Matings Mix: In Secret gets her date with Anamoe

Cover image courtesy of Woodlands Stud

The Darley broodmare band has the bragging rights of being almost entirely composed of homebred racing talent that carried the royal blue colors to victory across Australasia. When those mares enter the paddocks at Woodlands Stud and Northwood Park to produce the next generation of Godolphin stars, they are matched accordingly.

With a diverse and talented roster in two states, very few mares have to go outside - particularly with the editions of dual Group 1-winning sprinter Tentyris and G1 VRC Derby winner Observer covering their first books in 2026.

Top tier 2-year-olds

Kiamichi (Sidestep) led home a Godolphin trifecta in the 2019 G1 Golden Slipper Stakes, followed home by Microphone and G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Lyre (Lonhro). Since her retirement to breeding duties, she has patronised some of Darley’s best - plus one outside visit to multiple Champion Sire I Am Invincible, and it is one of his best sons that she visits in 2026 to continue the pattern.

“Kiamichi was an outstanding 2-year-old and a Golden Slipper winner,” said Darley Australia Managing Director Andy Makiv on the decision to send the mare to Brazen Beau this season.

“The strong statistics around Brazen Beau and his 2-year-old performers - as well as our own 2-year-olds Diameter and Medicinal winning stakes races last season - supports our belief in the stallion and this mating. Hopefully, the result is a top tier 2-year-old!”

A Group 2-winning juvenile himself and runner-up in the G1 JJ Atkins Plate ahead of his Champion 3YO Colt honours, Brazen Beau produced nine juvenile winners last season, headed by G3 Ottawa Stakes winner Medicinal and Listed Fernhill Handicap winner Diameter, who also ran third in the G1 Champagne Stakes.

I Am Invincible’s blood receives further representation on stud with In Secret, a rare yearling purchase for Godolphin, who paid $900,000 for the daughter of five-time stakes winner Eloping (Choisir) when she was offered at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale by Segenhoe Stud.

In Secret rewarded the Godolphin team handsomely; an unbeaten 2-year-old who won the the Listed Woodlands Stakes, she simply got better with maturity, running second in the G1 Golden Rose Stakes before winning the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes and the G1 Newmarket Handicap.

Also the winner of the G2 Run To The Rose and the G2 Light Fingers Stakes, she ran third in both the G1 TJ Smith Stakes and the G1 VRC Champions Sprint ahead of taking her bow on the racing stage. With a yearling colt by Zoustar and an August-born colt by Too Darn Hot (GB), she will chase more precocity with a date to Anamoe.

“We should never forget how fast and early Anamoe was,” Makiv said. “He is applauded for his great weight-for-age wins including the Cox Plate, but he was a brilliant pre-Christmas 2-year-old, placed in the Blue Diamond and was most unlucky when runner-up in the Slipper before trouncing his rivals in the Sires.

“In Secret, our ‘fast’ multiple Group 1-winning mare, was at some stage ‘always’ destined to meet the ‘fast’ and ‘great’ in the breeding shed. After matings to Zoustar and Too Darn Hot, that time has finally arrived.”

Classic year queens

The 2025/26 racing season was a particularly strong one for Godolphin’s 3-year-olds, but a number of previous Classic year stars also feature amongst the broodmare band. G1 VRC Oaks winner Willowy (Kermadec {NZ}) was at her peak in the spring of her 3-year-old season, winning her maiden on a mile, before adding the G2 Wakeful Stakes five days before her Oaks win.

It is that stamina and class that Darley wish to tap into by sending her to returning shuttler Ghaiyyath (Ire).

“An Oaks winner who is by Kermadec from Sandown Guineas winner Dextrous by Epsom Derby winner Quest For Fame - there is so much Classic blood close-up in her pedigree and she is an ideal candidate to produce a high-class staying type,” said Darley’s Head Of Stallions Alastair Pulford.

Willowy was mated to top class miler Kingman (GB) for her first season at stud and has since visited Street Boss (USA) and Too Darn Hot, who have both proven their ability to produce Group 1 horses over any distance.

“The mating with Ghaiyyath gives her the opportunity to maximise on this. Ghaiyyath is from a Galileo mare, so this mating gives us a 3x4 cross to that champion stallion.”

