There's always been a lot of fanfare around “sire making” races - and happily, these days “broodmare- making” races are also held in far greater esteem by the general punting public than they were in years gone by.
In fact, they are great betting races so everyone's a winner - the breeders and the punters!
A stallion either does or doesn’t have an impact in the breeding shed in a short ( many would argue too short) space of time. He generally arrives at stud in a blaze of glory, but the flame of interest and excitement he generates in mare owners will begin to flicker dangerously should he fail to get results on the board quick smart.
With mares it's more of a generational slow burn and the industry is somewhat kinder to them. Nobody is booting a G1 winning mare out of the broodmare paddock if her first couple of foals are no good. Even the G1 mare’s unraced sister might find a place in a quality harem - while G1 stallion’s unraced brother would be lucky to get a gig siring Polo ponies.
The Coolmore Classic has been a race of many names but it has always been a prestigious event which pits some of the best fillies against the older mares, with the winner more often than not going on to make a name for herself at stud.
Registered as the Thomas Arthur David (TAD) Kennedy Stakes, in honour of a former STC committeeman and trainer, the 1500m contest was inaugurated in 1973 as The Fillies And Mares Classic.
It was won by Miss Personality, later a successful broodmare but also an infamous one through no fault of her own! Her talented son Bold Personality was the “ring in” horse for the manifestly untalented Fine Cotton in one of racing's biggest scandals of the 1980s.
The Coolmore Classic has also been known as the NSW Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes, the Marlboro Classic, the Rosemount Wines Classic, the Orlando / Orlando Wines Classic, the Winfield Classic and finally - from 1996 on - Coolmore Stud's sponsorship bestowed upon it the current name which is far more fitting for a race of such importance.
The winner is exempt from both the Doncaster and the Queen Of The Turf, which only adds to the high stakes at play.
The Coolmore has been a G1 race since 1986, when it was won by its most influential victress, the mighty grey Emancipation (Bletchingly).
An ever increasing number of top horses trace their ancestry to her and she set the bar very high indeed - no other winner of the race has matched the great grey for stakes winners in their line of descent.
Emancipation was followed by the likes of Bounding Away, Strawberry Fair, Red Express, Acushla Marie, Skating, Kapchat, Flitter, Chlorophyll, Assertive Lass, Shindig ( she still holds the race record) and Camino Rose.
In 2000 a hulking NZ-bred daughter of Desert Sun blew them away - her name was Sunline and she would repeat the dose two years later. The great mare is the only horse to win the race twice. Porto Roca won in between.
Only Emancipation and Sunline have defied the burden of 60kg to win
In the years after Sunline came Bollinger, Shamekha, Danni Martine, Regal Cheer, Sunday Joy, Eskimo Queen and the great Typhoon Tracy.
Since 2010 Alverta, Aloha, OfcourseIcan, Appearance, Plucky Belle, Dixie Blossoms, Krone, Con Te Partiro, Lighthouse, Espiona and Zougotcha have saluted.
Few would argue that the 2025 Coolmore heroine Lady Shenandoah ( Snitzel) is one of the best winners of the race and in 2026 it is another daughter of the late Arrowfield giant, Lazzura, who is the punters elect.
Attempting to become the fourth straight winner of the race for Chris Waller, Lazzura will carry 58kg as equal topweight.
While Lady Shenandoah won as a hot favourite, they don’t actually have a good record in the Coolmore - only four faves have won since 2004!
Savvy Hallie (Hellbent) is as game and classy as they come and she’s got the Tempted formline, but barrier 13 is a horror draw for her in particular with her racing style. It’s going to take a genius ride from Nash Rawiller from out there. I don’t doubt Hallie’s ability to get the 1500m - but is 1500 the distance she will actually be covering? I also wonder if the epic battle with Tempted took a lot out of her because she absolutely tried her guts out there, to put it inelegantly.
Then we have Apocalyptic’s spring nemesis, the G1 1,000 Guineas winner Ole Dancer (Ole Kirk) and the always-dangerous Manaal ( Tassort) well in the market.
Verona Rose ( Castelvecchio) and Manaal's stablemate Cinsault ( Brazen Beau) are young mares on a fast upward curve and have attracted good support.
