Haras du Logis

We chat to happy owner Julian Ince, who is celebrating ten and 20-year anniversaries at his farm in Normandy

Julian Ince and his farm the Haras

du Logis are enjoying a particularly successful season this year, but Ince has always given the impression of being somebody who enjoys what he does.

It is now ten years since Ince purchased Haras du Logis and 20 years since he started working on the farm.

The anniversaries had already been marked by two Classic wins for Brametot, who the stud sold as a foal at the 2014 Arqana December Sale, a successful covering season with some 600 mares sent to the farm’s ten stallions, while Tiberian, the Melbourne Cup prospect owned in partnership with Australian Thoroughbreds, Heiko Volz and Stefan Falk, has already won a Group and a Listed race en route for bigger targets in the autumn.

“I have also had my first-ever double as an owner when Yellow Storm and Temperino both won at Senonnes,” says Ince, before adding, “and then only a week later my first Listed double when two Logis breds and daughters of Rio De La Plata – Thais and Aiming For Rio – won on the same day at Maisons Laffitte.”

Brametot arrived at Logis as a foal during the summer of 2014 to be prepared for the breeding stock sales.

“Johnny McKeever asked me to prepare him for the sale on behalf of his Chilean breeder Jorge Cardemil,” recalls Ince.

“Brametot was an outstanding foal and at the sale it was obvious that Sylvain Vidal liked him very much. I remember him asking me if we were planning to protect him.

“I told him that the owner wasn’t going to but that I, together with some chums, were hoping to buy him and race him ourselves. Brametot was born in Ireland and is not qualified for French premiums and so when Sylvain bid €26,000 we decided to stop.”

If Brametot was only at Logis in passing, Tiberian’s story goes back almost to the beginning of Ince’s time at the stud.

Tiberian is the first foal of Tiberius Caesar and was born in 2012 when his sire was 12 and at the beginning of his second career as the teaser for the stud’s Darley stallions. He was never offered for sale. “Tiberian was always the best-looking yearling on the farm,” explains Ince.

He was put into training with Alain Couetil for his breeders Ince, Volz and Falk. At three he looked like a very promising stayer winning twice and finishing second to Vazirabad in a Group 2 at the Arc weekend. At four he failed to win having being

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highly tried, but he finished fourth in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden and, on his final start of the year, was beaten just a short head in the Prix du Conseil de Paris at Chantilly.

This year at five Tiberian has looked better than ever winning a Listed race and a Group 3 impressively on his first two starts of the year.

“We have sold half of Tiberian to Australian Thoroughbreds and his long-term target is the Melbourne Cup, but we plan to run him in some big races between now

and then,” Ince says.

The story began in 1999 when Thekla, the dam of two German Classic winners Turfkonig and Tryphosa, was bred to the Logis stallion Zeiten.

The resulting colt was the first horse Ince bred in partnership with Heiko Volz, who would later become a well-known figure in the racing world after buying the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Danedream for €9,000 as an unraced two-year-old.

The colt went to the Arqana August Sale in

2001 and was sold to the BBA Germany for a million francs, the equivalent of €170,000 today.

Named Tiberius Caesar the son of Zeiten went to be trained by Peter Schiergen for Gestüt Schlenderhan.

He ran in the colours of the famous German stud until he was five. He won four races, including a Group 3 at Bremen over a mile.

At six he was sold and continued his racing career in Sweden until, as a seven-year-old,

Brametot was an outstanding foal and at the sale it was obvious that Sylvain Vidal liked him very much

he ran in a claimer at Chantilly and was sold again to carry on racing in France at eight and nine.

He was claimed by Ince in 2008 from a race at Longchamp. In total, Tiberius Caesar ran 62 times over eight seasons in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Tiberius Caesar obviously didn’t have the profile of a future stallion, but he always had a stallion’s pedigree and must have been sounder and tougher than many of the

Left, Manduro at Haras du Logis.

Vazirabad, his leading runner through 2017 so far, is a dual Group 2 winner this year of the Prix Prix Vicomtesse Vigier and the

Dubai Gold Cup. He won the Prix Royal Oak (G1) and finished second in the Prix Cadran (G1) in 2016.

Below, Julian Ince who moved to France in 1995 after a nine-year stint working at Coolmore in Ireland. He moved to Logis to run the farm for Ulrich Fricker, before leasing and then buying the property himself ten years ago

mainly because of his Argentinian pedigree.

“His first three crops were relatively small, but the moment people saw his foals and they started going to the sales he has been popular and he covered big books last and this year.”

Rio De La Plata’s first crop of 42 three-year-olds includes the two very useful Listed winners Thais and Aiming For Rio, both bred at Logis and stakes winners on the same day at Maisons Laffitte.

The two stars look likely to go on to better things and were both useful two-year-olds as well.

His second crop of 39 foals includes the useful early French two-year-old Rioticism, winner of a Listed race in the middle of July.

Thais was bred by Geroges Sandor, who is a loyal Logis client, while Ince bred Aiming For Rio out of a grand-daughter of Torgau. She finished second to another daughter of the Logis stallion Zeiten in the Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) in 1999.

