Lot 45 - Zhaojun (AUS) 

ZHAOJUN - 15.2 1/2HH
This is an extremely rare opportunity to purchase a young broodmare prospect where both her sire and her dam were Group 1 winners over 1000m. And we all know how much our yearling market loves a fast pedigree.

Her sire Choisir needs no introduction. As good a sprinter as we have seen in the past 30 years, at stud he has met with similar success siring over 1,100 winners, 96 Stakes Winners and over $120 million in progeny earnings. As a broodmare sire Choisir has already sired over 300 winners and 16 Stakes Winners. Some of the better performed horses out of Choisir mares include four times UK/Irish G1 winner Winter; UK G1 winners Dream Boat and Persuasive, while in Australia some of his black type performers include Moonlight Maid (G2 winner by Puissance De Lune); My Poppette (G2 winner by Snippetson); Ekstein (G2 winner by I Am Invincible); this season’s Listed Race winners Assertive Approach (by Akeed Mofeed) and I Am Eloquent (by I Am Invincible); plus the very smart Queensland 2yo Isotope (By Deep Field).

Zhaojun’s dam is the highly talented European sprinter Imperial Beauty. Her crowning glory came in France’s No.1 1000m sprint, the Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp (Group 1), in which she relegated Group 1 winners Bahamian Pirate and Pipalong into the minor placings. Two years earlier, she had gone within a short neck of winning the same race, this time being touched off by Champion Japanese Sprinter Agnes World in the shadows of the post.

Imperial Beauty had also shown tremendous form as a 2yo, running a close second in the Newnarket Cheveley Park Stakes (Group 1), as well as two Listed Race wins in the UK over 1000m and 1200m as a 3yo.

At stud Imperial Beauty has left 4 winners including the top class black type French galloper Ipswich (multiple Group 3/Listed Race placed), as well as Loyalty Man, a winner of $400,000 in earnings to date.

Catching Moonbeams, a half sister to Zhaojun, has already left South African Listed Race winner Purely Atomic (by Encosta De Lago).

Other Group 1 winners produced from this family include Lakeway (US Champion Filly), Bold Forbes (Kentucky Derby), Saratoga Six (Del Mar Futurity), Jan Vermeer (Saint-Cloud Criterium International), Together (Keeneland Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup), and many others.

Zhaojun stands approximately 15.3 hands high. She is strong correct sprinting type who has been given plenty of time to let down since retiring from the racetrack sound.