International Thoroughbred NH Special 2023

> Great expectations: Nunstainton Farm is standing four stallions this spring, headlined by Kingston Hill and Falco

> Connors’ dozen: leading pinhooker Walter Connors talks to James Thomas

> Stallion focus: the young and established NH sires in Britain, Ireland and France come under the spotlight

> Following the figures? Take a look at our foal, store and p2p sale stats, as well as the covering returns from 2022

Galileo Chrome is one of the best I’ve trained and beautiful looking. He offers breeders an opportunity to use a top-class racehorse.

Galileo Chrome developed into a highclass racehorse in a very short space of time, showing great versatility.

CLASSIC ‘CHROME PLATED’ FIRST FOALS FROM

200 MARES IN HIS FIRST TWO BOOKS

Colt

Beespleasesold for €22,000

Dubawi Legend

Kuroshio

Colt

Love On My Mindhalf to 2022 Gr.1 2yo winner Al Riffa

Far Above King of Change

Galileo Chrome

KEVIN BLAKE

JOSEPH O’BRIEN

ex

ex

€3FEE: ,000

CHAMPION 3YO STAYER

Classic winner of the Gr.1 St Leger

Timeform Rating: 122p. Undefeated as a 3yo. Beating Gr.1 horses Subjectivist, Pyledriver, Santiago, Serpentine, Berkshire Roco, Dawn Patrol, Mythical, etc.

By exciting sire and World Champion 3yo Australia

13 Group/Stakes winners in 2022.

From the family of Gr.1 Champions Alpinista, Alborada, Albanova, Allegretto, Aussie Rules, Coronet, Quarter Moon, Yesterday

Plus other Gr.1 St Leger performers Michelangelo and Midas Touch.

STORM THE ST RS

GROUP 1 PERFORMER BY SEA THE STARS

1st Group 2 Great Voltigeur

2nd Group 1 Irish Derby

3rd Group 1 Epsom Derby

1st 3YO’s in ‘22- sole 3YO at Go s Land Rover Sale sold for €55,000

HIT with Gabriel Leenders, Willie Mullins, Tom George, etc

We’re very happy with them and he’s a stallion very much on our radar.” - Harold Kirk , principle agent for Willie Mullins, who has several by Storm The Stars

“

ZAMBEZI S N

PROVEN BLACK-TYPE SIRE

LISTED HURDLE & CHASE WINNER SPIRIT SUN

GRADE 2 NOVICE HURDLER DESIRE DU LARGE PROGRESSIVE GRADE 3 CHASER ROSARIO BARON

“She gives everything in every race she runs. She’s a lovely mare.” Jockey Daryl Jacob on 7-time black-type winner ZAMBELLA

MONBEG

NOEL MEADE, JESSICA HARRINGTON, ETC STOCK SOLD TO AIDEN MURPHY, BOBBY O’RYAN, HIGHFLYER, ETC

MIRAGE DANCER

Frankel - Heat Haze (Green Desert) • Fee 2023: €3,500 (Live foal)

A GROUP 1 winner over 1m4f

Career earnings of OVER €1,000,000

Dam HEAT HAZE, a two time GR.1 WINNING sister to five GR.1 WINNERS incl. stallions DANSILI, CHAMPS ELYSEES and CACIQUE

The first son of GB/IRE Champion Sire FRANKEL to stand in Ireland

160+ MARES covered to date, including the dams or siblings of multiple graded winners

12 Celebrating Festival stories

Amy Bennett with a bloodstock perspective on the winners at a superb renewal of the Cheltenham Festival

22 Connors’ dozen

James Thomas meets Walter Connors –veterinary surgeon, pinhooker and the man responsible for buying and selling

12 NH Grade 1 winners

28 A family business

Chris Dawson tells how the family-run Nunstainton Stud has transformed from sending a few mares to local sires into a stallion farm in its own right, the roster currently headed by the on-loan Coolmore stallion Kingston Hill

38 Leading NH sires in GB and Ireland

40 Established NH sires

Champion sire Yeats is again top of the NH stallion table in Britain and Ireland

46 New NH sires for 2023

Stradivarius leads the way for this year’s batch of NH sires starting out on their second careers

