12 minute read
New sires: £/€20,000-£/€15,000
KING OF STEEL
Wootton Bassett-Eldacar (Verglas)
Tally Ho Stud
€20,000
The highest-profile new recruit to Amo Racing’s rapidly-expanding stallion roster is the Group 1 Champion Stakes winner King Of Steel. He is by Wootton Bassett, who sired an astonishing four individual Group 1-winning juveniles last season with ten of his first Coolmore-sired crop winning at Group level.
What makes King Of Steel such an interesting stallion proposition is that he is free of Galileo and Sadler’s Wells blood, which makes him compatible with the types of mares that propelled his sire’s extraordinary season, albeit at a fraction of the price.
Bred by Bonne Chance Farm out of the Verglas mare Eldacar, King Of Steel was a $200,000 purchase by Amo Racing and Alex Elliott from the Gainesway consignment at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale of 2021.
Another of the 2025 stallion intake to be trained by Roger Varian, King Of Steel made his debut in mid-October of his juvenile season and was successful at Nottingham.
A tall and large-framed horse, he was then seventh to Auguste Rodin in the Futurity Trophy (G1).
The steel grey colt got a lot closer to Auguste Rodin when they next met with King Of Steel only giving way to the son of Deep Impact in the last half furlong of the Derby. As it was King Of Steel’s seasonal debut it made the performance most impressive.
Next time out he easily won the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot from subsequent St Leger winner Continuous and was then the best-placed three-year-old in the 1m4f Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) with a good third to Hukum and Westover.
Dropped back two furlongs for the Irish Champion Stakes (G1), he finished fourth to Auguste Rodin, Luxembourg and Nashwa but defeated Via Sistina, who has gone on to such great glories in Australia.
He won on his last European outing with a smart victory in the 1m2f Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot and ended the season when fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, two and a half lengths behind Auguste Rodin.
He was kept in training at four, but sustained an early-season in-training injury which prevented him from racing and the decision to retire him to stud was made.
He joins fellow Amo Racing-owned Persian Force and Buccanero Fuerte, also a Group 1 winner by Wootton Bassett, at the O’Callaghans’ Westmeath farm.
King Of Steel is one 13 Group 1 winners by the Group 1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardère winner Wootton Bassett, who now stands for €300,000 at Coolmore.
He is the best of three runners out of Eldacar with his year-older full-sister Macadamia also a winner.
Their dam was successful at three and four in France at up to 1m7f and is a Verglas full-sister to the Group 2 Prix du Pomone and Prix Royallieu runner-up Mis Crissy.
They are out of Seracina, a winning Nashwan half-sister to the Group 3 Prix de Psyche winner Serisia.
She is the dam of the dual Australian Group 1 winner Contributer, a son of High Chaparral.
Aside from Galileo and Sadler’s Wells, Wootton Bassett also has Group 1 winners out of mares by Pivotal, Sea The Stars, Elusive City, Maria’s Mon, Nathaniel and Azamour. He has also had success with Oasis Dream.
LOOK DE VEGA
Lope De Vega-Lucelle (High Chaparral) Ballylinch Stud
€20,000
The third Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) winner in his direct sire line, Look De Vega retires alongside his brilliant sire Lope De Vega at Ballylinch Stud, the farm also home to another Jockey-Club victor in New Bay.
Look De Vega comes from the family of former Ballylinch resident and another winner of the Jockey-Club Lawman, so the Chantilly Classic is encoded in his DNA.
Bred by Haras de la Morsangliere and Ecurie des Charmes, Look De Vega was sold for €160,000 by Haras d’Aumonerie at Arqana’s August Yearling Sale.
Sent into training with Carlos and Yann Lerner, he ran once as a two-year-old, winning in late November at Fontainebleau over a mile.
The colt made a successful seasonal reappearance at Longchamp in early May, when stepped up in trip to 1m2f and was then thrown in at the deep end, running in the Prix du Jockey-Club on just his third start and his first in stakes company of any description.
He flourished, winning by 2l from First Look, also by Lope De Vega and Sosie, who would go on to win the Grand Prix de Paris (G1) and finish fourth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1).
