Anabarbie is a beautiful black girl shaping up as a reliable breeder, with three pregnancies in four seasons. She retired from a promising track career with bad bone chips in the off fore fetlock, and had a fetlock fusion operation in the winter of 2012, after which she managed a successful pregnancy in the 2012-13 season while still finishing her recuperation. The operation was completely successful, and (aided by a lot of TLC by Sledmere Stud) has left her fully paddock-sound. A vet report on the fetlock, one year after the operation, is attached (from a subsequent conversation , the 1/5 lameness referred to was due to the changed mechanics of the foot, and not to any remaining soreness). Another year on, one of the attached photographs shows her hooning around a small paddock in June 2014, with no sign of any lameness at all, as she had obviously learned to manage the new configuration. The fetlock is no longer an issue.

She has produced a couple of very nice-looking fillies so far with no problems. Photos of her Mossman 2yo at yearling-sale stage and her current Al Maher weanling are attached for reference (not included in this sale). The Al Maher filly ("lovely type", says Catriona Murphy) will be going to the sales next year in the Sledmere draft.

She is currently in foal to Magic Albert, and on target for an early-August foal. The result should be suitable either to sell or to race. He has a consistent 66% winners to runners ratio and has been averaging around $45-$50,000 at the sales. Given the lines of Kenmare, Biscay and Sir Tristram in Annie's breeding, the coming foal will have a pedigree remarkably similar to that of the Group 1 Randwick Guineas winner and current sire Ilovethiscity, and there are plenty more samples of those three lines strewn throughout Magic Albert's list of stakes-horses, so this foal will be aiming to follow in those footsteps.

Anabarbie comes from a terrific female family, which goes back in direct tail female to the great mare La Troienne. Closer up, between them, the three full sisters, Beach Barbie, Mardi's Magic and Surrealist, have produced some prolific winners. Annie's own half-brother is the tough-as-teak, 11-times-winning Honourable Aussie, and her "aunt" Surrealist has produced the multiple Group 1 winner Racing To Win, and the Group 3 winner and successful sire Purrealist.

Her father, Anabaa, is the damsire of some great horses, starting with the "old marvel" Buffering, Horse Of The Year Dissident and Arc winner Treve, and including Group 1 winner Rostova, and the Group 2 winners Tango's Daughter and English (the latter placed in a Golden Slipper). He is currently at no.8 on the Broodmare sires table (by earnings), with the same (34%) winners-to-runners ratio as Danehill.

And if you like stand-out colouring, there is also a lot of grey in this family. So far I have only managed to breed two boring (but beautiful) bays, but four of Annie's six siblings are grey, as are her mother and three of her aunts, so it's in there somewhere!