26 May 2024
Photo scoopdyga.com
Sunday, May 26, 2024, ParisLongchamp Racecourse (Paris). – Eight runners lined up for the highly competitive €80,000 Prix du Palais-Royal (Gr3), with five of them offered at odds ranging from 2.90 to 9.70.
Second, four weeks earlier for her return in the Prix Maurice Zilber (L), a fillies' race over the same 7-furlong course, Exxtra (Starspangledbanner) had previously won the Prix de Seine-et-Oise (Gr3) over 6 furlongs.
Ridden skillfully behind the leaders, she was pulled out of the field at the very end to decisively dispatch her rivals in a few strides. Anja Wilde’s filly left the second-placed Breizh Sky (Pedro the Great), the race leader, a length behind. He held off the favourite Yosemite Valley (Shamardal) and the strong finisher Mount Athos (Dark Angel), who shared third place.
Exxtra was consistent as a 2-year-old, ending her season with a fourth-place finish in the Prix d’Arenberg (Gr3). After this first season, she was bought back for €150,000 by Haras du Cadran at Deauville.
As a 3-year-old, Exxtra won her first Listed race on her third outing over 6 furlongs at Deauville, then took second in the Goldene Peitsche (Gr3) at Baden-Baden over the same distance. Before securing the "Seine-et-Oise," she finished sixth in the 7-furlong Qatar Prix de la Forêt (Gr1).
Exxtra was bred by Isabelle Corbani and Jedburgh Stud and sold by the latter at Arqana for €26,000 at the October 2021 sales. They had bought her dam in foal with Exxtra at Goffs for €33,000 through agent Paul Nataf. The two previous offspring of the maiden Rolling Stone (Raven’s Pass) have placed in Italy. This mare is out of the excellent Rolly Polly (Mukaddamah), 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 in the USA for their silks. She is also the second dam of Raging Bull (Dark Angel), a Group 1 winner in the USA.
Exxtra has two half-brothers by City Light born in 2022 and 2023. The first, sold at Arqana for €85,000 to Chantilly Bloodstock (Gérard Larrieu) last year, is in training with Stéphane Wattel, still owned by her breeders.