Juddmonte Breeding Plans: Five of the most interesting

Kingman x Enable

Enable is, of course, the most notable of Juddmonte’s mares retiring from racing to the paddocks in 2021, a Timeform rating of 134 making her the highest-rated mare the operation has produced. Enable features Sadler’s Wells close up twice in her pedigree – he’s the sire of her dam Concentric for a start, while as a daughter of Nathaniel, Sadler’s Wells appears again in the top half of Enable’s pedigree as her great grandsire. That effectively ruled out Frankel – another son of Galileo, like Nathaniel – as a potential mate for Enable. Kingman was therefore an obvious ‘in-house’ choice for Enable’s first mating, having quickly established himself as one of the best young sires around with the likes of Palace Pier, Timeform’s highest-rated three-year-old in 2020. John Gosden will no doubt be looking forward to the resulting foal from this mating more than most given that he trained both parents!

Kingman x Kind

Frankel’s dam Kind is one of the senior mares in the Juddmonte broodmare band as she turned 20 this year. She hasn’t had much luck in producing foals in recent years, but hopefully her mating with Kingman will bear fruit this time. It’s another feather in Kingman’s cap to have a mare with Kind’s broodmare record in his book this year. Besides Frankel, Kind also produced his high-class younger brother Noble Mission, he too a Champion Stakes winner, as well as a third Group winner Bullet Train, by Sadler’s Wells, successful in the Derby Trial at Lingfield. But Kind was a sprinter herself and, mated with Oasis Dream, she produced a similarly speedy filly in Joyeuse who was also successful at listed level. A Kingman foal out of Kind would be bred on similar lines to Joyeuse – Kingman is by Invincible Spirit, a son of Green Desert like Oasis Dream – though would have a good chance of staying a mile like Kingman himself.

Frankel x Bird Flown

Frankel has a book of 24 Juddmonte mares this spring, one of the most interesting perhaps being Bird Flown, the dam of Siskin who added to his Phoenix Stakes success at two by winning the Irish 2000 Guineas in 2020. Siskin was bred in the States – he’s a son of Juddmonte’s First Defence who was a Grade 1 winner there on dirt – where Bird Flown has been based until now, but she has a turf pedigree herself (by Oasis Dream) and was successful as a two-year-old in France for Andre Fabre who also trained her dam’s brother Xaar, the champion European two-year-old of 1997. The wider family has been successful at the top level for Juddmonte on both sides of the Atlantic and it includes the 2019 St Leger winner Logician, himself a son of Frankel, so there’s a notable precedent in the family for this mating. Bird Flown had her second winner in Europe by a US-based sire when her two-year-old daughter Talacre (by Flintshire) won a maiden at Gowran last year for Siskin’s trainer Ger Lyons.

Dubawi x Goldika

Juddmonte have been rewarded with the high-class colts New Bay and Time Test from sending their mares to Dubawi in the past, and will be hoping for similar results from the likes of Fillies’ Mile winner Quadrilateral and Goldika visiting Darley’s flagship stallion this spring. The introduction of new bloodlines is important for the continued success of a well-established operation such as Juddmonte, and Goldika is a relatively recent addition to their broodmare band. She’s a very valuable mare now as one of only a handful of daughters, and only two winners to date, left behind by her top-class dam Goldikova following her death earlier this month. Goldikova herself visited Dubawi in 2017, resulting in the current three-year-old filly Goldistyle who is yet to race. Goldika, by the Prix du Jockey Club winner Intello, was successful for Freddie Head in a mile maiden at Compiegne.

No Nay Never x Midday

With a Timeform rating of 126 after a career that included a Breeders’ Cup success in the Filly & Mare Turf as well as three editions of the Nassau Stakes, Oasis Dream’s daughter Midday is one of the highest-rated members of Juddmonte’s broodmare band. She has mainly visited Galileo and Frankel in her broodmare career so far, with her offspring including the Classic Trial winner Midterm and Ribblesdale Stakes runner-up Mori. Midterm’s sister Noon Star looks another potentially smart performer for Midday after her maiden win at Nottingham last October. More recently, however, Midday has visited stallions that are more of an influence for speed such as War Front and Shamardal, and the mating with Coolmore’s No Nay Never, who was the champion first-season sire in 2018, continues that policy. The smart sprinter Moss Gill is by No Nay Never out of an Oasis Dream mare.