Kirsten Rausing has dropped a firm hint that her Arc heroine Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) could visit Dubawi (Ire) in her first season at stud next year. Though not confirming or naming Darley's 20-year-old stallion, who looks on course to be champion sire for the first time this year, the breeder told the Nick Luck Daily podcast on Tuesday, “Obviously there are a few horses she could visit, and one in particular who is not getting any younger, but nothing is written in stone yet so therefore I can't really talk about that until I have made firm arrangements.”
She added, “I would think that your listeners will know which way my mind is going because one has to look not only at what makes a pretty pattern on paper but what is logistically and in general possible in terms of the ages of stallions involved.”
A potential mating with Dubawi would produce a reverse of the cross seen in recent Classic winners Adayar (Ire) and Homeless Songs (Ire). While it is relatively early days for Frankel as a broodmare sire, daughters of his sire Galileo (Ire) have combined well with Dubawi, with notable examples of that cross being Horse of the Year Ghaiyyath (Ire) and 2,000 Guineas winner Night Of Thunder (Ire).
Furthermore, Rausing's Lanwades Stud has also been represented as the breeder this year of St Leger winner Eldar Eldarov (GB), a son of Dubawi who, like Alpinista, has the treble Group 1 winner Albanova (GB) (Alzao) as his grand-dam.
The 5-year-old Alpinista, a daughter of the Hernando (Fr) mare Alwilda (GB) and a fourth-generation Lanwades homebred, has won six consecutive Group 1 races for Rausing and Sir Mark Prescott. She will retire at the end of the year, though one final racecourse hurrah has not yet been ruled out.
“The plan for the spring is definitely the paddocks at Lanwades Stud because she will be a 6-year-old then,” Rausing told Nick Luck. “She will definitely retire at the end of the year. Whether she runs again, at this precise moment is not decided. There are only two opportunities for her, which would be the Japan Cup or the Breeders' Cup, and in fact I would say the firmer going in Japan would be attractive to us because she has always actually been particularly good on firm going, so from that point of view it was an even more admirable achievement on that very heavy ground in Paris.”
Rausing pointed to the long journey to Japan as a potential matter of concern, however.
“I am pondering that at the moment,” she added.
While stud plans for next year are to be confirmed, Rausing revealed that she has already decided to keep Alpinista at home at Lanwades for her 2024 mating with G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner Study Of Man (Ire), the only son of Deep Impact (Jpn) at stud in Britain.
“I can tell you that she is going to visit Study Of Man in 2024,” she said. “Study Of Man has his first-crop yearlings this year. We very much look forward to seeing his produce run as two- and three-year-olds in the next two years and I have great expectations for him.”
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