The remainder of the fourteen horse field are at double figure odds but this is a super classy bunch of mares from top stables and you can make some sort of a case for most of them.
Who will emerge as the winner of the 2026 $1 million Coolmore Classic?
Top Pick: MANAAL
Nothing went to plan for Manaal in this race last year when she had to work early, landed in front almost by default and led them for a long way before running out of gas near the line, but held on for fifth. Two better three year olds were stronger, Lady Shenandoah ( a champion) and the Slipper winner Lady Of Camelot. But Manaal is improving again with age after her dynamic juvenile season in which she beat the boys in the ATC Sires to claim her G1.
The four year old daughter of Tassort won a G2 double at Rosehill last spring ( on good tracks) and has returned with two strong seconds in the G3 Triscay and G2 Guy Walter in which she carried 59.5 and 59 respectively, she gets a little weight drop - but more importantly she has drawn perfectly this time to be near the speed without doing any work.
Manaal is a homebred for Emirates Park, who have claimed some big G1s in the last season or so with fillies / mares from their breeding program - Marhoona and Charm Stone, with Ameena ( also by Tassort) G1 placed.
The Michael Freedman trained Manaal has had 18 career starts for 6 wins and 5 placings and career earnings of more than $2.1 million to date.
She is the best of three winners from four foals to race from the imported stakes winning Midshipman mare Red Lodge (USA), purchased by Emirates Park at the Keeneland November Breeding Sale for AU $750,000 in 2018.
Manaal's younger half sister Rajwa, by Tassort's grandsire I Am Invincible, has just commenced racing and is showing promise.
Red Lodge had a 2023 Zoustar filly which sadly died at two years, and a 2024 Justify colt who sold for $400,000 to Kennewell Racing / Group One Bloodstock / Ridgeport at this year's Magic Millions Gold Coast sale.
She is currently in foal to Newgate Farm's exciting young sire Stay Inside.
The sire of Red Lodge Midshipman (Unbridled's Song) won the G1 Breeders Cup Juvenile and is a highly sought after broodmare sire in the States. He shares the same grand dam Fleet Lady ( Avenue Of Flags) as triple G1 winner and successful sire Frosted - his daughter Arctic Glamour will contest the Coolmore on Saturday!
The dam of Red Lodge was the unraced Star Silver by Aldeberan ( 2003 Eclipse Champion Sprinter by Mr Prospector) a half brother to Good Journey (Nureyev) who was a successful sire in Australia and a close relative of another by that great son of Northern Dancer in Spinning World, the sire of Thorn Park - they all descend from the Best In Show daughter Minnie Hauk.
Star Silver produced six winners, two stakes winners and was a daughter of the fine mare Memories Of Silver by the Roberto son Silver Hawk - a G1 winner and multiple stakes producer - her daughter Winter Memories ( El Prado) also won twice at the highest level.
Memories Of Silver was the best foal from her dam All My Memories by Sea Bird's Belmont/Preakness hero Little Current and the line goes back through the stakes winning and producing Graustark daughter Java Moon to the American Blue Hen Golden Trail - a daughter of Hasty Road, she became a foundation mare for Darby Dan Farms in Kentucky who stood Graustark, Roberto and His Majesty.
She is the ancestress of Roberto's great son Dynaformer and of another Brian's Time who stood in Japan but we see him for example in the pedigree of Supido.
This is a branch of family 4 r which descends from Miss Obstinate, the seventh dam of mighty Nearco via her daughter Kitty Clark by Glencoe.
Manaal's line comes through a half sister to Kitty Clark, Mary Morris by Medoc.
Manaal's dam Red Lodge carries duplications of Roberto, Amerigo, Bold Ruler, Mr Prospector, Hail To Reason and descends from a Graustark mare - she has a pedigree packed with broodmare-sire power to say the very least!
Manaal’s sire, the lightly raced but gifted Tassort is living up to his pedigree as a sire of elite fillies. A half brother to G1 winners Astern and Alizee out of Blue Hen Essaouira (Exceed And Excel) he descends from an unbroken line of female excellence descending from the great champion Triscay ( Marscay).
