From the viewpoint of a North American observer, Brazil’s Classic scene is a delightful mess with both Gávea (Rio de Janeiro) and Cidade Jardim (São Paulo) hosting “Triple Crowns” for both sexes. As part of the confusion, both tracks host a Grande Prêmio Diana, a Group 1 event that is its host track’s premier event for 3-year-old fillies, and both are contested at the same 2000-meter distance on turf.
Generally, it is the Gávea race that is referred to when a racing enthusiast in the English-speaking sphere mentions the “Brazilian Oaks.” However, the Cidade Jardim race does not lack for prestige, and it is normally contested by quality fields. This year, a dozen fillies ran in São Paulo’s version of the Grande Prêmio Diana, and the winner by a comfortable 1¼ lengths was Perfect Plastic, who added the big race to two previous Group-level scores.
Bred by Haras Belmont, Perfect Plastic is by Irish import Goldikovic, who is as regally bred as any stallion on the planet. A son of the great Irish-based sire Galileo, who in turn was the most important son of the record-shattering Sadler’s Wells (by Northern Dancer), Goldikovic is out of the mighty mare Goldikova, a champion in both the United States and Europe and the only horse to win the same Breeders’ Cup event (the Mile) three times. Goldikovic could not live up to that heritage as a racehorse, managing only one third-place finish in three starts, but his bloodlines virtually guaranteed that he would receive a trial at stud somewhere. So far, he has justified the decision to give him that opportunity in Brazil; currently seventh on the nation’s general sire list, he has finished among Brazil’s top ten sires for the last four years.
Whereas Goldikovic’s parentage could hardly be more orthodox or more patrician, Perfect Plastic’s tail-female line traces back to a mare whose lineage was not given Thoroughbred status in that most hallowed register of the breed, the General Stud Book, until March 1969. This was Lavant, a 1955 daughter of the useful French racer and sire Le Lavandou. As a son of Djebel and hence from a strain of French horses denied entry to the General Stud Book under the terms of the Jersey Act because of the taint of “impure” American strains, Le Lavandou’s pedigree had only received the cachet of full Thoroughbred status following a 1949 amendment to the Jersey Act that granted GSB admission to animals whose pedigree records showed them to be the result of eight or nine crosses of pure blood, to trace back for at least a century, and to have relatives in the immediate family whose racing merit gave reason to believe in the “purity of [their] blood.”
Lavant’s problem was that, while her female lineage could be traced to the first half of the nineteenth century, it could not show eight consecutive crosses to purebred sires thanks to Lavant’s great-granddam, Verdict (winner of the 1924 Coronation Cup), who was sired by the half-bred stallion Shogun. A good stakes winner at 2 and 3, Shogun also came from a line of mares with less than impeccable antecedents, and so his “half-bred” status canceled all the crosses to pure blood that had been made along Verdict’s dam line before he covered Verdict’s dam, Finale. Lavant, then, came from a female line that had only three consecutive crosses to stallions who were accounted Thoroughbreds, and so was recorded as a half-bred.
Lavant was not much of a race mare, but as a broodmare she was something else again, producing six winners. That number included Lucasland (by Lucero) and So Blessed (by Princelu Gift), both winners of the historic July Cup and accounted as the best or near the best sprinters of their respective crops. Their merit caused the keepers of the General Stud Book to reconsider Lavant’s case for admission, and she was finally recognized as a Thoroughbred after 14 years of being accounted a “half-bred.”
Perfect Plastic’s branch of Lavant’s family was imported to Brazil via Lavant’s Irish-bred granddaughter Rogeria (by Targowice), who produced On Pass Pas to a cover by 1967 Prix Jean Part winner and 1977 Brazilian champion sire Locris. A winner of three races from 1100 to 1400 meters at Gávea, On Pass Pas produced Brazilian Group 3 winner Access (by the top Brazilian racer and sire Clackson) and her Group 3-placed full sister, Femme Fatale. Femme Fatale, in turn, produced 2005 Grande Prêmio Henrique Possolo (BRZ-G1) winner Movie Star (by Royal Academy) and multiple Brazilian Group 2 winner Simply the Best (by Know Heights).
Next Star, a full sister to Movie Star, did not live up to her name; her resume boasted only one minor win from five starts. She did not particularly distinguish herself as a broodmare either but did produce unraced Artista Plastica (by Elusive Quality), who produced Perfect Plastic as her sixth foal. The mare’s most recent foals are Paint Monet, a 2023 full brother to Perfect Plastic who has yet to race, and a 2025 Drosselmeyer filly who has been given the name Raquelita.
For the most part, the caution exercised by the keepers of the General Stud Book over the centuries has been warranted; as a highly specialized breed, it has been long years since the Thoroughbred was apt to benefit as a racehorse by outcrossing to non-Thoroughbreds. Nevertheless, after generations of breeding a half-Thoroughbred and its descendants back to pure Thoroughbreds, there comes a time when the designation of “half-bred” represents a technicality more than it does a genetic distinction. Lavant and her family had clearly reached that point, and as Perfect Plastic demonstrated last Saturday, the breed has only benefited by admission of a mare with imperfect bloodlines but excellent genetics.
