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Breeders eying the international market
The French bloodstock boom sees improved quality, but numbers remain static, writes Jocelyn de Moubray
ALTHOUGH THE quality of horses by French-based sires is higher than ever before, the numbers of French registered foals has remained more or less stable. This is even despite the fact that around 12 sires have covered more than 100 mares in each of the last three seasons, and at ever higher fees.
Siyouni, Le Havre, Wootton Bassett and Almanzor will lead the way again in 2020 standing at €100,000, €50,000, €40,000 and €35,000 and are all certain to cover at least 100 mares.
At the beginning of the last decade this level of investment in French stallion fees, and income for the stallion shareholders, was unthinkable after three decades during which the stallion business in France was quite unable to compete with thAT in Britain and Ireland.
The balance of trade has been transformed and yet the number of foals born annually has remained around 5,500 for more than ten years. The boom in the French stallion business has been at the top of the
The boom in the French stallion business has been at the top of the market and enjoyed mainly by those producing for the international market or aiming to compete at the highest level.
In Germany the story has been different. Since the death of Monsun in 2012 the country has not produced another international stallion – despite Soldier Hollow’s qualities he is still best known as a jumping sire in Britain and Ireland.
The number of foals born in Germany has dropped by 37 per cent since the beginning of the century to the current mark of only 850.
Several of the country’s leading breeders invested in Maxios, one of Monsun’s best sons, only to be disappointed after he had covered around 100 of the country’s best mares in each of his first four years at stud.
Germany’s breeders have continued to specialise in producing sound, middle-distance horses and over the coming decade it is possible that the country’s decline will be reversed by the demand for this type of thoroughbred from Australia and Japan.
Siyouni all the rage
In France, Haras de Bonneval’s Siyouni is likely to be at the height of fashion at the 2022 yearling sales – even more so than now. The son of Pivotal’s biggest crop will be three-year-olds in 2020, but he has two large crops of three-year-olds to follow produced at a fee of €40,000 in 2017 and €75,000 in 2018.
Siyouni produced his first champion three-year-old colt Sottsass from his first €20,000 crop, and his first €30,000 crop included 37 individual two-year-old winners in Europe, putting him behind only Kodiac and Dandy Man.
There seems every reason to expect his results to continue to improve.
Siyouni’s progeny act on all types of going as well as on the All-Weather and, although 33 per cent of his three-year-old wins are over less than a mile, with the right mares he gets horses who stay middle-distances.
Not surprisingly his progeny are in demand and race all over the world and his most expensive yearlings of 2019 will go into training in Britain, Ireland, the US as well as in France.
Dabirsim has the numbers
Dabirsim has covered a lot of mares since moving to the Haras de Grandcamp in 2016, but whereas during his first two seasons in France he covered at €9,000, in 2018 he covered 185 international mares at €30,000. The son of Hat Trick’s first French-bred crop of two-year-olds has not restored the standing he had at the end of 2017, but it did produce a respectable 18 two-year-old winners, including the top prospect Celestin, a Fabrice Chappet-trained colt who won his last two starts by over 4l and 6l, including a Listed race.
In 2022, Dabirsim will have a lot of well bred three-year-olds running for him. His progeny tend to be milers and to act on good ground or better and they have an outstanding record on All-Weather tracks.
Young sires well patronised
The next four French sires by the number of mares covered in 2018 have all yet to have runners.
Haras de Bouquetot’s Shalaa has his first this year while Recorder, Almanzor and Zarak’s progeny will reach the racecourse in 2021.
Shalaa has attracted strong support from breeders and in the sales ring. Using him in 2020 will be a risk if he doesn’t produce two-year-old winners as his commercial star will wane quickly; but if his first crop get good reslts, he will be more popular still in 2022. Almanzor is the best racehorse at stud in continental Europe, and Zarak is probably the best bred one, and so it is not surprising they have both attracted strong support at Etreham and Bonneval.
Recorder only ran three times, but he is a two-year-old Group winner by Galileo out of a two-year-old Group-winning dam, and at Montfort & Preaux he attracted a big first book of mares.
Olympic fillies popular
Boquetot’s Olympic Glory has always been popular with breeders as he has averaged 150 mares a year over his first five seasons at stud. In the sales ring things have become more difficult for those offering his progeny and in 2019 his yearling fillies recorded an average price twice as high as his colts.
For the time being Olympic Glory’s best progeny have been the Group 1-performing fillies Watch Me and Grand Glory.
With only one crop of three-year-olds to race it is too soon to see if this bias towards females will be a long-term trend.
A more surprising trend to emerge from his first crop of three-year-olds is that his progeny do not seem to be the fast precocious two-year-olds he was himself. No less than 40 per cent of the wins by his three-year-olds came over further than 2000m and only 10 per cent at less than a mile.
Wootton Bassett: an international sire?
By 2022 it is very likely that Etreham’s Wootton Bassett will have joined Siyouni and Le Havre as an international sire.
The son of Iffraaj’s last crop produced at a low fee, he stood at €6,000 in 2016, were two-year-olds of 2019 and included several high-class performers such as Helter Skelter, Wooded, The Summit and Guildsman among a total of 19 two-year-old winners.
For the next two years Wootton Bassett stood at €20,000 and received plenty of support from his new international syndicate. His progeny act on all types of ground and the All-Weather and, while they are mainly milers, he does get middle-distance horses from mares with stamina.
Wootton Bassett has the advantage of being an outcross to a large proportion of European-based mares as he has no Danehill or Sadler’s Wells in his pedigree.
His best horses to date are not out of mares from these sire lines either, but that is probably only a reflection of the mares a horse standing at €6,000 in France is likely to receive.