50 The young GB stallions

We run through the young NH stallion roster in Britain

64 Young Irish NH sires

And now we take a look at the younger NH sires standing in Ireland

88 Follow Le Bleu

The pedigree background of Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs is a lesson in French NH pedigrees, writes Adrien Cugnasse, who also analyses those young French-based sires who are making early names for themselves

92 Foal sale averages 2022

94 Store sale averages 2022

98 Covering statistics

Statistics provided by Weatherbys

102 Leading point-to-pointers sold

Galopin Des Champs by Debbie Burt

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It was a diverse Festival

IT is all very bizarre, isn’t it? The sale ring is supposed to reflect the action on the racecourse, but the results in the NH ring these days is as far away from that mirror as Britain is from topping the breeders’ list at the end of day four of the The Festival.

As has been well chronicled since the meeting, it took until the last day for one sire to be responsible for two winners – and that was Shantou, an admirable and solid stallion, but sadly deceased. He is sire of Stay Away Fay, winner of the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle (G1), and Impervious, who took the mares’ chase (G2).

The week’s winners were produced by all sorts of sires and from all sorts of pedigrees and, if sold in the ring, at all price points.

This diversity has always been the key attraction to those who want to own and compete NH horses – that no matter the level of investment that you have available, there is the chance that you might find a horse who defies the expectations of pedigree and commercial value.

There is so much involved in a NH horse becoming a good ’un – it needs stamina, speed, heart, athletic jumping ability, soundness, to be clear of wind and have some intelligence (but not too much). A champion can come from anywhere; the power of pedigree, unlike when buying a Flat horse, which is so pricey in the ring, is a little less vital.

Bizarrely all of that seems to have been forgotten in the NH sale ring of late, with the money being focused on individuals by a handful of sires. The past winter’s foal sales a case in point where at all the money was flowing only in

the direction of progeny by the few.

Maybe this year’s Festival will help buyers remember something of their roots, and recall the fact that they should buy a NH foal or a NH store whom they like as an individual, not one who just has the right father. A ground swell such as this probably unlikely.

Most buyers of foals are pinhooking purchasing for commercial up-selling two years’ later, while even at the store sales the dominant buyers now are the point-to-point trainers and consignors.

These buyers can’t afford to step out of line and invest in pedigrees or sires who are possibly not going to be attractive to the handful of end buyers with the big money to spend at the end sale destination.

Such pressure to buy the one by the “right” sire could mean that the days of the young horseman or women, heading out to the sales with not a lot of cash to spend but with an eye for stock, will struggle to make headway in a market so focused a small batch of sires.

NH breeders must also follow the trends and, instead of selecting the non-expensive sire whom they believe in and who would suit a mare, to have some hope of big commercial gain in the ring they generally have to pay bigger money for a stallion who will bring the buyers to the door.

It just puts so much cash flow pressure on a breeding operation from getgo, and that financial hit is in place even before the imponderables of producing or rearing a foal who is quite likely to require some form of veterinary intervention at some point in their early lives. And those

“Maybe this year’s Festival will help buyers remember their roots, that they should buy a NH horse whom they like as an individual, not one who just has the right father

for sires, trainers and jockeys

costs are not even factoring in current price increases caused by inflation and today’s high prices of standard inputs of feed, wages and fuel.

In a bloodstock world that is so focused on one path to greatness a horse such as Galopin Des Champs would never have been born, and this is where the French system is just so beneficial. Aside from the advantages that French breeders enjoy through the premiums that allow them to support their mares until they are proven to be good producers or not, the racing programme focus on the early establishment of a young jump horse, the system allows French-based breeders the ability to use less high profile stallions (it is such a big country it can be prohibitive to go driving around on the hunt for commercial sires and easier and more price sensitive to use more local lads) and invest in less mainstream pedigrees. With the support structure in place, breeders can hopefully breed a horse without too high an input cost, keep said horse until he or she proves whether or not it has a hint of ability, and then if it shows some talent sell for lots of money to an owner with Willie Mullins.

It won’t have cost a breeder or a producer a fortune to get to that point, they can breed what they can afford and what suits their pedigrees and set up, and will not need to recoup such vast amounts at the sales, viable fun horses can be bought by owners with less cash to spend.

