CHALDEAN is a son of Frankel (Galileo), carries the silks of Juddmonte but, unlike the vast majority of the big race winners they have had, he was not a product of that organisation.

Instead, this 550,000gns foal purchase at Tattersalls was bred by the Harper family at their Whitsbury Manor Stud near Fordingbridge in Hampshire, and they saw their classic-winning colt’s sale value put in the shade somewhat when they consigned Chaldean’s half-sister by Kingman (Invincible Spirit) at last year’s foal sale in Newmarket. She too was added to the Juddmonte team when their bid of 1,000,000gns saw off all opposition.

By that time Chaldean had won the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, the Group 2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster and the Group 3 Acomb Stakes at York, making him the joint champion juvenile colt in England, and only behind one other in Europe.

The now Kingman yearling is the seventh offspring of Suelita (Dutch Art), and the first six are winners, and not just ordinary winners. All bar one of them earned blacktype, three of them being stakes winners.

Chaldean is easily the best of Suelita’s offspring, and he joins Alkumait (Showcasing) and The Broghie Man (Cityscape) as a third stakes-winning son of their dam.

Alkumait completed his first season at stud in Ireland last year, the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes hero covering in excess of 100 mares at Castlefield Stud in Bennettsbridge, Co Kilkenny where he stood for an initial fee of €5,000. The Broghie Man gained his blacktype when winning the Listed Committed Stakes at Navan five years ago.

This trio might yet be joined by a fourth stakes winner if trainer Clive Cox and Hot To Trot Racing have any say in the matter. The four-year-old Get Ahead (Showcasing) is a full-sister to Alkumait, and she was placed last month for the second year in succession in the Listed Lansdown Stakes at Bath. What would a stakes win be worth to her and her value for stud?

Fairytale

Suelita’s story of success has been nothing short of a fairytale. Though she comes from an excellent female line, one that owes its roots to Gerald Leigh who also played a pivotal role in the family of Mawj, she was the first of just three foals out of the unraced Venoge (Green Desert), and from the first crop sired by Cheveley Park Stud’s Dutch Art (Medicean).

With an unproven sire and dam when she was offered for sale, Suelita was traded for only 3,2000gns to Marco Bozzi, less than a third of her sire’s initial covering fee. She went to Italy where she won four times over five and six furlong and was placed on 20 occasions. Sent back to be sold from Joe Hernon’s Castletown Stud as a four-year-old, it took some negotiation by Whitsbury Manor’s Chris Harper to secure Suelita for breeding.

The deal was completed in a private transaction for 21,500gns at the Tattersalls December Sale a decade ago, about the same amount of money she had earned when racing. Suelita’s sale prospects were helped by the fact that her half-brother Outer Space (Acclamation), a 140,000gns yearling, was runner-up in the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes that year. Though he failed to better that effort in stakes company, Outer Space did go on to win a total of eight times and showed his soundness by placing on a further 26 occasions.

Siblings

Outer Space and Suelita had just one other sibling, the twice-placed Ayr Missile (Cadeaux Genereux). She has started to make her own mark as a broodmare, and four years ago her daughter Living In The Past (Bungle Inthejungle) won the Group 2 Lowther Stakes. She is one of three winners to date from Ayr Missile.

Whitsbury Manor, now run by Ed Harper, and with Irishman Joe Callan as a key player, are delighted with the safe delivery this spring of the latest produce of Suelita, a colt by Showcasing (Oasis Dream), and what a thrill that they can also report that the mare is now safely back in foal to Juddmonte’s Frankel.

By the way, Cheveley Park Stud has the only non-blacktype performer out of Suelita, her 425,000gns yearling buy and subsequent winning daughter Praised (Pivotal). That mare produced a filly foal last year by Showcasing, her first produce. This is a family that keeps on giving.

THE SIRE: Frankel just keeps on giving

THE unbeaten Frankel (Galileo) is standing this year at Banstead Manor Stud for a career high fee of £275,000, and it is hard to argue that he doesn’t represent value, even at that price. His stud career has been as impressive as his race career was, when he won all his 14 starts.

Frankel went to stud a decade ago, and his current juveniles are his eighth crop of racing age. His tally of Group/Grade 1 winners now stands at 26, his next new group winner will be his 80th, and his total number of stakes winners is 113.

Last year was a memorable one for Frankel, thanks in the main to the success enjoyed in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for his daughter Alpinista. She was one of, wait for it, nine Group/Grade 1 winners during the year for him, more than any other sire in the world. His popularity naturally extends to the sale ring and last year his yearlings averaged £600,000 and four of them sold for between 1,900,000gns and 2,800,000gns.

Frankel is bred in the purple, being a son of a multiple champion sire, and a full-brother to Noble Mission (Galileo), a triple Group 1 winner and himself a successful sire at the highest level.

THE DAMSIRE: The Art of making a sire

DUTCH Art (Medicean) was a top-class juvenile, winning the Group 1 Prix Morny, Group 1 Middle Park Stakes and the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. At three he was classic-placed in the Group 1 2000 Guineas, and runner-up in the Group 1 July Cup and Prix Maurice de Gheest.

An outstanding source of speed, he sired the Group 1 winning sprinters Starman, winner of the July Cup, another winner of that race and also successful in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, Slade Power, the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp winner Mabs Cross, and the Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Garswood.

This year could yet be the best for Dutch Art as a broodmare sire. While it is hard to imagine anything topping the achievements of Chaldean, he is also the sire of Diagnostic, the dam of White Birch (Ulysses).

That three-year-old made a fine impression last month when, on just his third start and after winning a maiden at two in Dundalk, he won the Group 3 PW McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown, prompting connections to make an entry for him in the Derby at Epsom.