She went through the Magic Millions National weanling sale at $14,000, consigned in a Woodlands reduction, resold for $25,000 at the 2008 January yearling sale and then for $38,000 at the Gold Coast Horses in Training sale.

Now a six figure in value filly, Graceful Anna has breeding that is significant in assessing the prospects as a sire of Hotel Grand, a leading Australian 3-year-old by European champion racehorse and world wide influence Grand Lodge who has first crop yearlings available at the Magic Millions sale at the Gold Coast in January.

One of those yearlings is bred virtually on a reverse cross to that which produced Graceful Anna, a daughter of Golden Slipper winner Canny Lad and the Grand Lodge mare Shack. In contrast, the yearling, an August 16 born filly, is from the Canny Lad mare Shack, a half-sister to Heather, a winner of seven races, including the Group 2 AJC Emancipation Stakes, and a winner producer. As Heather is by Grand Lodge, she is not far off being a three-quarter sister to the Hotel Grand filly.

The yearling is one of a dozen by Hotel Grand booked into the sale by this young sire's base, Racefree, Innisplain, Qld, a stud established on the former Noble Park near upmarket Glenlogan Park by Brisbane Race Club chairman Kevin Dixon. In the ownership of Peter Moran, the Noble Park paddocks produced a long string of good winners including champion iron-constitutioned sprinter Gold Edition, QTC Sires' Produce Stakes winner and AJC Sires' Produce Stakes and VRC Australian Guineas second Mossman and his daughters Segments (won the MRC Schillaci Stakes, AJC Gimcrack Stakes; second VRC Oakleigh Plate) and Pure Energy (won STC Reisling Slipper Trial; second Golden Slipper). Moran also stood both Mossman and his sire Success Express,

In the past four years the potential of the Racetree complex to outshine the achievements of Noble Park has emerged through acquisition of a bigger, high quality band of mares and a complement of four sires, Hotel Grand, Success Express's American Group1 juvenile winning three-quarter brother Greenwood Lake, the earlier Danzig proven source of top performers Monashee Mountain and the tough Canadian Silver sprinter-1600m performer Top Marc.

The high standard of the mares chosen for Racetree by Kevin Dixon is shown by perusal of the maternal breeding of the 12 Hotel Grand yearlings they have listed for the Gold Coast sale. In addition to the one by Canny Lad, they are well related daughters of Flying Spur, Success Express, Danzero, Encosta de Lago, Zeditave, Galileo, Snippets, Favorite Trick, Langfuhr, Octagonal and Special Dane.

Three of these sires, Flying Spur, Danzero and Special Dane, are by Danehill, the sire who, when put to a Grand Lodge mare, produced of Zipping, a multiple Group 2 winner, a second and third in the Cox Plate and fourth in the Melbourne Cup twice.

Champion 2YO in the International Classifications in 1993 and their second top 3YO Miler the following year, Grand Lodge, a son of one of the greatest Danzig horses, Chief's Crown, was a big loss to both hemispheres when he died on the eve of his 14th birthday.

He paid eight visits to the Woodlands stud in the Hunter Valley and left over 360 winners of 1000 races and $37million, contributors including Group 1 winners Shogun Lodge (13 stakes wins, $4,6million), Freemason (seven stakes wins, $3.49million), Grand Zulu (four wins, $1.7million) and Racetree's Hotel Grand (three stakes wins and two other stakes cheques, $598,860).

All Hotel Grand's efforts were at three and his nine starts included wins in the AJC Spring Champion Stakes-Gr,1 (by two lengths), AJC Randwick Guineas-Gr.1 and Newcastle Spring Stakes-Gr.2, a short head second in the AJC Dulcify Stakes-LR and a fourth in the STC Hobartville Stakes-Gr.2.

After his victory in the Champion Stakes, Sydney's principal spring classic, authoritative race reviewer Tony Brassel commented that Hotel Grand, a colt he suggested was the best looker at Randwick, blitzed them. "We saw that special gear change - this Group1 was over at the 200m pole," he wrote.

A half-brother to another very talented Australian racehorse from the Danzig male line, Outback Prince, who has first crop yearlings from use at another prominent Queensland stud, Clear Mountain Fairview, Hotel Grand has the benefit of being from a mare by the Bletchingly Golden Slipper winner Star Watch.

The sire Grand Lodge is starting to run out of runners in both hemispheres, but his ability to transmit excellence was demonstrated through descendants in 2009 in Europe as well as Australia.

His world champion 3-year-old son Sinndar, unbeaten Group 1 winner at two and successful in the English Derby, Irish Derby and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at three, supplied Europe's equal best older male of the year, Youmzain.

In addition Grand Lodge mares were responsible for two of Europe's best juveniles, Joshua Tree and Lady of the Desert.