Importantly, for the wider good of the thoroughbred breed and the broader structure of the breeding industry, it helps to retain the diversity and gives options for all levels of breeders and producers. It brings forward those horses

produced from more outlying sources and by stallions not just from the few, but who are born blessed with inherent athletic jumping ability and the crazy desire to gallop for miles.

The whole France system, from the lucrative premiums to the programme structure, helps to support the venture of breeding racehorses and produces a diverse breed in which athletic individuals get their chances.

The benefits of this variance have been clearly visible at the top of the NH game in Britain and Ireland for some years now.

Diversity at The Festival was not just reserved for the stallion band, but amongst the jockeys and trainers, too. Mullins was a little less dominate than usual with just the five winners rather than the usual eight or nine, and this gave some wiggle room for a few differing names to get on the board – the Weatherbys Champion NH Flat race was won by one of the oldest trainers holding a training licence in John Kiely, while Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero became a training partnership to win at The Festival.

The jockey of their horse Aidan Kelly was winning his first Festival race and a number of new first-time Festival winners hit the top of the rostrum, while some more established jockeys yet perhaps not with the highest profiles, riders such as Gavin Sheehan and Bridget Andrews, collected winners for the first time in a number of years.

A new generation is able to make its presence felt, and doors are opening for those already on the ladder. No one is irreplaceable and nothing stays the same forever.

“The France system, from the lucrative premiums to the programme structure, helps to support the venture of breeding racehorses, and produces a diverse breed in which athletic individuals get their chances

The talented Galopin Des Champs after a masterful ride from Paul Townend gets the better of Bravemansgame at the second last in the Boodles Gold Cup

Celebrating stories, not nations

Amy Bennett reviews the Cheltenham Festival, which made international rivalry from a bloodstock perspective irrelevant

RIVALRY BETWEEN NATIONS has long been a hallmark of the Cheltenham Festival. However, while counting the number of winners trained by each nation is one thing, from a bloodstock angle, the venture becomes rather more futile. The records will show that the 2023 meeting yielded 13 winners foaled in France, 12 in Ireland and three in Britain. Things become a little less clear cut when we take a closer look at the sires’ roll of honour for the Festival.

Former residents of France are now based in Ireland, some began their careers in France, stood briefly in Britain, then moved on to Ireland, some have changed locations several times within their home nation, and the occasional one has stood at one stud his whole career. A number are, of course, dead, and still others have departed for more foreign shores. Their progeny may have been foaled in one country, sold in another, won a point-to-point in another, perhaps moved again to be trained, sold for a second or third time at a different venue.

What do we then celebrate from a bloodstock perspective – a suffix, a breeder, a sale location, a training base, or just any and all of the above?

Is it too much to venture that instead of trying to reduce four days of superlative action into feudal lines, we simply celebrate the stories and the achievements?

Diversity of sires

Perhaps the first point of note this year was the lack of domination by any one stallion. It took until the second-last race of the entire Festival for a stallion to be responsible for more than one winner.

The sire in question was the late, and deeply lamented, Shantou, who scored a double on the day, kicking off with Stay Away Fay in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (G1), and following up two hours later with Impervious, who landed the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase (G2).

Sixth in the Grade 2 Mares’ Novices Hurdle over 2m1f at last year’s Cheltenham

Festival, Impervious has been on an upward curve since winning on her chasing debut at Wexford at the end of October. Since then, the seven-year-old has won in Grade 2 company at Cork, before landing a Grade 3 at Punchestown in January on her last start before the Festival.

At six, Stay Away Fay is a year younger and was making only his fourth start, and third under Rules, in the Albert Bartlett.

Winner of a Lingstown point-to-point in December 2021 before changing hands for £305,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale, he made a winning hurdles debut at Newbury in November,before

finishing runner-up in the River Don Novices’ Hurdle (G2) at Doncaster in January.

It is also worth noting that Stay Away Fay capped another great week for agent Tom Malone, who not only purchased the gelding, but also bought the Festival Grade 1 winners Envoi Allen and Stage Star, as well as the cross-country chase victor Delta Work and the Cheltenham Gold Cup (G1) runner-up Bravemansgame.

