ITB_July-August 2023

ARQANA blooming Euro FOCUS

Consistently successful: Ecurie des Monceaux is enjoying another fabulous Group 1 year

Blue Rose Cen: Jocelyn de Moubray chats with the Garcon family of Haras de l’Hotellerie and trainer Christopher Head Moon shines: it has been a fine run of form for Liberty Racing, topped by victory in the Group 1 Deutsches Derby Stallion stats: there are some unexpected names at the top of this year’s French sires’ table

10 First Word

Racing rewards all of us, but it is also important to have a life outside of the sport

14 Ted talks

Ted urges every UK breeder to consider standing for election to the TBA board

16 Girls Aloud

Cathy Grassick reports back from a July week through which she bought a filly for Carisbrooke Stud and filmed on ITV Racing

20 Shaq attack

Amy Bennett sees Shaquille scorch home in the Group 1 July Cup, City Of Troy thump his rivals and leap to the head of next year’s Classic betting market, Paddington beat his elders in the Eclipse and Nashwa return to her Group 1-winning form

38 Statistics

The leading lists from Weatherbys

45 Consistently successful

Jocelyn de Moubray talks with Henri Bozo of Ecurie des Monceaux, perennial leading consignor and enjoying a particularly good year on the track in 2023

54 Head to the top Blue Rose Cen is a fabulous filly and has matched a rare achievement – we chat with trainer Christopher Head and the Garcon family of Haras de l’Hotellerie

64 Moon shines

Liberty Racing has enjoyed a fine run of form topped by Fantastic Moon’s Group 1 Deutsches Derby win –we meet the syndicate’s manager

Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten

70 Unexpected?

But maybe it should not be...

Adrien Cugnesse discusses Anodin’s rise to the top of French stallion ranks

78 Photo finish

Betting at Newmarket on July Cup Day

BlueConsistentlysuccessful:EcuriedesMonceauxisenjoyingafabulousGroup1yearontheracetrack MoonRoseCen:JocelyndeMoubraychatswiththeGarconfamilyofHarasdel’HotellerieandtrainerChristopherHead Frenchshines:ithasbeenafinerunofformforLibertyRacing,toppedbyvictoryintheGroup1DeutschesDerby stallionfocus:wetakealookatthesires’rankingandthereareafewsurprisesatthetopofthetable

ARQANA blooming Euro FOCUS

Arqana and BBAG Photo by Laura Green / BBAG

FANCY a

Game?

RECENTLY I WAS REMINDED of a very important fact – most of my life revolves around racing.

I was chatting to someone outside of the industry, she was asking about my working life and the slightly odd hours that have got to be met (though it is not, by far, the only activity that requires weekend and evening working), and I replied with a shrug explaining, “It is how it is if you work in racing”.

My rather enlightened buddy said: “I suppose in a way it does not matter as I guess your friends work similar hours, too.”

And yes they do. The majority of my friends “work in racing” in varying differing spheres – in racing yards, on stud farms, in various bloodstock offices, or writing editorial or taking photos for racing newspapers and bloodstock columns.

Other mates work in the farming industry, which is much the same.

On one level, isn’t that great? Racing has given me so many friends, colleagues and acquaintances; the industry and my career have provided me with so much of my social life.

After my conversation, I was feeling rather pleased with myself as regards my choice of occupation. It was a decision made a long time ago now but that one move into racing has provided me with a career, an interest, a hobby, as well as my social life, which, while not exactly a social whirl anymore, does at least provide me with some form of

entertainment and interaction.

That delight evaporated when I was reading one of the self-help twitter threads that now appear on my Elon Musk-generated timeline. Some guru was espousing his knowledge as to “How to make it in the world and be happy” and his first point given (I am not sure they were written in a particular order) was “Have a broader circle of friends than just your work colleagues”.

Failed. Damn.

But is this actually a “bad thing”? And is it a bad thing for those working in racing?

My conversation buddy (see earlier) seemed to think it was not, it means my group of friends all work approximately the same hours and understand what we are all up to – and can appreciate the reasons why someone might appear late for a drinks gathering or in fact not at all, or can’t make a Sunday lunch for numerous weekends in a row, or is only free to play on a Sunday football team every other weekend.

We all have the same interest – essentially based around hairy animals with four legs running around a field ridden by a small person; and as we all know, those outside of racing (perhaps understandably) just don’t really “get it”.

I am sure others have far more varied lives than I do, but working in racing with its time constraints and its continual 24-hour needs, makes it difficult for its employees to meet acquaintances outside of the industry. There is a danger of a rather blinkered approach to life.

“It can be, however, a rather blinkered approach to life, and the strange bubbles of the racing and bloodstock worlds can become isolating and can leave racing’s incumbents outside of the mainstream

Living wholly in the bubble of horseracing is not necessarily a good thing – a broad approach to life perhaps one that we should strive to achieve

The strange bubbles of the racing and bloodstock worlds can become isolating and can leave racing’s incumbents outside of the mainstream.

I know when I leave the Newmarket autumn yearling sales stint behind me, where for best part of a month I have watched the equivalent to the value of a comfortable two-up two-down, possibly even to the price of a decent farm, spent on horse flesh with a mere nod of the head, it takes me a couple of days to regain my equilibrium and remember that I earn just a normal working wage, and that normal daily bills and living costs need paying from that wage.

These bubbles involve all aspects of the racing life and can be why, when things get tough for those working in racing, it can be so difficult to deal with.

When things are not going right, either as part of working life or in a personal life, it must feel as though everything has gone wrong, every single aspect of a life must, wrongly, feel so inextricably mixed into one.

Those personal bubbles that we carefully create can suddenly become so very fragile.

This all-encompassing world of racing is such a challenge for us all to keep under control, and is so tough for the good people at Racing Welfare to help us all manage in a healthy and productive manner.

Hence there is a whole programme of community events organised by the RW team, in order to help

promote mental wellbeing, and combat the threats of loneliness and social isolation that many of us feel even though we can be working in a busy yard or office.

Adam Ferguson, Head of Community Engagement at the charity, said: “Racing is a very supportive industry, a very close knit community, but it’s not to say that just because we’re surrounded by people all of the time and in yards that people aren’t lonely.”

He adds: “We have a comprehensive community event portfolio. We hold almost 200 community events that we run alongside our everyday offers of wellbeing and welfare support provision services.”

We all need to ensure we have outside interests, and something of a life balance, if only to ensure we can keep some perspective on the world we live in – working in any sphere of racing is by its very nature relentlessly competitive and, though often fun, can be stressful, a fact should never be underestimated.

We must find time for a giggle as we perhaps kick a ball on a Sunday morning, putt some holes on a golf course, strum a guitar or enjoy a festival, or that we save up for that holiday of a lifetime, take a morning to enjoy the pride we feel at school sports days or carol concerts; or that we do some good and undertake some community work, that we meet people outside of racing and that we enlarge our immediate circle; ensure that other things in life claim our attention – we must ensure that the bubble does not come

“ This all-encompassing world of racing can be such a challenge for us all to keep under control, and it is so tough for the good people at Racing Welfare to help us all manage in a healthy and productive manner

The winning team at the Racing Welfare-organised rounders match held in Lambourn, one of 200 community events organised by the charity this year

Photo courtesy of Racing Welfare

under threat of popping.

“The community events are really about enabling people to engage with different people, with people outside of the daily workforce,” says Ferguson, adding: “They help enable racing’s employees to meet different people and to get to know their communities, really be part of the community that they’re involved with as well – it is of huge benefit to mental wellbeing.”

If nothing else, a broad life balance can help ensure that alcohol or drugs are not turned to as the coping solution, meeting new people can offer a different outlook on issues that can at times seem insurmountable.

“It is almost just putting yourself back into the into perspective where you’re grounded,” explains Ferguson.

There is no getting around the fact that working with horses and in racing does require odd working hours –horses are living breathing creatures requiring essentially 24-hour care, seven days a week and, as is oft repeated we are in the entertainment business so need to provide sport when the majority are enjoying some down time – so it is a struggle to find the time and energy to do alternative activities outside of work, and also to understand the reasons why we should.

But it is not impossible – trainers and employers are an important cog, and many have lots of great and new ideas and flexible modes of working, but there should be ways that racing itself can back the work already being done by Racing Welfare through its Racing Staff week as well as its year-long range of community activities.

WHAT ABOUT PROVIDING

broad-ranging sports and cultural memberships for those working in racing (in all roles)? Or further developing “community help” days as part of racing’s working world, set up saving schemes to help pay for the one-off holiday, ensure that working contracts can accommodate a set number of family days per year, do even more to establish racing and community sports competitions and leagues, and encourage membership of local sporting, cultural and community groups?

The music nights at racecourses through Racing Staff Week were free to staff, but what about a tie-in with an wide-ranging “culture” pass helping to make it accessible (and on the radar) for those in racing to get to the theatre, or to a concert or a Christmas show.

When I was told recently that a well-respected trainer was stressing because a senior member of staff had taken a day off in the middle of the week and at the height of the season, I was shocked, and slightly taken aback.

It is a well-run and successful yard that could easily cope with one person out for the day.

Aside from pushing unnecessary guilt and mental strain on that member of staff, the trainer probably only succeeded in creating for themselves unwarranted personal stress – trainers are as much in need of mental health guidance and help as everyone else in this industry.

If racing is to produce a working environment to attract the next generation, one in which all can enjoy and reap the benefits of the one-stop-shop that racing can give us – a career, a friendly working environment, life-long colleagues and a job which generally offers a lot of fun –then the industry has to behave in a far more grown up and responsible manner than on occasions it does.

Of course, days out and kicking a ball are not a sole answer for the complex issue of mental health.

But no matter how focused, professional and competitive an approach those working, riding, training, producing, marketing or administering the sport need to take, perhaps racing should not claim every aspect of their lives.

A broader view on life and good life balance can be one part of a wide-ranging programme to ensuring good mental health in racing’s workforce.

We have all been told of the positive mental health benefits achieved through exercise, or the feeling of satisfaction we get from learning a new skill or through creativity; racing’s people need to believe that this applies to them, too.

Newmarket nights: stable staff were given free admission through Racing Staff Week, it is an initiative that could have greater reach though the whole year at different venues

“But no matter how focused, professional and competitive an approach those working, riding, training, producing, marketing or administering the sport need to take, perhaps racing should not claim every aspect of our lives

The biggest names in the business

The Shamardal succession

His signature influence – quality, speed and toughness – is now emerging through his sire sons, too. Blue Point has made the best start at stud of any freshman ever to sire a first-crop Royal Ascot winner. At the sales soon: first yearlings by Horse of the Year Pinatubo and record-breaking Champion juvenile Earthlight, and the first foals of Classic miler Victor Ludorum.

TED TALKS...

Who should sit on breeders’ committees?

Everyone!

Ted Voute assesses the work that has been achieved by the TBA over the 12 years that he has been on its board, and he urges breeders to strongly consider putting themselves forward for board elections

Y 12 YEARS on the TBA board and four years on the board for the ROA will slowly disappear into the mist... so it got me thinking, have I personally done any good?

There have been many times that board members sit frustrated

Mlistening to “plans” to fix racing for its future.

Board members do an enormous amount of good bringing their individual strengths to the table and applying those skills to the peripheral subjects.

My particular interest lies in the veterinary panel, chaired mostly by Kirsten Rausing and now James Crowhurst. It is a watchdog for our

industry and considers far-reaching subjects in order to prepare the industry against the threat of disease outbreak and to keep its stock healthy.

Ongoing research projects, which are fascinating, are financed by the TBA’s investment and made on behalf of its members.

None of this is exciting to anyone other than those on the

diverse sub-committee and that includes stallion masters, vets and scientists.

So how do you make these various sub-committees on all breeding organisations, sexy and attractive so that industry members will sit on them and guide members and breeders through the maze of hurdles that raising thoroughbreds presents the small breeder?

It’s the responsibility of the larger-scale breeders to have the foresight to become involved, have a wish to help breeders avoid the numerous pit-falls that this industry can throw at all of us, let alone the newbies to the business.

But, perhaps also most importantly, those on the committees need to the invest the income of the TBA in those areas, which make a difference.

Most of these topics are quite dull and hard to promote to members and are represented

The TBA award winners at the Flat Breeders’ Awards Evening 2023

on another committee working with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs keeping the voice of thoroughbreds equal, yet viewed differently, to sheep and cattle.

It’s hard to make the many administrative areas exciting and it takes a Stanstead House that is full of very bright people employed by the charity to organise the ideas of its non-paid board of directors.

At one point I had an idealistic view that industry bodies should be able to single-handedly increase prize-money. If I’ve learned anything at all it is all far more complex!

Each body has to work together to increase their influence on the Levy money and the new income stream of media rights. Within the past year the world pool has become a significant income for the racecourses.

It’s why the Horseman’s Group has evolved and why the Jockey Club created the BHB and this

is evolved to become the BHA with the Jockey Club becoming a wealthy property company.

I’ve helped create a committee for small breeders and consignors that has become a conduit to the sales companies for subjects ranging from selling speeds and long sales days down to sales paperwork. Working together with companies such as Tattersalls and Goffs UK we are able to voice concerns, and thank them for improvements. Not everything gets done, but everything is considered.

