ENGLISH TEXTS talented gelding followed an unusual path. He toured provincial racecourses both on the flat and over jumps, ultimately finding his stride in the latter discipline. A dual winner at Auteuil at age three under the training of Jean-Pierre Dubois, Indien Bleu rose to the elite at four, finishing fourth behind his stablemate Homme du Jour, also racing in Daniel Wildenstein’ s colors, in the Prix Renaud du Vivier( Gr. 1). At five, after another fourthplace effort, this time in the Grand Steeplechase de Paris behind Vieux Beaufai, he scored his finest victory in the Prix des Drags( Gr. 2). Like Kotkijet, he hailed from the breeding program at Haras des Coudraies.
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4. TRIPLE STAR
� PAGE 80
By Loïc Stecher Chocron
SOIGNÉE: THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS
In a breeder’ s life, one broodmare can change everything. Such is the case with Soignée( Dashing Blade), purchased as a yearling in Germany by Jean-Pierre Dubois and his partner. She would go on to become the dam and granddam of two Prix de Diane winners, Stacelita and Sparkling Plenty, and the ancestress of Sauterne, another Group 1-winning filly.
“ She was the most beautiful filly in the sale.” So says Jean- Pierre Dubois. The auction in question dates back to 2003, at the BBAG yearling sale in Baden-Baden, Germany. Bred by Baron Georg von Ullmann and consigned by Gestüt Schlenderhan, the daughter of Dashing Blade was purchased for € 150,000 by Jean-Pierre Dubois and Rainer Engelke. The latter is also well known in the trotting world for breeding champions like Face Time Bourbon( Prix d’ Amérique 2020 – 2021), Mara Bourbon and Qualita Bourbon. It was under his silks, Haras Saint-Martin, that Soignée began her racing career. Trained by Andreas Wöhler, she won her debut at Mülheim over 1,300 meters in August of her two-year-old season. Three weeks later, she remained unbeaten, winning a Listed race during Baden-Baden’ s“ Big Week,” this time over 1,500 meters. Her next notable effort was a runner-up finish in the Group 3 Prix des Réservoirs at Deauville, followed by a Listed placing at three. That was the extent of her racing career. Her broodmare career, however, would go on to be truly explosive.
The breakthrough Jean-Pierre Dubois bought back his partner’ s share and returned the filly, now retired from training, to Schlenderhan to be covered by a certain Monsun. The stallion’ s fame would skyrocket in the years to come. The result of this mating? Stacelita. Under the care of Jean-Claude Rouget, she captured multiple Group 1s: the Montjeu Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary, Prix de Diane Longines, Qatar Prix Vermeille and the Darley Prix Jean Romanet. Her American owner, Martin Schwartz, later sent her to the U. S., where she won two more Group 1 races. As a broodmare for Teruya Yoshida, Stacelita produced Soul Stirring, by the mighty Frankel, winner of the Japanese Oaks, and became the granddam of Stars On Earth, a Duramente filly who completed the Japanese 1,000 guineas – Oaks double. Lightning never strikes twice? Not for Jean-Pierre Dubois. In total, Soignée produced six fillies by various stallions: Footstepsinthesand, Shamardal, Aragorn, Monsun, and Frankel. Remarkably, she was included in the highly selective first book of Juddmonte’ s undefeated champion Frankel. The result, in 2014, was Speralita. Unraced, she went on to match her dam’ s legacy by producing a Prix de Diane Longines winner: Sparkling Plenty. That day in 2024, Jean-Pierre Dubois, her breeder, also celebrated as her owner.
A fulfilled man After a first appearance at the Goffs London Sale, the
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