Saint Des Saints shines

With so many sires responsible for individual winners, Saint Des Saints can be anointed the most successful sire of the meeting.

The Haras de la Tuilerie (jumps base for Haras d’Etreham) inmate saw only one of his progeny in the winners’ enclosure – Gaillard Du Mesnil in the National Hunt Challenge Cup (G2) – but his daughters produced the first three home in the Arkle Challenge Cup (G1) with El Fabiolo (Spanish Moon) leading in Jonbon (Walk In The Park) and Saint Roi (Coastal Path).

In addition, he was also damsire of

the Ryanair Chase (G1) hero Envoi Allen (Muhtathir), as well as the Grand Annual Challenge Cup victor Maskada, the latter a winner for his grandsire’s stud

mate Masked Marvel.

Continuing to command a career-high fee of €15,000 – his mark since 2017 – the 25-year-old son of Cadoudal shows no sign of waning popularity and his influence is certain to be felt for many years to come.

Only one other stallion did the double of having a winner as both a sire and damsire –Midnight Legend.

On Thursday, You Wear It Well made all to triumph in the Jack de Bromhead Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle for Jamie Snowden and Gavin Sheehan. The six-year-old, out of the Listed-winning hurdler Annie’s Answer (Flemensfirth), hails from the final crop of her sire, who died in 2016.

Just under three hours earlier, another daughter of the late Pitchall Farm Stud stallion, the Grade 2 winner Sparky May, was responsible for Stage Star (Fame And Glory), who made up for having been pulled up in last year’s Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle (G1) by skipping clear to triumph in the Turners Novices’ Chase (G1) over 2m4f.

Reputations upheld

Over the course of four days of stellar performances over all distances, it is difficult to single out stars, but no-one could argue that the opening day gave us two winners

Impervious (above) and Stay Away Fay (below): their sire Shantou was the only stallion to claim two winners through Festival week. They are out of mares by Oscar and Kalinisi

from the very top drawer of the game.

Constitution Hill had a massive reputation to protect when he arrived at the tapes for the Champion Hurdle (G1), but the son of Blue Bresil carved his name among the list of hurdling legends by annihilating his rivals by 9l, taking his unbeaten record to six under Rules.

Ironically, his margin of victory at the Cheltenham Festival was his smallest to date, but the manner of Constitution Hill’s victory left no doubt as to the superlative talent we are lucky enough to witness.

Given the growing dominance of his sire, the Glenview Stud-based Blue Bresil, on the racecourse and in the sales ring in recent times, it was perhaps a little surprising that the sire was not represented by another winner. However, having covered significant books since his move to Ireland in 2020, he is another sire sure to be celebrating top level winners at Prestbury Park for many years to come.

Another sire who has large numbers of Irish-conceived runners making their way onto the racecourse is Walk In The Park. Already sire of three Grade 1 Cheltenham

Festival winners from his French-bred crops, as well as last year’s Champion Bumper (G1) winner Facile Vega from his Irish-conceived runners, the Grange Stud resident has made a massive impact in the sales ring as well as the racecourse and finally has the numbers to back up his reputation, since his move to Ireland in 2016.

Although not among the winners at this year’s Festival, but responsible for two Grade 1 runners-up in Jonbon and Facile Vega, Walk In The Park has scored one important

victory this spring as the first date for the now-retired, legendary mare Honeysuckle.

The daughter of Sulamani brought the house down when storming up the Cheltenham hill to victory for the fourth and final time, bowing out with a gutsy performance against her own sex in the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle (G1).

It brought the nine-year-old’s Festival story full circle as she scored in the same race she won for the first time in 2020, prior to her two Champion Hurdle victories.

The mare may have returned to a silent winners’ enclosure following the first of her Champion Hurdle successes in the Covidravaged Festival of 2021, but the memory of her rapturous reception will live long in the memory, with not a dry eye in the house as she and Rachael Blackmore returned to the hallowed circle.

Staying on a female theme, it may be noteworthy that only one stallion sired more than one winner, but it is surely even more so that one mare was responsible for two winners.