Industry awards are important to our industry. The TBA has steadily improved this area to include an awards night and employee awards coupled with monthly awards for small breeders.

Last, but not least, the Great British Bonus Scheme (GBB) has been a highly successful self-help project that has been lovingly nurtured and promoted by the incoming TBA chairman Philip

Newton.

Spurned on by its success, there are constant discussions on how to build on its popularity.

As yet nothing has been set in stone, but maybe an evolving process is the best way to progress.

THERE

IS MUCH

MORE to putting in place a scheme such as GBB, or indeed insured bonuses such as the Weatherbys Long Distance Bonus, won twice by Stradivarius, than you would imagine.

It can be an impossible task.

(As an aside, was Stradivarius better than those great stayers Yeats or Ardross, who didn’t have a bonus scheme to alter race plans for connections?)

So, in conclusion has the TBA improved things whilst I was on boards alongside chairs Nigel

Elwes, Kirsten Rausing and Julian Richmond Watson, all who have had different chairmanship styles.

Hell, yes! For one thing, they have circumnavigated the considerable challenges of Brexit and Covid amongst other challenges.

They have increased prizemoney through GBB and managed the various veterinary challenges. Finally, they have been part of Bloodstock Industry Forum (BIF), which is changing the image of buying and selling horses, and helping promote a more transparent marketplace in which to trade horses with definite rules and a code of practice.

I hope breeders or industry professionals will be inspired and give some of their time and stand for election in the future in order to share their expertise with the industry, and to help make breeding horses easier and, above all, more fun.

Working together with companies such as Tattersalls and Goffs UK we are able to voice concerns and thank them for improvements

The well-attended TBA Bloodstock Conference, held at Tattersalls

Photos courtesy of the TBA / Adam Smyth

....Girls aloud

Cathy Grassick, chairman of the Irish Breeders’ Association, had a good July week and took a starring role on ITV Racing

NEWMARKET’S JULY WEEK is a great five days for UK racing, and visitors from all around the globe to flock to the headquarters of British racing and breeding. Not only is there a far more clement climate for inspecting bloodstock at Tattersalls than that at, let’s say, the December Sale, but it also delivers with it social occasions and high-class racing. For many in the industry it is a busman’s holiday and as close to a proper vacation as many allow themselves!

This year was no exception with many people attending such wonderful occasions as the clay pigeon shooting afternoon and evening organised by the EBN, and the unveiling of a spectacular statue of the legendary Pivotal at Cheveley Park Stud.

It really is no surprise then, given the extracurricular activities that abound, to see the sale ground at Tattersalls extremely busy with people of many different nationalities and searching for many different types of horses from a truly diverse catalogue. This year the sale stretched to four days, which gave buyers plenty of chances to purchase something to suit their needs and budget.

Australian and Middle East buyers were in evidence, but the top lot on the opening day Sweet And Lovely (Lot 212), a daughter of

Wildcard entry Ethical Diamond (Lot 516A) bought at the July Sale by agent Harold Kirk, who is in action on the phone in the background, for 320,000gns and goes jumping. The son of Awtaad was a winner over 1m4f last time out and was consigned by Baroda Stud for owner Emma Kennedy

Galileo and in-foal to Wootton Bassett, sold for 350,000gns to Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland.

BBA Ireland agent Eamon Reilly was another to hit the headlines purchasing Balalaika (Lot 619), a filly in training by No Nay Never, for 330,000gns from Lady Ogden, widow of the late owner and breeder Sir Robert Ogden.

The action wasn’t all focused on Flat racing with leading NH trainer Willie Mullins and agent Harold Kirk teaming up to purchase Ethical Diamond (Lot 516A) for 320,000gns; an ambitious dual-purpose career lies ahead for this son of Awtaad.

Brian Grassick Bloodstock did not make any sale-topping headlines, but it hit the sales day live copy on the Tattersalls web site and it did have a busy week purchasing five horses for clients all with futures both as racehorses and broodmares.

We purchased daughters of Sea The Stars, Nathaniel, Pivotal, Cotai Glory and Mastercraftsman for existing clients in Ireland and the UK. I was ably assisted through the week by Jessica Daly, a graduate of the Irish National Stud course and who has been working for Newtown Stud and Brian Grassick Bloodstock from earlier in the year.

Two of our purchases were for Yvonne Jacques’ Carisbrooke Stud. The first was Immortal Beauty (Lot 692), a highly rated daughter of

Photo courtesy of Tattersalls and by Laura Green

Cotai Glory and a sister to the stakes performer Mehmento (Mehmas). She had some excellent form as a two-year-old, including when fourth in a Group 3 and is an exceptional looking individual – we were delighted to purchase her for 95,000gns.

But it was the second Carisbrooke Stud purchase that made some impact and grabbed the attention of both ITV racing viewers and social media.

We had a daughter of Pivotal (Lot 870) on our list (he is such an exceptional broodmare sire) with the added pedigree bonus that the filly is related to Yvonne’s superstar mare Klassique (Galileo) –her dam Gertrude Gray is a sister Klassique’s Group 1-winning dam Chachamaidee.

THE FILLY was due in the ring on Friday morning, but I had to head to Carisbrooke to inspect the foals and yearlings, so I asked my sister Sally Ann if she would be around to assist Jessica and to bid on my behalf.

As it so happened ITV Racing had suggested, with Tattersalls’ cooperation, that Sally Ann should take a camera crew to the sales ground in order to give viewers a taste of another side of racing.

I spoke to Yvonne and asked if it would be in order for Sally Ann to follow this particular filly through the ring with her camera, while never letting anyone know that the filly was of interest.

With everyone happy it was agreed that Sally Ann would then join up with Jessica, who would have myself and Yvonne on the phone, in company with stud director Martin Grassick, to give instructions.

The result was a really excellent piece of television which aired during racing coverage of the July meeting on ITV. The viewers got to

join in with the roller coaster of emotions that go alongside bidding on a horse at auction – auctioneer Alastair Pim was on the rostrum and he joined in with some excellent banter and really helped to create the atmosphere.

Thankfully, the auction was a success and the filly was bought –Heavenly Wish made it to her new home at Carisbrooke that evening and is now enjoying a little break before heading into training with William Muir and Chris Grassick.

ITV viewers will be able to follow her progress as she continues with her racing career and eventually joins the broodmare band at Carisbrooke.

The response to the piece has been amazing with such supportive comments coming from industry professionals and racing fans alike. A special thanks goes to the staff working for consignors The Castlebridge Consignment – they were so helpful when allowing us to film the filly after she was purchased.

Also taking place during the July week was the European Federation of Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (ETBF), which does incredible work on behalf of the breeders of Europe to support and represent them.

We had an excellent couple of days spent discussing the relevant issues, including veterinary issues and movement of horses.

Joe Hernon has been doing an excellent job as the chairman of the ETBF and I extend many congratulations to him – his tenure in the position has been extended for a further term.

Below, Sally Ann Grassick bidding on Heavenly Wish at Tattersalls and filmed on ITV Racing’s cameras, and, right, after successful purchase with the Pivotal filly

Photos courtesy of ITV Racing

FIRST YEARLINGS 2023

WOODED

WOOTTON BASSETT’S

FASTEST GR.1 WINNER

ROMANISED

CLASSIC & DUAL

GR.1 WINNER

Undefeated

City Of Troy going from strength to strength, writes Amy Bennett

WE ALL KNOW the old adage about waiting for buses – two come along at once.

So it was with US Triple Crown winners; after a wait of 37 years, American Pharoah ended the drought in 2015 and, just three years after, Justify followed suit.

The pair both stand at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, Kentucky from where American Pharoah has sired seven top level stakes winners from his three crops.

His younger stud mate has sired a pair of Grade 1 scorers so far from his first crop, including his three-year-old daughter Aspen Grove, who triumphed in the Belmont Oaks (G1) on 8 July – the same day his son Verifying landed the Indiana Derby (G3).

However, it is Justify’s current crop of juveniles who are now making headlines. The son of Scat Daddy was represented by two juvenile Group 2 winners in the space of 24 hours in Europe in mid-July, while the filly Living Magic also landed the Listed My Dear Stakes at Woodbine on the same weekend.

First came City Of Troy, who romped home by over 6l in the Superlative Stakes

(G2) at Newmarket’s July meeting for Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith. The colt had made a winning debut over 7f at The Curragh just two weeks earlier, and has now been installed as a hot favourite for next year’s Classics.

Less than a day later across the Channel, Ramatuelle scored her second Group success when skipping home in the Prix Robert Papin (G2) by 4l from the Ballydoyle raider His Majesty, by another son of Scat Daddy in No Nay Never.

A €100,000 graduate of the Arqana August Yearling Sale, she is out of the Raven’s Pass mare Raven’s Lady. Successful in the Goldene Peitsche (G2) for trainer Marco Botti, as well as the Summer Stakes (G3) at York, Raven’s Lady went on to race in the US in 2019 winning an allowance race at Gulfstream, but finishing down the field in four starts in graded stakes company.

The mare hails from the deep family of Sueboog, developed by the late Tim Rootes of Shutford Stud, being out of the unraced Pivotal mare Pivotal Lady, herself at halfsister to the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan victor and sire Best Of The Bests (Machiavellian), as well as the dam of the dual Group 3 winner and Melbourne Cup-placed Prince Of Arran (Shirocco).

City Of Troy and his year-older fullbrother Bertinelli, who won the London Gold Cup Heritage Handicap at Newbury in May, are their sire’s sole winners in Britain to date.

The pair are out of the Galileo mare Together Forever, not to be confused with that mare’s Classic-winning full-sister Forever Together. Together Forever, three years older than her Oaks-winning sister, triumphed in the Fillies’ Mile (G1) and was beaten only a head in the Musidora Stakes

(G3) before coming up short in the Oaks at Epsom and The Curragh. She has already produced a trio of stakes performers, all by War Front.

Interestingly, both Raven’s Lady and Together Forever visited fellow Ashford Stud inmate Uncle Mo after foaling their Justify progeny, with Raven’s Lady foaling a filly (before returning to Justify, to whom she produced a colt this year), and Together Forever also producing a filly, before delivering a filly by Dubawi this year.

Scat still the Daddy

The death of Scat Daddy in 2015 – the same year that Justify was foaled – was a notable loss for the stallion ranks, leaving behind as he did plenty of blazing speed.

The son of Johannesburg has a number of stallion sons at stud, although apart from

The “lads” with City Of Troy after his impressive Superlative Stakes victory, the Justify colt has been installed as favourite for the 2,000 Guineas

No

Nay Never at Coolmore, Justify and Mendelssohn at Ashford, and Caravaggio in Japan, the remainder are all standing for fees below (and often well below) €20,000.

Caravaggio has built up some air miles during his six seasons at stud, standing in Ireland, the US and now Japan. However, breeders were reminded once again of his talents when he was represented by his second career Group 1 winner as Whitebeam triumphed in the Diana Stakes (G1) on the Saratoga Turf.

Juddmonte’s homebred four-year-old, Listed-placed last year for Harry and Roger Charlton, was a Group 3 winner at Pimlico in May, and battled tenaciously to score by a nose over her stablemate In Italian (Dubawi), who includes last year’s renewal among her four previous victories at the highest level.

We three Kings

Currently lying third in the list of leading sires behind his stud mate Frankel and Siyouni, Kingman is enjoying a stand-out season around the globe.

In the first two weeks of July alone, he was represented by not only the Frenchbased Group 1 winner Feed The Flame, but also the International Stakes (G3) winner Mashhoor and Turf King, who struck at Group 3 level in Canada.

Away from that trio of Group/Graded scorers, Nostrum also won the Listed Henry Cecil Stakes and Kinross finished a good third in the July Cup (G1). Third placed in last year’s Dewhurst Stakes (G1) behind Chaldean, Nostrum, a son of Mirror Lake (Dubai Destination), is reportedly heading to the Prix Jacques Le Marois next time out.

Kingman may have some way to go to catch Frankel in the stallion rankings, but he thoroughly deserves his current lofty standing, his best so far.

Owner-breeders to the fore

With big operations and a handful of stallions often dominating the headlines, victories for smaller owners and breeders are always worthy of note.

The hugely exciting colt Nostrum

Such it was that two of the biggest races of Newmarket’s July meeting went to owner-breeders whose broodmare bands are numerically a long way from the big battalions.

Shaquille burst onto centre stage at Royal Ascot with a sensational victory for his trainer Julie Camacho and owner-breeder Martin Hughes, who bred the three-year-old in partnership with Michael Kerr-Dineen, in the Commonwealth Cup (G1).

The colt proved that victory was no fluke when overcoming yet another bad start to storm clear in the 6f July Cup (G1), a length and a half clear of Run To Freedom.

The latter came close to providing another notable result in 2023 for his sire Muhaarar, who was represented two days earlier by Shadwell’s Princess Of Wales’s Stakes (G2) victor Israr – a son of the outstanding Taghrooda – who handed a four-and-a-halflength beating to Adayar in the 1m4f contest.

As Adrien Cugnasse writes on page 70 ,who saw that coming for Muhaarar?

