Bloodstock Desk: Gainsborough star mares set to visit sire of Smarty Jones.

Byline: AMY BENNETT

FERVENT speculation surrounded Elusive Quality's stud fee for 2005. His superstar son Smarty Jones landed two-thirds of the US Triple Crown and was retired to Three Chimneys to stand for $100,000, double the fee his sire commanded in 2004.

To what level would Gainsborough raise 12-year-old Elusive Quality's fee after the son of Gone West became the leading sire by progeny earnings in North America last year?

The decision was made that father should follow son, and this year Elusive Quality stands at Gainsborough Farm for $100,000 (pounds 52,388), a massive rise on the $10,000 he stood for in 2000, the year Smarty Jones was conceived.

Elusive Quality offers breeders a proven way to tap into the prepotent Mr P rospector line - and still at a cheaper fee than several of the late sire's better sons.

Kingmambo tops the list of leading Mr Prospector stallions at $300,000 (pounds 157,176), with Fusaichi P egasus and Seeking The Gold standing for $150,000 (pounds 78,588) and $125,000 (pounds 65,489) respectively, and Elusive Quality's sire Gone West commanding $150,000.

Bred by Silver Springs Stud and Mrs J Costelloe, Elusive Quality won nine of 20 starts. He was unraced as a juvenile but improved with age to excel over trips up to a mile. As a five-year-old, he set a world record time for a mile at Belmont when winning the Grade 3 Poker Handicap under equal topweight.

Understandably, Gainsborough is now eager to support its leading sire - who stands under the Darley banner - but such support was not greatly in evidence last season; this year only one Elusive Quality foal has been born at Gainsborough's farms, a colt out of Dubian, the dam of multiple Group 1 winners Golden Snake and Sayyedati. Two other mares failed to get in foal, and one has yet to deliver.

In contrast, 20 Gainsborough mares have been booked to visit Elusive Quality this season. Among them are the winners of six European Classics as well as six other Group/Graded winners. Of the 19 mares to have raced, 16 of them won on turf. Five mares also raced on dirt in America or Dubai, but only Fit To Lead, campaigned almost exclusively on the dirt, won on that surface.

Larrocha, a daughter of Sadler's Wells who has been bred to Mr Prospector once and to Gone West and Kingmambo three times apiece, has now been scanned in foal to Elusive Quality.

A half-sister to top-class stayer Ardross, Larrocha was a smart middle-distance performer, winning two Listed contests over a mile and a half and finishing third in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille. Her best progeny to date is Razkalla, a son of Caerleon who won two Listed middle-distance races at five and recently finished second to Phoenix Reach in the Grade 1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Nad Al Sheba.

Yousefia adds more speed than stamina to Elusive Quality's already speedy profile. She has already proved a successful outcross with the sire line, producing Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes winner Mythical Girl from her 1995 mating with Gone West. A sister to top-class sprinter Green Desert, Yousefia won a six-furlong maiden contest at two in Britain and went on to win a Listed race on turf in America.

Among the high-class racemares booked to the sire is Balanchine, winner of the Oaks and the Irish Derby. She is already the dam of Gulf News, a useful middle-distance performer in France, and produced a colt by Woodman in February.

Irish Oaks and Nassau Stakes winner Lailani has already been scanned in foal to Elusive Quality, having been barren to A.P. Indy last year. Lailani proved top-class on both sides of the Atlantic, also winning the 2001 Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes at Belmont to crown a brilliant three-year-old season.

In her three matings to date, Lailani has visited only A.P. Indy, resulting in two colts, including the Godolphin-owned two-year-old Paullinus.

Five coverings by Danzig have resulted in four foals for Always Loyal, winner of the1997 Poule d'Essai des P ouliches. Her only other mating produced a Seeking The Gold colt in 2000. A half-sister to top-class sprinter Anabaa and smart juvenile Key Of Luck, she was not covered last season.

Queen's Logic was an outstanding juvenile, unbeaten in five starts including the 2001 Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes. A foot injury kept her out of the Guineas following her victory in the Fred Darling, and she was retired mainly as a result of niggling problems. She has a yearling colt by Machiavellian and gave birth to a Kingmambo colt in February.

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Smarty Jones: his sire Elusive Quality's fee has been doubled