Nothing like a Dam(e)

DARYAKANA (FR)

2006 ch m Selkirk-Daryaba (Night Shift)

This Aga Khan Studs mare has it all. First of all, she is bred in the blue, being a Selkirk half-sister to Group 2 winner Daramsar out of Prix de Diane and Prix Vermeille heroine Daryaba and hailing from the family of further Classic scorers Darjina and Darsi.

Second, she was top class herself, having been saddled by Alain de Royer-Dupre to win the Prix de Royallieu and Hong Kong Vase at three. She beat the elite-winning colts and geldings Spanish Moon, Kasbah Bliss, Jaguar Mail, Cirrus Des Aigles, Viva Pataca, Thumbs Up, Youmzain and Packing Winner in the latter race at Sha Tin, so she had to be good.

To cap it all, she has excelled at stud. She is the dam of seven winners, all bar one of them at stakes level, including this year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero Daryz. The others are Prix Ganay victor Dariyan, Group/Grade 2 winners Devamani and Darkaniya, and Listed scorers Darabad and Dariyza. She also has a two-year-old colt by Zarak, named Daryzan, and a filly foal by Erevann. She was retired from breeding this year.

ENTREAT (GB)

2006 ch m Pivotal-River Saint (Irish River)

Former pharmacist James Cloney hasn’t looked back since paying just 14,000gns to secure this winning Pivotal half-sister to Group 2 scorer Producer from her breeder Cheveley Park Stud at the Tattersalls July Sale of 2016, when the mare was ten. The last foal Entreat produced for Cheveley Park turned out to be Listed winner Exhort, while the colt she was carrying when sold at Park Paddocks became the crack two-year-old and sprinter Golden Horde.

Cloney has since bred from the mare the Listed winner Line Of Departure, who sold as a yearling for £260,000, this year’s Prix du Jockey Club victor and Coolmore new recruit Camille Pissarro, who commanded 1.25m guineas as a youngster, and a Dark Angel two-year-old filly who made 900,000gns last year. His and father-in-law Michael Nolan’s Clara Stud in Co Kilkenny is also home to the mare’s colt foal by Justify. 

Camille Pissarro is actually related to another Classic winner of 2025, as Entreat’s dam River Saint is a half-sister to Serena’s Sister, the granddam of Roundhill Stud-bred brilliant Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes hero Field Of Gold.

GOSSAMER WINGS (IRE)

2016 b m Scat Daddy-Lavender Baby (Rubiano)

The youngest name on this list, a runner-up in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot in her racing pomp, has made a fine start to her broodmare career for Coolmore. Lambourn, her second foal, emulated his sire Australia by completing the English and Irish Derby double, while Action, her third progeny, looked like another colt out of the top drawer by Frankel when running second in the Futurity Trophy.

Gossamer Wings has a yearling colt by Frankel, so a full-brother to Action, and she was covered by the unbeaten dual world champion at Banstead Manor Stud again this year. Scat Daddy is best known for his sire sons, like Justify, No Nay Never and Sioux Nation, but his daughters excel in the breeding shed too. Daddys Lil Darling, another mare by the late stallion owned by Coolmore, bred Irish Oaks heroine Savethelastdance, who is by Galileo and is thus bred on a similar cross to Lambourn and Action.

HYDRANGEA (IRE)

2014 b m Galileo-Beauty Is Truth (Pivotal)

Is this Coolmore’s next great matriarch? Hydrangea’s first three named foals are all black-type winners: in descending order of age, Hurry Harriet Stakes winner and British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes runner-up Wingspan; Tetrarch Stakes scorer Officer; and this year’s Futurity Trophy hero Hawk Mountain.

She was twice a top-level winner, in the Matron Stakes and British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes, and she is by Galileo out of the high-class Beauty Is Truth, making her a full-sister to Anglo-Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Hermosa and Australian Group 1 scorer The United States, and a half-sister to Moyglare Stud Stakes and Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Fire Lily. Hermosa is the dam of this year’s Hampton Court Stakes winner Trinity College, and Salsa, a winning but non-black-type full-sister to Hermosa and Hydrangea, produced brilliant three-year-old filly Whirl.

Hydrangea has a yearling colt by Wootton Bassett and a colt foal by Justify, having been one of the many Coolmore-owned daughters of Galileo to have travelled to Kentucky to be covered by the son of Scat Daddy in recent seasons.

IMMORTAL VERSE (IRE)

2008 b m Pivotal-Side Of Paradise (Sadler’s Wells)

Remarkably, this outstanding miler who in 2013 became the dearest filly or mare to sell in Europe when knocked down to BBA Ireland for 4.7m guineas, is a distant relation to Hermosa as both are descended from Kilfrush Stud foundation mare Mill Princess.

The Coronation Stakes and Prix Jacques Le Marois heroine didn’t repay her huge purchase price straight away, as none of her first three foals gained black type, but she has made up for lost time as her fourth, fifth and sixth progeny are Cheveley Park Stakes winner Tenebrism, Balanchine Stakes scorer Statuette and this year’s Poule d’Essai des Poulains victor Henri Matisse.

