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French sires' analysis 2023
UNEXPECTED?
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
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 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 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,
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.
Siyouni: is only seventh on the French sires’ list but is the leading European sire of three-year-olds
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.
“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 (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.
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.
