IT is one thing getting a Group 1 winner down under, but for a sire standing in Europe, breeders need to see their stock performing well in the northern hemisphere.

One of the first Group 1 races of 2026 is the Jebel Hatta Stakes at Meydan, and it was won in fine style by the four-year-old Opera Ballo (Ghaiyyath). The nine-furlong feature on turf was part of a treble for William Buick, and Opera Ballo carried the colours of Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin. The Charlie Appleby-trained colt is slowly but surely paying back the €600,000 invested in him at Arqana as a yearling, and his sixth win in eight starts brings his bankroll to over €500,000.

Two Group 1 winners in three months is a fine achievement for Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) as he is about to embark on the new season, his sixth at Kildangan Stud and at a fee of €20,000. His fee is unchanged this year, reflecting a solid start at stud, and he is bred on the same cross as the 2025 champion sire Night Of Thunder, who stands for 10 times Ghaiyyath’s fee.

Seventeen stakes performers are not to be sneezed at, but surely it is not unreasonable to expect that Ghaiyyath’s runners will get better with age. That said, don’t be fooled into believing that he cannot get earlier types, and it shouldn’t be forgotten that he won the Group 3 Autumn Stakes over a mile at Newmarket at two, and in a record time. Successful again at Group 3 level the following year, it was at four and five that we saw the true Ghaiyyath.

Europe’s best

His first Group 1 win was in Germany at four, but Ghaiyyath was at his peak at five when he claimed the title of the best older horse in Europe. Victories in the Group 1 Juddmonte International, Eclipse Stakes and Coronation Cup, the latter in a course record for 12 furlongs, put him at the top of the pile, and he lost nothing in defeat when runner-up on his swansong in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes to Magical. Ghaiyyath was once out of the first three in 13 outings, winning nine times.

Coincidentally, while Opera Ballo was winning the Group 1 turf feature at Meydan, the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge on dirt, run on the same card, was won by Imperial Emperor (Dubawi), his seventh and most important win in 13 starts. He is the first top-flight winner for Europe’s champion older mare, Zhukova (Fastnet Rock), a half-sister to Ghaiyyath.

The first Group 1 winner sired by Ghaiyyath was Observer, and in early November he landed the Victoria Derby, having placed in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas. Coming close to giving the Darley stallion his first Group 1 winner was Mandanaba and she was only caught in the dying strides when denied victory in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas. Other notable winners include Group 2 Prix du Calvados heroine My Highness and Grade 2 Del Mar Derby victor The Padre.

Dubai Turf

Opera Ballo has the Group 1 Dubai Turf on World Cup night as his next target, and hopefully he will be back in Europe to add to his four wins last year in England. They included a pair of listed races at Sandown Park and Newmarket. He also won a Group 2 at Meydan at the end of last year.

Bred by Ecurie de Cachene, Opera Ballo was sold through Haras des Capucines as a yearling, and his lofty price tag meant that he was among the top dozen yearlings at the 2023 Arqana Yearling Sale at Deauville. It is still the second-highest price paid at public auction for a son or daughter of Ghaiyyath.

Opera Ballo is a son of Dubai Opera (Invincible Spirit), bred and raced by Godolphin. She ran four times, once at two in England, and three times the next season in France. She never troubled the judge on any of her starts, and only finished in front of two horses, once at Yarmouth and once at Dieppe! This was in contrast to the achievements of her full-brother Lockwood (Invincible Spirit) who won a pair of Group 3 races, the Supreme Stakes at Goodwood and Prix de Ris-Orangis in France.

Emily Bronte

Their half-brother Earnshaw (Medaglia D’Oro) won the Group 1 Prix Thomas Byron at two and was less than a length behind Ectot in the Group 1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud at two. He and Lockwood were the best of six winning progeny out of Emily Bronte (Machiavellian), a Group 2 homebred winner as a juvenile in France for Sheikh Mohammed.

Emily Bronte was the best runner, and one of seven winners, out of the classic-placed Zafadola (Darshaan). She was a smart runner, trained by John Oxx for His Highness the Aga Khan. She won two of her seven starts, including a listed Oaks trial at the Curragh, and three of her four placed runs were in pattern races, finishing third in the Group 1 Irish St Leger.

Zafadola produced a second stakes winner on the flat, and a number of her daughters did well, breeding group and graded winners on the flat and over jumps. Zafadola herself was one of just two winners from the unraced Zarafa (Blushing Groom), the other being Grade 1 Punchestown Festival hurdle winner Zafarabad (Shernazar).