Piccola Piuma powers clear to win Oaks d’Italia in Milan

Piccola Piuma turned the 117th Oaks d’Italia into a statement at San Siro, sweeping past Jennifer Jane and Pomeranica to win the G2 Premio Oaks d’Italia Tattersalls by 3 1/4 lengths. She did it in 2:06.80 over about 1m2½f on good ground, and she did it with the kind of finish that changes how people talk about a filly.

This was not a survival job or a late grind. Jennifer Jane tried to dictate matters from the front after using the same tactics in the Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket, but Piccola Piuma tracked the pace in perfect position and never looked in trouble once the race began to quicken. When Pomeranica moved alongside early in the straight, Branca had to wait briefly for room. The delay lasted only a moment. Once Piccola Piuma saw daylight, she changed gears immediately and put the race away.

That is the part that matters most for what comes next. Piccola Piuma was making only her first black-type appearance in a 15-runner renewal that drew international runners and had been listed with 16 contenders in the build-up, and she handled the step up like a filly already comfortable in deeper water. She had been beaten only twice in her first six starts, but this was the first time she looked like something beyond a promising runner with potential. She looked like a Classic filly with tactical speed and a finish.

Stefano Botti, who won the Oaks d’Italia for the sixth time, got a polished ride from Fabio Branca and another major result from a trainer who keeps showing up in this race. The official result credited the winner to Sas di Elena Benvenutti Jerome, while the prize money for the winner was listed at an equivalent of €165,217.39. The margin, the time, and the way she accelerated through the straight all point to a filly whose profile now stretches beyond a single Italian Classic.

The backstory only sharpens the edge of the performance. Piccola Piuma was bred by Suroben Ltd, went unsold at the Goffs November Foal Sale, and was later bought for just €15,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale by bloodstock agent Valfredo Valiani. That kind of return on investment is rare enough. Add a Group 2 win of this authority, and she becomes something more valuable still: a filly with black-type, commercial appeal and a legitimate European future. Another Saxon Warrior filly, Lizzana, was third, further underlining the sire’s presence in the race.