It's interesting that Essaouira produced Chergui to Frosted (see Midshipman link) - certainly a handy stakes placed performer and still only a three year old - but not quite living up to the high bar his incredible dam has set. I do wonder, if he had been a filly….
Manaal is bred
Danzig 6m 5m,5m x
Roberto x 5f,5m sex balanced
This pedigree brings together the half brothers Seattle Slew and Lomond with duplications of their relative Mr Prospector.
It brings together the full brothers His Majesty and Graustark ( Ribot)
Linebreeding to La Troienne abounds, specifically vis sires inbred to her daughter Baby League - Private Account sex balances Glamour, whose son Poker is the damsire of Seattle Slew / Lomond - their second damsire Jet Action is out of her full sister Busher, while Private Account's Best In Show damline provides her full brother Mr Busher. Add in a heap of family members Buckpasser and Bimelech on both sides of the pedigree.
The 4-r family / Nearco nick - Tassort's sire Brazen Beau is bred x 2 sex balanced to his son Nearctic through his dam Sansadee - who is linebred to her own ancestress Windy Answer - a daughter of stallion Teddy Wrack (like Nearco / Manaal he is a descendant of Miss Obstinate) and this linebreeding comes through the three quarter sisters Ciboulette and Prize Answer who sex balance Chop Chop, the male line coming via his son Choperion - a half brother to Nearctic!
Through Unbridled's Song comes Family member Fortino and importantly he is both a distant relative of Marscay and a descendant of a mare sired by By Jimminy, a close relation to Blue Hen Bee Mac, x 2 in Marscay.
Unbridled's Song also balances out all the Turn-To male lines with his Royal Charger daughter. Meanwhile, Little Current's grandsire Dan Cupid and Marscay descend from three quarter sisters who were both bred x 2 to their family's matriarch Maggie BB.
This pedigree also features a multitude of sex balanced linebreeding to My Babu and his relative Turn-To, while Little Current and Exclusive Native on either side of the pedigree sex balance Native Dancer’s sire Polynesian. Obviously Danehill's double of Native Dancer's best daughter Natalma is key!
Manaal is linebred to Round Table, Bold Ruler, Relic, and more.
This is such a powerful pedigree and completely befitting of an individual you'd expect to see win such a noted “broodmare-making” race and go on to found her own successful family.
Can Manaal add another G1 to the Emirates Park honour roll?
Manaal and Jason Collett will run for glory from barrier 2
Next Best: OLE DANCER
The reigning G1 1,000 Guineas heroine comes to the Coolmore after a brave G1 third in the Surround where she got to watch Tempted and Savvy Hallie stage an epic battle in front of her. First up she was second (carrying 59) to rising star Sass Appeal who came out and bolted in the G2 Kewney last week.
Is the Moody / Coleman trained filly looking for further now? Possibly, but I'm willing to forgive the second up run where she was wide and on a genuinely soft track. She is better suited here on firmer ground and will be finishing hard.
The filly's last third up run was the narrowest of defeats to Ferivia in the 1400m Guineas Prelude before her memorable dethroning of Apocalyptic at Caulfield and she was just too tough for the Flight Stakes winner that day.
Apocalyptic isn't here after her fourth in the Surround and she might be a little flat after a big spring, but Ole Dancer presses on - and I reckon the daughter of Ole Kirk is a big chance to claim another G1. Though drawn 11 she is versatile and can go back or sit on pace.
Ole Dancer was a $350,000 buy for Moody Racing Pty Ltd from North Thoroughbreds ( as agent) at the Magic Millions Gold Coast. She races in the bloodstock interests of long time stable clients Neil Werrett ( who owns the sire and bred the filly), Colin Madden and Max Whitby.
Still just a veteran of 7 lifetime starts, Ole Dancer won at both her juvenile appearances and has only been once unplaced - when 5th in the 1200m Atlantic Jewel Stakes at the Valley at her first start at three. Her career earnings currently sit at more than $1.2 million.
She is one of three winners, and the first stakes winner, out of the royally bred, winning Husson mare Dancers.
Dancers hasn't had luck with her further coverings by Ole Kirk, sadly losing her 2024 filly by him and missing on two other occasions - but she is currently in foal so fingers crossed everything goes well for her this time.