The Video Rock mare Robbe made only three starts herself, placing once over

The Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill: his performance led to pundits making all sorts of race plans – Flat, hurdles and chasing – for Henderson

...the manner of Constitution Hill’s victory left no doubt as to the superlative talent we are lucky enough to witness

cheltenham review

Cheltenham fan favourites: Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle

hurdles at Rochefort-sur-Loire in 2009, but she has since more than earned her place in the paddocks as the dam of six winners from as many runners.

Her second foal is the Network gelding Delta Work, a five-time Grade 1 winner and now successful three times at the Cheltenham Festival, having this year won the crosscountry chase for the second time, adding to his 2018 victory in the Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle (G3) in 2018.

Bred by Charles and Jean-Francois

Magnien, his younger brother Jazzy Matty (Doctor Dino) upheld family honour on the opening day of the meeting when scoring by a neck in a hard-won finish to the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.

Their dam got her week off to a good start when her five-year-old son Inneston, a full-brother to Jazzy Matty, was runnerup in the Grade 3 novices’ handicap hurdle final at Sandown. Robbe is also responsible for the Grade 2-placed Elwood (Martaline), the Leinster National winner Cap York (Ballingarry), and has a two-year-old by Rail Link waiting in the wings.

Furthest afield

As noted earlier, many of the sires on this year’s roll of honour have stood at multiple locations during their careers. However, the furthest-flung currently is surely the stallion responsible for the first winner of the week, the former Kildangan Stud resident French Navy, who sired the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (G1) victor Marine Nationale.

The daughter of Sulamani brought the house down when storming up the Cheltenham hill to victory for the fourth and final time

cheltenham review

The Grade 3-winning son of Shamardal was one of four stallions introduced at stud as part of the Darley Club. That offer saw breeders pay up front for a single nomination and those who subsequently sent a mare for free for the following three seasons received a lifetime breeding right.

French Navy now resides at Jai Govind stud in India, so Marine Nationale’s second Grade 1 success will not have European breeders beating a path to his door, but breeder John O’Connor of Ballykelly Stud can celebrate a shrewd bit of breeding.

The Video Rock mare Robbe’s two Cheltenham winners and her Sandown Grade 3 runner-up: right, Jazzy Matty (Doctor Dino), winner of the Boodles Juvenile Hurdle, below, cross country winner Delta Work (Network), and, inset, Sandown winner (yellow) Inneston (Doctor Dino)

Jury

Sire of Il Etait Temps, runaway winner of Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle Gr.1

Now sire of four Gr.1 winners

3YOs realised up to v120,000 in 2022

First Irish breds are 4YOs in 2023

Fascinating Rock

Ourstanding start with first two crops of runners

Sire of two black-type mares from first crop of 23 foals

2022 Land Rover Sale average - €39,000 16.2hh with size and scope

World 10f Turf Champion at 4 years

Sirel of Earl’s Rock - recent Gr.3 winner

First NH foals realised up to €37,000 in 2022

Very good looking horse. Great value.

2006 Gr. H. by Montjeu ex Mare Aux Fees

2008 B. H. by Beat Hollow ex Eva Luna

2006 Gr. H. by Montjeu ex Mare Aux Fees

HARAS DE MONTAIGU

BEAUMEC DE HOUELLE

DSCHINGIS SECRET

Connors’ dozen

Veterinarian, pinhooker, breeder

and

producer:

Walter Connors has bought and sold 12 Grade 1 winners.

James Thomas meets the man from County Waterford

WALTER CONNORS could have spent the Cheltenham Festival in the Prestbury Park parade ring reminding connections of all the good horses he’d bought, raised and sold. After all, enough of them turned up at the four-day jamboree to keep him busy for most of the week. Instead, he followed the action on his phone parked up in a lay-by as he was dealing with his day job.

This unlikely vantage point is because duty comes first when you’re an in-demand veterinarian. And, moreover, it simply isn’t in his nature to go seeking the spotlight.

But even if Connors is unflappably modest about an impressive body of work in the NH world, those in the know hold him in the highest esteem. It is not for nothing that he is renowned as one of the sharpest pinhookers, most skilled producers and finest judges around.

This was in evidence once again during the festival when Envoi Allen, whom Connors bought as a foal in France, roared back to form in a pulsating Ryanair Chase. That was the son of Muhtathir’s third

Cheltenham triumph and eighth Grade 1 in total. In turn Envoi Allen is among 12 top-flight winners that Connors has unearthed.