Kingman has been kind to Godolphin, producing their other young VRC Oaks winner in Zardozi. She will head to Anamoe this season after visiting The Autumn Sun as a maiden in 2025.

“Zardozi was imported in utero,” Pulford said. “By Champion Kingman from a Dubawi mare from a high-class English family, she represents some of the very best English bloodlines.”

Zardozi’s dam Chanderi (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is out of Group 2-winning, Group 1-performing Silk Sari (GB) (Dalakhani {Ire}), a descendant of Irish Champion 3YO Filly Gossamer (GB) (Sadler’s Wells {USA}), a full sister to successful dual hemisphere sire Barathea (Ire).

Gossamer’s other Group 1-winning descendants include 2022 G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Mischief Magic (Ire) (Exceed And Excel) and G1 Racing Post Trophy winner Ibn Khaldun (USA) (Dubai Destination {USA}).

“Her mating with nine-time Group 1 winner Anamoe, although it is contrary to our ‘first three foals by proven stallions’ rule of thumb, gives us the opportunity to produce a horse that should be suited to races at distances of a mile to 2000 metres.

“Anamoe looks to be an extremely exciting stallion prospect, he is a big scopey horse who should suit her extremely well.”

Chanderi will lend her bloodlines to Native Trail (GB) in 2026 as the top class son of Oasis Dream (GB) enters his third season at stud.

“Her mating with the brilliant three-time Group 1 winner Native Trail repeats the cross that resulted in Zardozi,” said Pulford. “The Green Desert sire line is not the only thing in common shared by Kingman and Native Trail. Both won or ran second in the English 2000 Guineas - both incidentally to sons of Dubawi - before winning the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas.

“Kingman of course has gone on to be a leading UK stallion. Native Trail has similar credentials. Interestingly Chanderi’s sire, champion Dubawi also won the Irish 2000 Guineas. We are very much hoping to breed a Classic miler in this mating.”

A homebred Classic mile talent on the track, G1 One Thousand Guineas Flit (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}) joins the elite first book of Tentyris this spring after producing a Too Darn Hot filly in September.

“Tentryis is a lovely physical match for our Thousand Guineas winner,” said Godolphin’s Australian Racing and Bloodstock Manager Jason Walsh. “She has ample scope to complement his power. She has two high class progeny by Too Darn Hot to come and her first foal Cabriole is a talented sprinter we hope can continue to progress.”

Where greatness has come before

Some of the mares in Darley’s paddocks have had their own deeds outshone by those they have produced. The beacon of light cast by Calliope’s (Exceed And Excel) daughter Tempted (Street Boss {USA}) is a bright one. The mare visited Street Boss’s best son in Anamoe in 2024, producing a filly last year, and she patronises the young sire again this spring.

“It’s an obvious mating on pedigree,” Walsh said. “She has an Anamoe yearling filly who is of the leading individuals in her cohort so we elected to repeat the mating, having unfortunately aborted the same pregnancy last season. This illustrates the esteem in which we hold the sire.”

Retsina (Redoute’s Choice), the dam of three stakes winners, elevates Tentyris’s first book with her presence this spring. Her progeny are led by the multiple Group winners Savatiano (Street Cry {Ire}) and Vilana (Hallowed Crown), plus dual Listed winner Athiri (Lonhro) and the stakes performers Rakomelo (Lonhro) and Aleppo Pine (Blue Point {Ire}).

“As a proven producer and the dam of two very high class horses by Street Cry and Street Cry’s grandson Hallowed Crown, Tentyris is a perfect mating for Retsina,” Pulford said. Much of the same rationale has directed Deity (Exceed And Excel), the dam of Tentyris, to Anamoe this spring.

“The product of 2 Group One winners herself, she is a perfect choice to help get his stud career started.”

A Group 3 winner and the dam of last season’s G2 Callander-Presnell Stakes winner Ohope (I Am Invincible), Pohutukawa (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) will get her turn with Too Darn Hot this year. The cross of sirelines was one that Pulford particularly wanted to test out.

“Too Darn Hot is a medium sized, close coupled, deep girthed, quality stallion, while Medaglia d’Oro is a big lengthy horse whose immediate early success in America was notable with mares from Mr Prospector line stallions,” he said.

