Grade 1 winner Balance, half-sister to Zenyatta, to visit Frankel

Multiple Grade 1 winner Balance, a half-sister to champion Zenyatta, will be among the mares in Frankel's first book this spring.

According to Headley Bell of Mill Ridge Farm, where Balance is boarded for John and Jerry Amerman, the 10-year-old Thunder Gulch mare safely arrived in Newmarket, England on Jan. 13.

Two-time reigning European Horse of the Year Frankel, who raced as a homebred for Juddmonte Farms, retired unbeaten in 14 starts, including 10 Group 1 victories. The 5-year-old Galileo horse will stand his initial season at Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Stud in England for a fee of approximately $198,000.

Balance joins a star-studded lineup of mares expected to be bred to the champion this spring that also includes classic producer Oatsee, Kentucky's reigning broodmare of the year; 2011 Prix de l' Arc de Triomphe winner Danedream; Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Zagora, an Eclipse Award finalist; Eclipse Award winner Stacelita; Japanese champion Vodka; and multiple Group 1 winner Midday.

Balance, campaigned by Amerman Racing, scored Grade 1 victories in the 2006 Las Virgenes Stakes and Santa Anita Oaks and the 2007 Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap. She placed in four other Grade 1 events and retired with six wins from 16 career starts and earnings of $1,048,491.

Balance, who has two sons of racing age, has not yet produced a starter. Her first foal was the A.P. Indy colt Mr. Besilu, who topped the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale, bringing a high bid of $4.2 million from Besilu Stables. The following year, her Street Cry colt, Go Nineteen, sold for $750,000 to John McCormack Bloodstock and was subsequently shipped to Japan to train.

Balance, who produced a Smart Strike colt last year, was bred to Giant's Causeway for 2013.

Balance is out of the 18-year-old Kris S. mare Vertigineux, dam of five winners from six to race. Her first starter was the stakes-winning Aljabr filly Where's Bailey, followed by Balance. Vertigineux then produced Zenyatta in 2004. The Street Cry mare won 19 of 20 career starts for earnings of $7.3 million, making her North America's leading money-winning female. Her 13 Grade 1 victories included the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic and 2008 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic. In addition to earning the 2010 Horse of the Year title, Zenyatta won the Eclipse Award as champion older female three consecutive years, from 2008-10.

Zenyatta, boarded at Lane's End for Jerry and Ann Moss, produced her first foal, a colt by Bernardini, in March 2012 and is currently in foal to Tapit.

Vertigineux, who is owned by Coolmore, is also the dam of Eblouissante, a 4-year-old Bernardini filly who won her career debut in November and is entered to run this Thursday at Santa Anita Park. The mare has a pair of fillies, ages 2 and 3, by Coolmore stallion Henrythenavigator. She was bred to Street Cry for a 2013 foal that would be a full sibling to Zenyatta.