Quality the key for Denford Stud's broodmares as new talent joins the fold

Prince Faisal's Denford Stud has much to look forward to in 2023, not least because the team's flagbearer and dual Group 1 winner Coronet will have her first foal hit the track.

The bay colt by Frankel is not only bred on the famed nick which has produced recent Classic winners Adayar and Homeless Songs, he has also been given the most auspicious of names - Lanfranco.

In the year the all-time great jockey and former regular partner of Coronet, Lanfranco Dettori, has announced he will retire, there will no doubt be plenty of support for his namesake as well as Coronet, with the daughter of Dubawi currently carrying again to Frankel.

After producing two colts, the hope is that the likeable grey will produce a filly for the stud to retain.

Denford manager Richard Evans says: "Having had two Frankel colts, she is back in foal to him and revisits him for the fourth consecutive year. A filly would be ideal, but she’s a very exciting broodmare prospect."

Coronet sports Prince Faisal's colours to successCredit: Getty Images

Regent, a half-sister to Coronet, did not quite follow in her prolific sibling's hoofprints, but there is plenty to look forward to with the dual winner by Frankel with her first foal due this season and a visit to one of the best sires in the world on the cards afterwards.

Evans says: "She's another exciting mare as a daughter of Frankel and half-sister to Coronet. She had plenty of speed but probably didn’t fulfil her capabilities on the track. She’s in foal to Oasis Dream and will then go to Dubawi."

Another star performer in the familiar Denford silks was Duchess of Cambridge Stakes winner and Cheveley Park runner-up Illuminate, by Zoffany and now the dam of the winning Galileo colt Jasperoid.

"Her first offspring to race was a very useful horse with Andre Fabre and it was therefore disappointing that she didn’t conceive to Dubawi last year," says Evans.

"She has a very nice, precocious Wootton Bassett yearling filly and this year visits Acclamation."

Prince Faisal's small but select broodmare band was boosted with a couple of purchases over the summer, notably See The Rose, a daughter of Kendargent who won the Group 3 Prix Six Perfections at two and then finished second in the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham at three.

The five-year-old was subsequently picked up for 500,000gns from the Tattersalls July Sale last year and has been chosen for one of the rising stars of the European stallion scene.

Evans says: "She's a new, exciting addition to the team. She was a Group 3 winner, Group 2-placed and beaten only a length and three-quarters in the French 1,000 Guineas. She’s a good-sized, scopey filly and visits Zarak for her first season."

Evans went on to describe the now 20-year-old Intrigued as the matriarch of the stud - and with good reason.

The Darshaan mare, a full-sister to Approach, the dam of Coronet, and a half-sister to French 2,000 Guineas hero Aussie Rules, has produced eight winners during her paddocks career including stakes scorers Michelangelo and Private Secretary; the former was also third in the 2012 St Leger.

Evans says: "Intrigued is still producing foals with strength and quality. She has a good-looking Too Darn Hot yearling, is in foal to Time Test and revisits Too Darn Hot."

Love So Deep (far left): booked in to Siyouni in 2023Credit: Patrick McCann

A former private acquisition is Love So Deep, a Listed-winning and Group 2-placed daughter of Deep Impact out of a close relation to Derby hero Ruler Of The World and half-sister to the top-class Duke Of Marmalade.

She will head to one of Europe's most decorated stallions, as befits her pedigree and race record.

Evans says: "She’s a young mare I have high hopes for. She has a very attractive Kingman two-year-old filly heading to Jean-Claude Rouget, while she's back in foal to Kingman and visits Siyouni this year."

Sons of Dubawi are all the rage and Denford is planning to utilise them to best effect. Wordless, an Italian Group winner and a Rock Of Gibraltar half-sister to the ill-fated Irish and Yorkshire Oaks heroine Sea Of Class, has two and three-year-olds by Sea The Stars yet to run, while she will deliver to and then revisit Night Of Thunder.

On New Bay's dance card are California, a Group 3-winning daughter of Azamour and already the dam of a winner, and Fly The Flag, an Australia half-sister to Coronet out of the stud's wonderful producer Approach.

Evans says: "California is all stamina and is currently carrying to Too Darn Hot, while Fly The Flag has a very nice Lope De Vega two-year-old named Tactician, an Oasis Dream yearling filly and is in foal to Night Of Thunder."

Promising was a winner for Richard Hannon and also placed three times in black-type company, including when a neck second in the Prestige Stakes. There is much to look forward to with her in the next few years, with plenty of speed in her matings past and upcoming.

Evans says: "She was a good race filly with a lot of ability and now needs her breeding career to kick into gear.

"Unfortunately, she has no two-year-old in training having been barren to Siyouni, but she has a strong Iffraaj yearling colt, is in foal to Dream Ahead and this year visits Starspangledbanner."

Promising will visit the red-hot Starspangledbanner this yearCredit: Coolmore

Studmates also heading to County Tipperary for dates with Coolmore stallions include All The Rage, a daughter of Dubawi and Intrigued who has a yearling filly by Almanzor, the twice-placed maiden mare Dignified, by Galileo and out of Jack Naylor, and Ultramarine.

"All The Rage is a neat Dubawi mare and her yearling filly is very much like herself, full of quality - she will go to Churchill," says Evans.

"Dignified is very well bred and is pencilled in for Sioux Nation, while Ultramarine is a good-looking Listed-placed daughter of Siyouni who will go to Camelot. She's in foal to Sea The Moon."

Ebony, a winning and stakes-placed mare by Le Havre and out of a half-sister to three-time Group 1 winner Ervedya, is also bound for Ireland, in her case to be covered by Sea The Stars.

Evans says: "She's a lovely outcross mare with quality in abundance and seems to be passing that on. She has a very attractive Kitten's Joy yearling colt and was covered by Sottsass."

The Group 3-placed Magnolea, a winner for Rouget, has a three-year-old Frankel filly in training with the legendary French trainer called Rotonda.

She has been booked in to visit Darley's Derby winner and first-season sire Masar, while another younger mare to note is Gala, a daughter of Galileo who is also off to Newmarket, this time to Juddmonte's wonderful veteran Oasis Dream.

"She has the most lovely Too Darn Hot two-year-old colt, to go into training with John and Thady Gosden, named Lyric, while she's in foal to Pinatubo," adds Evans.

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