Protectionist: Group performer from two to six
Le Havre: likely to improve further
Montfort & Preaux’s Le Havre is another hugely successful outcross sire. His three-year-olds of 2019 were his first since he was re-syndicated and his fee went from €7,000 to €20,000.
The result was a string of high-class performers headed by the Group 1 winner Villa Marina. His next three crops of three-year-olds were conceived at €35,000 and then for two years he stood at €60,000 and so his results are very likely to improve further.
Le Havre’s progeny tend not to be precocious and, while many are middledistance performers, he has some excellent fast horses from fast mares. They act on all types of ground, but have a slight preference for soft ground and the All-Weather.
French imports on the up
Annebault’s Reliable Man and Grandcamp’s Dream Ahead started their stud careers in Germany and Ireland, but both will have significant representation in France between now and the 2022 yearling sales.
Reliable Man has proved to be a sire of middle-distance horses, even if his best progeny are more than capable of winning as two-year-olds.
His first two German crops included three Group winners and his son Erasmus, who retires to stud in France in 2020, could have become the best recent German-bred runner, if his career had not been prematurely ended. Reliable Man has also produced two Group 1 winners in Australia and the very useful Reliable Team in Hong Kong. It will be a surprise if there are not some good-class performers from his large first French crop, who will be three in 2022.
Dream Ahead is a sire of sprinters and was represented by no fewer than four Group 1 speedsters in 2019.
His first French-sired progeny will be two-year-olds of 2020 and he will have a large crop of French-bred three-year-olds to race for him in 2022.
Dream Ahead’s progeny tend to act well on both soft ground and the All-Weather which tends to make them well suited to racing in France.
Next year will be key for many
The Haras de Bouquetot’s Al Wukair, a son of Dream Ahead who won the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois, is from the same generation of sires as Recorder, Almanzor and Zarak will have first runners in 2021.
It will be an important year for French-based sires as others who received strong support in their first two seasons at stud include Petit Tellier’s Prix du Jockey-Club winner The Grey Gatsby, Haie Neuve’s Whitecliffsofdover, a son of War Front, Huderie’s Birchwood, a son of Dark Angel, Boquetot’s Ectot, a son of Hurricane Run, and Zelzal, a son of Sea The Stars. There was also Quesnay’s Attendu, a son of Acclamation, as well as Ultra, a son of Manduro who won a Group 1 at two and stands at Haras du Logis.
Four new sires to stud in 2019 attracted strong support and they included two juvenile stakes-winning sons of Scat Daddy – Seahenge, who stands at Haie Neuve, and Seabhac, who stands at Saint Arnoult.
The others were the top French performers Cloth Of Stars at Logis and Recolletos at Quesnay.
Changes afoot for older stallions
Finally, three other older French-based sires who are likely to improve their stature between now and 2022 include Le Hetraie’s Pastorius, Colleville’s Galiway and Quesnay’s Intello.
Pastorius is probably the best son of Soldier Hollow to date and his last German crop, who are two-year-olds of 2020, is his biggest to date. He covered more than 80 mares in his first two seasons in France. From limited opportunities he has an excellent record with a high winners to runners ratio and several high-class performers such as Dalika in the US and Schabau in Australia.
Galiway made a good start with his first two-year-olds in 2019 and there seems every reason to expect his progeny to improve with age.
The son of Galileo produced five two-year-old winners from his 11 runners, including the high-class Group winner Kenway. He has three bigger crops to come.
Intello, another Wertheimer-bred son of Galileo, will be very popular on his return to Quesnay after spending two years at Cheveley Park Stud in England.
His first French crop of two-year-olds had 14 two-year-old winners, including the Classic prospect Pao Alto and the very useful winners such as Mannix and the Arqana sales race winner Into Faith.
He covered 147 mares at Quesnay in 2017 and so his profile may well be transformed between now and the 2022 yearling sales.
Ultra: the son of Manduro is one a number of French sires who will have first runners in 2021
German sires headed by Soldier Hollow
The list of German sires whose reputation is on-the-up is, of course, a far shorter one. The best stallions in Germany are far from youngsters.
Auenquelle’s 20-year-old Soldier Hollow enjoyed his best year to date with his French runners in 2019 with the three-year-old stakes winners Pelligrina and Amarena, and his yearlings were well received at Arqana. Etzean’s Areion is even older at 25, but still enjoyed his best-ever year and his first Group 1 winner in Alston, now in training with André Fabre, as well as the German Group-winning two-year-old colt Rubaiyat.
Schlenderhan’s Adlerflug covered his biggest books to date in 2017 and 2018 at a five-figure fee and so has a chance to make a break-through over the next two seasons. The two young German-based sires who have a chance of making an international reputation are Etzean’s Amaron and Rottgen’s Protectionist.
Amaron is just the type of horse German breeders appreciate as he ran a total of 22 times winning Group races at two, three, four, five and six.
His sire Shamardal has never been more popular, and he has a high-class female line, too, as his third dam won the Prix Marcel Boussac at two.
Two-year-old racing is of limited significance in Germany and so even if Amaron did produce several useful-looking winners there, the star of his first crop of two-year-olds was the John Gosden-trained Run Wild, who was placed in Group and stakes races in France and England.
Protectionist has his first two-year-olds in 2020. Although the son of Monsun is best known as a Melbourne Cup winner, he was also a winner at two and beaten only a nose in a Group 3 on his second and final juvenile start.
He also raced 22 times and was a Group/ stakes performer at two, three, four and six, having failed to shine when trained in Australia at five.
He comes from the top international family of Pawnese and Stradivarius.
Protectionist stayed, but he had great tactical speed and after being injured at three he was trained to win the Melbourne Cup. He has been given a chance not least thanks to the support of his owner Australian Bloodstock and of Rottgen where he stands.
