FRANKEL-MANIA was all the rage in 2016 and it looks likely that the trend will continue this year too. The latest addition to the burgeoning story of success for the Banstead Manor Stud resident is Lady Frankel and she made a winning debut last weekend at Saint-Cloud.

Owned and bred by Gestut Ammerland, Lady Frankel is from the first crop of the outstanding Frankel who went through his three-year racing career undefeated in 14 starts, earning a shade less than £3 million. Nine of those victories came in Group 1 races, and they earned him champion status in each of the three seasons he ran.

The 2016 racing year was nothing short of sensational for the son of Galileo and had the perfect ending when his daughter Soul Stirring became his first Group 1 winner and she is on course to play a leading role in this year’s classics in Japan. She was one of six group winners in his first crop, joining Queen Kindly (Group 2 Lowther Stakes), Fair Eva, Frankuus, Mi Suerte and Toulifaut.

Lady Frankel is regally bred on both sides of her pedigree. She is the ninth runner and winner for her Vettori (by Machiavellian) dam Lady Vettori and outstanding among them is Lope De Vega. The Ballylinch Stud-based son of Shamardal (by Giant’s Causeway) was one of the best of his generation in France as a three-year-old, winning the Poule d’Essai des Poulains – French 2000 Guineas from Dick Turpin and then following up with victory in the Prix du Jockey Club – French Derby.

He has made a sensational start at stud and last year he had two Group 1 winners, and they were the Lockinge Stakes winner Belardo and the Prix Saint-Alary heroine Jemayel. Belardo had previously landed the Dewhurst Stakes at two.

Lady Frankel’s dam Lady Vettori was highly precocious and all of her five wins were gained at two in France and included the Group 3 Prix du Calvados. She was placed in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac. In addition to Lope De Vega, she is dam of the Group 3 winner Bal De La Rose (by Cadeaux Genereux) and she in turn is the dam of a stakes-winning daughter by Shamardal in Blossomtime.

Two other offspring of Lady Vettori to earn blacktype are Lord Of The Land (by Shamardal) and Light The Stars (by Sea The Stars). The former is a listed winner in England and has been group-placed in Ireland and France, while Light The Stars finished in the frame in blacktype races in Germany and France.

Lady Vettori is the best of seven winners from the unraced Kendor mare Lady Golgonda. She had eight winning siblings, three of them stakes winners, and the best of them was the Baillamont are Lady Blessington who won the Grade 2 All Along Stakes and the Group 3 Prix Minerve. She is the grandam of Da Big Hoss (by Lemon Drop Kid) and his earnings of $1.5 million have come from a dozen successes, headed by the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes.

The 20-year-old Lady Vettori is not finished yet and she looks odds on to bring her winning tally of offspring into double figures in time. Waiting in the wings are a two-year-old own-sister to Lady Frankel and a yearling filly by Shamardal.

Breeders, stallion masters and readers are invited to contact Leo Powell at leopowell@theirishfield.ie with news and updates for the column, and to visit our website www.theirishfield.ie for daily breeding news