'We're excited' - Gredleys reveal mating plans as Pretty Pollyanna tops charts

The Gredley family's Stetchworth and Middle Park Studs are defined by quality, and that is reflected in the sires that their mares will visit over the coming months, including the likes of champion two-year-old Pretty Pollyanna.

The winner of the Prix Morny and Duchess of Cambridge Stakes in a fruitful career, in which she was also placed in the Irish 1,000 Guineas and Fillies' Mile, the daughter of Oasis Dream is set to lead the Gredleys' charge by visiting the newly crowned British, Irish and European champion sire Frankel.

Tim Gredley said: "She's in great form and is carrying a colt-foal to Frankel and will go back to him again.

"We're very excited about the offspring. At the end of the day we all need a bit of luck, but if you send the best to the best you'd hope you've an exciting animal at the end.

"She was the highest-rated two-year-old during her career and she's by Oasis Dream, who seems to be a popular broodmare sire, and we think it's the best way to give her every chance."

Unex Mona Lisa, who has a "really nice" two-year-old Frankel filly named Climate Friendly heading into training with Roger Varian, will go back to Oasis Dream to produce a full-sibling to Pretty Pollyanna.

Pretty Pollyanna: returning to Frankel for 2022Credit: Alan Crowhurst

Gredley said: "She's in very good order and has a colt-foal on the floor by Oasis Dream."

Unex Mona Lisa's other retained daughter, the winning Poet's Voice mare Roulette, is set to travel across Newmarket to Dalham Hall Stud.

"She's very good and will go to Masar this year," said Gredley. "She's well-related, she didn't have a long career but she was a winner at two so we thought the sire would be a nice fit."

Another top-class broodmare with an exciting covering planned for this year is Miss Brown To You, a winning Fasliyev half-sister to Hong Kong Group 1 winner Military Attack and the dam of the family's Ascot Gold Cup hero Big Orange.

"Miss Brown To You visited Sea The Moon last year and will go to Ulysses this time around," said Gredley. "We've taken a bit of a view on Ulysses and Masar, so we've sent quite a few of our well-bred mares to those two stallions."

While the Gredleys are better known for their top-class Flat performers, including Big Orange and Pretty Pollyanna, and before them dual Oaks and St Leger heroine User Friendly, they have also owned a number of classy jumpers in recent years.

These include last season's Henry VIII Novices' Chase winner Allmankind, a son of Sea The Moon and the team's Wemyss Bay. The unraced daughter of Sadler's Wells will return to the Lanwades Stud resident.

Allmankind could be among three homebreds to represent Stetchworth and Middle Park Studs at the Cheltenham Festival next month.

Also being supported by the Gredleys is the Great British Bonus, which, alongside ongoing travel complications relating to Brexit and Covid-19, has led to the stud selecting British-based sires.

Gredley was keen to highlight the diversity of the sires chosen for 2022, adding: "We've got a really good bunch of stallions to go to this year. Apart from the most expensive stallions, I think there's quite a lot of value out there, especially in the UK.

"Obviously we're using Ulysses and Masar quite a lot, while we've got a breeding right in Palace Pier. Bark, who is the dam of [Oaks fourth and Listed winner] Save A Forest, will visit him.

Save A Forest remains in training while her dam heads to Palace PierCredit: Pool

"Save The Forest stays in training, she went back to Roger's recently and has done really well over the winter. She's a big girl. Her full-brother, Father Of Jazz, has done well. They're both by Kingman so the idea of going to Palace Pier is to carry on that line."

The excellent Whazzat is now 20 but the dam of Mill Reef Stakes winner and Prix Maurice de Gheest second James Garfield – who has his first two-year-olds this year from Rathbarry Stud – is set for another high-class covering.

Gredley said: "She went to Pinatubo last year and she'll go to Oasis Dream this time. She's getting a bit older now but she is a Chesham winner and we know she breeds speed based on James Garfield, so we wanted to try again."

Whazzat is also dam of the winning and stakes-placed Dansili mare The Shrew, among seven winners, and Gredley is hopeful of another result from the Banstead Manor Stud stalwart.

"As a breeding operation we try to get a lot of middle-distance pedigrees but we also want to try to keep some speedy lines going," he explained. "We've had a bit of luck with Oasis Dream so we decided to go there."

Asked whether the team had added to the broodmare band, Gredley replied: "We bought a Kodiac mare in France who will go to Ulysses, while we bought another privately.

"We've got a couple of fillies we could have retired this year, for example She Do, who was a Listed winner at Newmarket at the end of the year, and obviously Save A Forest, so we've got a couple of really nice fillies to add to the broodmare band in the future.

"We just took the view that they're fit and healthy and they're there to be raced, but once we don't think they can improve then they'll go off to stud."

Looking ahead to Garfield's first runners

The Gredleys are also looking forward to James Garfield's first crop of two-year-old runners, having seen their homebred son of Exceed And Excel win the Mill Reef and Greenham Stakes in their famous silks.

Tim Gredley said: "We've got a couple who have gone to Jane Chapple-Hyam, who also has the full-brother to James Garfield, which is exciting.

"It's still very early but a few people have said to me that they bought a few last year and they're going well.

"It'll be interesting and I can't believe he won't get some good ones because he was a well-bred, very fast horse himself. He's got a good chance."

James Garfield is nowadays a resident at Rathbarry Stud in County Cork, where he is this year standing for €4,000.

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