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Unbeaten entire not the only member of high-achieving family in action at Caulfield
Much of the build up to Saturday's $1 million Group 1 Memsie Stakes has been about Illation.
The four-year-old is the lowest-rated runner in the race, but is considered one of the most exciting horses in the country, emphasised by the fact he is one of the favourites in a race also containing the likes of I'm Thunderstruck, Alligator Blood, Western Empire, Duais and Tofane .
But he is not the only member of the family who will be in action at Caulfield on Saturday.
The son of So You Think and Pontiana will have half-brother Dragon Leap for company in the Memsie, while close relation Jacquinot resumes in the $200,000 Group 3 McNeil Stakes (1200m).
It is rare for a mare to have three high-profile runners engaged on the same card and a great advertisement for what owner/breeder Lindsay Maxsted has been able to build with the family.
A daughter of Redoute's Choice and the Royal Academy mare Liberty Rose, who was a Listed winner and Group 3-placed, Pontiana won her first two starts before finishing runner-up in the G2 Dane Ripper Stakes (1400m) and placing three times at Listed level.
Her first trip to the breeding barn was for a meeting with So You Think with the resultant foal being Inference, winner of the G1 Randwick Guineas (1600m).
Pontiana's second foal, Ponterro (Pierro), did not race but she wasted no time demonstrating her ability to produce talented types with her first shot at breeding producing Jacquinot, who is by Rubick.
A brilliant winner on debut, Jacquinot – who carries Maxsted's green and blue hoops – was unlucky through the Blue Diamond series and finished sixth in the Golden Slipper at his most recent outing.
His McNeil Stakes preparations have included a couple of Cranbourne jumpouts with his spring targets including the G1 Golden Rose (1400m) and G1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m).
Pontiana's third foal Sequitur (So You Think) was retired after just two starts, while she returned to Pierro for her fourth season and produced Dragon Leap, who sold for $1,050,000 at the 2018 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
A winner of the G2 Auckland Guineas (1600m) and G2 Avondale Guineas (2100m) and fourth placing in the G1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) at three, he missed a year due to a fetlock injury but booked this weekend's trip to Caulfield with a first-up second placing to Imperatriz at Ruakaka on August 6.
After Dragon Leap, Pontiana had Montia (Vancouver), who was a debut Moonee Valley winner, before Illation.
Trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, Illation easily won a 1400m Pakenham maiden on debut before South Australian Listed wins in the Nitschke Stakes (1400m) and Adelaide Guineas (1600m).
He is favourite for the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) later this year, no doubt leaving some rueful they did not go a little harder at the 2020 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, where he was passed in after failing to reach his $450,000 reserve.
Illation's deeds have increased anticipation around what Pontiana has coming next and while she doesn't have a three-year-old after missing to I Am Invincible, she returned to the Yarraman Park stallion the following year and has a filly who turned two this month.
She will be returning to So You Think this spring in the hope of producing another Inference or Illation.
