AN exceptional racemare is no more, the death having been announced of the New Zealand-bred Verry Elleegant.

The 2021 Group 1 Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant died from complications after giving birth to her first foal, a colt by Sea The Stars (Cape Cross). The foal did not survive. The 11-time Group 1 winner, died in Ireland. Her trainer Chris Waller said: “She was in fantastic hands on a farm who did all they could for her, and we would like to thank them for their efforts which we will be forever grateful for.

“We all saw the courage she had on the racetrack over many seasons, and she will never be forgotten by those close to her as well as the wider racing public who followed her career and loved her so much.” The eight-year-old daughter of Zed (Zabeel) was twice champion stayer in Australia, and was once rated the champion older mare. She won 16 races in all.

Late last month the Australian Turf Club renamed a race in her honour. The Chipping Norton Stakes, traditionally the first Sydney Group 1 race of the year and won twice by the mare, is now called the Verry Elleegant Stakes. It will be run on Saturday, March 2nd.

The full list of Group 1 races won by Verry Elleegant is the 2019 Vinery Stud Stakes and Australian Oaks, the 2020 Tancred Stakes, Winx Stakes, Turnbull Stakes and Caulfield Cup, the 2021 and 2022 Chipping Norton Stakes, and the 2021 Ranvet Stakes, George Main Stakes and Melbourne Cup.

Verry Elleegant is one of many Group 1 winners who descend from Eight Carat (Pieces Of Eight), a mare of limited racing ability who then carved out a special place for herself in the history of thoroughbred breeding, being one of only three mares ever to produce five Group/Grade 1 winning offspring.

Notable year

The year 1987 was notable as two of Eight Carat’s offspring won at the highest level. The Sir Tristram (Sir Ivor) colt Kaapstad won the Sires’ Produce Stakes in Australia as a three-year-old and he was later to become a champion sire. That same season his five-year-old half-sister Our Diamond Lover (Sticks And Stones) won the Group 1 Railway Handicap in New Zealand.

Subsequently, Our Diamond Lover bred the Group 1 winners Tristalove (Sir Tristram), a dual champion racemare, and the Australian Derby winner Don Eduardo (Zabeel. She is the grandam of Group 1 winners Viking Ruler (Danehill) and Viscount (Quest For Fame), the latter being crowned the champion three-year-old colt in Australia. On top of all that, Our Diamond Lover is the third dam of the Group 1 winner De Beers (Quest For Fame).

Following that landmark year, Eight Carat went on to produce the champion racehorse Mouawad (Zabeel), the Horse of the Year, multiple champion, Triple Crown winner, 10-time Group 1 winner and Group 1 sire Octagonal (Zabeel), and the Group 1 winning Marquise (Gold And Ivory). The last named mare is the dam of the Group 1 winning mare Shower Of Roses (Zabeel) and grandam of the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes heroine Hiyaam (High Chaparral).

My Swanee

As if all of this was not enough, a daughter of Eight Carat was the unraced Cotehele House, by My Swanee (Petition) who was once under the care of my late father Benny when the grey stood at Waterloo House Stud in Mallow. Cotehele House bred the multiple Group 1 winner and champion Danewin (Danehill), as well as his full-brother Commands (Danehill), was grandam of the Group 1 winner Emerald Dream (Danehill), is third dam of the Caulfield Guineas winner and sire Shooting To Win (Northern Meteor) and fourth dam of the top juvenile filly in New Zealand in 2016, Luna Rossa (Written Tycoon), and Jonker (Spirit Of Boom). All of these were Group 1 winners.

The arrival of Verry Elleegant raised the profile of her wing of the family, one that had been doing well without producing a star. She is by a distance the best of four winners from her dam Opulence. That mare is a winning daughter of Danroad (Danehill) who stood for a few seasons in Ireland. Verry Elleegant’s full-brother Verry Flash (Zed) is a 12-time winner in New Zealand, including a listed race.

