| Natagora | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Divine Light |
| Grandsire | Sunday Silence |
| Dam | Reinamixa |
| Damsire | Linamix |
| Sex | Mare |
| Foaled | 18 February 2005 |
| Country | France |
| Colour | Grey |
| Breeder | Bertrand Gouin & Georges Duca |
| Owner | Stefan Friborg |
| Trainer | Pascal Bary |
| Record | 15: 7-4-2 |
| Earnings | £797,122 |
| Major wins | |
| Prix du Bois (2007) Prix Robert Papin (2007) Cheveley Park Stakes (2007) 1000 Guineas (2008) | |
| Awards | |
| European Champion Two-year-old Filly (2007) | |
Natagora was a French championThoroughbred racehorse andbroodmare, named after a Belgian NGO. She won five of her seven starts as a two-year-old including theGroup OneCheveley Park Stakes and the Group TwoPrix Robert Papin. She was namedEuropean Champion Two-year old Filly at the Cartier Racing Awards. As a three-year-old she recorded her most important victory when taking theClassic1000 Guineas. Although she never won again she finished placed in thePrix du Jockey Club,Prix Rothschild,Prix Jacques Le Marois andPrix de la Forêt. After her racing career ended she had some success as broodmare, producing a number of winning foals. Natagora was one of an outstanding generation of French-trained fillies which also includedZarkava andGoldikova.
Natagora was a grey filly bred in France by Bertrand Gouin & Georges Duca. She was sired by the Japanese stallion Divine Light a son ofSunday Silence, out of Reinamixa. Divine Light was a successful sprinter who stood as a sire in Japan, France and Turkey.[1] Reinamixa, from whom Natagora inherited her grey coat, won one minor race in a brief racing career. As a descendant of the broodmare Our Liz, Natagora came from the same branch of Thoroughbred family 4-i which produced theKing George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winnerIle de Bourbon.[2]
As a yearling, Natagora was consigned by the Haras de Lonray to the Arqana sale at Deauville in October 2006. She was bought for €30,000 by Patick Barbe.[3] Natagora was subsequently sold to Stefan Friborg and went into training withPascal Bary. She was ridden in most of her important races byChristophe Lemaire.
Natagora made her first appearance on a racecourse atSaint-Cloud on 1 May where she finished second in a maiden race to a filly named Faslen. Eighteen days later she recorded her first win in an 1100m race atChantilly, beating Fleurina by two and a halflengths.[4]
In June Natagora was moved up toListed class for thePrix La Flèche atLongchamp and won easily by four lengths from Jane Blue.[5] On 1 July, Natagora was promoted to Group Three standard for thePrix du Bois atMaisons-Laffitte. She started even money favourite and won by three-quarters of a length from Wilki.[6] Natagora returned to Maisons-Laffitte three weeks later for the Group TwoPrix Robert Papin. She started odds-on favourite and won from the Italian filly Magritte, with the English colt Strike the Deal in third.[7] In August, Natagora was sent toDeauville to contest the Group OnePrix Morny. She led until the closing stages when she was overtaken and beaten two lengths by the Irish=trained colt Myboycharlie.
On her final start of the season, Natagora was sent to England for theCheveley Park Stakes atNewmarket on 7 October. TheMichael Stoute-trained Visit started favourite, with Natagora being made joint second favourite on 7/2 alongsideFleeting Spirit. Lemaire sent Natagora into the lead from the start, and she ran on strongly in the closing stages to win by a neck from Fleeting Spirit, with Visit finishing unplaced.[8] The race was Bary's first major winner in England.[9]
Natagora began her three-year-old season in the ListedPrix Imprudence at Maisons-Laffitte. She started odds-on favourite and won by one and a half lengths from Modern Look. The filly appeared to cope well with the extremely soft ground and demonstrated a more relaxed racing style than she had shown the previous year. After the race Lemaire described her as "really, really special".[10] She then returned to England to contest the 1000 Guineas over one mile at Newmarket. She started 11/4 favourite in a field of fifteen, with her main rivals appearing to be the undefeated English fillies Infallible and Spacious who started at odds of 7/2 and 11/2 respectively. Natagora took the lead after two furlongs and was never headed, being driven out by Lemaire in the closing stages to win by half a length from Spacious, with the Irish challengerSaoirse Abu in third.[11] Spacious appeared a slightly unlucky loser, having been blocked when attempting to challenge for the lead.[12]
In her next race, Natagora was matched against male opposition in thePrix du Jockey Club at Chantilly in June, attempting to become the first filly to win the race for 134 years.[13] With Lemaire riding the favourite High Rock, the filly was partnered byFrankie Dettori and started at odds of 7/2 against nineteen colts. Dettori tracked the leaders before sending Natagora into the lead in the straight. She was overtaken in the closing stages and finished third to Vision d'Etat and Famous Name. After a break of two months, Natagora was moved back in distance for thePrix Rothschild at Deauville. She started favourite but finished third behindGoldikova andDarjina.[14] Two weeks later, over the same course and distance, she finished second to Tamayuz in thePrix Jacques Le Marois.
On 7 September, in thePrix du Moulin de Longchamp, Natagora finished sixth behind Goldikova, Darjina,Paco Boy (subsequently disqualified[15]), Sageburg andHenrythenavigator. It was the first time she had finished out of the first three. On her final appearance in Europe, Natagora finished second to Paco Boy in thePrix de la Forêt in October. In December, she was sent to Hong Kong for theHong Kong Mile but after racing in second for much of the way, she faded to finish eleventh of the fourteen runners behindGood Ba Ba.[16]
Natagora was namedEuropean Champion Two-year-old filly at theCartier Racing Awards.[17]
In the International Classification for 2007, Natagora was given a rating of 118, making her officially the second best two-year-old filly in Europe afterZarkava.[18]
In January 2009, it was announced that Natagora had been bought byHamdan Al Maktoum and would be retired to a new career as a broodmare.[19] Natagora's first foal was a filly byNayef named Rayaheen, who won her debut atNottingham Racecourse in June 2012.[20]
Natagora was euthanized in 2019 after suffering health problems.[21]
| Sire Divine Light (JPN) 1995 | Sunday Silence 1986 | Halo | Hail To Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmah | |||
| Wishing Well | Understanding | ||
| Mountain Flower | |||
| Meld Sport 1979 | Northern Taste | Northern Dancer | |
| Lady Victoria | |||
| Shadai Prima | Marino | ||
| Night and Day | |||
| Dam Reinamixa (FR) 1994 | Linamix 1987 | Mendez | Bellypha |
| Miss Carina | |||
| Lunadix | Breton | ||
| Lutine | |||
| Reine Margie 1981 | Margouillat | Diatome | |
| Tita | |||
| Reine des Sables | Mincio | ||
| Begrolles (Family: 4-i)[2] |
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