That dashing dozen includes past Festival heroes like Don Cossack and Espoir D’Allen, as well as the likes of Bacardys and Mighty Potter, who surely has bigger days ahead after finishing third in the Turners Novices’ Chase.

As these names highlight, Connors takes a fluid approach to pinhooking. Although he sources the majority of his stock as foals in France, some race there before being traded (Espoir D’Allen), some head down the store sale route (Mighty Potter) and others are put into training on the track or between the flags (Don Cossack and Envoi Allen).

The process has been honed over the years and his Sluggara Farm system now runs like a well-oiled machine, but Connors still came at it from something of a standing start.

He was born into what he describes as a “rural family” in Dungarvan, County Waterford, and is the son of Nicky Connors, breeder of the Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Cool Ground.

“We’re rural people and my dad’s a vet so he had a few broodmares and pedigree Hereford cattle, so my introduction was through pedigree animals,” he says. “Whether it was the cattle or the horses, there was always more to them than them just being a beast out in the field. That fuelled my enthusiasm for pedigrees from flag fall.”

While Connors followed in his father’s footsteps by pursuing a career as a veterinarian, he wasn’t tempted to take a lead and begin breeding himself. Not only did he think pinhooking was a more appealing proposition – it was also more financially viable.

“From a very early age I saw the variance in breeding and that you have to take what you get,” he says. “Plus, when I was starting out, NH fillies had a very poor monetary value because there were no mares’ races, so I was looking at these filly foals and I was questioning the wisdom of breeding them at all. I thought we’d buy a few colt foals instead of having an extra two broodmares and that’s where we started. As time went on our pinhooking got bigger and our breeding shrank to being only a small number of mares.”

He began his pinhooking career at Fairyhouse and remembers a fairly typical introduction to buying bloodstock, saying wryly: “The first five foals we bought cost 21,000 punts for the five. That year we had 20,000 to spend so, like anyone in horses, if you had 20,000 to spend we spent 21,000.”

His veterinary work helped him form an association with Seamus Murphy, who Connors says is due plenty of credit for the development of the French enterprise,

Walter Connors with winning jockey Derek O’Connor at Quakerstown point-to-point

Photo: Pat Healy

and it was in 2001 that the pair first journeyed to Deauville.

“Seamus was training a couple of horses at the time and when I went to see them he told me he was going to France because he thought their sales had something to offer,” he says. “The first few years we went to France we just had a map, there was no sat nav – it was a navigation just to get out of the car park!”

British and Irish pinhookers plundering France is now common practice, but few were heading as far afield at the time.

Connors says the only Irish voices he heard at his first sale in Deauville belonged to Arthur Moore and Jeremy Maxwell. While some would credit Connors with setting the trend, he says he and Murphy set out entirely in innocence rather than expecting to effect a market shift.

“I don’t know whether we thought we were breaking new ground but I was only recently qualified and there was a bit of excitement about it in a naive sense,” he says. “We didn’t really know what we were going for, we just thought that it was somewhere else to go.

“We bought some horses we knew nothing about and there were some ordinary racehorses among them, but there was always one or two in each of the years that kept drawing us back. That’s why we stayed with it.”

He adds: “We couldn’t afford the horses by proven stallions in the beginning so we started, like a lot of the Flat pinhookers do, with the first-season sires.

A Matnie performance

ALTHOUGH PINHOOKING has almost always taken precedence over breeding, Connors’ five-strong broodmare band now features a genuine NH blue hen. Matnie, a 16-year-old daughter of Laveron, has bred five winners, three of whom have won at Graded level.

Her most high-profile offspring is Mighty Potter, a four-time Grade 1 scorer sourced by Connors and Seamus Murphy as a foal. He is joined by Robcour’s Grade 3-winning novice chasers French Dynamite and Indiana Jones.

“We bought the foals out of Matnie in the beginning because one of the farms we went to every year was Remi Cottin’s,” he says. “He was downsizing and Seamus said to me that he was selling his mares. The French breeders who were going to buy two of his in particular wouldn’t sell the foals so they wouldn’t be available to us. I bought the two mares and Matnie was one of them.”