Thais has a two-year-old full-brother in training with Pascal Bary, while Aiming For Rio has a yearling full-sister.

“Geroges Sandor and I are more than happy to send mares to Rio De La Plata,” Ince laughs, again.

Ever since his first foals appeared, Rio De La Plata has been a popular choice for mare owners

stallions he has worked for during his time at Logis.

Tiberius Caesar covered one mare in 2011 and produced Tiberian. He covered another one in 2012 and produced Magnentius, the winner of two races in the colours of Logis in 2016.

He covered two mares in 2013 producing two foals ,one of whom is Yellow Storm, a filly trained for a Logis partnership by Couetil and who was far from disgraced when finishing eighth in the Prix de Diane after breaking her maiden at Senonnes only weeks earlier.

Since Tiberian emerged Tiberius Caesar has been far busier and he has ten foals of 2017 and covered close to 20 mares this year.

“I don’t like changing my rules,” laughs Ince, “and so I only sent him one mare but Heiko sent him several, including some of his best mares.”

A further source of satisfaction for Ince and Logis in 2017 has been the success of young sire Rio De La Plata.

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Manduro, Authorized and now Rio De La Plata, they are among the best value sires anywhere in Europe and are popular with breeders

The son of Rahy was trained by Saeed Bin Suror for Godolphin throughout his career and was a Group 1 winner at two and five, as well as being an unlucky second in the Poule d’Essai des Poulians at three.

Rio De La Plata was still racing as a sevenyear-old and retired to Logis at eight in 2013.

“At the beginning he was not an easy sell,” Ince recalls, “many breeders were wary

Ince moved to France in 1995. “I had spent eight or nine years working at Coolmore in Ireland,” he explains. “At the time I was helping some Italian breeders set up a stud near Newmarket. I heard there was a position available helping Sven Hanson set up a farm in Normandy at the Haras de Vieux Pont.

“I applied for the job and was interviewed and given the position by John Ferguson, who at the time was Hanson’s bloodstock advisor.

“Travelling or working abroad was not a problem as I had already lived in Ireland, although I have to admit that at the time the French language was difficult!”

While he was working for Sven and Carina Hanson, Ince met Ulrich Fricker from Switzerland who had recently purchased the Haras du Logis from Xavier Bozo and his family.

“I met Ulrich when I was at Vieux Pont,” Ince continues, “and he kept coming to see me trying to persuade me to come and help him at Logis, which at the time was empty with few horses and even fewer clients.”

In 1997, Ince agreed and moved to Logis, which is near Trun and only half-an-hour’s drive south of the Haras de Vieux Pont.

In 1998 Zeiten, a son of Danzig who had won the Middle Park Stakes for Sheikh

Mohammed and André Fabre but who was owned by Fricker and his partners as a stallion, moved to Logis after spending his first covering seasons at the Irish National Stud.

Zeiten was an excellent stallion. He produced the first two in the Cheveley Park Stakes in 1999 and, if he had not suffered from poor fertility throughout his career, he would have been a huge success.

He continued to produce Group and stakes horses from small crops until his fertility ran out completely.

His daughters produced the stallion Zanzibari, as well as the dams of this year’s Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Precieuse and Aiming For Rio.

“I set about building up the farm,” Ince remembers, “and among the first English and Irish clients I found were Heiko and Jocelyn Targett, both of whom are still with us today.

“After two years the farm was full of horses and we had a large group of clients. Fricker then told me that he had decided to sell as he didn’t enjoy living on such a busy farm which was always full of people and visitors!

“I asked him if he would consider leasing me the farm and we agreed to a hefty lease, but happily the clients stayed with me.”

Ten years ago in 2007 Ince agreed to purchase the farm, which is over 130ha.

There are now between 50 and 60 permanent boarders on the farm belonging to Logis and to clients.

For some 20 years Logis has been standing stallions for Darley.

At the beginning it was horses such as Medaaly and Lord Of Men, whereas for the 2017 season Logis stood nine for Sheikh Mohammed’s stud operation – Manduro, Authorized, Bow Creek, Exosphere, Hunter’s Light, Masterstroke, Rio De La Plata, Slickly,

Sidestep, as well as, of course, Tiberius Caesar.

“We covered around 600 mares in 2017, which makes it our third-best season ever following on from 2016 which set a new record number,” Ince says.

“Manduro, Authorized and now Rio De La Plata, they are among the best value sires anywhere in Europe and are popular with breeders.

“About 95 per cent of our own mares are covered by Darley sires which creates the right atmosphere and shows we have confidence in them ourselves.”

Since Ince first moved to Logis the French stallion market has been transformed.

“Plenty of young and successful French operations have arrived,” he agrees, “but competition is always welcome and in the end they bring new money into the system for everybody.”

As for the horses bred by Logis and its clients Ince explains: “We sell what we can, keep what we want, and give away the others!

“In France you can as you will always have the premiums if any horse is successful.”

And Logis has several useful horses who will be earning premiums over the coming months, ensuring that Julian Ince remains a very happy man.

Equine graduates from Haras du Logis are enjoying a successful 2017, while the farm’s exciting bunch of stallions were busier than ever through the spring.