Her sire Husson - by Arrowfield legend and increasingly influential broodmare sire Hussonet - was unbeaten in 5 starts and a 3 x G1 winning sprinter miler in Argentina. In Australia he sired dual G1 hero Lucky Hussler and stakes winning fillies Vanna Girl, Frolic, Affable, Hussousa, Peron and The Huntress.
From limited representation he is proving a worthy ( now a G1) broodmare sire known for imparting his extreme toughness - over which the super speed genetics of a stallion like Ole Kirk produce a winning recipe.
As with his sire Hussonet, Husson has nicked successfully with an even bigger Arrowfield legend in the late great Snitzel ( G1 winner Baraqiel a prime example) and Ole Dancer is a variation on the theme, as she is a close relative of the champion sire.
Her grand dam Viennese Lass also bred by Werrett Bloodstock was a three quarter sister to Snitzel by Redoute's Choice out of Wiener ( More Than Ready ) from Snippets Lass thus also a half sister to G1 winner and sire Hinchinbrook, to stakes winner and elite producer Viennese and to the dam of Joe Pride's incredible G1 performer Private Eye!
Viennese Lass had six foals, all raced and all winners including stakes placed Viennese Star ( I Am Invincible).
Wiener was the dam of G1 Epsom hero Rediener and Listed winning sprinter Rathlin. She produced twelve named foals and has several daughters breeding on successfully - notably her daughter Za Zi Ba by Ole Kirk's close relation All Too Hard is the dam of stakes winner King Of Pop.
This illustrious damline from the Storm Bird daughter Snow Finch is a branch of family 2-c which goes back to the French-bred Teddy mare Britannica who was closely inbred to Teddy's sire Flying Fox. Her line goes back to taproot mare Atalanta who was also the ancestress of the great mare Crucifix who founded her own line (2-i) and to her traces Teddy's sire Ajax as well as the great broodmare sires Precipitation, Charlottown and Mellay.
Husson descends from another daughter of Atalanta, Faith, who was a famous racemare of her time.
Like Manaal's sire Tassort, Ole Kirk is bred to be a powerhouse filly sire and a future broodmare sire of great value.
It can't get much better than being a son of Written Tycoon out of a full sister to Black Caviar from one of the best families in the studbook!’ He lived up to all the expectations, as a dual G1 winner of the Golden Rose and Caulfield Guineas at three, but was a super juvenile as well.
Ole Dancer is bred
Snippets 5f x 5f
Vain 5f, 5f, 6f x
Husson carries a line to the Court Martial (Vain grandsire) son Jerry Honor, from the family of Danzig and Rockefella - these two are key factors in the way Ole Kirk breeds on with the latter siring his ancestress Dollaquick.
Hussonet brings the all important My Babu daughter nick via Raja Baba for Written Tycoon, who carries sons Milesian and Better Boy.
Lunchtime and Adios, sons of Silly Season are carried by Ole Kirk and the link with the Snippets linebreeding is powerful, as Adios is related to Grey Sovereign - his daughter Lachine foaled Snippets’ damsire Grand Chaudiere. Canny Lad sex balances Lunchtime.
Husson's dual lines to Mr Prospector are important for Vain, whose sire Wilkes is from the same damline.
Ole Dancer is linebred (sex balanced) to Never Bend, Grey Sovereign, Nijinsky, Better Self, Star Kingdom and Northern Dancer.
She carries plenty of La Troienne blood and is is linebred to Blue Hens Best In Show, Lalun, Natalma and Cosmah
Ole Dancer and Zac Lloyd will jump from barrier 11.
Several yearlings from this - arguably the most commercial family in the country - are coming up for sale soon
A filly presented by Yulong sired by their hot young stallion Tagaloa who is off to a flying start at stud, third foal from a placed Medaglia d'Oro mare who is half sister to stakes placed Gloriette (Lonhro) dam of champion 2YO filly Arcaded and this season's stakes placed juvenile Hardanger.
Second dam Viennese.