Connors bought Matnie back in August 2021, at which point

“We felt our way and got lucky with some of those stallions; from the first of the Sholokhovs we had Don Cossack. The converse side is the ones who didn’t make it. We just had to trade out and move on.”

It wasn’t long until Connors had uncovered some significant talents. His early forays into France yielded Kazal, who won four Grade 2s for Eoin Griffin and also finished third in a World Hurdle won by Inglis Drever, and David Johnson’s highclass chaser Vodka Bleu. Crucially, for an outfit looking to balance the books, these horses, despite their inherent quality, were not costing the earth –especially compared to the prices back home.

“The first yearling I bought in Deauville was Vodka Bleu,” says Connors. “He was 11,500 punts and he was the third- or fourth-highest priced yearling in the sale. That’ll tell you how much has changed because the third- or fourth-highest priced yearling last year was €120,000.

“This all coincided with the Celtic Tiger era when there were a lot of foals sold in Fairyhouse to property developers or whatever.

“When they came in the top 25 per cent of foals got very expensive, and we were never going to be able to own them going up against the end users.

“That kept pushing us back to France, as well as us wanting to go. We were trying to elevate our stock and there was a big financial jump to get to that next level, so we felt maybe we had more of a chance in France.”

Connors’ French expeditions quickly developed from sales ring raids on Deauville to purchasing

We couldn’t afford the horses by proven stallions in the beginning so we started, like a lot of the Flat pinhookers do, with the first-season sires

Mighty Potter

The latest Grade 1 Cheltenham Festival win achieved by a Connors’ graduate was this year’s the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase victory for Envoi Allen – the son of Muhtathir has won three times at the big March meeting. After the horse won his point-to-point for Colin Bowe, Envoi Allen was sold by Connors for £400,000 at the 2018 Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale

French Dynamite had shown himself to be above average but Mighty Potter was merely a Punchestown bumper winner and Indiana Jones had only a Cork maiden hurdle victory to his name. What has followed has been a pleasant surprise.

“At the time Mighty Potter had won his first bumper but that was all,” says Connors. “The rest just snowballed. We’re lucky to have her now and we didn’t realise she was going to be what she is when we bought her.

“We had a hunch that we liked Mighty Potter and I thought she’d do well just to be a commercial mare. I’d have never gone looking to buy her, only that it coincided with her coming on the market.”

There could be more to come, too, as the mare’s fourth foal, Sluggara Farm graduate Caldwell Potter, won a Punchestown bumper and has his hurdling career ahead of him, while her fifth offspring, Gigginstown House Stud’s Brighterdaysahead, looked an exciting prospect when topping the Derby Sale for Lakefield Farm at €310,000.

That daughter of Kapgarde made an impressive winning debut in a Gowran bumper in February. The dam also has a two-year-old and a yearling, both colts, by Doctor Dino on the ground.

Circumstances dictated that Matnie remain in France after her purchase but she is reportedly in fine fettle, is carrying her next foal and is set for a mating with one of the best sires later this year.

“She was in foal when I bought her so I left her there to foal and thought we’d bring her home then,” says Connors. “After she foaled she got a touch of colic so she went to the clinic and they said there was a possibility that she might have a recurrence, so on account of that I’m afraid to put her on the boat.

“We can bring her back if she’s barren and we’ll certainly bring her back when she’s retired but for the meantime she’s treated like a princess where she is so it’s not a problem.

“She’s due in April to No Risk At All and we’re pencilled in for Saint Des Saint, so presuming he’s hale and hearty we’ll go there later this year.”

stock privately out of farmers’ fields. He says this exercise, at least in the early days, simply involved venturing into the paddocks with the breeder and trusting your eye.

“Seamus is friendly with Nicolas de Lageneste and it was through him that we got our introduction to the farms,” he says. “And it was organic at the time as a lot of it was word of mouth. If you went to one farm then they’d tell you about the farm next door. One farm became four the next year, then those four brought on another ten. It was word of mouth from neighbour to neighbour.

“We’re a bit more knowledgeable now but in the beginning you’d go out in the field, see the foals and ask about whichever one we might like physically. We’d just see whatever they had and we’d make a makeshift pedigree and we often bought horses that we only knew sire, damsire and if there might be a good horse in the family.

