Dansili has been chosen as the first mating for Australian bred superstar Igugu.

Owner Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa has announced the Juddmonte Farms stallion will cover his South African Horse of the Year in the coming weeks.

Igugu (7m Galileo – Zarinia by Intikhab) was bred and sold by Kia Ora Stud for $65,000 at the 2009 Inglis Melbourne Premier yearling sale and later changed hands for R1 million at the 2009 Emperors Palace Ready to Run Sale.

She was a Group 1 winner of the J&B Met, Durban July, Woolavington 2000 and SA Fillies Classic in South Africa and then travelled off-shore for black-type placings at Meydan and Newmarket last year.

Igugu’s dam Zarinia has also produced Australian Group 3 winner Honorius and she hails from the family of the Aga Khan fillies Zarkava (Arc de Triomphe) and Zainta (Prix de Diane).

Dansili has sired Group 1 winners Flintshire, Passage Of Time and The Fugue from mares by Galileo’s sire Sadler’s Wells.