Muhaarar now stands at Haras des Faunes having relocated to France in 2022. It is the same move made by Shaquille’s sire Charm Spirit, who upped sticks from Tweenhills to move to Haras du Logis Saint German in 2021, standing for €5,000 this year –a far cry from the £17,500 charged when Shaquille was conceived in 2019, or the £25,000 in his first year at stud.

Neither stallion is likely to be recalled to the British stallion ranks, in spite of their current top sons, but recent results at least give a timely reminder of the success to be

found outside of the leading sires’ table.

Half an hour before Shaquille’s romp in the July Cup, Biggles scored a 2l victory in the Bunbury Cup – albeit not a stakes race but still one of the more prestigious handicaps of the season.

It was a seventh career success for the six-year-old son of Zoffany, and a notable result for the gelding’s owner-breeder Lady Cobham. Biggles is her first winner of the year in Britain and netted her £93,272 in prize-money, only fractionally under her previous best prize-money total the last decade when five winners netted her £95,513 in 2014.

Bought back-in at Book 3 of the Tattersalls

October Yearling Sale in 2018, Biggles is the only winner to date out of the winning Green Desert mare At A Clip.

While there is little of note under the first two dams, the third dam is the Group 1-placed juvenile Shy Princess (Irish River), whose progeny include the Group 2 winner Diffident, as well as the Listed winner Shy Lady. Her foals include such as the top-class Zafeen, the Group 3 winner Ya Hajar, and stakes winners Akeed Champion, Atlantic Sport and Shy Angel.

Nashwa back to brilliant best

The July meeting also saw the return to top form of Imad Al Sagar’s brilliant filly Nashwa, who blitzed her rivals in the Falmouth Stakes (G1) with contemptuous ease.

Triumphant in the Prix de Diane (G1) and Nassau Stakes (G1) at three, the daughter of

Frankel was fourth in the Prix Corrida (G2) on her return at four and was beaten half a length when second in the Hoppings Stakes (G3) on Newcastle’s All-Weather at the end of June.

Dropped back to a mile at Newmarket, she made light of the stormy conditions to triumph by 5l from the Coronation Stakes (G1) runner-up Remarquee (Kingman) and

Biggles: the son of Zoffany gave owner-breeder Lady Cobham one of her biggest days on the racecourse when winning the Bunbury Cup

Shaquille: keeps on defying expectations

recent Pretty Polly Stakes (G1) heroine Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock).

Her Listed-winning Pivotal dam Princess Loulou has a yearling colt by Dubawi and returned this year to Frankel.

Al Sagar’s Blue Diamond Stud registered

a Group double as a breeder when Araminta (Gleneagles) won the Prix Chloe (G3) two days after Nashwa’s triumph. She was sold for 82,000gns to Blandford Bloodstock in Book 2 of the 2021 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, and is out of the

late Lady Rothschild’s Group 3 winner Mince (Medicean), herself purchased for 130,000gns from the Rothschild dispersal at the Tattersalls December Sale in 2019. Sadly, the mare died having produced only Araminta for Al Sagar.

First stakes winners on the board for first-season sires Magna Grecia and Calyx

WHILE PLENTY of this year’s first-crop sires have been quick to get winners on the board, stakes winners were slower to follow during the early part of the season.

Numerical leader Blue Point (18) was the first to hit the mark with Big Evs at Royal Ascot, but in July a couple more young sires celebrated their first stakes success.

Myconian, sired by Coolmore’s Magna Grecia, was sixth behind Big Evs in the Listed Windsor Castle (his fifth race of the season), but Amy Murphy sent the colt back to France, where he had made his winning debut in March, to land the Listed Prix Yacowlef.

Bred in the name of Lisbrook, the colt was a €27,000 graduate of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.

Although his dam, the Choisir mare Sirici, was a Listed winner, you have to go back to the fourth dam Amazed to find more black-type, thanks to her Listed winners Stunned and Dazed And Amazed, as well as Amazed’s full-brother, the teak-tough sprinter Bishops Court.

Magna Grecia’s stud mate Calyx himself showed speed at two and the son of Kingman became the first of the freshman sires to get a Group winner when Persian Dreamer continued a dream season for Amo Racing with a win in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes (G2).

A winner on debut on the Rowley Mile in April, the filly was fourth in both the Listed Marygate Fillies’ Stakes in May and the Albany Stakes (G3) in June, and stayed on strongly to win

on the July Course.

Bred in Kentucky by Diamond Creek Farm, the filly is a €145,000 graduate of the Goffs Orby Sale. She is one of three winners out of the placed mare Surprisingly (Galileo), a full-sister to the Group 3 winner Tiger Moth, who finished runner-up in both the Irish Derby and Melbourne Cup, as well as a half-sister to the smart juvenile and sire Coash House (Oasis Dream).

Away from stakes action, Race The Wind, who hails from a stellar female family, became a fourth winner for Too Darn Hot when taking the EBF fillies’ maiden on the Saturday of the Newmarket July meeting.

The Godolphin homebred filly is out of the Street Cry mare Falls Of Lora. She is a half-sister to the multiple Group winner Master Of The Seas and the dam of Albahr (Dubawi), a two-year-old winner of the Group 1 Summer Stakes, and of Cascadian (New Approach), an Australian three-time Group 1 winner over 7f to 1m2f, who won the Australian Cup (G1) this March.

Grand-dam Firth Of Lorne (Danehill) was a runner-up in the 2002 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (G1) to Zenda, who is the dam of Kingman. Firth Of Lorne, daughter of the Cherry Hinton winner and 1,000 Guineas second-placed Keerara (Diesis), claimed her French Classic placing ridden by Frankie Dettori wearing Sheikh Mohammed’s own colours.

Race The Wind has a Group 1 entry in the 7f Moyglare Stakes.

Persian Dreamer: a first stakes winner Kingman’s stallion son, Calyx Race The Wind: by Too Darn Hot, the filly has a top class female family

FIRST YEARLINGS 2023

HELLO YOUMZAIN

The speedball sprinter

DANZIG, DANEHILL, KODIAC, HELLO YOUMZAIN, to continue one of the world’s greatest sire lines.

A RICH HISTORY

OF

Current SALES GRADUATES include:

BAYSIDE BOY

ACQUITTED

· Winter Stakes LR

BAYSIDE BOY

· Queen Elizabeth II Stakes Gr.1

· Champagne Stakes Gr.2

BURGARITA

· Prix Casimir Delamarre LR

· Prix de la Seine LR

· 2nd Prix Corrida Gr.2

· 3rd Prix de Diane Gr.1

EL DRAMA

· Dee Stakes LR

· 2nd Jebel Hatta Stakes Gr.1

FRANCESCO GUARDI

· Moonee Valley Gold Cup Gr.2

GARRUS

· Prix de Ris-Orangis Gr.3

· Abernant Stakes Gr.3

· 3rd Prix Maurice de Gheest Gr.1

HAQEEQY

· HH The President Cup LR

· Lincoln (Heritage Handicap)

JIMI HENDRIX

· Royal Hunt Cup, Royal Ascot

· 3rd Summer Mile Gr.2

JUMBY

· Hungerford Stakes Gr.2

· John of Gaunt Stakes Gr.3

SAFFRON BEACH

Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland

Gr.1 Winner

Gr.1 Winner

Flames igniting the action in France

THE IMPRESSIVE WINS FOR the Pascal Bary-trained Feed

The Flame and Good Guess, trained by Francois Chappet, in the last two French Group 1s restricted to three-year-olds completed what has been an excellent season in France for horses trained in France.

All seven of these Group 1s were won by horses trained in the country – Blue Rose Cen, Marhaba Ya Sanafi, Jannah Rose and Ace Impact were the other four winners –and, of the 21 places, only four were taken by horses trained in England and Ireland.

This is the first time French trainers have achieved this under the current programme, and the first since 2014 and the old set up when the Prix Jean Prat was run over a mile at Chantilly.

Overall, French-trained three-year-olds have won 24 of the 25 Group races over more than 6f for three-year-olds in France, the sprint races alone remaining as the easy pickings for English and Irish trainers.

It is too soon to be talking about a new

trend, but it does feel as if something has changed.

It could be that the competition from abroad is not as strong as it used to be, for years the Grand Prix de Paris was, for instance, dominated by sons of Galileo and Montjeu.

While Jean-Louis Bouchard, the owner of Feed The Flame is a long-time supporter of French racing, breeding and its trainers, there have been some significant newcomers to ownership in France – Yeguada Centurion, the Cheboub family, Serge Stempniak, Hisaaki Saito and Al Shira’aa Farms are among those who have made significant investments in recent years.

And, even if it is not always the case, many of the better races in France are now run at a consistent pace from beginning to end.

A final possible explanation is the new names amongst top Group race trainers in France, including Christopher Head, the Marseille-based Patrice Cottier and the Deauville-based Stephane Wattel.

Progress in sport is often the result of a

combination of investment and innovation. Feed The Flame didn’t make his debut until the beginning of April, and it was always going to be difficult for his trainer Pascal Bary to have the son of Kingman ready for the Prix du Jockey-Club run only two months later.

The colt had to be supplemented to take his place in the Classic and, for a horse making only his third career start after two easy wins in small fields, he ran with great credit to be fourth in a race run at a furious pace.

The Grand Prix de Paris was run at a good pace but not a breakneck one, no sectional times were taken but the leader ran the first 1400m some two and a half seconds, or 12l faster, than the fillies did in the Prix de Malleret half an hour earlier, and the final time was the second fastest in the last ten years.

Jockey Christian Demuro held Feed The Flame up at the rear of the field and the pair came with a late run to beat Adelaide River and Soul Sister narrowly but by a

Pascal Bary: trainer of Feed The Flame, the impressive winner of the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris

There has been a very different set of results in France this year, reports Jocelyn de Moubray

Photo: Laura Green

comfortable length and a neck, and this trio came 3l clear of the remainder.

Sectional times would surely have shown that Feed The Flame produced an exceptional burst of speed as the final 400m were run in 22.59s and Bouchard’s colt was at least 4l behind the leader at the 400m from home.

Feed The Flame is sire Kingman’s eighth Group 1 winner from his first six crops to race and his first over 1m4f, even if Persian King did finish third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Overall, 93 per cent of Kingman’s threeyear-old winners have been over less than 1m2f. In this respect Feed The Flame is an outlier, but he comes from a family with plenty of stamina – he is out of a Montjeu mare, who was out of a full-sister to the St Leger winner Rule Of Law.

He was bred by Haras de Monceaux,

who bought his dam Knyazhna from Ukraine’s leading thoroughbred breeder Viktor Timoshenko.

Feed The Flame was sold as a yearling at Arqana August where his owner has been a regular client for decades.

Bouchard’s first-ever winner was in Deauville in 1981 trained, like his new champion, by Bary who was also then at the beginning of his racing career. In the years since Bouchard has won three Prix du Jockey -Clubs with Celtic Arms, Ragmar and Blue Canari, and a fourth as a part-owner of Dream Well, and he has been a regular buyer of yearlings with agent Gerard Larrieu.

He bought and raced Feed The Flame’s half-brother Sacred Life, who was a shortpriced favourite for a Group 1 at two but the race was abandoned due to strike action.

Knyazhna has her Group 1 winner now and Feed The Flame will, of course, be

Ramatuelle: the two-year-old daughter of Justify is already a Group 3 and a Group 2 winner

prepared for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Good Guess also looked like a top horse when winning his first two starts at two in a brilliant style. The Fabrice Chappet-trained son of Kodiac then flopped in a Group 3 at Deauville last August.

Hisaaki Saito’s colt fulfilled his early promise this year when winning the Prix Djebel (G3), also on Deauville’s straight track, and was then an unlucky sixth in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1) after missing the break.

He ran an excellent prep race for the Prix Jean Prat when giving weight to all of his rivals in the Prix Paul de Moussac (G3).

Ignored in the betting for the subsequent Group 1, the Cheveley Park-bred colt had the race set up for him when the Cottier-trained Kingman filly Sauterne set a very strong pace and, after travelling easily at the rear of the field, Good Guess was the only one able to maintain the pace to the line. He finished 3l ahead of Sauterne with Breizh Sky third and the English and Irish challengers all well beaten.

ANOTHER FRENCHTRAINED three-year-old, who looks set to compete successfully in Group 1 races, is the Dabirsim gelding Horizon Dore. He is trained by Patrice Cottier for a partnership headed by the Cheboub family’s Gousserie Racing.

An easy winner of a Listed race at two, Horizon Dore was second to Big Rock in the Prix de Guiche (G3) over 1m1f on very soft ground. He has won twice since over 1m2f putting up excellent times on both occasions to win a Listed race at Longchamp with ease and then the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam at Saint-Cloud.

At Longchamp, Horizon Dore ran the final 400m in 21.3s, 14 per cent faster than his race average, and at Saint Cloud in 21.8s, which was 17 per cent faster than his race average. It suggests that he is a horse who stays 1m2f well and has a formidable turn of foot.

Several of the best three-year-old colts of 2022 have had a difficult time this year, but Westover joined Luxemburg and Modern Games as a Group 1 winner at three

Feed The Flame is sire Kingman’s eighth Group 1 winner from his first six crops to race and his first over 1m4f

and four with a comfortable defeat of Zagrey in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

The pair had finished second and third behind Equinox in Dubai in March and reproduced the same form four months later at Saint-Cloud.

