Tough Piz Badile is the First Group Winner for Ulysses

Dual group 1 winner Ulysses  looks to have a live Derby contender in his first crop as Piz Badile  demonstrated bravery and battling qualities to win the P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes (G3) at Leopardstown April 2.

The Niarchos family homebred was the first winner for his sire when striking on debut in a Killarney maiden last July and he has duly become the first group winner for the son of Galileo  who stands at Cheveley Park Stud.

Trained by Donnacha O'Brien, Piz Badile was unlucky not to make the breakthrough at stakes level when finishing second in the Eyrefield Stakes (G3) at Leopardstown at the end of last season.

His trainer indicated afterwards that Piz Badile, named after a mountain on the Swiss-Italian border, could follow a tried and tested route to Epsom with the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial a possibility for his next run.

Piz Badile has a fascinating pedigree that is colored in the Niarchos navy and sky blue as the first foal out of That Which Is Not  (by Elusive Quality ). She won the Prix Zarkava - Fonds European de l'Elevage and was second in the Prix Corrida (G2) for Francis-Henri Graffard and the Niarchos family.

That Which Is Not is a half sister to Flare of Firelight, the dam of the Pommery Champagne Stakes (G2) and Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes (G2) winner Threat .

They are out of the group 1 winner Shiva , a Hector Protector half sister to Sir Henry Cecil's final Oaks winner Light Shift , who is the dam of Ulysses , making Piz Badile inbred 3x3 to Lingerie.

It is a top-class middle-distance family and Shiva is a full sister to Prix Foy (G2) and Prix Jean de Chaudenay-Grand Prix du Printemps (G2) winner Limnos and a half sister to listed winner Burning Sunset , who is the second dam of Main Sequence . He was runner-up to Camelot  in the Investec Epsom Derby (G1) ten years ago and went on to win four times at the highest level on turf in North America.

Another of Shiva's half sisters, Strawberry Fledge, is the dam of Prix Ganay (G1) winner Cloth of Stars . That stallion has his first runners this season.

Ulysses developed into a leading middle-distance horse at four when he won the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) and Coral Eclipse Stakes (G1) and was second to Enable  in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1).

He made a very promising start to his stud career with two stakes-placed juveniles and 17 winners from just 42 runners and his second crop numbers 63 juveniles. His fee for 2022 is £10,000 (US$13,112).