North Bloodstock offers a colt by Ole Kirk from 3 x winner Vienna Romance ( by G1 broodmare sire Duporth) a half sister to stakes placed Viennese Star and to the dam of Ole Dancer. Fifth foal from the dam who has had two to race so far, one winner.
From the draft of Goodwood Farm ( as agent) an Anamoe filly who is sure to attract a heap of attention! This girl is the sixth foal from the Shamardal mare Confidential Queen dam of the G1 warhorse Private Eye and Listed winner King's Secret, her five to race all winners.
Second dam Royal Snippets ( Royal Academy) half sister to Snitzel, Viennese, Hinchinbrook, Wiener etc Dam of four winners including G3 winner and sire King's Troop.
Filly is bred 5m x 5f to Machiavellian
Gold Coast March Yearling
Lot 485 goes through the ring on Friday evening!
Filly by G1 sire Bivouac from stakes placed Vinnie daughter Viennese Star, half sister to the dam of Ole Dancer. Fifth foal from the mare who has had two to race so far, both winners.
Consigned by Daandine Stud this girl is bred Danehill 3m x 4m and More Than Ready 3f x 4f
Roughie: VERONA ROSE
The G2 Guy Walter winner beat top pick Manaal there, and the four year old daughter of Dundeel’s excellent son Castelvecchio contests her fourth G1 race.
The Gary Portelli trained filly is a backmarker and either didn't see out the Oaks trip strongly (nor the 2000m of the Vinery last Autumn) and / or they were run too slow to suit and /or she got too dour when trained as a stayer.
She looks to be a sprinter miler with her best runs around that distance and indeed her trainer confirmed she probably is after her Guy Walter win, saying
“We were aiming for an Oaks when I first bought her, we thought she has got a pedigree that should run two miles. But she's brilliant!”
Verona Rose has already provided a fantastic return on investment for her connections, as the Arrowfield bred filly was a modest $40,000 Inglis Classic buy for Portelli and has won over $700,000 in her 13 start career.
With her Guy Walter win she became the sixth stakes winner for Castelvecchio and she bids to become his third G1 winner after the freakish mare Aeliana and Randwick Guineas hero El Castello.
Verona Rose is the best of two winners from three to race from the Aga Khan bred grey Minamya (FR), a winning half sister by the class- imparting Dubawi son Makfi to staying stakes winner Mila from the G3 winning Linamix daughter Minatlya - a full sister to a beloved crowd favourite of the mid-2000s, the three time G1 WFA winning hero Manighar!
Minamya had a colt by Hitotsu that was offered at Magic Millions and purchased by Portelli Racing for $100,000.
Unfortunately the mare died after producing her last foal, a colt by Castelvecchio - but the good news is she has two daughters sired by Maurice, as well as Verona Rose, to carry her line forward.
This is the family of the Rubiano (Fappiano) mare Mintly Fresh and is a branch of the old North American family tracing to Tea Rose (family 9-o) - dam of champions, and grand dam of Hard Tack who sired the immortal Seabiscuit.
Verona Rose has no inbreeding within five generations
She is linebred to Damascus and sex balanced to his tail male ancestor Sun Again, who has close genetic ties with the sires James and Pan carried by Castelvecchio's grand dam Moon Scent - and with Darshaan.
She is also linebred to Never Bend (Lalun) via Riverman, Mill Reef and his son Shirley Heights x 2 and to his half brother Bold Reason. Green Desert provides the sex balancing Never Bend daughter.
Dundeel x Makfi is an extension of the hugely successful Sadler's Wells x Dubawi nick and is already producing stakes winners like Verona Rose and Ruska Roma, while Dundeel x Dubawi gave us G1 winner Militarize
This pedigree also features linebreeding to Classic sires Val De Loir and Alycidon and - of course - to that perennial presence in the pedigree of top fillies - My Babu.
Verona Rose is partnered by the filly whisperer Craig Williams and they've drawn ideally in 4.
He is the third foal from a placed Not A,Single Doubt mare, a daughter of the G2 placed Mandistana (Azamour) a half sister to the dam of Verona Rose.
The colt is bred 4f x 3m to Redoute's Choice.
