Crystal Etoile was bought in partnership with Simon Cox, who found her in a Thoroughbid auction for what was a bargain price of £2,000, even for a barren mare of fourteen – if we could manage to get her in foal! She was a half-sister to Group 1 winners CRYSTAL OCEAN and HILLSTAR, and 3-time Group 2 winner CRYSTAL CAPELLA, by the high-class Flat sire Dansili.
Although only placed as a Flat racehorse, Crystal Etoile had produced a remarkable four Flat-race winners from four runners that each achieved RPRs of 90+. These were CRYSTAL PEGASUS (RPR 101, winner of 7 races including the Listed Mornington Cup and Roy Higgins Hcp in Australia); Crystal Hope (RPR 95, a Listed-placed winner), Stella Surprise (RPR 92, winner of two Class 2 races) and Crystal Estrella (RPR 91).
Following surgery to improve her breeding prospects, Crystal Etoile produced a handsome colt foal by Logician in 2024, expected to be the 2027 St Leger winner. Since Simon’s ambition was to use the mare to breed high-class Flat runners, whilst my more modest one was to stick to producing Jumps horses, I agreed to sell both mare and foal back to the man whose observational skills had identified her in the first place – though for a price a little more appropriate to an active broodmare with a good produce record.