After his Classic glory, a majority interest in the colt was sold by Haras de la Morsangliere to a group which included Al Shaqab Racing and Ballylinch Stud.
Look De Vega was sent on the traditional trajectory to the Arc, returning from a midseason break to contest the Group 2 Prix Niel in which he finished third to Sosie and Delius.
His final race proved to be in the Parisian showcase and he retires as the winner of three of his five starts.
He is the best of four winners from four runners so far foaled by Lucelle, a winner at three and four and a High Chapparal halfsister to the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks and Group 3 Prix Allez France winner The Black Princess.
Second dam Larceny is by Cape Cross and she is closely-related to Lawman (Invincible Spirit), who was also successful in the Prix Jean Prat as well as the Jockey-Club.
Larceny and Lawman are half-siblings to the Group 1 Prix de Diane winner and Grade 1 EP Taylor Stakes second Latice (Inchinor), who is the dam of Listed winner and Group 1-placed Fencing by Street Cry and the Listed-placed Mirsky (Siyouni).
Look De Vega’s fourth dam Light The Lights is by Gulch and won the Prix de Pomone (G2) and was third in the Prix Vermeille (G1).
Lope De Vega enjoyed another fruitful season in 2024 siring two French Classic winners, as well as the Dewhurst and Middle Park Stakes winner Shadow Of Light, who is out of a mare by New Approach.
With 24 individual Group 1 winners around the globe, Lope De Vega is firmly established as a leading international sire.
BIG EVS
Blue Point-Hana Lina (Oasis Dream)
Tally Ho Stud
€17,500
Shamardal’s legacy continues to grow and this grandson, from the first crop of Blue Point, is another exciting recruit to the Tally-Ho Stud’s squad of stallions.
A 50,000gns purchase by Michael Cleere from Houghton Bloodstock at Tattersalls October Book 2, he was acquired privately by Quirke Bloodstock as a two-year-old. He then proceeded to shine brightly for Blue Point, Conor Quirke, trainer Mick Appleby and owner RP Racing – husband and wife Rachael and Paul Teasdale – and for the late Paul Evans, a close friend of the owners for whom the horse was named.
He finished second on his debut at Redcar over 5f and then went straight to Royal Ascot for the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes.
Sent off at 20-1 for the Listed contest, he ran out an easy winner and then went on to prove that the result was no fluke when successful in Goodwood’s Group 3 Molecomb Stakes on his next start.
An attempt at the Nunthorpe Stakes (G1) was unsuccessful but, back amongst his own age group, he won the Group 2 Flying Childers and then became the second top-level winner from his sire’s first crop of juveniles when victorious in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1).
Big Evs retained a high level of form at three – after a winning reappearance in the Listed Westow Stakes at York, he was third behind the Australian star Asfoora and the 2023 Sprint Cup winner Regional in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Revenge was gained by a short head over Asfoora in the Group 2 King George Stakes at Goodwood, with the final two starts of his career coming in the Nunthorpe and the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
All 11 of his career starts were over the minimum distance and his record reads as six wins, a second and a third with his peak official rating at 113.
His sire Blue Point made a sizzling start to his stud career with Group 1 winners Rosallion (who is out of Rosaline, by New Approach) and Big Evs.
Blue Point’s third Group 1 winner, also in the debut crop, is the British Champions Sprint winner Kind Of Blue, who is out of Blues Sister by Compton Place.
Blue Point has six Group winners from a total of 14 stakes winners in just his first two crops and has seen his fee raised to €100,000 this year.
Big Evs was bred by Rabbah Bloodstock and is the best of five winners so far out of Hana Lina, a daughter of European champion two-year-old Queen’s Logic.
The Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) winner is also the dam of multiple Group winner and Group 1-placed sprinter Lady Of The Desert (Rahy), herself the dam of the Lowther Stakes (G2) winner Queen Kindly (Frankel), who emulated her dam and granddam by winning the York contest.
Queen’s Logic is a Grand Lodge half-sister to the champion and six-time Group 1 winner Dylan Thomas and to the 1,000 Guineas winner Homecoming Queen, dam of the Group 1 Moyglare Stakes winner Shale.
