Horses That Could Be A Great Airing At Stud

Roaring Lion and Enable would be the first of three hopeful partnerships at stud we would like to see in the near future.

Last year's champion three-year-old Roaring Lion found the Guineas took quick and the Derby too much, but established himself as one of all the all-time ten furlong greats.

John Gosden's grey colt won the Dante Stakes at York, before after Epsom taking the Coral Eclipse at Sandown, the Juddmonte International at York and the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

With Cracksman occupying the Champion Stakes at Ascot, connections opted to bring him back to a mile for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and the horse dually obliged showing off all his versatility.

They signed him off with a crack on the dirt in the Breeders Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, but Oisin Murphy preserved the horse's welfare well before the finish as the horse did not go a yard on the unique surface.

His profile will always centre on his achievements in Britain and Ireland, and a date with former stablemate Enable in the future would certainly be some development.

Together, their offspring would be somewhat of a middle distance specialist, given that Enable his bidding for a hat-trick of Arc's this season - which will surely bring the curtain down on her respective career.

Khalid Abdullah's star mare is expected to return in next week's Coral Eclipse at Sandown, looking to continue this outstanding winning sequence.

Also a winner of the Epsom, Irish and Yorkshire Oaks along with the King George and Breeders Cup Turf in her career, she is a world class horse and represents everything that is great about British racing.

She is an absolute superstar, one of the world's best, and her career will not stop when connections announce her inevitable retirement.

A meeting with Roaring Lion would certainly produce some highly-talented yearlings.

Flicking to the National Hunt sphere, Annie Power delivered her first foal back in Febuary – a colt by Europe's ten-time champion sire Galileo.

The now 11-year-old mare won five Grade One contests over hurdles for trainer Willie Mullins and owner Rich Ricci, including the Champion Hurdle in 2016 when subbing in for stablemate Faugheen.

Many National Hunt horses are gelded pretty early on - meaning not many National Hunt horses can pair up, so looking at the staying division on the flat, the eye is drawn to dual Gold Cup winner Stradivarius.

That would be an interesting meet-up potentially in the future, with Stradivarius - a son of Sea The Stars providing sufficient stamina to compete over jumps, and Annie Power supporting the ability to quick over obstacles.

A fast and speedy mare, Annie Power competed over the minimum distance in the NH category, whilst Stradivarius relishes the maximum distance on the flat - but the two do cross lines.

Stradivarius still has plenty of years ahead of him on the racecourse, having won his seventh race in a row in the feature race at Ascot last week.

John Gosden's five-year-old chestnut is bidding for another Stayers Million bonus after also winning the Yorkshire Cup on return, and will need to be successful in the Goodwood Cup for a third time plus another victory on the Knavesmire in the Lonsdale to collect another seven figure prize.

Annie Power meanwhile can establish herself as one of the best broodmares about when her the first of her crop eventually make it to the track.

Wow, where do we start with this?

Two of the best horses that ever lived - starting with the almighty Frankel, who retired fourteen unbeaten when winning the Champion Stakes at Ascot in 2012.

In a career that nothing ever really got near him, he will always be remembered for his bloodless display in the Guineas, his smashing turn of foot in the Sussex Stakes and his bullet-train performance in the Queen Anne.

The champion of the world - or is he, as the Australian's would argue that title would belong to the now recently retired Chris Waller-trained mare Winx, who won four Cox Plate's and three Queen Elizabeth's in and amongst a 33-race unbeaten sequence.

Frankel gets the edge with us and probably most given the standard of horse's he beat at the top level, but instead of causing conflict on that debate, if the two ever met at stud, words would fail to describe the reputation the offspring would carry let-alone their talent to race.

Bred for a mile or mile-and-a-quarter, the argument would be then for who trains it and where it races. Of course much of that comes down to the owners, but where is it auctioned?

We may just be dreaming, but staff at studs look to get the best out of selective breeding and producing 'cream of the crop' and this would be one hell of a meeting between these two equine stars.

If the offspring made it to the track, to a degree it would be simply unfair on all the others, but we would be watching the greatest of the greatest.