
St Mark's Basilica's first southern hemisphere-bred foals are arriving this spring he will cover his second book of mares at Coolmore Australia at a fee of $44,000.