'We're excited' - find out who Anapurna will visit next in this year's Meon Valley Stud matings

It is hard to believe it is nearly four years since Anapurna delivered a brave victory in the Oaks, but the dual Group 1 winner will be represented by her first foal this year in her two-year-old daughter of Lope De Vega. 

For Meon Valley Stud's Mark Weinfeld, this is a time of year of great anticipation and endless goings on with the foaling and covering seasons in full swing. The managing partner of the Hampshire stud revealed the Classic-winning daughter of Frankel will head to Palace Pier after foaling a filly by his own sire, Kingman, recently.

He says: "I'm very excited about Palace Pier, we've a breeding right and are sending him two mares, including Anapurna. 

"Her first foal is a two-year-old filly by Lope De Vega who will go into training with John and Thady Gosden. She seems to be going very nicely in pre-training and will be joined at the Gosdens by Anapurna's full-sister, who is called Twin Peaks.

"Anapurna's mating with Palace Pier is a similar sort of cross that's produced Charm Spirit and Magna Grecia, while Commissioning is by Kingman. Last year's Derby second, Hoo Ya Mal, is from the same family and is by Territories, so again it's Invincible Spirit and hopefully it's a bit of a nick."

Anapurna: Oaks winner's first foal is in training Credit: Getty Images/Alan Crowhurst

Also heading to Darley's world champion miler - whose first foals are now arriving - is Hippy Hippy Shake, a stakes-winning daughter of Danehill Dancer and the dam of the Listed winner and Group-placed Twist 'N' Shake, who was also fourth in the Coronation Stakes. As Twist 'N' Shake is by Kingman, there is an obvious reason to send the 14-year-old to his prolific son. 

Dash To The Front is a Diktat half-sister to Anapurna's dam Dash To The Top and will be among Frankel's dates this season. 

A top-class producer as the dam of Prix Jean Romanet and Prix de l'Opera heroine Speedy Boarding and stakes winner Value Proposition, Dash To The Front hails from Meon Valley's influential 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes heroine One In A Million. 

Weinfeld, who confirmed Speedy Boarding would be rested this season after foaling to Palace Pier, says: "Dash To The Front has produced good horses like Speedy Boarding and Value Proposition, a stakes winner in America. She's been to Frankel before and had Elwazir; he was pretty useful with a Racing Post Rating of 109. He could have been rated higher if he'd had ground with some cut in it."

Twist 'N' Shake is due to foal to Frankel and will then head over to Dalham Hall Stud for a covering by Darley's promising second-season sire and champion sprinter Harry Angel. Another exciting young Darley sire set to receive a Meon Valley mare is Derby hero Masar, who will cover Lady Mascara.

Jazzi Top, a Group 2-winning daughter of Meon Valley's fine producer and Prix de l'Opera winner Zee Zee Top, is due to foal to St Mark's Basilica and then head to champion sire Dubawi. 

Her Pivotal half-sister Izzi Top will be rested after foaling to Too Darn Hot, having already foaled Meydan Group 3 winner Prince Eiji and Bahraini stakes scorer Zagato. She has a perfect five winners from as many foals to have raced. 

Farhh's winning and Group 3-placed daughter Farzeen is bound for Dubawi's Kildangan Stud-based son Space Blues, having produced a filly foal by New Bay last month. 

Jazzi Top: set to be covered by DubawiCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Weinfeld says of Farzeen: "She was quite a quick mare herself and the Dubawi line works well on Pivotal, while Space Blues is an exciting second-season sire. 

"Our thinking is that if you've got a wide mix of stallions hopefully we will have something that will appeal to most. otherwise you end up with two or three by one stallion who has gone cold."

Perfectly Spirited, a winning daughter of Invincible Spirit from the family of Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Stagecraft, is also bound for Kildangan as part of the first book of Platinum Jubilee Stakes winner Naval Crown. 

Weinfeld says: "We're quite excited about that and on paper it looks a nice mating. She's got a very nice filly by Nathaniel."

Another mare heading to Ireland with a typically deep Meon Valley family is Very Dashing, a winning and stakes-placed half-sister to Anapurna. The ten-year-old, who produced a filly by Darley's champion two-year-old Earthlight in January, visits Australia. 

Weinfeld says: "He's a lovely looking horse, not too big and I like the cross on paper."

Shirocco Star could have another exciting representative on the track this season in the form of three-year-old Frankel filly Mistral Star, a close second on her debut at Lingfield for the Gosdens in November. 

The daughter of Shirocco has produced three high-class black-type-winning colts, headed by Al Suhail, who added a second Group 2 to his name when winning last month's Al Fahidi Fort for Godolphin and Charlie Appleby, and including Dante Stakes winner Telecaster, now standing at Haras du Mesnil.

Shirocco Star: dam of Dante Stakes winner TelecasterCredit: Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images

Weinfeld says: "I always thought Sea The Stars would have been a great mating for Shirocco Star, but she earlier had a couple of reproductive issues so we thought it would be better to keep her in this country. 

"Baaeed's here and we thought he'd be perfect for her, she's been a fantastic mare as all the colts she's had have got black type or won Group races. Her three-year-old filly was second first time out and looks promising."

Likeable, dam of last season's Prix Daphnis winner Checkandchallenge, is bound for the exciting Saxon Warrior; Miss Dashwood, whose son Dashing Willoughby won the Queen's Vase in 2019, is booked in for a covering by Kingman; while Celestial Girl, out of a half-sister to Oaks heroine Lady Carla and the dam of two winners, will visit the in-form Cracksman. 

Galaxy Highflyer, by Galileo out of the great Colorspin and the dam of two black-type performers, will be covered by New Bay, while Interstella, a Sea The Stars half-sister to Hippy Hippy Shake, will have a date with Night Of Thunder. 

The twice stakes-placed Kingman mare Cosmic Princess, a winning daughter of Galaxy Highflyer, is bound for Kameko after foaling to Camelot, and Sensationally, the dam of Hoo Ya Mal, is heading to Pinatubo after producing a full-sibling to the 2022 Derby runner-up.

Two new mares to the Meon Valley paddocks, Tango Tonight (by Pivotal) and Delta Bay (Nathaniel), will have their respective maiden coverings by Overbury Stud's high-flying Ardad and Ballylinch Stud's latest resident Bayside Boy. 

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