Both this year’s French Classic winners Henri Matisse and Camille Pissarro are by the late Wootton Bassett and out of Pivotal mares, which might be a cross worth exploring. Immortal Verse has a yearling colt by Justify and was sent to that sire at Ashford Stud in Kentucky again this year.

MOSA MINE (GB)

2007 b m Exceed And Excel-Baldemosa (Lead On Time)

Some rags-to-riches story, this one. Mosa Mine was bred and sold as a yearling by Welsh small breeder Kelly Thomas and twice finished placed in minor races, before being bought back as a four-year-old by Thomas for the minimum bid of £800 for broodmare duty.

Thomas has bred half a dozen winners from Mosa Mine at her Maywood Stud, including two at the highest level: Vandeek, who landed the Richmond Stakes, Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes and finished third in the July Cup before retiring to Cheveley Park in 2025; and then Gstaad, who this year took the Coventry Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and ran second in the Prix Morny, National Stakes and Dewhurst.

Mosa Mine, who hails from the family of champion sprinter and top sire Anabaa, has no yearling or foal but was covered this year by the late Wootton Bassett, in what turned out to be his final northern-hemisphere covering season.

PRUDENZIA (IRE)

2005 b m Dansili-Platonic (Zafonic)

Ecurie des Monceaux and Skymarc Farm’s blue hen was represented by her third Group 1-winning progeny, after idiosyncratic Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita and globe-trotting Mackinnon Stakes scorer Magic Wand, when Diamond Necklace remained unbeaten for Aidan O’Brien with a decisive victory in the Prix Marcel Boussac in October.

Prudenzia, a Listed-winning daughter of Dansili, is the dam of nine winners in total, with her roll of honour also including Prix Penelope scorer and Prix de Diane second Philomene and Group 3-placed Enemy and Je Ne Regretterien.

Something of a cash machine for her connections, with eight of her yearlings having sold for seven-figure sums, including her Night Of Thunder filly who sold to Amo Racing for €3m in Deauville this summer, she has a colt foal by Siyouni and she was covered by Zarak this year.

SAGELY (IRE)

2013 b m Frozen Power-Saga Celebre (Peintre Celebre)

Tally-Ho Stud in Co Westmeath is an increasingly powerful presence in the bloodstock industry, not just for its roster of commercially desirable stallions and its prowess at preparing breeze-up horses, but also for the many blue-chip members of its broodmare band.

Sagely can lay claim to being reigning queen of the operation’s paddocks. The winning relation to Arc hero Sagamix, bought as a breeding prospect for 47,000gns, has produced two winners of the Middle Park Stakes – Perfect Power in 2021 and Wise Approach this year – from only three foals to have run. Golden Mind, isn’t bad either, having won three races and finished a close third in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Sagely has a Mehmas yearling filly who sold to Coolmore for 480,000gns. She has no foal, but featured in the debut book of champion City Of Troy at Coolmore this year.

SWEEPSTAKE (IRE)

2005 b m Acclamation-Dust Flicker (Suave Dancer)

Denis Brosnan paid $280,000 in 2011 to secure this precocious and pacey Listed winner by Acclamation to the broodmare band at his Croom House Stud in Co Limerick – no small beer, but it still turned out to be good value. 

Sweepstake has produced six winners for the man who breeds under the Epona Bloodstock banner, including Broome and Point Lonsdale, high-class full-brothers by Australia, and Diego Velazquez, a son of Frankel who took some serious scalps when springing a surprise in the Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville this summer. She has also made a significant amount at the sales, not least when Diego Velazquez sold to Coolmore for 2.4m guineas as a yearling at Tattersalls.

Sweepstake didn’t produce any offspring from 2022 to 2024 but she safely delivered a St Mark’s Basilica colt in May, and was subsequently covered by Australia again.

TITIAN SAGA (IRE)

2003 ch m Titus Livius-Nordic Living (Nordico)

How on earth did Patrick Burns do it? The son of renowned horseman Paddy Burns, and brother of prominent breeders Maurice and Seamus, paid 1,200gns for Nordic Living at the Goffs February Sale of 1995 in spite of her having shown zero ability in four runs, being by an average and unexciting sire in Nordico, and having sight in only one eye.

Burns took her home to his Newlands House Stud in Co Kildare and she produced eight winners, including Kisella and Yungaburra, who each won nine races.

More importantly, though, she left Burns with two important broodmare daughters: Nova Tor, the dam of smart trio Devonshire, Hurryupharriet and Veneer Of Charm, and Titian Saga, who has produced Nunthorpe heroine Winter Power, Listed scorer Hay Chewed and stakes-placed Flying Sparkle and Ortley Avenue, and now this year’s Flying Childers Stakes winner Revival Power – most by stallions stood by brother Maurice at his Rathasker Stud.

Titian Saga has no foal or yearling registered but was covered by Winter Power and Revival Power’s sire Bungle Inthejungle again this year.