PRINCE Khalid Abdullah had amazing foresight when it came to the establishment of what we know today as Juddmonte, one of the most successful racing, breeding and stallion operations in the world. He and his team, along with his successors, cultivated a number of bloodlines that are instantly associated with Juddmonte, and most of the major successes within these families have been in the distinctive colours of green with a pink sash and white sleeves, and a pink cap.

In the early days, 1983 to be exact, Prince Khalid took ownership of the breeding stock he purchased from the estate of John Hay ‘Jock’ Whitney. This package included Rockfest (Stage Door Johnny), a four-year-old who had been a useful racemare. She ran 10 times when trained at Beckhampton in Wiltshire by Jeremy Tree, winning just twice and both times at two. The following season she was runner-up in the Group 3 Oaks Trial at Lingfield.

At stud, Rockfest’s first foal was a colt, Climber (Bold Lad), and he won five races in Belgium where he was placed in the Listed Grand Prix de Bruxelles. This was perhaps not the most auspicious of starts to a breeding career, but Rockfest would go on to have 13 foals, two of whom were never named, and she had seven winners. Her first stakes winner was her fourth produce, Vertex (Shirley Heights), gained in a listed race in Italy.

On April 10th, 1990, Rockfest’s sixth offspring was born, and was her first filly. Who could have imagined then the influence she would bring to bear on the breed? Named Rainbow Lake (Rainbow Quest), she joined Henry Cecil at Warren Place. Sent off favourite for a maiden at Newbury on her debut, she faded from two furlongs out to be beaten 15 lengths. She made amends next time and won a 12-furlong maiden at Haydock by five lengths.

Tasting success

Rainbow Lake ran once each month from April to September. After tasting success for the first time, she was upped in class for a listed race at Newbury which she won, and then it was back to Haydock for the Group 3 Lancashire Oaks. She pulverised the field to land this by seven lengths, but that was her last win. She was well beaten on her final two runs.

A prolific producer at stud, Rainbow Lake had 15 foals, just over half of which were winners. Any initial doubts about whether she would make an impact in the breeding shed were forgotten when her son Powerscourt (Sadler’s Wells) was runner-up to Brian Boru in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy at two, placed in the Group 1 The Irish Field St Leger at three, ran out a six-length winner of the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at four, and ended his career at five with victory by three lengths over Kitten’s Joy in the Grade 1 Arlington Million. At stud he is best known as sire of the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Termagant and the US Grade 1 winner Finnegans Wake.

Powerscourt was subsequently joined as a blacktype winner out of Rainbow Lake by Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes heroine Riposte (Dansili) who also won a pair of Grade 2 races in the USA, Group 3 winner and Group 1 Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris second Last Train (Rail Link), and by the listed winner Kind (Danehill). It was the latter who would go on to have a place in the pantheon of breeding greats.

Roger Charlton

Kind was trained by Roger Charlton, back at Beckhampton where this story began, and she raced 13 times in three seasons. She didn’t win at two, progressed nicely at three to win five times in succession, culminating in a listed victory at Hamilton. Perhaps connections felt there was more improvement left, and so she remained in training at four, adding a second listed win and a Group 3-placed effort in Ireland.

Through she lived until the age of 20, Kind had just eight foals. All of them raced and just one did not win, and he was at the time one of the best-bred horses in training. I hardly need to tell you that Kind’s seven winners, five of them stakes horses, four of them stakes winners, and two of them Group 1 winners, include the brilliant racehorse and sire Frankel (Galileo). He is set to be joined at stud in Newmarket in 2027 by his triple Group 1-winning full-brother Noble Mission (Galileo) who moves to Lanwades Stud.

Kind had two daughters, Joyeuse (Oasis Dream) and Frankel’s and Noble Mission’s own-sister Chiasma (Galileo). Group-placed and a dual listed winner, Joyeuse is proving to be an influential broodmare. Her daughter Amusingly (No Nay Never) won the 2026 Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, her son Array (No Nay Never) won the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes, and she is grandam of Group 2 winner and last year’s runner-up to Henri Matisse in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas, Jonquil (Lope De Vega).

Have ability

If Joyeuse was the better of the two daughters of Kind on the racecourse, Chiasma did have ability and won her only start over a mile and a half on the all-weather at three, her sole season to race. She had earlier been placed twice in novice events, and but for meeting the subsequent 12-time Group 1 winner Via Sistina on her second run, would have won on the turf too. Chiasma was tried twice by John and Thady Gosden in listed company to no avail.

Chiasma was always going to be a valuable addition to the Juddmonte broodmare band and be covered by the best sires around. Who better than Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) to start with, and with whom she has a three-year-old filly Legacy Link, a two-year-old filly Zhuri, and a yearling colt. This year she foaled a colt by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) and was covered again with Dubawi.

Chiasma could not have made a better start at stud. Her daughters are both in training with John and Thady Gosden, and the juvenile Zhuri has shown promise on both her starts, and winning should prove more than capable for her. Her full-sister Legacy Link, wonderfully named, has already added to the family’s success story.

Deep end

Winner over a mile on her second start at two, Legacy Link was thrown in at the deep end to contest the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile last year and was an encouraging fourth in a stellar field, the race won by Precise from Venetian Lace. Legacy Link reappeared this year at York in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes, winning well, and then it was on to Epsom where she finished second in the Group 1 Oaks.

Two disappointing runs ensued, but last weekend Legacy Link was sent to France for a morale-boosting win in the Listed Prix Solitude at Saint-Cloud. There was no immediate decision made about whether she stays in training at four, but history would suggest she should and she is clearly capable of winning at the highest level.

The final word is for Dubawi. He will be 25 next year, will stand at Dalham Hall for the fifth season at £350,000 (can you believe he cost £15,000 in his fourth year at stud?), and he is a truly great sire. He is close to having his 500th stakes performer, has 333 stakes winners of which 215 are group winners. His 66 Group or Grade 1 winners include some of the best stallions about, and his own fee is now surpassed by his son Night Of Thunder, standing at €450,000 next spring.