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Frankel’s first Oaks winner Anapurna is the product of Meon Valley Stud, a nursery with a wonderful history that began in the 1977 when bloodstock agent Richard Galpin was dispatched to Tattersalls sales to buy four yearling fillies as possible foundation mares for Egon and Elizabeth Weinfeld.
It could scarcely have been a more successful venture with three of them proving high-class performers.
The Henry Cecil-trained One In A Million, who cost 18,500gns, won the 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes, stablemate Odeon (38,000gns) won the Galtres Stakes at York, while the Michael Stoute-trained Reprocolor, purchased for 25,000 guineas, won the Lingfield Oaks Trial and Lancashire Oaks and finished fourth in the Investec Oaks at Epsom.
In 1979, the Weinfelds bought a farm at Bishop's Waltham in Hampshire that was named Meon Valley Stud and - breeding from the descendants of those yearling purchases - it has become one of the most successful British commercial breeding operations.
The stud, now covering 900 acres, has bred a string of top-class winners with Anapurna (Frankel x Dash To The Top by Montjeu) joining a remarkable list of top class runners bred by Meon Valley Stud.
They include 1996 Investec Oaks heroine Lady Carla, 1998 Investec Oaks runner-up Noushkey, Opera House (1991 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Coral-Eclipse, Investec Coronation Cup), Kayf Tara (1998 and 2000 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot), Colorspin (1986 Irish Oaks), Milligram (1987 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes), Stagecraft (1991 Prince Of Wales's Stakes), Cezanne (1994 Irish Champion Stakes), One So Wonderful (1998 Juddmonte International), Necklace (2003 Moyglare Stud Stakes), Zee Zee Top (2003 Prix de l'Opera), Izzi Top (2012 Pretty Polly Stakes & 2012 Prix Jean Romanet) and Shirocco Star (second in both 2012 Investec Oaks and Irish Oaks) and Speedy Boarding (2016 Prix Jean Romanet & 2016 Prix de l'Opera).
Meon Valley Stud bred its 200th individual winner when Fantasy Fry scored at Bath in July, 2010.
The stud, which has enjoyed some spectacular sales results, keeps a number of fillies (and occasionally a colt) in training, this year split between James Fanshawe, John Gosden, Hughie Morrison and Roger Varian.
Egon Weinfeld died in December, 2013. His son Mark (Managing Partner) and daughter Helena Ellingsen (Partner) are actively involved with the management of the stud and many of their racehorses are leased to run in the name of the promotional company Helena Springfield.
Oaks winner Anapurna, a half-sister to four winners, and Investec Derby runner Telecaster were two of 21 Meon Valley Stud foals in 2016.
On May 26, Quest The Moon won the G3 Prix du Lys to become the 125th stakes winner descended from Reprocolor.