Juddmonte’s son of Frankel is a consistent high-class performer and it is rare to be able to win Group 1s at three and four, an achievement alone that should turn him into an attractive stallion when the time comes.

July is early in the two-year-old season in France, but this year there is one outstanding French-trained two-year-old – the Infinity Nine Horses, Ecurie Des Monceaux et Alowned Ramatuelle, the easy winner of the Group 3 Prix du Bois and the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin.

She was beaten on her second start by Philippe Allaire and the Haras d’Etreham’s Lope De Vega colt Beauvatier, but the form of that race is stacking up as he has gone on

to win a Listed at Deauville in impressive style since.

Ramatuelle is a daughter of Justify and was bred by Centurion Yeguada and sold by the breeder at the Arqana August Sale for €100,000. Trained by Christopher Head, Ramatuelle is very fast and has won her three starts on a straight track by 4l or more. She will go for the Prix Morny (G1) where she is likely to be a short-priced favourite to give her trainer another Group 1 win.

Sea The Moon lined up for German sires’ championship

GERMANY’S THREE-YEAR-OLD CROP is certainly better than average, too.

Fantastic Moon came from behind to win the Deutsches Derby (G1) at Hamburg impressively from the Iquitos colt Mr Hollywood, who may have been racing on slower ground as he was the only one of the principles not to switch to the stands’ side in the straight.

Liberty Racing’s Sea The Moon colt Fantastic Moon was a champion two-year-old, and he completed a rare double to go on to win the Derby for his trainer, the Munich-based Sarah Steinberg, and breeders Philip and Marian von Stauffenberg.

The Derby once again attracted a full field of 20 runners with challengers from England and Ireland, who finished fifth and sixth.

In many ways it is remarkable that every year from around only 700 foals German breeders produce 20 horses able to run in the Derby and 20 fillies for the Preis der Diana (G1).

Every year five per cent of all colts bred in Germany run in the Derby – if the same were true in Britain and Ireland there would be about 750 colts ready to run in the Derby at Epsom!

Not every Deutsches Derby produces colts able to compete with Europe’s best but this year’s edition looks, at this early stage anyway, up to standard.

German Classic horses are late developers – it has to be hoped that the Derby of this year could turn out to be as good as the 2020 edition when In Swoop beat Torquator Tasso, Grocer Jack, Kaspar and Wonderful Moon among others.

Rain during the Derby week in Hamburg changed the ground to soft, which probably didn’t suit the other fancied runner Gestüt Karlshof’s Zarak colt Straight, but, together with Fantastic Moon and Mr Hollywood, he is another high-class prospect for the future.

The Preis der Diana, to be run in Dusseldorf in early August, is shaping up to be a competitive race as there are eight possible runners with official ratings of more than 105.

The current ante-post favourites are Gestüt Ebbesloh’s Cracksman filly Weracruz, who was a solid third in the Derby, and Gestüt Röttgen’s Sea The Moon filly Kassada, who was narrowly beaten in a Group 3 at Hamburg by the Zarak filly Princess Zelda.

Kassada had won a Group 3 in Berlin very comfortably and may not have been at ease on the very soft ground in Hamburg, she was also given a very aggressive front running ride and may have done too much too soon.

Princess Zelda is unbeaten in two starts and would have to be supplemented to run at Dusseldorf, but Gestüt Hachtsee’s filly is another high-class prospect for the future. A fourth Diana contender to impress in Hamburg is Muskoka, another Sea The Moon filly, who has won a Group 3 over a mile but is due to step up in trip and go for the Diana.

The Hamburg meeting more or less ensured that Lanwades Stud’s Sea The Moon will be Germany’s champion sire in 2023 as, aside from Fantastic Moon, Kassada and Muskoka, the stallion was also represented by Germany’s leading older horse Assistent, who beat two Derby winners and Northern Ruler to win the 1m4f Group 2 Hansa Preis.

Fourth in last year’s Derby, the Henk Grewe-trained colt has improved significantly from two to three and will now be aimed at Group 1 races.

Fantastic Moon: the Deutsches Derby winner is one of four talented horses by Sea The Moon running in Germany this summer

Photographie : Zuzanna Lupa

Fantastic Moon

Torquator Tasso

August Online-Sale: 18th August 2023

Premier Yearling Sale: 1st September 2023

October Mixed Sales: 13th and 14th October 2023

Gr.1 winner as 3 and 4yo

Winner Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Gr.1

Winner IDEE 154. Deutsches Derby, Gr.1

Mischief making

Melissa Bauer-Herzog offers a mid-season round-up of the US stallion scene

WE ARE JUST over seven months into the year, but it already looks as though Spendthrift

Farm’s Into Mischief has all but secured a fifth straight champion general sires’ title –the stallion heading up the North American stallions in every division and with a $5 million lead in the earnings category.

The biggest question for the stallion is whether he can break his own all-time progeny earnings again – Into Mischief has upped that benchmark each of the last three years and his record currently sits at $28,106,800.

To break his own record he’d need to double his progeny earnings from where

it sits as of July 16, but already with 33 stakes performers in 2023, led by four Grade 1 winners, it’s not out of the realms of possibility.

Into Mischief unbeatable

Unsurprisingly, Into Mischief has seen a surge of sons go to stud in the last few years and, as of mid-July, Practical Joke leads the North America’s third-crop sires by number of graded stakes winners with five and sits right behind Gun Runner by number of stakes winners.

He can boast of the one crucial thing Gun Runner is missing in 2023 – a Grade 1 winner.

Practical Joke’s Practical Move won the

Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby earlier this year and, through the last few months, the sire has also registered a trio of Chilean juvenile Group 1 winners, the progeny born from his shuttle duties to the southern hemisphere

Practical Joke and Gun Runner are just two stallions in what has proven to be a stacked group of third-crop sires with the late Arrogate siring this year’s Grade 1 Belmont Stakes winner, and Classic Empire also the sire of Grade 1 Arkansas Derby winner Angel Of Empire.

In all, six of this year’s third-crop sires have produced 16 Grade 1 winners in their stallion careers, including a Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner (Keen Ice’s Rich Strike) and a Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner (Arrogate’s Secret Oath).

Maximus Mischief, Spendthrift’s son of Into Mischief, is the leading US freshman sire by numbers, heading up a batch of five freshman sires on the farm

Photo: courtesy of Spendthrift

us racing

Freshman sons of Into Mischief on the road to glory, too

Into Mischief had two sons enter stud in Kentucky in 2020, but it isn’t the expected Grade 1-winning Audible who is setting the freshman sires’ rankings alight.

Instead, it is the champion sire’s Grade 2-winning son Maximus Mischief who takes that honour at present.

Billed as Into Mischief’s “fastest two-yearold ever,” his juveniles have literally come out running and Maximus Mischief leads all freshman sires by number of winners with five as of July 16.

All of Spendthrift Farm’s five freshmen sires have held their own early in the season with Maximus Mischief leading by winners, and Mitole, Vino Rosso, and Omaha Beach joint leaders by the number of stakes performers with two. Even Coal Front is getting in on the Spendthrift first-crop sire success with two winners and one stakes performer from just six runners.

While it isn’t a surprise that Maximus Mischief is throwing early runners, the others who are making a splash so early in the juvenile season definitely is.

Three debuted late in their own two-yearold year and Coal Front didn’t race until

April of his three-year-old season.

As the quartet improved as they aged to three and four, hopes have to be high that one of the group of four will step up and slide into a leading sire role in the next few years – Into Mischief is now an 18-year-old and connections will be looking for a new name to carry on the line.

Spendthrift stallions may be dominating the top of the freshman sires’ ranks, but two Darby Dan stallions have also slid their way into prominent spots.

Scat Daddy’s son Flameaway was a graded stakes winner on both Dirt and Turf and he proved popular with breeders in his first season at stud and was bred to 183 mares.

In the early days of his stallion career, he’s tied with Maximus Mischief at the top of the leader board by number of winners and has already sired a stakes winner.

Fellow Darby Dan freshman Copper Bullet’s first season was managed fairly uniquely as owner Ron Winchell used Dr. David Lambert’s “Equine Analysis Systems” in order to find mares who would best fit the More Than Ready son.

That led to the stallion breeding 51 mares in 2020 with The Jockey Club reporting 37 live foals. Of those, 12 have made at least

one start and Copper Bullet has sired three winners so far. Two of those have come in maiden special weight company and that is playing a major role in securing Copper Bullet a sixth place by earnings on the freshman sires’ list.

Magic making Good for sophomore sires

The fight among the second-crop sires was competitive last year as a group of freshmen and it continues again in 2023.

Good Magic got himself a large earnings boost in May when Mage won the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, but behind him there are six stallions with prize-money earnings all within $1.5 million of each other.

Bolt D’Oro continues his run as a rising star – he has 15 stakes performers and 46 winners this year and is currently faring best of all sophomores. The only gap in his season so far is that elusive Grade 1 performer, something two other second-crop sires have achieved.

Flameaway is representing Scat Daddy in the freshman ranks and the undefeated Triple Crown winner Justify is doing the same among the sophomores.

He’s tied with Bolt D’Oro with 15 stakes

It was all about Good Magic at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale

THE FIRST YEARLING SALE in the 2023 northern hemisphere season took place at the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale.

The most expensive offering was a $475,000 filly from the firstcrop of champion Authentic purchased by Alex and JoAnn Lieblong. That follows up the stallion’s weanling sales season that saw 14 lots by him sold for an average $238,928 led by a $575,000 colt.

Owners of Good Magic yearlings benefited from the sire’s success with first runners with the next two highest-priced Fasig-Tipton July yearlings both by the second-crop sire.

Boardshots Stables went to $375,000 for a colt out of Scolding, while Wesley Ward purchased a colt out of the Galileo daughter Bola De Cristal for $330,000.

The pedigree received a helpful update after the catalogue was published when the yearling’s half-brother Gaston was placed in a Grade 3. This is also the family of Grade 1 winners Crystal Music, Zelzal and others.

The top lot: a filly by first-crop US sire Authentic sold for $475,000

Photo courtesy of Fasig-Tipton

performers and Good Magic with three Grade 1 performers, but is alone on top in every other stakes category.

Scat Daddy sired a versatile group of runners with his 31 Grade 1 winners ranging from Turf sprinters, such as No Nay Never and Caravaggio, to Dirt stayers such as the aforementioned Justify and Daddy’s Lil Darling, and his son is repeating the feat.

Justify’s first Grade 1 winner came in June when Arabian Lion won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens over 7f on the Dirt. Just a month later he showed that he can get breeders a good horse on all surfaces and distances when Aspen Grove won the 1m2f Grade 1 Belmont Oaks on the Turf.

As expected right from when the mares’ names for his first book were released, the stallion has himself a strong group of three-year-old runners around the world and his second crop is looking just as promising.

On the weekend of July 15 he sired three juvenile stakes winners in a 24-hour period having pulled off a similar feat the weekend before with his three-year-olds.

American Pharoah: a versatile sire Justify was arguably the better supported

Blame was the only stallion with more than four crops of racing age to have a yearling in the Fasig top five when trainer Kenny McPeek went to $310,000 for Baccari DWF. This is the first foal out of a Commissioner mare whose dam is a half-sister to Canadian champion Basqueian.

Pin Oak Stud again made an appearance on the results sheet after making a big splash at the breeding stock sales over the winter –the farm bought a colt by Not This Time for $300,000 to round out the top five. He was one of two yearlings the new owners of the legendary farm purchased alongside a $65,000 Mckinzie colt.

Dana and Jim Bernhard bought Pin Oak last winter and quickly burst onto the scene at the November breeding stock sales. In all, the couple spent $4,357,000 on 16 broodmares at an average of $272,313.

The Fasig-Tipton July Sale 2022 set records so, unsurprisingly, numbers dropped during the 2023 sale.

The 207 yearlings sold brought a gross of $20,507,000 with the average declining 14 per cent from last year’s figure of $115,151 to $99,068 and the median fell 14.4 per cent to $77,000.

Through the one session sale, 31.9 per cent of yearlings were bought back, up from the 23.8 per cent rate in 2022.

of the two recent Triple Crown winners, but American Pharoah is holding his own five crops into his own stallion career.

The stallion is the only fifth-crop stallion in North America to have a Grade 1 winner in 2023 and leads the group by both graded stakes winners and graded stakes performers.

American Pharoah also sits second behind Into Mischief by earnings in 2023.

He’s another stallion who has proven to be a versatile sire for the American market with his seven Grade 1 winners coming from 6f to 1m2f, and the group is split evenly between Dirt and Turf runners with three of his Grade 1 winners on the Dirt.

American Pharoah is one of the 28 North American-based stallions to sire at least one Grade 1 winner this year, with five siring two or more.

Among the quintet only one stallion –Bernardini – is no longer active with eightyear-old Justify and nine-year-old Not This Time the youngest.

The US stallion rosters boast a strong mix of older, established stallions and new young guns making their mark in 2023.