THIS week Juddmonte shared details of the 2024 mating plans for some of its high-profile mares. The farm says it is “committed to investing long term to improve the quality of its broodmare band through the purchase of notable fillies and mares, who can in turn also support our European-based stallions, Frankel, Kingman, Chaldean, Oasis Dream and Bated Breath.”

Frankel (Galileo) has just secured his second British and Irish sire championship in three years, siring 11 Group 1 winners worldwide in 2023 of which seven were new. He was also the leading sire in Europe by earnings for the third consecutive year, nearly £5 million clear of his nearest rival. His book of mares from Juddmonte includes 27 stakes winners and/or producers.

These include the Group 1 winners Announce, Emollient (the dam of Frankel’s stakes-winning daughters Raclette and Ardent), Juliet Foxtrot, Midday, Proviso, Special Duty, the 4,500,000gns purchase Teona, and Viadera.

He is also covering the Group 1 producers Bird Flown (dam of Siskin), Concentric (Enable’s dam), Portodora (dam of Set Piece), and Repose (the dam of State Of Rest).

Mares returning to Frankel who have already produced pattern winners by him include Time Chaser, listed winner Principal Role and Zatsfine. Other group winners visiting him include Agave, Isabelle Giles, Nay Lady Nay, Grand Jete, Shutter Speed and Soffia.

Frankel’s winning sister Chiasma returns to Dubawi, while his stakes-winning half-sister Joyeuse, the dam of 2023 Mill Reef Stakes winner Array, visits Wootton Bassett.

Tremendous

Kingman (Invincible Spirit) enjoyed a tremendous 2023 with four new Group 1 winners. His 2024 book is packed full of group winners and producers, which befits his status as one of the world’s leading sires.

African Rose and Passage Of Time are both Group 1 winners who have gone on to produce pattern winners, while Scuffle and Nimble Thimble are the dams of Group 1 winners Logician and Quadrilateral respectively. Young stakes winners in his book include Group 2 winner Brostaigh, Group 3 winners Dandhu, Fount, Pocket Square, and Midday’s half-sister Sun Maiden, in addition to listed winners Heliac and Petricor.

The Banstead Manor roster is strengthened by the addition of Chaldean (Frankel) for the 2024 season. The newcomer was well received by breeders during Tattersalls December Sale, and will be strongly supported by Juddmonte. Of their 17 mares visiting the Group 1 Dewhurst and 2000 Guineas winner, a dozen are blacktype performers or producers, and the remaining five are half-sisters to Group 1 winners or out of Group 1 winners.

Chaldean is being entrusted with three of Juddmonte’s most proven mares. Deliberate, the dam of five blacktype performers including Group 2 winners Projected and Headman, Exemplify, the dam of Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Expert Eye, and Shared Account, the dam of three blacktype performers including dual Group 3 winner Pocket Square.

The dams of Gimcrack/Champagne Stakes winner Threat and Blenheim Stakes winner Straight Answer are also in his first book. Pattern winners being covered include Falmouth Stakes winner Timepiece, Nell Gwyn winner Hot Snap, and Prix de Sandringham winner Modern Look.

Enable

Other matings for Group 1-winning mares include Emulous, visiting Camelot (Montjeu), Capla Temptress going to Dark Angel (Acclamation), and the peerless Enable returning to Dubawi (Dubai Millennium). The Group 1 Fillies’ Mile winner Quadrilateral will be going to Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), while Zarak (Dubawi) is the chosen cover for Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet winner Romantica.

Sacred Shield, the dam of three stakes winners including Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes heroine Viadera, is the first Juddmonte mare to visit Havana Grey (Havana Gold). Matings for notable 2024 maiden mares include Group 3 Aston Park Stakes winner Haskoy visiting Siyouni (Iffraaj), Group 3 winner Juliet Sierra visiting Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), and multiple pattern winner Zarinsk having her first cover to No Nay Never (Scat Daddy).