It has been many moons since Varsfontein has raced a filly in the European realm. However, this was about to change when in 2014 John Kalmanson found a filly at the Tattersalls October Sale that ticked all the boxes. The flashy, white faced filly was impeccably bred being by Galileo (IRE) out of the stakes placed Danehill mare, Bywayofthestars (GB). This made her a full sister to the very good colt Orchestra (IRE), who is a Gr 3 winner and placed 3rd in the Irish Derby. John asked long standing family friend and agent, Margaret O’Toole to make the purchase. The filly, later named Cosmica Sidera, made her home at Haras du Bluff with Edwige Le Metayer for her pre-training. When the time was right she moved to french trainer David Smaga. She took time to come into her own and finally made her debut at Clairefontaine over 11 furlongs (2400m) on 4 August. Much to everyone’s delight the filly won her first outing after leading all the way and convincingly fighting off the odds on favorite in the finish.