Good Magic’s top-priced colt out of Scolding (Carpe Diem) made $370,000

Arabian Lion: Justify’s first Grade 1 winner

stallion stats

Leading European Flat Sires (by prize-money earned to July 19, 2023) Courtesy of Weatherbys

FIRST YEARLINGS 2023

PERSIAN KING

Undoubtedly out of the ordinary

ONE OF THE BEST SONS OF CHAMPION SIRE KINGMAN and the best older miler in Europe in 2020.

stallion stats

Leading European Broodmare Sires

(by prize-money earned to July 19, 2023) Courtesy of Weatherbys

Quick. adjective

1. Moving at great speed

2. Acting instinctively

ANTONYMS

1. Slow

2. I wish I had bought more Donny Rockets

Leading Sires of

European Two-Year-Olds (by prize-money earned to July 19, 2023, bold = first-season sires) Courtesy of Weatherbys

DECEMBER MARES SALE

SCEPTRE SESSIONS

sold for 1,000,000 gns+ for 71 lots sold was 646,577 gns

RECORD BOOKS COMPLETELY REWRITTEN"

EU ROPE TDN

Entries Close - 15th Sept.

2nd December 2022

EUROPEAN YEARLING SALES DATES 2023

Ecurie des Monceaux has been top consignor at Arqana August since 2015 producing fine horses with the excellent results creating over a decade of leading-class sale returns.

This year the farm is enjoying another fabulous season on the track, headed up by the superstar Paddington.

Jocelyn de Moubray meets stud manager Henri Bozo, who is looking forward to the 2023 yearling sales season

SINCE 2010 ECURIE DES MONCEAUX has raised and sold 14 Group 1 winners and Paddington is the stud’s fourth Classic winner following the Jockey-Club winner Sottsass, the Irish Oaks winner Chicquita and the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Mangoustine.

“Classic races are very hard to win,” says an understated Henri Bozo, manager of Ecurie des Monceaux. “We have also been second three times in the Diane with Chicquita, Sistercharlie and Philomene.”

Few if any of Europe’s commercial breeders can match this level of success at the highest level on the track, but also in the sale ring.

Every year since 2015, Monceaux has sold yearlings for at least €9 million at the

Arqana August Sale with its best year coming in 2022 when the 32 yearlings sold by the farm made a total of €12,680,000 or 25 per cent of the sale’s aggregate.

In terms of percentage of the aggregate the farm’s best year was in 2015 when the €12,100,000 turnover was 28 per cent of the sale’s total.

This year Monceaux’s Arqana draft looks to be as strong as ever – 40 entered in the August Sale include eight by Wootton Bassett, seven by Siyouni and five by Dubawi and, as a rough estimate, the group are carrying covering fees of close to a total of €5 million.

The success and the investment are a source of joy and satisfaction for Bozo, as well as sometimes a cause of anxiety and stress.

“Breeding thoroughbreds is difficult,”

Yearling fillies heading out for their daily stint in the paddocks, and, right, having fun in the sun

he explains. “There are always going to be things which go wrong – they are living creatures. I believe unless you maintain the enthusiasm and desire to win it is probably too difficult a way to live.

“I find winning races as exciting as I ever did and I suppose when it comes to the stress we have, to some degree, I have become used to dealing with it.

“After all, the breeder who has borrowed €20,000 for a nomination fee has the same type of stress as us when their yearling is in the sales ring.”

“I think,” he continues, “every breeder has their own ways and their particular breeding philosophy, or at least they ought to.

“When we go to the sales every stud has their own type of horse which is different from the other farms. A ‘Monceaux’ horse is a little immature, not too heavy, but very fit and ready to work at the sale.

“Over the years we have changed some small things in our sales preparation but overall the essential has remained the same.

“We do not consign any external yearlings – all of those we present at the sale are raised on the farm. The horses here at Monceaux are outside as much as is possible, they work over the winter and are then prepared for the sales mainly through being walked in-hand, and we make sure that we do not feed too much.”

AHIGH PROPORTION of Monceaux-raised horses have proved able to demonstrate the benefits of this preparation.

Bozo became manager soon after the then run-down and more or less abandoned stud was bought by Lucien Urano in 2003, and it didn’t take long for Ecurie des Monceaux to impose itself as a major commercial breeder.

Ecurie des Monceaux was initially established by the US Strassburger family in 1924 and went through different ownerships,

Starlet’s Sister: dam of champion Sottsass, multiple Grade 1 winner Sistercharlie and the Grade 1 runner-up My Sister Nat. Her yearlings topped 2022 Arqana August and the 2020 September Select Sale. Last year’s €2.1 million Siyouni colt is called Shin Emperor in training with Yoshito Yahagi

Arqana August draft 2023

Lot Pedigree

5 c Dubawi-Paix (Muhaarar)

6 c Wootton Bassett-Palmyre (Dansili)

7 c Too Darn Hot-Pamplemousse (Siyouni)

17 c Dubawi-Pollara (Camelot)

21 c. Dubawi-Pretty Spirit (Invincible Spirit)

27 c. Dubawi-Psara (Invincible Spirit)

39 f. Dubawi-Right Hand (Lope De Vega)

42 c. Kameko-Roheryn (Galileo)

51 c. Wootton Bassett-Scone (Dansili)

57 c. Sea The Moon-Semera (Frankel)

64 f. Wootton Bassett-Sharavana (Fastnet Rock)

70 f. Wootton Bassett-Silimeri (Dansili)

71 f. Lope De Vega-Silva (Kodiac)

80 c. Siyouni-Soteria (Acclamation)

91 f. Frankel-Tacitly (Dubawi)

96 f. Siyouni-Thrust Home (Fastnet Rock)

98 f. Wootton Bassett-To Eternity (Galileo)

118 c. Wootton Bassett-White Satin Dancer (Oasis Dream)

123 f. Kingman-Zargos (Shamardal)

136 f. Sea The Stars-Anaita (Dubawi)

138 c. Hello Youmzain-Angel Falls (Kingmambo)

161 f. Lope De Vega-Birch Grove (Galileo)

164 c. Siyouni-C’est Ca (Galileo)

178 f. Frankel-Correze (Shamardal)

186 c. Pinatubo-Deft (Dubawi)

196 c. Night Of Thunder-Dubai Rose (Dubai Destination)

198 c. Siyouni-Easter Lily (Galileo)

204 f. Siyouni-Enchanting Skie (Sea The Stars)

209 c. No Nay Never-Fact Finding (Zoffany)

227 c. Kameko-Glories (Galileo)

243 c. Wootton Bassett-Holy Roman Empress (A’ Pharoah)

244 c. Siyouni-Hourglass (Galileo)

258 f. Kameko-Know It All (Lord Kanaloa)

274 f. Frankel-Light Dream (Anodin)

275 c. Too Darn Hot-Ligne D’or (Dansili)

279 f. Siyouni-Lucerne (Frankel)

287 f. Wootton Bassett-Marbre Rose (Smart Strike)

297 f. Hello Youmzain-Miss Frankel (Frankel)

306 f. Night Of Thunder-Mulan (Kingman)

313 c. Earthlight-Nuit Polaire (Kheleyf)

Ecurie des Monceaux: the last 10 years at Arqana August

he was born in Britain while his dam was waiting to be covered – the suffix system is something which irritates Bozo.

“I always tell my Irish and English friends that the suffix system needs to be changed,” he says. “Paddington GB, Bucanero Fuerte GB, Ace Impact IRE and Blue Rose Can IRE were all bred and raised in France – it is just so confusing that they carry the suffix of the country where they were born.”

Under its new ownership Monceaux has expanded and developed a large number of partnerships, for horses in training, for mares and for the yearlings it offers for sale.

There are around 80 mares based on the farm’s 840 acres, some of these belong to

including with the Clore family, the owners of Triptych.

But when Urano bought the place it was more or less a cattle farm, and in a state of disrepair.

The new look Monceaux started to sell expensive yearlings in Deauville in 2009 and became the leading vendor at the Arqana August Sale for the first time in 2012; it has maintained that position ever since.

Urano sold the farm and its bloodstock to an international partnership in 2015; Bozo and the new owners have continued on an upward path enjoying success in the Arqana sales ring and on the best racecourses.

In 2023, Haras des Monceaux is enjoying a most excellent racing season, which is almost, if possible, its best yet.

Paddington, a son of Siyouni bred by Diane Wildenstein’s Dayton Investments, raised at Monceaux and sold at the Arqana October Yearling Sale to the Tabor, Smith, Magnier, Brant & Westerberg partnership, has won the Irish 2,000 Guineas (G1), the St James’s Palace Stakes (G1) and the Coral Eclipse Stakes (G1), and he is, at the time of writing, the highest-rated horse of his generation.

Jean Louis Bouchard’s Feed The Flame, bred by a Monceaux partnership which includes Trevor Harris’s Lordship Stud, raised on the farm and sold at the Arqana

August Sale, is among the best of his generation in France. He finished fourth in the Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) on only his third start and won the Grand Prix de Paris (G1) next time out.

The two-year-old Dubawi colt Ancient Wisdom, bred by Monceaux in partnership with LNJ Foxwoods and sold at the Arqana August Sale, is unbeaten in two starts in England for Charlie Appleby and Godolphin. He is entered in the National Stakes (G1).

Monceaux is part-owner of the Prix du Bois Longines (G3) and Group 2 Robert Papin-winning filly Ramatuelle, one of France’s most promising two-year-olds, and is breeder and consignor of the three-time unbeaten and Listed winner Beauvatier. They are just two of the many promising Monceaux graduates running at present.

Paddington was the joint-second top priced yearling at Arqana October.

“He was always a lovely horse with a great walk,” remembers Bozo. “He went to October as his breeder was not sure initially whether to offer him for sale, but I like the Arqana October Sale and it has been better than ever over the last two years as French breeding and its success has gained international recognition.

“This year we shall be selling a full-brother to the Jockey-Club winner and sire Sottsass in October.”

Paddington carries the suffix GB as

Henri Bozo: has managed Monceaux since the start of its reincarnation in 2003 Photo: Tattersalls

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clients such as Lady Bamford, China Horse Club or Diane Wildenstein, and the majority to separate partnerships formed among the farm’s international partners.

“We have bought a lot of land around the original farm,” Bozo explains, “and are now almost double the size of the farm we started with. I am a believer in the importance of using fresh land and of having enough to be able to rest it correctly. We bought mainly cattle farms around us and the original stud farm had carried few mares or horses at all on it in the years before Monceaux was reborn.”

Monceaux’s yearlings in the August Sale belong to many different partnerships.

The five by Dubawi, for instance, belong to five different groupings of French and international partners with Monceaux itself owning between 70 per cent and 30 per cent in each of them.

“We have built up different partnerships, which has helped establish an international network of contacts,” Bozo adds. “And we have, with the help of my brother Ghislain Bozo, David Redvers and Arthur Hoyeau, have put together some syndicates to invest in yearling fillies.

“The aim is to participate in the French racing world and make new contacts there and build the quality of our future broodmare band.”

MONCEAUX is a partner in about 15 fillies in training, mainly two-year-olds, who are with ten different trainers all over France.

For the time being the best of these is the two-year-old Justify filly Ramatuelle, who was a brilliant winner of the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin carrying the colours of Tony Parker’s Infinity Nine Horses for trainer Christopher Head.

Monceaux owns 20 per cent of Ramatuelle, who was bought at last year’s August Sale for €100,000 by Hoyeau.

“I think buying yearling fillies gives us the best chance of acquiring mares with the level of performance and the physical conformation we are looking for,” Bozo says.

“When you buy at the breeding stock sales

you are making your choice from only a small selection of horses and vendors and, of course, the fillies and mares with high-class performances and excellent conformation are very expensive.

“When you buy yearling fillies you have a wide choice and, if it works out, you have a

broodmare for the future.

“Perhaps if we have a top filly some of our partners may be tempted to sell, but certainly not me – my idea is always to try to raise the quality of our broodmare band and, more generally, the standard of broodmares in France.

“Look at Ramatuelle she appears to be very good. As she is by Justify out of a Raven’s Pass mare, she is an outcross to many of the top stallions in Europe.”

If Monceaux is a part-owner of some promising two-year-olds it also sold some at last year’s August Sale.

Beauvatier is a son of Lope De Vega trained by Yann Barberot, who bought the colt for €160,000.

He won his first two starts in May, and beat the subsequent Group winner Ramantuelle in the second of his wins in

We have built up different partnerships which has helped establish an international network of contacts

Siyouni colt eying up the camera

Saint-Cloud. He has since won the Listed Prix Roland de Chambure.

The Godolphin-owned Ancient Wisdom, sold for €2 million, has won both of his first two starts in June.

“Both of their dams were best at 1m4f and so neither were bred to be particularly precocious,” Bozo comments. “We are aiming to breed horses who improve and are at their best as three-year-olds.”

Two other high profile sales from last year were that of Shin Emperor, the full-brother to Jockey-Club winner Sottsass who is in training with Yoshito Yahagi and sold for a sale-topping €2,100,000, and Earhart. She is a Siyouni filly in training with Tim Donworth for LNJ Foxwoods and fetched €1,400,000 bought by Solis/Litt.

“The latest news I have heard is that Mr Yahagi is happy with the colt,” Bozo reports, “and the filly has grown and looks magnificent. We have had a lot of success with Siyouni and I can honestly say that I like all of the yearlings we have by him on the farm.”

