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PEDIGREE PROFILE -PIROSHKA

Sarah Whitelaw

There was plenty to like about the way two-year-old Piroshka broke his maiden at Kenilworth last Sunday.
Making his third start, the Oldlands Stud bred colt produced a fine turn of foot which saw him pull clear of his rivals and win in fine fashion.

Piroshka, who went through the ring for R260 000 at the 2021 CTS Ready To Run Sale, is one of just three two-year-old runners for his fertility struck sire Quasillo this year. A son of Sea The Stars, G3 Bavarian Classic winner Quasillo has a fine strike rate with his two-year-olds, with two of Quasillo’s three juvenile starters this season having won.

Sire of four winners from just ten runners in his first crop thus far, Quasillo’s initial crop was headed by the stakes placed pair of Miss Putin and Quasiforsure.

The only son of once beaten champion Sea The Stars at stud in South Africa, Quasillo is a half-brother to G2 Ballston Spa Stakes winner Quidura (by Dubawi) and German champion, and leading South African sire, Querari.

Leading Sire of 2YOs in South Africa in 2018-2019, Querari himself is enjoying plenty of success with his two-year-olds this season. Among Querari’s current two-year-old flagbearers are G3 Pretty Polly Stakes queen Galla Vanting and Listed Ruffian Stakes winner River Queraress -while his regally bred daughter Simple Simple has been entered for Saturday’s G2 4Racing SA Fillies Nursery.

Piroshka is also another feather in the cap of his winning dam Mamalushka. A daughter of Kingmambo’s full-brother Kitalpha, Mamalushka is dam of four winners thus far headed by last season’s G1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes winner Zarina.

Kitalpha left behind six crops in Zimbabwe before he was repatriated to North America. The regally bred son of Mr Prospector and legendary racemare Miesque, left behind four champions as well as US graded stakes winners Martini Glass and Unbelievable Dream. His daughter Bear All is the dam of US graded stakes winners Magic Michael and Night Ops.

Now deceased, Kitalpha, whose half-brother Judpot is the sire of this season’s G1 World Sports Betting Presents The Gauteng Summer Cup winner Flying Carpet, was also represented in South Africa by G3 Tommy Hotspur Handicap winner Royal Exit, G2 winner Moroccan, and G1 Cape Derby runner up Bluemambo.

Interestingly, Quasillo’s outstanding sire Sea The Stars has enjoyed plenty of success when mated to daughters of Kitalpha’s full-brother Kingmambo, with this combination having produced G1 winners Baaeed (Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Prix Du Moulin), Cloth Of Stars (Prix Ganay) and Zelzal (Prix Jean Prat), while Baaeed’s talented full-brother Hukum has won four group or graded races including this year’s G2 Dubai City Of Gold.

Picture: Piroshka (Wayne Marks).