WHILE researching the families of horses for inclusion in this column, I sometimes look back at what I have perhaps written previously, what connections have volunteered about the horse in question, and, if they have been sold at public auction, what was said at the time which might give a clue as to the hopes the purchaser had for them.

Last October, the Juddmonte-homebred Kalpana (Study Of Man) won her second Group 1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot, having earlier chased Calandagan home in the Group 1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. As a consequence, she added the accolade of champion older mare in Europe to that of the best three-year-old filly in England, enough to justify whisking her away to stud. However, my column the next week began as follows.

“Could we yet see the best from Kalpana? Perhaps the answer to the question about whether she stays in training at five will be answered by the time you read this, but I hope that connections stay true to their sporting nature and continue with her.

“She is a dual Group 1 winner, and is perhaps unlucky not to have more. She could be up to winning a few more next year.”

At the same time, Barry Mahon spoke about his hopes that she would race again. Speaking in the immediate aftermath of her win, he said: “The owners have talked to Andrew [Balding] and they’ve gone away now to have a think about it. It’s very much up in the air and we’ll have to sit and wait and see what they come up with.”

He added: “Kalpana has been a star all year [2025]. Obviously, she hadn’t got her head in front but to do it on Saturday was special, to win a second British Champions Fillies & Mares, and it was relatively straightforward to be fair. She just seems to love it around Ascot. Her three career-best efforts - the Champions Fillies & Mares last year and this, and the King George, were there. She’s a special filly.

Great horses

“She’s run into some great horses, Aidan O’Brien’s filly who beat her in the Pretty Polly [Whirl] is a very talented filly, and Calandagan has franked the King George form. She’s run into some tough opposition and to come back 13 days after running the Arc [the only time she has been unplaced in 17 runs] is not an easy thing to do. To put up the performance she did shows she’s a special filly.”

Well, my hope and Mahon’s wish both came to fruition, and Kalpana has truly justified the decision to keep her going, as she joins the greats on the Juddmonte roll of honour after her defeat of the mighty Calandagan on Saturday, and with a superior field of runners in her wake. Not surprisingly, her weekend victory was a career best, but could there be more – and better – to come? I would suggest that she is even still on an upward curve.

From a pedigree perspective, the only surprise is that her French stakes-winning dam, Zero Gravity (Dansili), was sold in the same year that Kalpana was born, carrying a full-brother to the filly. She was signed for by Blandford Bloodstock at 35,000gns, and the colt she was carrying is now a four-year-old unraced gelding, Net Zero. He is owned and in training with John Butler, and was unsold as a Book 3 yearling for 9,000gns! A case of chalk and cheese for the full-siblings.

Easier time

Zero Gravity’s next covering was an attractive one, resulting in a filly, Seet (Too Darn Hot). Whatton Manor’s Ed Player had an easier time at the sales with her, and she cost Shadwell Estate 425,000gns before joining John and Thady Gosden. She has won two of her four starts, last time out started joint-favourite for Sandringham Stakes at Royal Ascot, and was not disgraced when finishing seventh. She will surely go chasing blacktype now.

Having missed for the first time after 10 foals in a row, last year Zero Gravity foaled a filly by Chaldean (Frankel), bred by Newsells Park Stud and Merry Fox Stud. She will be worth a pretty penny if she appears for sale this autumn.

The female family of Kalpana began its association with the late Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farm in late 1982, when the nine-year-old Intermission (Stage Door Johnny) was purchased for 410,000gns at Tattersalls. She won three of her six starts, including the Cambridgeshire, and was one of five stakes winners, from 10 successful runners, out of Peace (Klairon). That mare had won her only start at two, the Blue Seal Stakes at Ascot, and was winter favourite for the 1000 Guineas and Oaks.

Notable contribution

Peace made a notable contribution at stud, and her best runner was the Coronation Cup winner Quiet Fling (Nijinsky). Apart from the branch of the family responsible for Kalpana, others have given us winners of quality, such as other Juddmonte stars, Proviso (Dansili) and Wandesta (Nashwan), the Group 1 Derby winner Desert Crown (Nathaniel), Hong Kong star Peniaphobia (Dandy Man), and No Speak Alexander (Shalaa).

Following his purchase of Intermission from Jeremy Tree’s Beckhampton (the third-highest price at the sale and the fifth-highest price then paid for a broodmare at auction in Europe), Khalid Abdullah was well rewarded for his investment. Intermission produced Interval (more of her later), Grade 2 winner Interim (Sadler’s Wells) who bred a Grade 1 winner and is grandam of a Group 1 winner, and the dams of a couple of high-class juveniles, notably Invited Guest (Be My Guest).

Kalpana’s third dam Interval (Habitat) was a smart runner, and gained her biggest success at three in the then Group 2 Prix Maurice de Gheest, the same year that her sire had to be put down. She had earlier finished third in what must rank as one of the best ever editions of the Group 1 1000 Guineas, behind Miesque and Milligram, and with Polonia, Minstrella and Invited Guest (see above) behind.

Interval

At stud, Interval made her mark with seven winners. While none them were up to Group/Grade 1 standard, two of her daughters got top-flight winners. Krisia (Kris) was responsible for Continent (Lake Coniston), winner of the Group 1 July Cup and Prix de l‘Abbaye de Longchamp. Which brings us neatly to Interval’s daughter Imbabala (Zafonic). A winner at three, she went on to produce eight winners, the best of these being the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Zambezi Sun (Dansili).

In addition to Zero Gravity being a full-sister to that Group 1 winner, their full-sister Shared Account (Dansili), who was stakes-placed in France, is the dam of three stakes winners to date. They include Group and Grade 3 winner Pocket Square (Night Of Thunder), and last year’s dual Group 2 winner Better Together (Oasis Dream).

This is a family that keeps on giving. A quick calculation suggests that under Intermission, bought for a lot of money 44 years ago, there are now, coincidentally, some 44 flat stakes winners, and five Group or Grade 1 winners. That is some legacy.