€80,000 Seine-et-Oise (Gr3): Exxtra finds an opening

Friday, October 27, 2023, Chantilly Racecourse (Oise) - High-level sprints often attract larger fields, and this edition of the €80,000 Prix de Seine-et-Oise (Gr3) was no exception, featuring fourteen runners over the 6 furlong straight dash. The front line, led by Ponntos (Power), but especially by Amellata (Pomellato) and American Kestrel (Starspangledbanner), put up a strong defense. However, in their wake, the 3-year-old filly  Exxtra (Starspangledbanner) surged just after the final furlong to take the lead between the two and then hold them off, winning by less than a length ahead of the determined American Kestrel, with Go Athletico (Goken), the favourite, finishing strongly and edging out Amellata for the podium. Brad the Brief, winner in 2020 and runner-up in 2021, finished fifth, perhaps without having all the space he needed.

Exxtra showed consistency at 2 years old, finishing her season with a fourth-place performance in the Prix d’Arenberg (Gr3). At the end of her debut season, she was unsold at €150,000 by Haras du Cadran at Deauville.

At 3 years old, Exxtra secured her first Listed victory in only her third outing, over 6 furlongs at Deauville, and she went on to claim second place in the Goldene Peitsche (Gr3) at Baden-Baden, over the same distance. Before her victory here, she had finished sixth in the Qatar Prix de la Forêt (Gr1) over 7 furlongs.

Exxtra was bred by Isabelle Corbani and Jedburgh Stud and sold by the second at Arqana for 26,000 € at the October 2021 sales. They had bought her dam in foal with the filly for €33,000 through bloodstock agent Paul Nataf. The two previous foals out of the maiden Rolling Stone (Raven’s Pass) took places in Italy. This mare descends from Rolly Polly (Mukaddamah), a winner of the Prix Robert Papin (Gr2) before being imported from Italy by the Wildenstein family. She went on to win two Group 3 races for the stable in the USA. She also became the second dam of Raging Bull (Dark Angel), a Group 1 winner in the USA.

Exxtra has two brothers by City Light born in 2022 and 2023. The first was recently sold at Arqana for 85,000 € to Chantilly Bloodstock (Gérard Larrieu).