Generally, it is the Gávea race that is referred to when a racing enthusiast in the English-speaking sphere mentions the “Brazilian Oaks.” However, the Cidade Jardim race does not lack for prestige, and it is normally contested by quality fields. This year, a dozen fillies ran in São Paulo’s version of the Grande Prêmio Diana, and the winner by a comfortable 1¼ lengths was Perfect Plastic, who added the big race to two previous Group-level scores.
Bred by Haras Belmont, Perfect Plastic is by Irish import Goldikovic, who is as regally bred as any stallion on the planet. A son of the great Irish-based sire Galileo, who in turn was the most important son of the record-shattering Sadler’s Wells (by Northern Dancer), Goldikovic is out of the mighty mare Goldikova, a champion in both the United States and Europe and the only horse to win the same Breeders’ Cup event (the Mile) three times. Goldikovic could not live up to that heritage as a racehorse, managing only one third-place finish in three starts, but his bloodlines virtually guaranteed that he would receive a trial at stud somewhere. So far, he has justified the decision to give him that opportunity in Brazil; currently seventh on the nation’s general sire list, he has finished among Brazil’s top ten sires for the last four years.
Whereas Goldikovic’s parentage could hardly be more orthodox or more patrician, Perfect Plastic’s tail-female line traces back to a mare whose lineage was not given Thoroughbred status in that most hallowed register of the breed, the General Stud Book, until March 1969. This was Lavant, a 1955 daughter of the useful French racer and sire Le Lavandou. As a son of Djebel and hence from a strain of French horses denied entry to the General Stud Book under the terms of the Jersey Act because of the taint of “impure” American strains, Le Lavandou’s pedigree had only received the cachet of full Thoroughbred status following a 1949 amendment to the Jersey Act that granted GSB admission to animals whose pedigree records showed them to be the result of eight or nine crosses of pure blood, to trace back for at least a century, and to have relatives in the immediate family whose racing merit gave reason to believe in the “purity of [their] blood.”
Lavant’s problem was that, while her female lineage could be traced to the first half of the nineteenth century, it could not show eight consecutive crosses to purebred sires thanks to Lavant’s great-granddam, Verdict (winner of the 1924 Coronation Cup), who was sired by the half-bred stallion Shogun. A good stakes winner at 2 and 3, Shogun also came from a line of mares with less than impeccable antecedents, and so his “half-bred” status canceled all the crosses to pure blood that had been made along Verdict’s dam line before he covered Verdict’s dam, Finale. Lavant, then, came from a female line that had only three consecutive crosses to stallions who were accounted Thoroughbreds, and so was recorded as a half-bred.
Lavant was not much of a race mare, but as a broodmare she was something else again, producing six winners. That number included Lucasland (by Lucero) and So Blessed (by Princelu Gift), both winners of the historic July Cup and accounted as the best or near the best sprinters of their respective crops. Their merit caused the keepers of the General Stud Book to reconsider Lavant’s case for admission, and she was finally recognized as a Thoroughbred after 14 years of being accounted a “half-bred.”
Perfect Plastic’s branch of Lavant’s family was imported to Brazil via Lavant’s Irish-bred granddaughter Rogeria (by Targowice), who produced On Pass Pas to a cover by 1967 Prix Jean Part winner and 1977 Brazilian champion sire Locris. A winner of three races from 1100 to 1400 meters at Gávea, On Pass Pas produced Brazilian Group 3 winner Access (by the top Brazilian racer and sire Clackson) and her Group 3-placed full sister, Femme Fatale. Femme Fatale, in turn, produced 2005 Grande Prêmio Henrique Possolo (BRZ-G1) winner Movie Star (by Royal Academy) and multiple Brazilian Group 2 winner Simply the Best (by Know Heights).
Next Star, a full sister to Movie Star, did not live up to her name; her resume boasted only one minor win from five starts. She did not particularly distinguish herself as a broodmare either but did produce unraced Artista Plastica (by Elusive Quality), who produced Perfect Plastic as her sixth foal. The mare’s most recent foals are Paint Monet, a 2023 full brother to Perfect Plastic who has yet to race, and a 2025 Drosselmeyer filly who has been given the name Raquelita.
For the most part, the caution exercised by the keepers of the General Stud Book over the centuries has been warranted; as a highly specialized breed, it has been long years since the Thoroughbred was apt to benefit as a racehorse by outcrossing to non-Thoroughbreds. Nevertheless, after generations of breeding a half-Thoroughbred and its descendants back to pure Thoroughbreds, there comes a time when the designation of “half-bred” represents a technicality more than it does a genetic distinction. Lavant and her family had clearly reached that point, and as Perfect Plastic demonstrated last Saturday, the breed has only benefited by admission of a mare with imperfect bloodlines but excellent genetics.
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