Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
For pedigree enthusiasts, the 11-time Group 1 winner’s achievements on the track are all the more remarkable when considering her family. It’s fair to say that she single-handedly endorsed the career of her sire, Zed (NZ), and, aside from her brother Verry Flash (NZ), you have to look back to her third dam to find another stakes winner.
But that didn’t stop Verry Elleegant from making her mark in racing history. She retired having amassed an incredible $14,885,505 in prizemoney, earning the hearts of many along the way and memorably providing Chris Waller with his first win in the G1 Melbourne Cup last year.
She will now have her pick of Europe’s premier stallions and there’s plenty to choose from. Her pedigree will be an outcross for nearly every European sire in consideration, though there is a notable inbreeding in play, as her dam Opulence (NZ) is by the Danehill (USA) sire Danroad, with the breed-shaper also the sire of Zed’s dam, Emerald Dream.
Frankel
Arguably the greatest racehorse of all time, Frankel (GB) earned worldwide acclaim with his perfect 14-start career. Whilst even the average Group 1 winner will, statistically, struggle to translate their racecourse achievements into stallion performance, Frankel set his own bar so high that disappointment looked almost likely.
Frankel (GB) | Standing at Juddmonte Farms
Such is his brilliance, he hasn’t failed to impress since retiring to Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Stud just outside Newmarket in the UK. Starting out in 2013, his first crop born the following year contained 23 stakes winners, including four-time Group 1 winner Cracksman (GB).
Things continued apace from there, as he was the fastest sire to achieve 50 Group winners in history, and in 2021 he fittingly gained his first Champion Sire title, taking the mantle off his own sire Galileo (Ire) in the same year of his passing.
Whilst Frankel has proven himself well capable of siring elite horses at a variety of ages and distances, his progeny seem to excel over middle and staying distances, and keep improving beyond their Classic year - the most prominent example being Alpinista (GB) who won her first top-flight event as a 4-year-old before notching a further five Group 1s, culminating in this year’s G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Watch: Alpinista (GB) winning the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
When it comes to mating with Frankel, there are very few chinks in his armour. Verry Elleegant’s connections might consider the inbreeding to Danehill (he is Frankel’s damsire), with the only other questionable feature of this potential match being an abundance of staying power from both parties.
Though 2023 fees are yet to be announced, in 2022 Frankel stood for a career-high of £200,000 (AU$357,400).
Sea The Stars
As Classic as they come, Sea The Stars (Ire) was the winner of six consecutive Group 1s in as many months during his remarkable 3-year-old campaign. Known as a horse who would only ever just do enough to beat what was in front of him, he’s done more than that as a sire, having produced 19 elite-level winners.
In many ways, he’s not dissimilar to Frankel. His progeny tend to take the mould of their sire, and excel over middle-distance and staying trips. They’re also related via the great broodmare Urban Sea (USA) (Miswaki {USA}), the dam of both Sea The Stars and Galileo. Via his sire Cape Cross (Ire), Sea The Stars is bred on the Green Desert (USA) line, who will be familiar to Australian breeders as the grandsire of I Am Invincible.
Sea The Stars (Ire) | Standing at the Aga Khan Studs
He’s a confirmed sire of sires, with elite performer Baaeed (GB) the latest of his progeny to retire to stud, and another of his sons, Sea The Moon (Ger) left a great impression in Australia recently with the victory of his son Durston (GB) in the G1 Caulfield Cup.
Sea The Stars stands at the Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud in Ireland, where he commanded a fee of €150,000 (AU$233,000) earlier this year.
Dubawi
The flagbearer of Darley’s European base at Dalham Hall in Newmarket, Dubawi (Ire) is a special horse in many ways. His own sire, Dubai Millennium (GB) tragically died of grass sickness in 2001 and amongst the 56 foals from his small first crop was the mighty Dubawi.
Dubawi (Ire) | Standing at Darley Europe
A Group 1 winner himself at both 2- and 3-years old, Dubawi demonstrates great variety in the many elite-level performers he’s thrown. From the blazing 2-year-old Too Darn Hot (GB) to this year’s G1 St Leger winner Eldar Eldarov (GB), he’s also the sire of three G1 2000 Guineas winners, which include Night Of Thunder (Ire).
Since 2017 he has stood at a fee of £250,000 (AU$446,700) - but that’s far from the full story. In his fourth season at stud, his fee dipped as low as £15,000 (AU$26,800), which was a reflection on how his progeny were first received at the sales.
