Might of Newsells Park Stud mares set for bona fide top-class matings this term

Newsells Park Stud is synonymous with quality and their mating plans this year reinforce that, with the dams of multiple Group 1 winners set for top-class coverings in Britain, Ireland and France.

The Hertfordshire stud is now in the ownership of tech entrepreneur and businessman Graham Smith-Bernal, but the approach towards the operation's broodmare band and blue-chip matings remains the same.

Last year Newsells Park Stud topped the consignors' chart for the fourth year running at Book 1 of Tattersalls' October Yearling Sale, the highlight coming with the sale-topping Sea The Stars filly out of Best Terms who sold to Godolphin for 1,500,000gns, and it is full steam ahead for the upcoming breeding season.

One of their great matriarchs is Shastye, dam of Group 1 winners Japan and Mogul as well as two other classy full-siblings in Secret Gesture and Sir Isaac Newton. The half-sister to Arc winner Sagamix has now grossed an eyewatering 14,200,000gns in yearling prices at Tattersalls alone.

The daughter of Danehill may have turned 21 but she remains in fine fettle having been covered by Dubawi last year. She will likely return to the Darley supersire this season.

Skylark: the most recent multimillionaire sales graduate out of the prolific ShastyeCredit: Laura Green

General manager Julian Dollar said: "All being well we'll go back to Dubawi. She looks fantastic and, if you looked at her, you'd think she was in her mid-teens at most.

"She's not due until early May and is turned out in a quiet paddock with two other very special mares in Waldmark, the dam of Masked Marvel and Waldlerche, and Pretty Please, the dam of Persian King."

Shastye is joined in the ranks at Newsells Park by daughters Secret Sense, Secret Gaze and Secret Soul, who will all help cement her legacy.

Secret Sense, a winning daughter of Shamardal, had her first runner by Showcasing in Flying Secret last term and, with further exciting progeny on the ground, the best is yet to come from her.

Dollar said: "She's just had a lovely Camelot filly and will go to New Bay this year. She had a very striking Kingman filly that Mike Ryan and Chad Brown bought last October, and she's also got a nice Too Darn Hot yearling filly who will likely be offered this October."

Secret Gesture has made a fine start to her second career with two winners including the stakes-placed Silent Wave, while her sister Secret Gaze, who is owned in partnership with Qatar Racing, is following a familiar matings path.

General Manager Julian Dollar with two foalsCredit: Edward Whitaker

Dollar said: "Secret Gaze has a very nice yearling colt by Siyouni and she's believed to be carrying a Dubawi filly. We're going back to Siyouni this year in the hope of getting a filly; it's obviously a good cross and she's an exciting young mare. Sheikh Fahad's a great partner and was also very keen to go back to Siyouni."

Secret Soul has visited home stallion Nathaniel in recent years, but the Street Cry mare is set to visit Kingman at Banstead Manor in 2022.

"She's in foal to Too Darn Hot," said Dollar. "He's an exciting young sire who we think has a great chance of making it. The yearlings we've got by him have great attitudes and we think he's well worth supporting in his third year."

Formidable family

Waldlerche is the undisputed current doyenne of the famed 'W' family and, befitting her status as the dam of Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Waldgeist, as well as Waldkonig and Waldlied, the daughter of Monsun is set for another powerhouse mating.

Dollar, who reported Waldkonig back in training with the Gosdens, said: "She's in great order and is due to foal to Frankel at the end of April. Depending on what she throws she'll either go back to Frankel, or we might repeat her mating with Kingman, who threw a good horse in Waldkonig."

Waldlerche’s talented daughter Waldlied, a Group 2-winning daughter of New Approach and half-sister to Waldgeist, is set for a date with Dubawi after her trip to the sales at Tattersalls last December.

“Sadly we had to dissolve our partnership with Gestut Ammerland, but we've found a great new partner with Waldlied and are all aligned to give her every chance," said Dollar. "We hope Dubawi will suit her well."

Waldlerche’s half-sister Waldnah has been booked in to Wootton
Bassett, with the Listed-winning daughter of New Approach already
having produced two winners from two runners by Le Havre, including the potential Classic prospect Wanees. He was purchased by Shadwell for 325,000gns at Book 1 in 2020.

Dollar said: "Her first foal by Le Havre was a winner, while her second foal looked smart when winning in eye-catching fashion last year as a two-year-old. She's expecting a foal by Sea The Stars any day."

Frankel factor

New champion sire Frankel, whose son Without Parole stands at Newsells Park, has two high-class mares heading his way.

