Following a second-place finish in her prep race in the Nakayama Kinen (JPN-G2), Lucky Lilac bloomed into top condition just in time to pick up her third Group 1 win in the OsakaHai (JPN-G1) on April 5. Japan's 2017 champion 2-year-old filly found a seam in deep stretch and outfinished Chrono Genesis to win the 2,000-meter event by a neck. It was a display of grittiness worthy of her great-great-granddam, My Juliet, who came back from a fractured leg in May of 1976 to win the title of American champion sprinter with a victory over males in the Vosburgh Handicap (USA-G2) that fall.
Named for the heroine of Shakespeare's immortal play Romeo and Juliet, My Juliet raced on for another year and ended her career having won 24 of 36 starts, good enough for admission to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 2019. She was just as worthy of acclaim in her second career, foaling Grade 1 winners Tis Juliet and Stella Madrid (both by Alydar) and breeding on through her daughters. Her family has been particularly noteworthy in Japan, where it has come up with two Japanese champions and two other Japanese Group 1 winners in just five years.
Four-time Grade 1 winner Stella Madrid was the best of My Juliet's daughters in the paddocks, producing Grade/Group 3 winner Isle of France (by Nureyev) and multiple Japanese stakes winner Diamond Biko (by Sunday Silence). Through Isle of France, Stella Madrid is the third dam of 2016 Japanese champion sprinter/miler Mikki Isle and 2017 N.H.K. Mile Cup (JPN-G1) winner Aerolithe.
Refinement, Stella Madrid's 1994 daughter by Seattle Slew, could boast of no such accomplishments as Isle of France on the racetrack, but she went her half sister one better by producing 2011 Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) winner Lilacs and Lace to the cover of 2005 Travers Stakes (USA-G1) winner Flower Alley. Lilacs and Lace, in turn, produced Lucky Lilac to a cover by 2011 Japanese Horse of the Year Orfevre.
My Juliet's fourth family member to win Group 1 honors in Japan is 2017 Miyako Stakes winner T M Jinsuko, a great-grandson of the champion's last daughter, the 1992 Criminal Type mare My Succession. With quite a few well-bred granddaughters and great-granddaughters of Stella Madrid still in production in the Land of the Rising Sun, it seems safe to predict that in due time, there will be still more blossoms adorning this family tree.
Named for the heroine of Shakespeare's immortal play Romeo and Juliet, My Juliet raced on for another year and ended her career having won 24 of 36 starts, good enough for admission to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 2019. She was just as worthy of acclaim in her second career, foaling Grade 1 winners Tis Juliet and Stella Madrid (both by Alydar) and breeding on through her daughters. Her family has been particularly noteworthy in Japan, where it has come up with two Japanese champions and two other Japanese Group 1 winners in just five years.
Four-time Grade 1 winner Stella Madrid was the best of My Juliet's daughters in the paddocks, producing Grade/Group 3 winner Isle of France (by Nureyev) and multiple Japanese stakes winner Diamond Biko (by Sunday Silence). Through Isle of France, Stella Madrid is the third dam of 2016 Japanese champion sprinter/miler Mikki Isle and 2017 N.H.K. Mile Cup (JPN-G1) winner Aerolithe.
Refinement, Stella Madrid's 1994 daughter by Seattle Slew, could boast of no such accomplishments as Isle of France on the racetrack, but she went her half sister one better by producing 2011 Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) winner Lilacs and Lace to the cover of 2005 Travers Stakes (USA-G1) winner Flower Alley. Lilacs and Lace, in turn, produced Lucky Lilac to a cover by 2011 Japanese Horse of the Year Orfevre.
My Juliet's fourth family member to win Group 1 honors in Japan is 2017 Miyako Stakes winner T M Jinsuko, a great-grandson of the champion's last daughter, the 1992 Criminal Type mare My Succession. With quite a few well-bred granddaughters and great-granddaughters of Stella Madrid still in production in the Land of the Rising Sun, it seems safe to predict that in due time, there will be still more blossoms adorning this family tree.
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