'It's a case of sending the best to the best' - regally bred Al Shira'aa mares set for the top sires

The Al Shira'aa broodmare band is a potent mix of proven high-class producers and exciting young talent. Over the next few months that team will visit some of the best sires around, including with newcomer Ocean Jewel. 

A winner of last year's Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes and the Group 3 Ballycorus Stakes, the Sioux Nation filly is set for the very top. The five-year-old has the pedigree to match too, being a Grenane House Stud-bred half-sister to 1,000 Guineas and Prix Rothschild winner Mother Earth plus Italian Group 2 scorer Night Colours. 

Al Shira'aa's racing and bloodstock manager Kieran Lalor said: "Ocean Jewel has been retired and will visit Frankel. It's a case of sending the best to the best there, she's an important filly for us and we're happy with the cross. She's a medium-sized filly, well balanced and he'll give that extra bit of size to her. For stallions of that calibre and price we're really trying to use Group-winning fillies.

"The Galileo-Scat Daddy cross has worked so far, Savethelastdance being one of them, so it'll be a good start for her."

The operation of Sheikha Fatima bint Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a passionate equestrian, has established itself at Meadow Court Stud in County Kildare and quickly made a mark at the top end.

A first European Group 1 winner came along through Frankel filly Jannah Rose, successful in the Prix Saint-Alary in 2023. Sent to the mighty Dubawi for her first mating last year, the former Carlos Laffon-Parias trainee will continue her journey of visiting the continent's most elite sires. 

Jannah Rose: set to be covered by Wootton Bassett

Lalor said: "She's due at the beginning of February, so we're looking forward to that. She'll then go to Wootton Bassett as physically it's a lovely match and you'd have to be excited about that cross."

Mutamakina was a first top-level winner for the team when landing the E P Taylor Stakes in 2021 and the daughter of Nathaniel, a descendant of the great Ridgewood Pearl, is another bound for Banstead Manor Stud, this time for Kingman. 

"She has a fantastic yearling filly by Wootton Bassett and is back in foal to him off the back of that," Lalor said. "She's going to Kingman which is a great cross with Nathaniel, that's the mating we've wanted to do for a while."

Group 2 Prix de la Nonette winner Rumi is yet another Group-winning mare set for a major league mating. The Frankel seven-year-old hails from the exceptional family of Balladeuse, Plumania, Left Hand and Aventure and is accordingly paired up with Lope De Vega for 2025. 

"She's in foal to Wootton Bassett and then will go to Lope De Vega," Lalor added. "He had an exceptional year last year, he's always been a top-class stallion and I love the cross. He's a sire we use every year."

Kieran Lalor: "he is one of my favourite stallions"Credit: Tattersalls

Jannah Flower was unlucky not to land Group 1 success when narrowly denied by Sea La Rosa in the Prix de Royallieu on her final start, but the stakes winner was nothing but a model of consistency during her racing career. A half-sister to Group 2 May Hill Stakes winner and dual Oaks-placed Fleeting, the Olympic Glory mare has been given the best possible chance of succeeding at stud. 

"She has a Frankel yearling filly and went back to him off that. She'll go to Night Of Thunder, who is one of my favourite stallions and is going from strength to strength. We're sending three mares to him this year, it's that Dubawi-Danehill line which is very strong, of which the highlight I suppose is Highfield Princess.

"Those Night Of Thunders are an exceptional breed of horse, they'd run through walls for you," Lalor added. 

Canadian Grade 2 scorer Miss Dracarys adds something different to the band as a daughter of Malibu Moon and Ask Me When, a Speightstown half-sister to Grade 2 winner Dominus. Herself a sister to black-type winner Aristocratic and half-sister to another in Up The Ante, the seven-year-old is another one bound for Night Of Thunder's book. 

"She won a Grade 2 over in the States and we brought her back here to go to Frankel last year," said Lalor of the former Neil Drysdale trainee. "She's due any day now and will also go to Night Of Thunder. She's by Malibu Moon and he wouldn't be a very common sire over this side of the pond.

"We like the idea of a big, strong American-type mare being crossed with our European sires, reversing the trend a bit of our mares going Stateside. Night Of Thunder has had success with AP Indy and his son Pulpit so hopefully we can make something special with the mating."

Winning Fastnet Rock mare Roxity can certainly be described as a proven producer and it is no surprise the dam of last year's Derby second Ambiente Friendly will return to Gleneagles this season.

Gerry Hanratty with Roxity and her foal at Meadow Court Stud

Lalor confirmed: "She's definitely going back to Gleneagles, that was a pretty straightforward decision. We love the sire and use him every year, he's a proper racehorse sire and great value. Hopefully we continue to have lots of luck with him."

Al Shira'aa will also send a couple of mares to Mehmas, with the reliable sire of last year's top-level winners Scorthy Champ, Vertical Blue and Magnum Force set to command a career-high fee of €70,000.

"Mehmas is obviously a horse who's shot up on our radar, we're going to be sending him two mares," he added. "The first is Liwa Palace, the dam of [Group 3 Killavullan Stakes winner] Atlantic Coast, as it's a lovely cross. The other is Royal Alcazar, she's a Frankel mare who's a half-sister to Kingsgate Native and from the family of Via Sistina."

The list of blue-blooded mares also contains siblings to 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes winner Poetic Flare and fellow Group 1 winner Broome. Needless to say, they will also receive exciting coverings when the breeding season gets under way next month. 

Lalor said: "Celtic Myth is a half-sister to Poetic Flare and she's going to Blue Point, while we also retired Saadiyat, she's a Lope De Vega half-sister to Broome, Point Lonsdale and Diego Velazquez. 

"She didn't really get to the level hoped but she's from an exceptional family so she'll go to Too Darn Hot. If she had got to Group level she'd have gone to Frankel."

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