A dual Group III winning daughter of Pivotal, Enticing teamed up with Fastnet Rock to produce the dual Group 1 Prix de la Foret winner One Master who ran an excellent second on Saturday in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint at Ascot and now Enticing’s unraced daughter Compostela has struck gold in Ireland with her first foal by Epaulette.
The Tom Mullins-trained Stela Star was the 33/1 outsider of the five two-year-olds contesting the Killavullan Stakes at Leopardstown but she looked more like an odds-on favourite as she led at every call under Colin Keane to defeat Aidan O’Brien’s favoured Iberia (Galileo) by one and a half lengths with the Dermot Weld-trained Katibga (Footstepsinthesand) a head back in third.
Group III winner in Ireland for Epaulette - image Mark Smith
Iberia was coming off a third in the Group II Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot while Stela Star was coming off a maiden win at her third try in a 7-furlong maiden on the all-weather at Dundalk.
“I don’t think I’ve won a Group Three before, I’d say it’s my first one,” Mullins told Racing TV.
“She’s very well bred and she’s come on leaps and bounds since she won in Dundalk. I was just hoping to be placed.
“I was a bit worried about the ground, but I suppose everyone was, and she ran through it.
“She could come back here for the Guineas trial in the spring, Colin said that. I don’t know whether she’ll be in Helen’s (Mullins, trainer’s wife) colours or not.
“We’ll put her away until the spring now.”
Bred by Vimal and Gillian Khosla, Stela Star was a €23,000 Goffs purchase. She is the first foal of the unraced Sea The Star mare Compostela whose half-sister One Master was honoured as the Champion Older Female Miler in France in 2018.
Stela Star becomes the 11th stakes-winner for Darley Stud’s Group 1 Golden Rose hero Epaulette who stands the current season at Kelvinside for a fee of 27,000 Inc GST.