Another half-sibling is the Oaks runner-up Remember When (Danehill Dancer), dam of 2020 Derby winner Serpentine.
Big Evs’ broodmare sire is the brilliant Oasis Dream whose daughters have produced 15 individual Group 1 winners.
HENRY LONGFELLOW
Dubawi-Minding (Galileo) Coolmore
€15,000
The regally-bred victor of the Group 1 National Stakes is the first son of Dubawi to earn a place at stud in Coolmore.
Henry Longfellow is bred on the same cross as leading sire Night Of Thunder, who stands for ten times Henry Longfellow’s fee as the sire of five Group 1 winners, including 2024 Fillies’ Mile winner Desert Flower and Irish Champions Stakes hero Economics.
Henry Longfellow’s dam is the outstanding Minding, whose seven Group 1 triumphs included a defeat of the colts in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and with Classic glory in the Oaks and 1,000 Guineas.
He is her first runner and he emulated both his parents by winning a Group 1 as a juvenile – 19 years after Dubawi triumphed in the National Stakes at The Curragh, Henry Longfellow became the brilliant sire’s second winner of the race after Quorto.
That was the third win over 7f in an unbeaten juvenile campaign for the colt, who began his racing career during the Irish Oaks meeting and then beat Stunning Peach by 2l in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes at The Curragh in August. He increased his superiority over the Joseph O’Brien-trained son of Wootton Bassett to 5l in the National Stakes.
Henry Longfellow began his three-yearold career with a mid-division finish in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1), but was back to form in the St James’s Palace Stakes (G1) when a neck second to Rosallion, but three lengths ahead of Metropolitan.
He took fourth to the 2,000 Guineas winner Notable Speech, another son of Dubawi, in the Sussex Stakes (G1) and then third to Tribalist and Charyn in the Prix du Moulin (G1).
Matron Stakes winner Lillie Langtry with the others being the Oaks and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Tuesday and Empress Josephine, who was successful in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.
All three are daughters of Galileo, while Lillie Langtry is by Danehill Dancer.
METROPOLITAN
Zarak-Alianza (Halling)
Haras d’Etreham
€15,000
The Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1) hero was the first Classic winner for Zarak, another aristocratically bred son of Dubawi and a champion who has risen to become one of France’s pre-eminent young stallions.
One of three individual Group 1 winners by Zarak, Metropolitan was sold for €78,000 by Haras de Clairefontaine to Alessandro Marconi at Arqana’s October Yearling Sale.
Sent into training with Mario Baratti, he made a winning debut at Deauville’s August meeting over a mile and followed that up with victory at Chantilly.
Unbeaten in two starts as a juvenile, he reappeared in the Group 3 Prix de Fontainebleu in April last year in which he was fifth to Ramadan.
He stepped up markedly on that form on his next run, his first in Group 1 company, to win the Poule d’Essai des Poulains by half a length from Dancing Gemini and Alcantor, with Diego Velazquez in fourth.
Metropolitan was then third to Rosallion and Henry Longfellow at Royal Ascot in the St James’s Palace Stakes (G1) and was then runner-up to Charyn in the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois with the Group 1 winners Inspiral and Big Rock behind him.
His final start came behind Charyn on Champions’ Day.
He is one of 28 stakes winners from just 214 runners on the Flat by Zarak, a son of the unbeaten Zarkava.
Metropolitan’s dam Alianza was sold for €400,000 in-foal to Erevann at Arqana in December.
An unraced daughter of Halling, Alianza is the dam of two winners from three runners and is a half-sister to Boater, runner-up in the Listed Marygate Stakes and dam of last season’s Listed Prix des Reves d’Or winner Hot Darling, a daughter of Too Darn Hot. Alianza’s dam Cercle D’Amour was also unraced and is a Storm Cat full-sister to the Listed Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial winner Royal Tigress, dam of the Grade 3 winner and Grade 1 Beldame Stakes second Tiger Ride.
Cercle D’Amour is also a full-sister to the Group 3 Prix d’Arenberg second Thunderous Mood and a half-sister to the Norfolk Stakes (G3) winner and Prix Morny (G1) second Warm Heart (Diesis).