Blowout: VIVY AIR
Vivy isn't a G1 winner but she's of that class and I like this assignment for her first up in this distance range at a track she likes, with less weight than she carried to beat Swiftfalcon and Co in The Big Dance lead up ( second to Gringotts on a Soft 7 in the grand final) then back on firmer ground here she beat G1 winners Transatlantic and Militarize in the Five Diamonds - and backed up to do it.
She is tough.
This five year old daughter of Hellbent is a journeywoman! She has raced in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. She has trekked to Dubbo, Tamworth, Kembla, Geelong, Seymour, Ballarat, Grafton, Newcastle and Dubbo. And no matter which racecourse she finds herself at, from the humble to the headquarters, she puts in 1000% every time.
She's had 28 starts, won 4 and placed in 12 for career earnings of just a tick under $3 million.
True, Vivy has fallen short in two G1 attempts - as a three year old in the 1,000 Guineas behind Joliestar and at her last start, the WFA Northerly Stakes in Perth but her run there (8th of 16) was better than it reads, the race wasn't run to suit and she made ground when it was too late. She's not officially a stakes winner either, which is plain ridiculous for a mare of her calibre.
Bred by OTI Racing, Vivy Air had a change of ownership and trainer last year and I feel she has improved in the care of Ciaron Maher. She's still only five and she has a beautiful pedigree which should enable her to breed on very successfully when the time comes - a G1 win or placing would be handy!
Her dam Head Over Heels by Fastnet Rock is now owned by Yarraman Park and is hopefully in foal to Hellbent, having missed to him for a couple of seasons. Her last foal by the sire is the OTI bred filly Somersault, who shows some promise and winning sibling Loafer who died young.
Vivy Air is a half sister to South African G2 winner and dual G1 sire New Predator, and is one of seven winners from seven to race from her dam.
Head Over Heels is a half sister to the four time stakes winning sprinter stakes winner Presently and they were foaled by Centaine's Gift ( Centaine) who had a full sister Celebrity Status who would produce three stakes winners including Belongs In Lights, who produced three stakes winners of her own and would become the grand dam of the memorable upset G1 Newmarket Hcp / VRC Sprint Classic heroine Roch'N'Horse!
Their dam Forever And Ever was by the Epsom / Doncaster winner Authentic Heir ( Coronation Boy) out of Minnie Sue by Better Boy.
Vivy Air was born to be an iron mare - not only do the Hellbents have an incredible will to win - she is also bred x 2 to one of the toughest and most genuine racehorses to ever look through a bridle in Better Boy, who famously “won” the Caulfield Cup of his own volition having lost his jockey at the start, beating home the hot favourite Redcraze. No pilot required!
Add to all that, she is a descendant of none other than Absurdity, a full sister to Doxa who became the third dam of breedshaping matriarch La Troienne, through stakes winner Mere who founded a successful and very speedy family through her daughter Captivation by Vain.
Vivy Air is bred
Danzig 5m,5m x 4m
Green Desert 4m,4m x
Better Boy x 5m,5f sex balanced
Her pedigree is basically a symphony of linebreeding to Better Boy’s sire My Babu. She has further lines to him via Sir Tristram and Artaius (daughters) and son Crozier.
My Babu is from the family of Turn-To to whom she carries multiple lines including Sir Ivor (sex balanced) and Habitat, plus relatives Alycidon and Klairon.
Vivy Air’s ancestress Doretta was by Foxlaw, son of Alope (2f) and this pedigree boasts extensive duplication of family members Round Table and Aureole plus Atan, this being Fastnet Rock's tribe as well.
Both Hellbent and Century, who sired Vivy Air's second damsire the great Centaine, descend from daughters of Talking, a VRC Derby winning son of the legendary stallion Magpie.
Talking's dam Society was by Absurd and Vivy Air's own ancestress Folly was Absurd's full sister.
It's the La Troienne nick and she is so prominent in the pedigree of Hellbent via Green Desert x 2 who brings her via Blue Hen Lalun, by Djebel - not only My Babu's sire, but also of Targui who creates yet another turbocharged nick by appearing on Vivy Air's damline.
Vivy went to a new level last prep - she comes in fit enough after three trials and she could make her presence felt late here!
The bonny mare will launch from barrier 9 with Reece Jones aboard.
