BLAME’s Ribaltagaia registered her first stakes victory in her second start at the level Saturday with a win in the Listed Prix des Lilas at Chantilly.
Set to contest the one-mile distance she’s seen in all but one of her starts, the Gianluca Bietolini-trained runner broke well to immediately take over pacemaking duties at the front of the field. Racing relaxedly up front, Ribaltagaia didn’t encounter any pressure from the other runners until the field started their journey into the straight and the field bunched together.
After a brief challenge from other runners, Ribaltagaia started pulling away again for an easy 1 ½ length victory to take her record to two wins and a Group 1 fourth in four starts for Albert Frasetto.
A 225,000 guineas purchase at the 2023 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, Ribaltagaia is the first runner out of the Bernardini mare Silk Assassin. Silk Assassin herself is out of the Grade 3 winner and multiple Grade 1 placed Super Espresso. That mare’s four winners include the stakes winning Eamonn.
Those under Ribaltagaia’s first four dams also include Grade 1 winners T O Royal, Althea, Balletto, Acoma, Arch, Covfefe, Ali Oop, Ketoh, Bayern, Aldiza, War Breeze, Azzaam, Green Desert, and Princess Jenni.
This is the second stakes winner for BLAME in 2024 with the stallion also siring the stakes winning Epic Ride, who placed in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and ran in the Kentucky Derby (G1).