One aspect of commercial breeding, which has always been straightforward for Monceaux, is the choice of yearling sales.

All of the farm’s yearlings are presented at either Arqana’s August or October Sale, with

the exception of the occasional one kept to race by Monceaux or one of its clients.

Monceaux’s own horses-in-training include Snowpark with Jean-Claude Rouget. She is a three-year-old Dubawi half-sister to Sottsass and Sistercharlie kept as a future broodmare, and is due to return to competition after a setback in the spring.

“I want to be open and straightforward with our yearlings,” Bozo explains. “And we have grown up together with Arqana and began selling yearlings with them at the time the company was making its name.

“I have great admiration for the other sales companies, but if we put one of our Dubawis in a sale in England or Ireland everybody would ask have they put the best one elsewhere?

“Of course, I am not always thrilled to find out which lot numbers we have drawn but, at the end of the day, if you have the horse it will sell whether or not it is the first or last number of the sale.

“I think the buyers have come to see that we sell only yearlings we have raised and prepared ourselves, and we sell them with Arqana, either in August or in October. It is not always possible to sell at the top of the market, but if you wish to keep doing so you have to be open and credible, and you have to sell good horses.

“I spend a lot of time looking at the results and statistics of the horses we raise as that is the way our work is judged.”

Bozo’s philosophy of breeding and selling will be put to the test at this year’s sale as Monceaux has three of the first ten lots in the ring, and all five of the farm’s Dubawi yearlings will go through the ring in the first 40 lots of the sale.

For those working on the inside this will be a few hours full of stress, but those of us watching from the sidelines have every reason to be confident it will work out as planned.

Monceaux and Henri Bozo do, after all, have a long record of success at both selling expensive yearlings and raising top horses.

I spend a lot of time looking at the results and statistics of the horses we raise as that is the way our work is judged

Prudenzia: the dam of six seven-figure yearlings sold at Arqana and two Group 1 winners

Wootton Bassett ex Sharavana filly (Lot 64)

Head to the top

Blue Rose Cen winning the Group 1 Prix de Diane. She is one of only four fillies to win the race as well as come home ahead in the Prix Marcel Boussac and the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches

Trainer Christopher Head and the Garcon family of Haras de l’Hotellerie chat to Jocelyn de Moubray about the remarkable filly Blue Rose Cen

BLUE ROSE CEN’s brilliant victory in the Prix de Diane in June was a significant triumph in its own right as with this win the daughter of Churchill joined a trio of outstanding champions – Allez France, Zarkava and Divine Proprtions. They are the only four fillies to win the Prix Marcel Boussac at two, and then go on to success in the Poule d’Esaai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane at three.

For those closely involved with the Blue Rose Cen this was a win which may mark the beginning of a long-term change in French and European racing and breeding.

Her young trainer Christopher Head, still in only his fifth season, has this year established himself amongst the country’s leaders.

The filly’s owner and breeder Leopoldo Fernandez Pujais of Yeguada Centurion bought his first thoroughbreds in 2019. He has succeeded in raising and racing a champion from the first generation of his project to build an operation of international significance in France.

Blue Rose Cen was raised at Jean Pierre and Guillaume Garcon family’s farm Haras de l’Hotellerie,

and they, along with jockey Aurelien Lemaitre, have all been involved with top-class horses before, but a Classic winner of the stature of Blue Rose Cen would constitute a pinnacle for anyone’s racing career.

“Perhaps,” says Head, “in the future we will look back at this season and see it as the moment when the cycle changed, and France was once again on the way to becoming a true leader in international racing and breeding.”

Blue Rose Cen made her debut as a two-year-old over 6f at the beginning of May and finished sixth beaten nearly 10l.

“She was part of the first group of two-year-olds to work fast,” Head remembers, “and showed plenty of speed from the beginning. I don’t mind getting beaten if it is part of a horse’s apprenticeship and Blue Rose Cen has never stopped improving since.

“She is still a small filly, but she has grown a lot between two and three and has continued to develop and put on muscle.

Above, Blue Rose Cen’s delighted winning connections after her impressive Diane victory, below, owner-breeder Leopoldo Fernandez Pujais of Yeguada Centurion

“She has always been sound and healthy, she has never had to suffer and she has been able to cope with everything we have asked of her.

“Of course, her win in the Diane was her best performance to date. It is extraordinary to achieve something only matched by great champions and it was a great day for her, for me, for Leopoldo Pujais and everyone who works at the stable.

“Leopoldo is new to racing, but has been breeding horses for many years and he is surrounded by people who keep him well informed. He realised the importance of Blue Rose Cen’s win and was very thrilled by it.”

Jean Pierre Garcon was among the team members who gathered around Blue Rose Cen after the Diane.

“It was, of course, quite something,” he agrees. ‘Winning a Classic race and the Prix de Diane would mean a great deal to any breeder and we were lucky to be given the chance to raise such a filly. Perhaps I should consider retiring on a high after this victory!”

Garcon runs Haras de l’Hotellerie together with his wife Isabella and their son Guillaume, and is happy to continue together.

“We were introduced to Leopoldo Pujais by the Spanish agent Francisco Bernal and have kept 30 mares for him on the farm and presented his yearlings at the sales in Deauville, Newmarket and BadenBaden,” Garcon explains.

PUJAIS has purchased Haras de Nonant Le Pin and the new Haras de Centurion and will soon be ready to take care of the 60 mares belonging to Yeguada Centurion.

“We still have 15 mares with us at Hotellerie,” Garcon says, “but all of Monsieur’s Pujais mares will soon be on his stud although we will continue to be involved and to present his yearlings at the sales.

“The current policy is to sell half of the yearlings, and as there are 40 this year, the 20 will be offered at the Arqana August Sale and October, and at the September Sale at Baden-Baden.

“The aim is to continue to sell some of the best as you have to sell good horses if you want to continue for the long term.”

Yeguada Centurion’s sales have included the twoyear-old Group winner Ramatuelle, a daughter of

Guillaume Garcon with this year’s mares and foals at Haras de l’Hotellerie

Life Of The Party (Siyouni) with her colt foal by Armor

Justify sold by Hotellerie for €100,000 at last year’s August Sale, as well as one of the leading three-yearold hurdlers in France, the Motivator colt Jigme. He was sold at the Deauville October Sale for €90,000 to a syndicate put together by Garcon.

Jigme is bred on the same cross as Treve – by Motivator out of a mare by Anabaa – and his dam is a half-sister to Sinndar.

“We bought him together with a group of our clients and are in the process of syndicating him again as a stallion and he will stand at the Haras de Hoguenet in 2024 after competing in the top races for his generation at Auteuil this autumn,” updates Garcon.

Hotellerie has grown into a large operation and there are currently 110 mares based on the farm’s 615 acres split evenly between Flat and jumping mares.

“We have shares in around 40 of these mares,” Garcon adds. “There is a very strong market for jumping-bred horses in France these days and there is a huge amount of private trade with British and Irish agents always on the look out for young stock.

“It is attractive for breeders as, even if good jumping mares are becoming expensive, France’s leading jumping stallion Doctor Dino stands at only €20,000 and so not at the same level as the Flat sires.”

Hotellerie’s Arqana August draft includes four fillies and a colt belonging to Yeguada Centurion – the fillies are by Zarak, Justify, Maximum Security and Ten

Sovereigns, and the colt is a son of a No Nay Never.

“We are offering one of Yeguada Centurion’s yearlings at Baden-Baden, too,” Garcon says. “Last year we sold a Sea The Stars filly for Centurion out of the Monsun mare Imagery and we will have a draft of six for BBAG September. It is a sale we like.”

The partnership with Yeguada Centurion has increased the profile of the Haras de l’Hotellerie and has given the farm the chance to raise horses of the quality of Blue Rose Cen, Ramatuelle and Wise Girl, the filly who made the running in the Diane and finished an excellent fourth, as well as the future stallion Jigme.

However, Garcon is still surprised by Blue Rose Cen.

“It has to be said when she was a yearling Blue Rose Cen was just another horse like all the others, but then she was lucky enough to go to a brilliant trainer,” he concludes.

“I think Christopher is a genius and I am sure he is going to be a top trainer for years to come. I just hope he will still have room for our horses in the future!” he laughs.

“Christopher is determined to do things his own way, to try out every new innovation and then he is ready to take on challenges and when he decides to run it is because he believes he will win.”

Like Hotellerie, Head’s career was put under a spotlight when he was introduced to Pujais and it seems they shared a vision of trying to do things

The farm now has 110 Flat and jumping mares based on its 615 acres found near to Les Champeaux in Normandy

Jean-Pierre Garcon

differently from the beginning.

Pujais is Cuban by birth and left the island as a young teenager when he and his family moved to the US. Pujais completed his studies, joined the army and saw service in Vietnam returning as a captain.

He pursued a business career with the multi-national companies Proctor and Gamble, and then Johnson and Johnson for whom he moved to Spain in the 1980s.

Once working in Spain he set up the pizza company Telepizza in Madrid, and it quickly became a market leader and eight years later had over 200 branches.

Since then Pujais has diversified into many other sectors, including telecommunications and the company Jazztel, which was sold to Orange in 2014.

Pujais’ business flair gave him the means to start breeding horses. In the 1990s he founded the Centurion farm in El Espinar, Segovia, north-west of Madrid, to breed and raise Spanish purebreds on 2,500 acres with the aim of competing in the best international dressage competitions.

In 2019, Pujais began to invest in thoroughbreds buying a couple of yearlings at the Arqana August Sale and then spending over $3 million at Keeneland November. He continuing buying at the European breeding stock sales and now has 60 fillies and mares.

It was at this time that Head was introduced to Pujais by one of his cousins.

“When we first met I had just started training,” Head remembers, “and he promised to send me a horse.

“Luckily for me the horse was Sibila Spain. She was a filly with real heart who did everything we asked her.”

Sibila Spain was a Frankel filly and one of Yeguada Centurion’s Arqana purchases.

She made a spectacular winning debut as a three-year-old making all the running to win by 9l at Chantilly and then went on to be a close-up fourth in the Prix de Diane and win a Group 2 as a four-year-old.

As a member of the Head family and the son of Freddie, one of France’s greatest jockeys and a leading

trainer, racing was, of course, always part of Head Jnr’s life.

He spent his childhood in Paris and completed his studies in computers, but, as soon as this was done, he returned to Chantilly to work in his father’s stable.

“I worked at every post in the stable,” he says. “I wanted to learn and you never know where problems may arise in the future. My father was a wonderful team leader. We had some great days, of course, but after the disappointments he was always able to bring us together and motivate everybody again. I learnt everything from him.”

HEAD became one of the fifth generation of his family to train in Chantilly after seven years working for his father and two years with his aunt Christiane Head. He also spent a few months with Julio Canani in California and leading French jumps trainer Guillaume Macaire.

“From the beginning my plan was to try to change things,” Head recounts. “I wanted to try all of the new technology available. Our horses work with GPS so I know exactly the speed they are going.

“We measure their cardiovascular recovery and I analyse their races with the help of the sectional times provided by France Galop.

“I have always loved data and am always looking for ways to use data to help us.”

He denies the rumours that he spent a lot of time playing computer games in his youth, saying, “When you are interested by computers you are quickly labeled as a nerd!”

The other aspect of the Head method, in which he was supported from the beginning by Yeguada Centurion and his other owners, was to try to make French racing more selective and to be prepared to make the running when this was necessary to ensure races run at a good pace from start to finish.

“Not every horse is able to race from the front,” he says, “but truly run races allow the best horses to shine, and particularly if they are prepared to take advantage of select races.

“It is obviously a help in this project to have a jockey as good as Aurelien Lemaitre. We started together in my father’s stables – we never imagined we would end up working together with such top horses.”

Head’s horses often

Christopher Head is a man of computers and data, but training racehorses stole his heart: he uses latest data techniques and is the fifth generation of the Head family to train racehorses

Blue Rose Cen: won the Diane in its second-fastest time

Arqana

race from the front and the way he is changing French racing by doing so was well illustrated by the two Chantilly Classic races.

Ace Impact set a new race record of 2m2.63s in the Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) after Head’s runner Big Rock maintained a strong early pace until close to the post.

Yeguada Centurion’s son of Rock Of Gibraltar had won his first four starts for the Head stable, making the running each time and his official rating went from 82 to 116 in the space of three months.

Big Rock is being prepared to drop back in trip for the mile Prix Jacques Le Marois (G1) at Deauville.

Blue Rose Cen completed the 1m2f of the Prix de Diane in 2m5.09s. It was the second-fastest Diane of all time behind only the Head family’s champion Treve, who won in 2m3.77s. Blue Rose Cen followed the pace set by Head and Yeguada Centurion’s other runner Wise Girl, who stayed on to finish fourth herself.

Head’s immediate plans revolve around the Group 1 targets for his current stars Blue Rose Cen, Big Rock and Ramatuelle.

For the future his ambition is, he says, to become a trainer like Carlos Laffon Parias, who has always had top-class horses in his yard year after year.

“This year we have had around 50 horses in training, but there is some rotation.

“Yeguada Centurion’s two-year-olds have only just come in and some others have left the yard to be rested or moved on in order to make room,” Head explains.

