King George could be next for Sosie as Sea The Stars shines at Longchamp

Sea The Stars shone at Longchamp on the first major day of the European Flat season as the Aga Khan Studs' outstanding stallion recorded a double.

Sosie, who led home a one-two for the Gilltown Stud-based sire in the Prix Ganay, was also bringing up a double for his owner-breeders Wertheimer et Frere as earlier in the afternoon Aventure made a winning seasonal reappearance in the Group 3 Prix Allez France.

A Group 2 winner last season, Aventure was runner-up to Bluestocking in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe finishing two places ahead of Sosie, who is one of 22 individual top-level winners by the world champion of 2009. Aventure features on Sea The Stars' list of 82 worldwide Group/Graded winners, while pair are two of 137 stakes winners for the stallion.

Maxime Guyon was in the saddle for both victories and told Sky Sports Racing that there was plenty more to come from the four-year-olds. Sosie's trainer Andre Fabre indicated that the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July could be the next Group 1 target for last year's Grand Prix de Paris victor who descends from the family of Deutsches Derby winner Fantastic Moon.

Guyon said: "He ran a good race in the Prix du Jockey Club last year and after that, okay he went to 2,400m but for today [Sunday], for his first race of the season it was better to run at 2,100m. The ground is most important, the ground is good today and he is really massive so in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe the ground was a little bit too heavy for him, but today it is really perfect."

Sosie is one of five black-type horses out of the Listed-placed Sosia, a Shamardal half-sister to Group 1 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Sortilege and Group 3 winner Soudania, a daughter of Sea The Stars.

Although still only April, Sosie is the second black-type winner for Sosia this season following the victory of her three-year-old Camelot colt Uther in the Group 3 Prix Noailles at Longchamp earlier this month. Their older half-siblings are Listed winners Anasia and Copie and the Group 3-placed Sosino.

Sosia winning his second Group 1 in the Prix Ganay at Longchamp

Sosia's own dam Sahel is a winning Monsun sister to Group 1 winners Schiaparelli, Samum and Salve Regina and Sanwa, dam of Group 1 winner and Lanwades Stud resident Sea The Moon.

"Sosie is a really, really easy horse to ride, you can do what you want with him. He has a good mentality and he looked very good before the race. He can improve after this race for sure," Guyon added.

"The Group 1 wins are really important for the team, for the Wertheimers and for the stallion so it's important to win a race like this, they are not easy to win so we are happy to win this one."

Sosie is one of six stakes winners sired by Sea The Stars out of Shamardal mares and that group includes Friday's Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes winner Al Aasy.

Aventure has an equally high-class pedigree as a half-sister to Dubawi mare Left Hand, successful in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, runner-up in the Prix de Diane and third in another running of the Vermeille.

Another of her half-sisters is Listed winner Bilissie, by Dansili, whose son First Look finished third in the Prix du Jockey Club last year. Bilissie is a sister to Romanciere, who was third in the Prix Jean Romanet, and to Nohand, whose two-year-old colt by Camelot is catalogued as Lot 116 in the upcoming Arqana Breeze-Up Sale from Church Farm Stables.

Right Hand, their winning Lope De Vega half-sister, has produced this year's Listed Prix Rose De Mai winner Audubon Park, by Dubawi.

Guyon said of Aventure, "She's not skinny but she is a little bit small and not always strong but she has a really big heart and we saw that last year. She is a really, really good filly and it is the same for her, she will improve after this race.

"I don't know if next time it will be the Coronation or if she runs in the Prix Corrida; Christophe Ferland [trainer] and Pierre-Yves Bureau [racing manager to the Wertheimers] will decide."

King George could be next for Sosie as Sea The Stars shines at Longchamp

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