Lot 822 Circus Maximus (IRE) ‐ Lips of an Angel (NZ) Bay Filly

Lot 822 bay filly Circus Maximus – Lips Of An Angel (Falkirk) $40,000 (draft: Windsor Park Stud)

Te Akau has been an advocate for the strong bodied progeny of Circus Maximus (Galileo), and included among their purchases is Towering Vision, who came from last to win the Eagle Technology 3YO 1600 metres on 1 January at Ellerslie, and now on a path towards the $1.25m Trackside New Zealand Derby (Gr. 1, 2400m).

Towering Vision also provided the first stakes win for his young sire, when winning the Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre Stakes (Listed, 1400m) with a tough performance as a two-year-old.

By the greatest sire of stakes winners in the world, Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), Circus Maximus was a Champion Miler and triple Group One winner that won the St James Palace Stakes (Gr. 1, 1600m), a noted stallion-making race, and like Champion racehorse Frankel (Galileo) before him, he also won the Queen Anne Stakes (Gr. 1, 1600m) at Royal Ascot.

Dam Lips Of An Angel is by Falkirk (Tale of the Cat), a dual Group Two & Group Three winning sprinter in New Zealand and Australia, from the great Lovenvain dam line.

As a broodmare sire, Falkirk has produced Group race winners including Wild Night (Vanbrugh), a Group Two winner and Group One placed, bought and trained by Te Akau.

Resembling her sire, Lips Of An Angel was a race winner, and produced hardy three-time winner Thats Charming (Charm Spirit) and Joyful Treasure (Charm Spirit), placed in Hong Kong.

Granddam Guinevere is by Fairy King (Northern Dancer), the sire of Champion Sire and Champion Broodmare Sire Encota de Lago, while third dam Masskana (Darshaan) produced Hong Kong Cup (Gr. 1, 2000m) winner Eagle Mountain (Rock of Gibraltar).

“She’s from a solid black type producing family and very good value to get a filly with a quality pedigree at the price,” said David Ellis.

“Lips Of An Angel showed plenty of tenacity when she was racing, her progeny has done the same, and this filly also has the makeup of a tough type.”

The filly carries bloodline crosses to immortal sire Northern Dancer, on the sire line of Circus Maximus and dam line of Lips Of An Angel.