Irish Success For Pathfork Half-Sister

Sandown Stud’s consistently successful resident sire Pathfork got another boost to his stellar female line when his three-year-old half-sister Sierra Nevada won at Naas on Sunday.

A daughter of US Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Sierra Nevada outclassed her rivals as she sauntered home to a two and three-quarter length win in Sunday’s Wesco Electrical 50th Anniversary Race over one mile and two furlongs.

Her trainer Jessica Harrington said after the win, “She did it nicely and I was happy with her all the way around. She’s a work in progress still, a great big filly and we haven’t seen the best of her yet. We might step her up to 1m4f as she has that great, big, long stride and she used it today.She has a lovely pedigree and we’ll see where we go next. We got away with that ground today – she wouldn’t want real extremes.”

Now a two-time winner from just six starts, Sierra Nevada is out of the outstanding Sadler’s Wells sired broodmare Visions Of Clarity, herself a winner of the Listed Prix de Bagatelle. Visions Of Clarity is also dam of the Sandown-based Irish champion Pathfork as well as fellow G1 winner War Of Will.

The latter, who now stands at the famed Claiborne Farm, won both the G1 Preakness Stakes and G1 Maker’s Mark Mile during a career which saw War Of Will earn more than $1.881 million in stakes.

An unbeaten G1 winner at two, Pathfork (who shares his sire Distorted Humor with this year’s G1 Arlington Million winner Santin) had a fine season in 2021-2022 when Pathfork runners earned in excess of R6.376 million – more than the progeny of such stallions as Dynasty, Ideal World and Var.