With ‘no walk’, buyers were far from taken. However, all that changed once they made it to the racecourse, and his first crop of 118 foals contained 15 stakes winners. With the market now well accustomed to the type of horse he produces, he achieves seven-figure lots with regularity at Europe’s top sales.
Clues as to a cross of pedigrees are unsurprisingly limited, though five stakes winners have emerged from matings to Danehill mares, at a rate of 14 per cent stakes winners to runners. That’s good by the standard of a normal sire, but Dubawi sets himself apart and in particular his affinities to Montjeu (Ire) and Singspiel (Ire) mares fire at a 31 and 25 per cent stakes winners to runners respectively.
Whilst Dubawi might be a top choice of the elite sires in terms of injecting speed and precocity, connections of Verry Elleegant may consider his propensity to get a smaller horse as off-putting for a first mating, given that the Champion mare is on the smaller side herself.
Kingman
Another from Juddmonte’s roster, Kingman (GB) was a Classic-winning miler who is now producing the same. Headlined by Palace Pier (GB), he has sired six Group 1 winners from his five crops of racing age. Hailing from his second crop, that horse is now embarking on his own career as a stallion.
Kingman (GB) | Standing at Juddmonte Farms
Kingman was quick to make an impression on both the market and the racecourse; he was the second fastest stallion to 50 Northern Hemisphere-bred stakes winners (behind only Frankel) and he throws exceptionally good-looking types. These factors combined saw his fee doubled in 2020 to £150,000 (AU$268,000), where it has remained since.
Despite being relatively young at the age of 11, there are few doubts as to the talents of Kingman - and there’s one other thing that might make him a particularly attractive choice for Verry Elleegant.
From limited numbers of eight and four runners respectively, he crosses with Danehill Dancer (Ire) (25 per cent stakes winners to runners) and Exceed And Excel mares (50 per cent) with particular effectiveness. If there are any of Europe’s elite stallions which might be chosen to exploit a nick, Kingman could be the answer.
Lope De Vega
Standing at Ballylinch Stud in Ireland, Lope De Vega (Ire) has gradually asserted himself as one of Europe’s pre-eminent stallions since retiring to stud in 2010. He’s well known in the Southern Hemisphere too, after his four shuttle seasons to Australia produced four Group 1 winners, including outstanding sprinter Santa Ana Lane.
Lope De Vega (Ire) | Standing at Ballylinch Stud
A dual-Classic winner in France over 1600 and 2100 metres, he tends to produce sprinter/milers, such as G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) and G1 Lockinge S. (1600 metres) winner Belardo (Ire). The latter was also a juvenile Group 1 winner, also true of Lucky Vega (Ire), who now shuttles to Yulong from the Irish National Stud.
He stood earlier this year for €125,000 (AU$194,000) and is another complete outcross option for Verry Elleegant that could offer some additional speed to complement her pedigree.
Other contenders
Another Classic sire, who was an exceptional juvenile himself, is Siyouni (Fr). He stands at the Aga Khan Studs' Haras de Bonneval in France, and has sired seven Group 1 winners. He gets a range of types, from the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass (Fr) to European Champion St Mark’s Basilica (Ire) and of course, the star of the west, Amelia's Jewel. He produces good-sized horses with nice bone and could be an excellent physical match for Verry Elleegant.
Siyouni (Fr) | Standing at the Aga Khan Studs
If adding precocity to Verry Elleegant’s pedigree were a priority, Coolmore Ireland’s No Nay Never (USA) would certainly come into contention. He is the sire of elite juveniles Little Big Bear (Ire) and Blackbeard (Ire), as well as Ten Sovereigns (Ire), who is out of an Exceed And Excel mare. His progeny are well able to progress to the elite level in their Classic year too, as advertised locally by Madame Pommery lately in the G1 Thousand Guineas.
Standing at Yeomanstown Stud in Ireland, another sire becoming increasingly familiar to Antipodeans is Dark Angel (Ire). His own son, Harry Angel (Ire), gained his first 2-year-old Southern Hemisphere winner over the weekend, and the imported Top Ranked (Ire) needs no introduction. Harry Angel is probably a fairer reflection of the type of horse Dark Angel can produce, being a stakes-winning juvenile who kept improving with age.