“I do not want to grow too quickly, but I have bought a new stable this summer and we shall see where we are at the end of the year.

“I already have a great group of owners and am just starting to attract some owner-breeders, which is perhaps the best way to get hold of horses with potential to go to the top.”

Head’s life has changed a great deal over the last two years since Sibila Spain came on the scene. He is

currently in third place in the French trainers’ table behind only Andre Fabré and Jean-Claude Rouget.

He has won with 31 per cent of his runners and has taken more Group and Listed races than any other trainer this year in France. He has also become a father and his daughter Elizabeth Head has just turned one.

Along with everybody watching from the outside Head himself admits to a degree of surprise.

“Sometimes,” he says, “I feel as if I am just watching these fabulous horses racing and winning all on their own!”

One thing which is beyond any doubt is that Head’s own training project, alongside the racing and breeding programme of Yeguada Centurion and Leopoldo Pujais, have both made a spectacular start.

Lot Pedigree

26 c. Persian King-Private Success (Intello)

224 f. Zarak-Getback Time (Gilded Time)

240 f. Ten Sovereigns-Haziyna (Halling)

242 f. Justify-Hollywood Glory (Maclean’s Music)

246 f. Maximum Security-Idle Hour (Malibu Moon)

265 c. No Nay Never-La Berma (Lawman)

285 f. Siyouni-Malevra (Le Havre)

V2

380 c. Toronado-Whippa D’Or (Whipper)

390 c. Kodiac-Ali Alexandra (Areion)

408 f. Kendargent-Canouville (Air Chief Marshal)

418 c. Mehmas-Dawilia (Dawn Approach)

461 c. Romanised-Kazeema (Al Kazeem)

477 c. Ten Sovereigns-Mambo Paradise (Makfi)

478 f. City Light-Maraza (Paco Boy)

Lot Pedigree

26 f. Le Havre-Siuna (Exceed And Excel)

72 c. Wootton Bassett-Shadan (Orpen)

109 f. The Grey Gatsby-Ivola (Scalo)

118 f. Shalaa-Loyal Heroine (Teofilo)

222 f. Almanzor-La Bella Espagnola (Teofilo)

Hotellerie’s BBAG September draft 2023

Arqana V2 Sale Lot 380: Toronado ex Whippa D’Or (Whipper)

V2 Sale Lot 461: Romanised ex Kazeema (Al Kazeem)

Hotellerie’s Arqana August draft 2023

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Flat & National Hunt supported

Deutsches Derby hero: the Liberty Racing-owned son of Sea The Moon, Fantastic Moon, and, below, Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten who had a fantastic weekend at the races

Moon shines

Lars-Wilhelm

LARS-WILHELM

BAUMGARTEN experienced what can be called “a racing miracle” at Hamburg during Derby weekend.

Not only did Fantastic Moon win the Deutsches Derby (G1) carrying the colours of his Liberty Racing syndicate, but Liberty’s two other runners also won –Assistent took the Group 2 Grosser Hansa Preis on the Saturday card, while the filly Orofina won the BBAG sales race an hour after the Derby.

To complete an astonishing sequence Muskoka, a three-year-old filly bred by Baumgarten, won the Group 3 Stuten Meile just before the feature race.

“It was,” Baumgarten said a few days later, “astonishing, astonishing, astonishing!

“To win one of these races would have been a thrill, to win all of them was just extraordinary.

“I first went to Hamburg to see the Derby as a 15-year-old boy and have dreamt ever since of winning the race. It is still the race we in Germany want to win above all others, there are some farms such as Gestüt Ebbesloh who have been trying without success for more than a 100 years.

“My father, who shares my passion for racing, has not been well and we did not

Baumgarten and his German-based Liberty Racing Syndicate are enjoying a superb run of top form

Photo: Frank Sorge/galoppfoto.de

know until the last minute if he was going to be able to attend. However, he was there and it was very emotional indeed for me to be at Hamburg with him and we watched Fantastic Moon win the Derby in such a brilliant style together.”

Baumgarten’s first job was working as a journalist on a local newspaper, a position which led him to meet Hubertus Fansela, who was then training in Bremen.

“Fansela was,” he explains, “a mentor for me. He taught me everything I know about horses and training. I was young and immediately passionate about racing and I persuaded my father to buy a racehorse and he bought one who did manage to win a handicap.

“Years later I encouraged my father to become the President of the Bad Harzburg race club and he held the post for 15 years during which time its Festival at the end of July became very popular. They also built a new racetrack, something which is not at all easy to do.”

IF RACING was an early passion, Baumgarten’s first business came in other sports and he set up and ran for 20 years one of Germany’s leading sporting agencies.

“We represented a number of tennis players, including Angelique Kerber, who was ranked number one in the world and was a winner of major tournaments. By the end we represented some 500 footballers in 17 different countries,” he says.

“I decided to sell three years ago as it was time for me to have a different lifestyle and one in which my life was not dominated by football.”

It was about the same time that he was persuaded by his girlfriend Nadine Siepmann to set up a syndicate to buy and race horses.

“Nadine’s family has been involved with horses and racing for years,” Baumgarten explains. “Her father has horses with Yann Barberot in France and she suggested I should try and set up a syndicate. I was not initially very keen as I thought it would be difficult and take up a lot of time.

“She kept trying to convince me and one day I said, ‘Okay we are going to do this!’ and

Baumgarten is keen to see Fantastic Moon run over 1m2f in Germany

started to advertise and look for partners. The first year we started out looking for horses we had 12 partners.”

Liberty Racing 2020 bought four colts, three at the BBAG September Sale and one at the October Sale.

All four become winners – Niagora took a Listed race and he and Weston were both very well sold at Arqana at the end of their three-year-old careers.

MEERGOTT WAS A WINNER in the French provinces and was sold on, too, while the fourth of the crop was the Sea The Moon colt Assistent, who was bought at the September Sale from Gestüt Röttgen for €58,000.

“Assistent has always been a very good horse but also an unlucky one,” says Baumgarten. “At two he suffered a hairline fracture and had to be rested and then before he could make his debut at three he had to undergo surgery following inflammation of the large intestine, for a time his life was in danger.

“After all this he won a Listed race in June and finished fourth in the Deutsches Derby. Our syndicate plans to sell at the end of the horse’s three-year-old career but, if the partners agree, we can keep one of them in training at four – we agreed to sell half of Assistent to Eckhard Sauren and to keep him with trainer Henk Grewe.

“Assistent is now better than ever and has already won two Group 2s and a Listed race and we are looking for him to win his Group 1 before the end of the year.”

The following year Liberty Racing had more partners, 22, and once again bought four horses, two colts at Baden-Baden in September – Winning Spirit from Gestüt Park Wiedingen, Fantastic Moon from Philip von Stauffenberg – as well as two fillies at the Tattersalls October Sale, including Orofina.

Winning Spirit would have been the star of most syndicates as the son of Soldier Hollow is now the winner of two Listed races in Milan, finished second in the Derby Italiano (G2) and fourth in the Deutsches Derby (G1).

Fantastic Moon has, of course, done better still and the son of Sea The Moon is the winner of four of his five starts to date, was the champion two-year-old in Germany and a brilliant winner of the Derby.

He currently has an official rating of 118.

“We haven’t had time to think of his long term future as yet,” reasons Baumgarten. “The first step is to try to win a Group 1 in Germany over 1m2f and then we shall see what the plans are for the rest of the year and his future as a stallion.

“I think he is a very good horse and that he will be at his very best on good ground, even if he is capable like all top horses to run

In order to buy a horse all five of us have to say yes, and we have never spent more than €95,000

The winning connections enjoy the moment on a drive past after the Deutsches Derby

Photo: Peter Heinzmann/galoppfoto.de

well on both firm and heavy ground.”

Liberty Racing 2023 is a little bigger still with a total of 30 partners and it bought five horses – two are in training with Grewe, while the others are with Sarah Steinberg, Peter Schiergen and Andreas Suborics, who have all trained for the syndicate before.

The five include a Gleneagles filly and Sea The Moon colt bought at Arqana October, and colts by Protectionist, Zoffany and Gleneagles bought at Baden-Baden in September.

“We have established a process for the selection of yearlings,” adds Baumgarten. “Nadine and I go through the catalogues and produce a list to go and see, and then we inspect them together with Henk and the agent Wilhelm ‘Kojak’ Feldmann.

“Once we have a short list Dr Andre Boehmer does a veterinary report for us.

“In order to buy a horse all five of us have to say ‘yes’, and we have never spent more than €95,000 on any one horse and have never bought one when one of us said ‘no’.

“I have no idea what we are going to do this year as since the Derby I have been contacted endlessly by people I have never met who want to be part of the syndicate!

“We shall just have to wait and see how it sorts itself out.”

Liberty Racing has grown into an important and thriving business very

quickly, but Baumgarten has plenty of other interests in the racing world.

He is a shareholder in the Grewe stable in Cologne and also in Gestüt Harzburg where he keeps his two mares – for a long time Adlerflug stood at the farm.

“If the Derby was the best day of my racing life,” continues Baumgarten, “the worst one was when I heard that Adlerflug was dead. He was only 17 and just on the verge of achieving everything he deserved.

“With Monsun, he was the most significant stallion to stand in Germany in recent years.

“We bought him for very small money when nobody believed in him and he was covering only a handful of mares.

Assistent: also by Sea The Moon, the Group 2-winning colt will have Group 1 targets later this year

“Torquator Tasso and In Swoop came along before his untimely death. I fell in love with Adlerflug when I saw him in his Derby trial in Hanover and I still think about him every day. Happily with Torquator Tasso standing in Germany there is a chance he will leave a lasting legacy.”

Baumgarten is a board member of the German Owners and Breeders Association and, together with Gregor Baum, the owner of Gestüt Brümmerhof, was nominated to represent the association on the board of the racing authority at the end of last year.

“With Gregor [Baum], Eckhart [Sauren] Gerhard Schoeningh [chairman of the German Racecourses Association] and others we are working on a plan to safeguard the future of racing in Germany.

“There are three main parts to our strategy. We need to attract new owners and new syndicates as Germany’s leading ownerbreeders will not always be there to support racing and we need to find and encourage a new generation.

“We are also looking to create a charitable foundation to preserve the future of Germany’s best Group and Listed races.

“We hope to raise in the region of €30 million to secure the future of the races, which are so important to Germany as a breeding country.

“And then finally we wish to take a stake in a large betting company to secure racing’s future income.

“I think if we achieve one of these three objectives we may be able to continue as we are today, and, if we succeed with all three, then German racing and breeding will have a bright future.”

Liberty Racing, Fantastic Moon and Assistent have all secured their own future.

Germany’s leading syndicate will surely be buying again at this year’s sales and both Fantastic Moon and Assistent are likely to have future careers as stallions, as well, of course, as plenty of chances of winning Group 1 races beforehand.

Baumgarten, now based in Cologne, will continue to pursue his passions and, aside from his racing and breeding interests, his coaching of gifted people and his investments, when he has time he likes to play poker.

“Poker,” he laughs, “is my hobby!”

We are also looking to create a charitable foundation to preserve the future of Germany’s best Group and Listed races

Photo: Sabine Brose/galoppfoto.de

Unexpected?

WHO IS THE leading French-based stallion this year?

Siyouni? Wootton Bassett? Surely one of these two?

Wrong! At the time of writing at the beginning of July neither stallion is heading the French sires’ list for 2023.

That accolade goes to Anodin (Anabaa), who is standing at an advertised fee of just €4,000

Surprising? Oui et non.

This stallion ranking reveals the most accurate picture of the French racing system with all of its current strengths and its weaknesses.

Through the summer of 2021 my

“mate” Tangi Saliou of Haras de la Haie Neuve gave me a call while I was racing at Saint-Cloud.

While the other members of the press room were betting the equivalent of their rent on a highly difficult handicap, Saliou and I were discussing in this noisy environment whether or not it would be a good idea to use Anodin at Haie Neuve for the 2022 covering season.

I’m not certainly not saying the Haras de la Haie Neuve supremo needs me to choose his sires, but he is a careful man and he wanted to double-check a few figures.

And, to be honest, if you are driving a tractor in a field, as Saliou was doing when we chatted, it’s safer to call a journalist than to try to go online with your phone to take a

Tangi Saliou of Haras de la Haie Neuve: the well-respected horseman is enjoying success with Anodin and he did his data research before standing the son of Anabaa

No!... it should not really be a surprise to anyone that Anodin is top of the French sires’ table.

Adrien Cugnasse examines the stats and recalls a phone conversation with Tangi Saliou taken in the Saint-Cloud press room

Photos: Sabine Lösch

Leading stallions in France 2023: courtesy of France Galop and to July 14, 2023

look at winner-to-runner strike-rate!

At this point, Anodin had been covering for seven seasons at the Haras du Quesnay and had three generations of three-year-olds on the ground.

The Wertheimer-bred and owned sire was clearly out of fashion – only 27 nominations for 2021 had been sold at €7,000; the big breeders of Normandie had turned the page.

And this is where the magic has happened: even though Anodin has not sired a Group 1 winner, he has since covered 141 mares in 2022 and 121 in 2023.

