Kingman to Cover Taghrooda

KINGMAN TO COVER TAGHROODA 
This year’s four-time Group 1-winning miler Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) has been chosen as the first mate for Sheikh Hamdan’s Taghrooda (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}), heroine of this year’s G1 Investec Oaks and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S., according to Racing Post. Both 3-year-olds, Kingman and Taghrooda were stablemates at trainer John Gosden’s Clarehaven Stables. A homebred for Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms, Kingman suffered his lone defeat when second in the G1 2000 Guineas, then subsequently collected the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas, G1 St James’s Palace S., G1 Sussex S. and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois. Taghrooda, meanwhile, in addition to her Oaks and King George victories, finished second in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks and third in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. 

“The decision of which mare visits which stallion is the result of a great deal of research and homework behind the scenes,” Shadwell director Richard Lancaster told Racing Post. “The final decision is always Sheikh Hamdan’s and he has very definite ideas about which crosses he would like to try, especially when it comes to using first season sires. To that end, we will also be supporting Mukhadram in his first season with a good number of our own mares.”