Kalpana likely to pull plenty of buyers towards Gravity at Park Paddocks

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Here, Kitty Trice speaks to Ed Player of Whatton Manor Stud about selling Kalpana's dam, Zero Gravity, at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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Whoever buys Zero Gravity at the upcoming Tattersalls December Mare Sale will have more than one reason to celebrate. 

The Dansili mare is the dam of recent British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes victress Kalpana, by Study Of Man. That’s more than enough in itself to go into a bidding battle for her but, more to the point, the Ascot Group 1 heroine looks almost sure to improve further in 2025, when the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe will likely be the primary target.

Zero Gravity was bought by Blandford Bloodstock for 35,000gns from Juddmonte’s draft at the December Mare Sale three years ago, and it’s a safe bet the 15-year-old will make considerably more when she takes her turn around the ring during the Sceptre Session a fortnight on Monday as lot 1485A.

Zero Gravity will be consigned by Whatton Manor Stud – a jewel among their high-class draft – and she heads to Park Paddocks as the dam of the filly who tops the ante-post market with most firms for next year’s Arc.

Whatton Manor’s Ed Player says: “I was talking to [trainer] Andrew Balding before Kalpana ran in the Fillies & Mares and he was incredibly confident of her winning; he said this year was just the start and once she has strengthened up she could be even better.

“I think it’s a very exciting prospect for somebody in the market to have the opportunity to buy a mare who has the favourite for the Arc next year. 

Kalpana: Group 1 winner and current Arc favouriteCredit: Edward Whitaker

“Given the success of fillies and mares in the race, I see no reason why she can’t have a very good chance in it.” 

There is another exciting chapter ahead in the story of Zero Gravity too, as the stakes winner is carrying to Chaldean, Juddmonte’s 2,000 Guineas and Dewhurst Stakes-winning son of Frankel who was very well received for his debut covering season in 2024. 

Player says: “Chaldean’s a beautiful horse and an extremely well-bred one too. I was just reading about Whitsbury Manor Stud saying his full-sister is the best foal they’ve bred, or are ever likely to breed, and Chaldean is a very good shape for her.”

Zero Gravity has produced four individual winners, with dual Group winner Kalpana easily her most successful, although Player points to some mitigating factors when it comes to the record at paddocks of the sister to Grand Prix de Paris winner Zambezi Sun. 

He says: “She’s not always been to the best stallions, with respect to them; she’s been to Charm Spirit twice yet produced two talented horses rated in the high 80s.”

Player adds: “I’m told her two-year-old [a full-brother to Kalpana] is very highly thought of and has been going well on the gallops, so there could be another update there.”

Zero Gravity is in foal to 2,000 Guineas and Dewhurst winner ChaldeanCredit: Marina Cano/Juddmonte

The mare also has a yearling filly by Too Darn Hot who sold to Shadwell for 425,000gns at Book 2 last month, a parting gift for a team who have mixed feelings ahead of her date with destiny at Tattersalls. 

Player comments: “It will be very sad to see her go but, at the end of the day, we are a business and it’s very rare we spend a load of money buying mares, so if we have a mare who is potentially pretty valuable, we have to look at cashing in and reinvesting in some other mares.”

The Whatton Manor draft includes the beautifully bred Gumriyah, a daughter of Shamardal and Montjeu mare Yummy Mummy, making her a half-sister to 1,000 Guineas, Nassau and Matron Stakes heroine Legatissimo.

A winner herself, the nine-year-old is the dam of the smart Exoplanet, a son of Sea The Stars who was second in last year’s Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot for Roger Varian and Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum.

Player continues: “There’s another very nice mare in our draft called Gumriyah [lot 1650], whose son Exoplanet was just beaten at Royal Ascot last year. 

“She’s a beautifully bred mare who produces lovely looking stock and her Night Of Thunder yearling filly made 400,000gns last year. Sadly she’s not in foal, but she’s a lovely mare.” 

Walking the ring just before Gumriyah as lot 1649 is another with a recent update in Ejtyah, a winning and Musidora Stakes-placed daughter of Frankel from the immediate Aga Khan family of Daryakana and Dariyan. 

Her Siyouni daughter Wild Pansy was Group-placed in Italy this spring and has won her last two starts for Godolphin and trainer Alex Pantall, while the mare received another stellar mating this season. 

Player, speaking last Tuesday, says: “Ejtyah is in foal to Blue Point and one of her offspring [Wild Pansy] won a valuable handicap at Chantilly today.” 

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Pedigree pick

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