The stallion’s best horse has not even run in France since 2020: Neige Blanche is the winner of five Grade 3 races in the US, and trainer Leonard Powell is reportedly targeting the Breeders’ Cup with his tough filly.

How is that possible?

First, I would say everybody likes Tangi Saliou. He is considered as a proper equine gynecology expert and, if he can’t get your mare in-foal, then it is probably not worth trying with her anymore.

He’s a man with a fine reputation and many French breeders will tell you that they have produced a black-type horse both on the Flat and jumping after following his advice.

In 2023, Bande (Authorized), Ebro River (Galileo Gold), Le Brivido (Siyouni), Taj Mahal (Galileo), Yafta (Dark Angel), Seahenge (Scat Daddy), the leading Frenchbased first-crop sire for 2022, and Anodin all stood at the farm.

The popular Pedro The Great (Henrythenavigator), who died in 2019 after

Stallion Yr to stud Rnrs Wnrs Races Wins € € and premiums Runs/ horse Av €/ rnr

only six covering seasons, is now ninth of French-based stallions in the French sires’ list.

Haras de la Haie Neuve’s sires usually cover a total of 400 or 500 mares per year. For 2023, the number of covered mares is 443.

The most important thing as regards Anodin’s stats is that he gets winners every single day.

Almost half of his progeny who have raced in France this year have won, successful in races right from claiming level to stakes races with the Group 3 victory of King Gold at Longchamp the highlight.

And this army of winners is battling on a daily basis to give their sire his top spot.

It might be surprising for many Irish or British-based readers, but many of the French breeders based in rural France barely look at sales results.

And, when they do look at these results, they know that they can’t afford the required stallion fee to get a yearling into the Arqana sales.

So they make a breeding “bet” that

appears possible to win with a small investment: they lease their stock to a trainer or sell shares to friends and hope that they get a winner.

And this group tends to look for stallions with proven ability to provide them with lots of winners and so good levels of prize-money and lucrative breeders’ premiums.

This is how they manage to stay in the breeding game.

Is this system good or bad? I don’t know, you have to tell me! But clearly we have in front of us the consequences of a political choice.

This is how it works in France

In France there is no such thing as a “racing culture” as in England and Ireland.

Horseracing is quite “confidential” in France, and the French equine scene, in terms of figures, is dominated by trotting with almost 10,000 trotters bred every year. That’s more than twice the number of thoroughbreds.

France is good at producing trotters and highly competitive NH horses mainly because it’s something you can do with little funding.

Of course, there are billionaires in France, but they are not into horses; this lack of high profile equine owners also evident in the French showjumping and eventing teams.

The French racing system is orientated in order to help the small guy stay in the game. And, to be honest, the PMU wants runners at any cost.

Trainer Christophe Plisson is a case in point. He is based in rural France and he collects all the yearlings nobody else wants. And he’s making his living by not trying to win. It sounds crazy, I know, and, to be honest, it is crazy. But this man has disrupted the French system. He looks for races with four runners and will provide the fifth to ensure that he collects prize-money.

In 2022, he trained 49 horses and had 457 runners, mostly running in his own colours. They won 30 races and a total of €859,713 (prize-money plus premiums).

For a man with just five employees, that’s a profitable business.

And these “lesser” horses, who were impossible to sell when they were young, have collectively amassed a total of €106,784 of breeders’ premiums in 2022.

At the end of 2023, every breeder and owner in France will have the opportunity to vote for the board of France Galop – the local man with one mare will have one ballot, just as the Aga Khan will also have one ballot!

This democratic process leads to a politics of “grass roots preservation” rather than a quest for excellence.

Additionally, at present France’s leading breeders are not really flying.

I am sure they will get back on their feet one day, but, as it has been for the past few years, breeders such as Wertheimers and the Aga Khans are winning a lot less Group 1s than they used to.

Through the same period France has not attracted the same level of new international buyers as Britain and Ireland, and the country has also less leading ownersbreeders, the ones who used to provide the finest French racehorses.

For me, the best breeding operation in France through the post-Boussac era is,

Anodin: gets winners every day in France and with the good prize-money available at all levels, and, of course, with the breeders’ and owners’ premiums, it has taken him to the top of the table

Photos: Sabine Lösch

LOOK TO THE TOP BREEDERS

GROUP 1 BREEDER WILL OFFER ALL OF ITS YEARLINGS AT ARQANA DEAUVILLE.

AUGUST 17-19 | 2023

LOT 11 KINGMAN - PEARLS BANKS (PIVOTAL) filly - 1/2 sister to G1 winner PEARLS GALORE, from family of foundation mare Pearly Shells.

LOT 50 LOPE DE VEGA - SATOMI ( TEOFILO) colt - 1st foal of G2 winner.

LOT 60 OASIS DREAM - SETSUKO (SHAMARDAL) colt - 2nd foal, 1/2 brother to Sous La Neige.

LOT 105 PINATUBO - VADIVINA (NEW APPROACH) colt - 1st foal of winning 1/2 sister to G1 winner VADAMOS.

LOT 111 FRANKEL - VIA PISA (PIVOTAL) colt - 1/2 brother to stakes performer from family of Japanese Champion Admire Mars.

LOT 221 NO NAY NEVER - GALLIC (KODIAC) colt - 1st foal of winner from family of G1 Spinning Queen.

LOT 225 WITHDRAWN - to be offered in October.

PEARLS GALORE

without any doubt, the Wildenstein empire: limited numbers of mares, endless list of high-class achievements.

The Wildenstein family breeding operation is still active but at a much smaller scale, and it also now acts as a commercial breeder, too, which is why Paddington (Siyouni) was sold to the Coolmore lads at the Arqana October Sale.

Siyouni is now a “European” sire rather than a French one

Last year was a record for the number of French yearlings sold abroad at the premium sales.

This trend is nothing new: for a long time now the finest of the French crop has been trained elsewhere, quite often in England or Ireland.

In 2021, only 45 of the 101 foals by Siyouni were registered in France, while reportedly the Coolmore team sent him 17 mares in 2023.

He’s more a “European” stallion than a French one these days. His 2023 his two Group 1 winners are trained in Ireland, while of the 11 Group victories by Siyouni’s offspring in 2022, 65 per cent were successful outside of France.

From that perspective it’s not surprising he is “only” seventh on the leading sires’ list on the July 10, but is the leading sire of European three-year-olds: his good ones are just not in France.

Siyouni is one the last survivors of the generation of sires who brought France back in to the stallion game a decade ago.

Kendargent (Kendor), who is now a 20-year-old, is still around and, just like his father Kendor (Kenmare), he is now proving himself to be an exceptional broodmare sire.

Le Havre (Noverre) is no longer with us and Wootton Bassett has gone to Ireland.

Dabirsim (Hat Trick), seventh on the French sires’ table, seems to have a very good horse in Horizon Dore (Dabirsim), who won the Prix Eugene Adam (G2) in an impressive style.

Where are the Wootton Bassetts?

The last crop by Wootton Bassett conceived at the Haras d’Etreham are two-year-olds of

this year, and the stallion is the leading sire of two-year-olds in Europe.

It is unprecedented in (modern) racing history that the leading sire of European two-year-olds and three-year-olds is based in France, or at least when their current crops were conceived.

Wootton Bassett is now a key stallion for Coolmore’s future, which is even more interesting as it is a real rags to riches story.

When Nicolas de Chambure sourced him to stand at Etreham it’s fair to say almost nobody believed in him, and there were a few shockingly bad mares in his few first books.

For his second covering season his book dropped to just 29.

However, Chambure never lost the faith, supported him and was rewarded.

In 2023, just a third of Wootton Bassett’s black-type horses are trained in France.

As of writing this article the sire is second in the French-based stallion rankings. His progeny have won €32,000 less than Anodin’s, although, of course, a couple of winners can change everything!

At the beginning of July, Chambure told me: “France has the ability to launch stallions, and we manage to give them a chance over time. The French syndication system and the fact that we are a little less influenced by fashion, allows us to support sires over three or four years.

“French sires embark on their stallion career on a more stable basis. We are more patient. There is also more visibility for buyers and breeders.

Siyouni: is only seventh on the French sires’ list but is the leading European sire of three-year-olds

“Both Siyouni and Wootton Bassett have won Group 1s in France: it shows the ability of our programme to generate sires.”

Galiway’s consistency

I have to admit I am a bit figures obsessed so I have to say it’s quite satisfying to see the strong strike-rates achieved by Galiway (Galileo) and Zarak (Dubawi), the results giving both sires positions in the top 10. After Kendargent achieved such success from such humble beginnings many observers thought Guy Pariente was a bit bold trying to do it a second time with a modest race achievement prospect. But Galiway was a far better racehorse than his racing record suggested. After his maiden victory, trainer André Fabre sent him to Britain to run in the Horris Hill Stakes (G3) at Newbury. It was a very unusual move and in recent years he has only tried that with the high-class Intello

What has happened with Muhaarar is incredible – this year he received mares from all the major Normandy stud farms

Galiway: another hit for Haras de Colleville and Guy Pariente

(Galileo) and Persian King (Kingman).

Galiway must have been showing something out of the ordinary at home, but things didn’t turn out the way expected.

Now with 12 per cent black-type Flat performers-to-runners, Galiway is a consistent sire who produces proper racehorses – you see them winning as two-year-olds in June and at Cheltenham in March.

Willie Mullin’s Vauban (Galiway) was impressive at Royal Ascot and the trainer always finds the challenge of sending a Grade 1 winner over the jumps to the Melbourne Cup (G1) an exciting opportunity.

This year, Galiway has two good Group winners in France, while Sunway (Galiway) was an eyecatching maiden winner at Sandown for the astute trainer David Menuisier who has big ambitions for the Pariente-bred colt.

Sunway is a full-brother to Sealiway, who was the busiest Flat French stallion this spring seeing 166 mares, ahead of Galiway who covered 153 mares at €30,000.

It’s fair to say the Colleville rising star is making an impact in France.

Zarak could be anything

I remember fondly a day in October 2015 at Deauville when Zarak won his first race in an impressive style.

And the son of Dubawi would have gone on to win a normal edition of the Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) had it not been for a certain champion in Almanzor (Wootton Bassett).

Zarak then had a few bad races and we now know that he had a few issues in training.

When he retired NH mares made up a significant share of his first book, but he transmits class and, now that he is standing at a covering fee of €60,000, the Aga Khan’s rising star is out of reach for non-Flat purposes.

With 18 per cent of black-type Flat performers-to-runners, Zarak is the leader of the third-crop sires in Europe on this basis.

He is still waiting for a first Group 1 winner, but the stallion keeps on providing good horses, who have a real turn of foot.

This year the list is headed by Crown Princess, Haya Zark, Zagrey and Straight, an impressive trial winner and at one point the

favourite for the 2023 Deutsches Derby. It will be interesting to see him later on in the season.

Zarak is currently the fourth-leading French sire.

Muhaarar: who saw that coming?

It’s has been a spectacular comeback and something we rarely see. When he left Britain, Muhaarar (Oasis Dream) was a loser, however, following Richard Venn’s and Paola Beacco’s advice Alain Chopard tried his luck.

Last season was the one of successes for Muhaarar, who now stands at Haras des Faunes, and he delivered 39 black-type horses or 11.5 per cent of his starters in the northern hemisphere.

This year’s strike-rate is twice higher than his figures of 2021!

This season, the consistent Marhaba Ya Sanafi (Muhaarar), the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1) winner and third placed in the Prix du Jockey-Club (G1), has helped his sire

to the top ten.

After Marhaba Ya Sanafi’s Classic win, Alain Chopard said: “What has happened with Muhaarar is incredible.

‘This year he received mares from all the major Normandy stud farms, and I send him 15 mares every year! I fear Shadwell will take him back next year as my two-year contract comes to an end.”

Muhaarar covered 124 mares this year.

A few highly regarded British bloodstock journalists were quite hard on the stallion through his tenure in the UK, and it’s true that the stallion’s achievements are still resonating from a high quality books of mares seen through his English covering years.

Many stallions with similar advantages and good support have not matched his achievements.

It’s also true his offspring are more staying and less precocious than their sire.

It’s always interesting to look at the ads of leading studs some 10, 15 or 20 years further down the line. How many names are still active in Europe for the Flat? Not many.

Zarak: the leading third-crop sire in Europe, and transmits class and a turn of foot to his progeny

With 12 per cent black-type Flat performers to runners Galiway is a very consistent sire who produces proper racehorses

photo finish: a day at the races

AN IMPORTANT part of a day’s racing is having a bet, and this enthusiastic punter, seen concentrating hard on his selection and obviously into the swing of things, was making the most of the opportunity at Newmarket on July Cup day. Not sure his horse looks that chuffed about the visit to the Tote window.

Triple

SOTTSASS

2019 World Champion 3YO

ST MARK’S BASILICA 2020 European Champion 2YO

2021 World Champion 3YO

TAHIYRA

2022 European Champion 2YO Filly

2023 Irish 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes winner

PADDINGTON 2023 Irish 2,000 Guineas, St. James’s Palace Stakes and Eclipse Stakes winner

Don’t

include leading

.

Group 1 winner including the Prix du Jockey Club where he shattered the course record. Previous winners

sires New Bay, Lope de Vega and Shamardal