Crusade Half Sister Seventh Heaven To Run In Gr1 Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe
Crusade’s twice Gr1 winning Galileo half sister is amongst the entries for the Gr1 Arc De Triomphe, along with the likes of Enable and Cloth Of Stars.
Seventh Heaven will be looking to capture her third Gr1 victory – Crusade’s damline has strengthed over the years and their younger Galileo sibling recently placed fourth in Gr1 company, named Coat Of Arms.
Crusade produced seven winners in his first season including Black Type in Zimbabwe with Butchie Boy – his progeny seem to be enjoying a mile and we look forward to their three year old careers. Crusade in addition produced 62 places from his 39 runners for the season.
Seventh Heaven has been described as a big rangy filly by her trainer Aiden O’Brien, and her victories include the defeat of the great Found in the Gr1 Yorkshire Oaks. Aiden says of the beautifully named Seventh Heaven: “She’s tough and genuine and has a great temperament and a beautiful action. She’s a beautiful traveler and is a massive, rangy filly that handles fast ground very well.”
In November last year, she was sent to the United States for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, starting as 7/2 second favourite and stayed on in the straight to finish fourth behind Queen’s Trust, Lady Eli and Avenge. She went on to further impress in the Gr1 Sheema Classic in Dubai, finishing second to Jack Hobbs – the great Highland Reel was in the field and finished behind them.
On her return to Europe she was dropped from Group 1 class for the first time in a year and started odds-on favourite for the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in which she was ridden by Ryan Moore. Seventh Heaven took the lead approaching the final furlong, and drew right away from her rivals to win by and incredible five lengths from the French horse One Foot in Heaven.
The Gr1 Qatar Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe takes place today over 2400m for a stake of €5,000,000.