The best example of that being G1 Kentucky Oaks winner and multiple Group 1 victress Rachel Alexandra (USA) (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}), whose damsire is the Mr Prospector (USA) grandson Roar (USA).

“The two stallions physically work together well and the cross on paper is very successful,” Pulford said. “As a multiple stakes winner herself and already a Group 2 producer this could be a very good mating.”

While Group 3 winner Emanate (Lonhro) is outshone by her four-time Group 1-winning dam Guelph (Exceed And Excel), she will get her chance to continue the prosperity of her damline when visiting Anamoe this year after foaling a Too Darn Hot colt in September.

“Emanate has a juvenile filly in training by Street Boss called Originate that we are most hopeful for,” Walsh said. Originate (Street Boss {USA}) has been entrusted to Joseph Pride.

“We repeated that mating the following season and are pleased with the development of a full sister. We have pursued the same sireline here and hope to have a close relation to both fillies that could be important this time next year.”

Listed Atlantic Jewel Stakes winner Silmarillion (Too Darn Hot {GB}) is a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Kementari (Lonhro) and Listed-winning Group 1 performer Telperion, as well as two further stakes performers.

“This stakes-winning Too Darn Hot mare out of blue hen Yavanna was very speedy and will suit the former World Champion sprinter Harry Angel,” Makiv said. Silmarillion heads to the son of Dark Angel (Ire) after foaling a Dundeel (NZ) filly this spring.

Another chasing the replication of the greatness in her pedigree is Pensato (Lonhro), a full sister to Pierro.

“Pensato is a city-winning full sister to Pierro and Smooth, the dam of Observer,” Makiv said. It is the latter pedigree update that has her head south to patronise Darley’s Victorian roster. “It seems an obvious and ideal mating for Ghaiyyath, a stallion we hold in very high regard.”

Setting up for success

It is not just important to start mares off correctly, but also to set the roster up to succeed. With this in mind, third season sire Cylinder will be visited by Gongs (Dawn Approach {Ire}), the dam of Listed winner Burma Star (Exceed And Excel).

“Gongs is a stakes-placed mare out of the very fast Belcentra,” Makiv said. “She has produced the Exceed and Excel stakes winner Burma Star and has a promising 2-year-old by Bivouac. Her Anamoe yearling is very nice, and Cylinder brings into play both Exceed and Excel and Street Cry.

“We are thrilled with our Cylinder yearlings and have supported him every year.”

It is Transpolar’s (Helmet) current 2-year-old Polar Force (Ghaiyyath {Ire}) that is the most exciting of her offspring to date, and has driven her mating this year.

“We have a filly by Ghaiyyath out of her that is physically a standout,” Makiv said. “On that basis and with the hope she ‘delivers’ on the track, the follow-up mating with Ghaiyyath’s multiple Group 1-winning son seems both exciting and logical."

The half-sister to sire Kuroshio and Believe’n’succeed (Exceed and Excel), the Group-winning dam of Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Champion Sprinter Bounding (Lonhro), will visit Observer this spring.

“Although the Transpolar family is very fast, there is a significant Derby winner in the family by Galileo, and Ghaiyyath is out of a Galileo mare.”

Both early in their broodmare careers, G1 The Galaxy winner Zapateo (Brazen Beau) and Group 3-winning Austmarr (Exosphere) will visit Too Darn Hot this season.

“Zapateo has a special yearling colt on the ground by Dubawi and is due to deliver an Anamoe this season,” Walsh said. “She has the depth of pedigree and performance to be a mare of significance for us and mated accordingly. An exciting prospect.”

‘Austmarr is a strapping, big, talented racemare by Exosphere from Black Caviar’s family,” Pulford said. Austmarr descends from the prolific producer Scandinavia (Snippets).

“Exosphere himself was a bit on the plain side and the best horses in the family have been big horses. Physically Too Darn Hot with his medium size and high-quality complements her perfectly.

“He is clearly our top proven stallion and continues to rack up Group winners in Australia and in the Northern Hemisphere. The cross is a proven one from only a few opportunities, the most notable being Observer, by Dubawi’s son Ghaiyyath from a Lonhro mare.”

Table: 2026 mating plans for some of the Darley broodmares