Frankel in France

Frankel was superior in 2022 and his Arc-winning daughter Alpinista picked up over €3 million in euro prize-money earnings, writes James Thomas

AFTER claiming a breakthrough champion Flat stallions’ title on home soil in 2021, Frankel added another accomplishment to his burgeoning stud record by topping the French sires’ list for the first time in 2022.

Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Stud resident was represented by 67 runners in France and 37 of those passed the winning post in front to give their sire progeny prizemoney earnings of €6,269,245, which is more than double the total achieved by the runner-up, the previous year’s champion and home-based Siyouni.

Those 37 include 12 black-type winners, eight of whom struck in Group company. It is, however, the exploits of just one name who had the greatest bearing on Frankel’s domination of the sires’ charts: Alpinista.

Homebred by Kirsten Rausing and trained by Sir Mark Prescott, Alpinista accounted for a full 49 per cent (€3,085,560) of Frankel’s French earnings as her unbeaten five-year-old campaign began with success in the Group 1 Prix de Saint-Cloud and culminated with a famous victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The latter contest is Europe’s richest Flat race with a prize fund of €5 million, with an astronomical €2.8m going to the winner.

While Alpinista may have been Frankel’s leading light in 2022, the gifted grey was not his only French Group 1 winner.

The son of Galileo sired nine top-flight winners in 2022 and four of those struck in France, with Alpinista joined by Prix Jacques le Marois heroine Inspiral, Prix de Diane victress Nashwa and Grand Prix de Paris scorer Onesto, who also annexed the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe earlier in the season.

Four other names in the French top ten stand in Britain or Ireland, with Ballylinch Stud’s Lope De Vega in third, Coolmore’s Churchill in fourth, Darley’s Dubawi in fifth and Yeomanstown Stud stalwart Dark Angel in tenth.

Lope De Vega, who has had good progeny success in France over the years, was represented by three Group 1 winners in Dreamloper (Prix d’Ispahan and Prix du Moulin), Place Du Carrousel (Prix de l’Opera) and Sweet Lady (Prix Vermeille); Churchill supplied two in Blue Rose Cen (Prix Marcel Boussac) and Vadeni (Prix du Jockey-Club); while Dark Angel and Dubawi had one apiece with Mangoustine (Poule d’Essai des Pouliches) and Modern Games (Poule d’Essai des Poulains) respectively.

Siyouni, the leading French-based sire of 2022, sired 63 winners, six of whom won black-type races

Photo: Suzanna Lupa, courtesy of the Aga Khan Studs

Siyouni finished second by virtue of 63 winners, more than any other name on the list. His six black-type scorers headed by the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano victor Al Hakeem, who also finished fourth in the Arc.

Also posting solid tallies of winners were Dabirsim in sixth (61 winners), Kendargent in seventh (55), Anodin in eighth (57) and the much-missed Le Havre in ninth (52).

While four out of the top ten, namely Frankel, Siyouni, Lope De Vega and Dubawi, cover exclusively blue-chip books at punchy six-figure fees, the prominence of Dabirsim and Anodin is noteworthy given they are available at the much more humble end of the market in 2023 – the former is priced at €8,000 in his new home at Haras de Montaigu and the latter at just €4,000 in his second season at Haras De La Haie Neuve.

Zarak continues to prove the brightest light among the French up-and-comers and the Aga Khan’s Haras de Bonneval resident finished just outside the top ten in 12th.

The blue-blooded son of Dubawi and Zarkava, whose fee has more than doubled to €60,000 for 2023, up from €25,000, posted another eye-catching set of stats with 35 winners at strike rate of 58 per cent.

Muhaarar enjoyed a good year in 2022

He was also the source of nine black-type performers, headed by the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham scorer Purplepay, the Group 3 Prix de Royaumont winner Baiykara, as well as La Parisienne, who was beaten just a short neck when placed in the both the Prix de Diane and the Prix Vermeille.

A slightly more under-the-radar performer in 2022 was Muhaarar, who is about to begin his second season after relocating from Shadwell’s Nunnery Stud, at Haras des Faunes.

The son of Oasis Dream, who will stand a slightly upgraded fee of €7,500, had relatively limited opportunities with just 36 runners in France, but not only managed 18 winners at a clip of 50 per cent, but four of those struck in stakes company.

That quartet is headed by Group 2 Prix de la Nonette scorer Trevaunance, and means he had more black-type winners in France than the likes of Le Havre, Kodiac and Wootton Bassett, and the same as Kingman.

The best-ever season in prize-money earnings for the late Adlerflug

THE LATE, LAMENTED Adlerflug emphasised just what a loss the German breeding industry suffered when he died unexpectedly at the age of 17 in April 2021 by claiming a third consecutive sires’ title in his home country. The son of In The Wings sired 36 winners from 69 runners for earnings of €1,021,402.

Not only is that a personal best in terms of progeny earnings for Adlerflug, at least in Germany, but it is the first time since Soldier Hollow in 2018 that the country’s leading sire has been responsible for a seven-figure sum of winnings.

His 36 winners included eight in stakes company, headed by Mendocino, who led home a one-two for the sire when denying Torquator Tasso by a head in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden.

Torquator Tasso, the heir apparent to Adlerflug, won the Group 2 Grosser Hansa-Preis and bowed out of his racing career with a gallant third, beaten only three-quarters of a length, behind Alpinista in the Arc.

He begins his stud career at Gestüt Auenquelle at a fee of €20,000.

Other notable performers for Adlerflug in 2022 include the Group 2 winners Alter Adler (Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft), Loft (Oleander-Rennen) and Gestüt Ittlingen’s three-time Group 3 winner India.

Coolmore’s Camelot may have sired only a solitary stakes winner in Germany in 2022, but it was a significant one with Helmut von Finck’s homebred Sammarco claiming back-toback Group 1s in the Deutsches Derby and the Bayerisches Zuchtrennen, while the colt also reached the places in the Grosser Preis von Baden and Preis von Europa.

Those exploits contributed the lion’s share of Camelot’s progeny prize-money earnings of €694,524, which was enough for him to finish in second place on the sires’ table.

Third went to Soldier Hollow, a three-time champion sire who stands besides Torquator Tasso at Gestüt Auenquelle. The recently turned 23-year-old sired five German stakes winners in 2022, most notably the Group 2 Oettingen Rennen scorer Dapango.

A pair of British-based names occupied spots inside the top ten, with Lanwades Stud’s Sea The Moon, who was a winner of the Deutsches Derby in his youth, in fourth and Dubawi in sixth.

Dubawi’s four stakes winners included Rebel’s Romance, who landed a brace of Group 1s in the Preis von Berlin and Preis von Europa.

Areion, a four-time German champion sire, ended the campaign in fifth with 30 winners. The son of Big Shuffle spent the latter stages of his stallion career at Gestüt Etzean, but was euthanized due to complications from colic in November. He was 27 years of age.

One French-based name figured inside the top ten with Shamalgan, who stood at the now defunct Haras de Grandcamp, responsible for Preis der Diana heroine Toskana Belle.

The Andreas Wohler-trained filly was one of just three winners the son of Footstepsinthesand sired in Germany in 2022, with her personal haul of €319,500 contributing 94 per cent of her sire’s progeny earnings of €341,450.

While Torquator Tasso helped fly the flag for Adlerflug, his half-brother Tunnes did likewise for his sire Guiliani, with his 10l victory in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Bayern contributing to the Gestüt Erftmuhle resident’s eighth-place finish on the table.

The top ten was completed by the late Lord Of England in ninth and Gestüt Etzean’s Amaron in tenth.