One is Duke of Cambridge Stakes winner Aljazzi, a Shamardal half-sister to Frankel's stakes winner Majestic Noor who was picked up for a record 1,000,000gns at the 2018 Tattersalls HIT Sale, and the other is the newly acquired One Voice, who won the Blue Wind Stakes and was second in the Nassau Stakes.

Marvellous matings

Date With Destiny, the sole offspring of George Washington, has produced Royal Whip Stakes winner Beautiful Morning, a daughter of Galileo, and the 14-year-old is in Ireland for a date with Night Of Thunder.

Her colt by Dubawi, now named Classic, sold to Julie Wood at Book 1 and will be trained by Richard Hannon.

"I was shocked when he made only 260,000gns last October as I
absolutely loved him," admitted Dollar. "Ross Doyle bought him for Julie Wood, which was great, as Julie raced Date With Destiny and we bought her from Julie at the end of her racing career.

Date With Destiny's Waldgeist foal last yearCredit: Edward Whitaker

"Our thinking was to choose a son of Dubawi in Night Of Thunder, especially as he's also done very well with mares by sons of Danehill. We need to get this mare back on track a little bit as she's had some bad luck, but her three-year-old in France is well regarded and we've got a very nice Waldgeist yearling out of her."

Dollar said of other notable members of the broodmare band: "Birdwood was late last year and barren on one cover so is going to visit Camelot nice and early. She's got a beautiful filly by Nathaniel, so a close relation to Enable, who we'll most likely retain to race. Camelot has decent form with Oasis Dream mares and should suit her physically.

"Spectre was rested last year and has just been covered by No Nay Never. I'm excited about her. Her first foal by Galileo is with Hugo Palmer and her second foal by Dubawi sold well last October.

"She has an exceptional, if very late, yearling filly by Frankel and we thought that, although No Nay Never doesn't have any runners by Siyouni mares yet, he's had success with mares by Pivotal and mares containing Nureyev-line stallions generally.

"Luminate is carrying a second Dubawi, she has a Dubawi yearling, and will go to Lope De Vega. He'll suit her on size and we think there's a good cross to be done there, while Shambolic has a belting first foal by Frankel and she's in foal to Kingman, which should suit her as she's let down into a big, strong mare.

"She'll go to Siyouni next, as will Yummy Mummy, who was originally destined for Le Havre. We know how well he's done with mares by Galileo, but he’s also had some success with Montjeu mares and it might be interesting to see what the Danehill blood in Siyouni does for her, given her best offspring was Legatissimo.

"Coconut Creme visits Too Darn Hot, while Playful Sound is going to Kingman this season."

Super sires

Newsells Park is home to Nathaniel and two younger team members in Without Parole, who has his first foals this year, and the multiple Group-winning sprinter A'Ali, who stands his first season in 2022.

Nathaniel needs little introduction as the sire of five-top flight winners, including the great Enable, Prix de Diane heroine Channel and last year's Nassau Stakes winner Lady Bowthorpe.

Coincidentally, the son of Galileo will be receiving Lady Bowthorpe's stakes-placed half-sister Pretty In Grey, who sold to Jill Lamb for 270,000gns at the Tattersalls Mares Sale in November, as well as La Mortola, a Dubawi half-sister to Crackerjack King and Jakkalberry.

Nathaniel: Newsells Park Stud stallion is the sire of five Group/Grade 1 winnersCredit: Newsells Park Stud

Dollar was eager to emphasis Nathaniel's growing reputation as a broodmare sire, saying: "With his outstanding pedigree he has a great chance of being a top-class broodmare sire, and the early signs look promising with [Prix Marcel Boussac winner] Zellie coming so early on."

Without Parole's home support from both Newsells Park and owner-breeders John and Tanya Gunther include As Good As Gold - who is a half-sister to Eminent and whose Frankel colt Stormy Ocean won impressively at Newcastle last month - Dynaforce, the dam of stakes winner Aljezeera (also by Frankel), and the well-related Danehill Dancer mares Elas Diamond and Lady Eclair.

Dollar said: "He's such a good looking horse and his first foals are proving very attractive too. We had a filly foal who was born two weeks early but she's beautiful and all quality. They're hitting the ground now and everybody seems delighted with them."

A'Ali is also set for strong support from Newsells Park and the partnership connected with him, through Fred Darling and Princess Margaret winner Maureen, the dam of the promising Whenthedealinsdone, proven producer My Special J's and Royal Empress, the dam of Prestige Stakes second Prado.

Dollar said: "A'Ali's exactly as he looks on the tin. He was extremely
precocious and fast, winning the Norfolk Stakes within a few weeks of his breeze-up, then winning another two Group 2 races over the minimum trip as a two-year-old.

"He won two more Group races at three and deserves to be well supported by breeders looking to produce a fast, early two-year-old type."

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