“Nowadays everything is at your fingertips and we have more pedigree research done but we didn’t at the time.”

The million dollar question is: what does Connors look for when he ventures out into a breeder’s field or when he’s scanning the pedigree of a potential pinhook?

Those hoping for a silver bullet are out of luck, although he concedes his veterinary background has given him something of an advantage, at least as far as purchasing horses for point-to-pointing is concerned.

“We’re no different to anybody else because everyone wants the tall, well-grown foal that’s got a bit of movement about him,” he says. “Maybe

because we were often buying with a view towards racing before we developed our sales side of it we weren’t as concerned whether an animal slightly toed in or slightly toed out.

“And, hopefully, we had an idea about what would be sound because in the veterinary work we saw the problems conformationally that gave the most trouble.

“When we were buying we were buying for ourselves, so we weren’t under the pressure that the agents are under to have the perfect specimen.”

On the pedigree front, he adds: “We like to buy them out of mares or from families where, even if there weren’t champions, there were lots of horses who won lots of races – even if they were little races. That’s giving you your limb soundness and your wind soundness, and if you get the cross that works and the horse that has a bit of class, that’s the one for us that upgrades the pedigree.

“I much prefer that pedigree to a pedigree with one champion and very little else, because that probably means the rest were either no good or unsound – and one is as bad as the other.”

Of course, buying them is only one part of the puzzle, and plenty can change during the rearing process, particularly given the length of time the youngstock spend at Sluggara Farm before heading to the sales or into training. While he is aided by Murphy in finding the right foals, raising them is more of a one-man – or one-woman – show.

“I hand that over to my wife, Una, and she does the rearing of them.” Connors says. “She runs the yard and the farm and I’m only there on a Sunday. She says I have to look at them on Sunday so that I

Vodka Bleu (left): the classy chaser was the first yearling bought at Deauville by Connors. The son of Pistolet Bleu went onto win 11 races from 36 starts

We like to buy them out of mares or from families where, even if there weren’t champions, there were lots of horses who won lots of races

remember how many I’ve actually bought! Myself and Seamus have been guilty of buying one or two more than planned.”

Having had so many major talents through his hands, from Kazal all the way through to Mighty Potter, Connors is perfectly placed to opine on what common attributes the good horses have.

Taking the Grade 1 winners he has been involved with as test cases, he says: “They were all very different physically and they all had different pedigrees. The thing they had in common was that they never needed a vet and very seldom needed a farrier.

“They seemed to have that constitution that they were always capable of doing what was asked of them, both mentally and physically. They were the ones it was easy to keep condition on, they always ate when they should and were able to take the training – they’ve got to have the appetite for training physically and mentally.”

GIVEN HIS FLAIR for finding elite equine athletes, there is a temptation to wonder why Connors has never turned his hand to the potentially more lucrative pursuit of pinhooking Flat foals.

When this is put to him, his reply is self deprecating but unequivocal.

“I don’t know many of my limitations but I know some of them!” he says. “Our whole focus would have to change as those animals can’t afford any sort of a store period because they need to be on the go.

“We wouldn’t know what to do with them if they didn’t make a Flat yearling sale. We have the farm stocked with NH horses so we’d have to change the whole thing, and I’d say I wouldn’t be a very good judge of a Flat foal anyway.”

And perhaps there’s simply no need for Connors to diversify as NH sales are enjoying something of a boom period. He has been on the right side of this trend when horses like Envoi Allen sold to Tom Malone for £400,000, while more recently his highly touted Oldtown runner-up Jersey Des Brosses fetched £370,000 from Gordon Elliott.

However, these prices have had a trickle down effect, which in turn has made youngstock more expensive at source.

“There’s been a huge change and we’re lucky

we’re not starting out now,” he says on the NH economy. “Thankfully we were already on the ladder as the rising tide started to lift all the boats. Prices have increased privately, too. But then the good horses tend to be bred by good breeders, not by chance. And they’re good breeders because they know and understand their horses. They’re not fools, so if you think they’ve got a good foal, they’ll think they’ve got a good foal too.”

While landing a touch will always be welcomed in the pinhooking game, the financial side doesn’t figure when Connors speaks about what drives him to keep investing time, effort and money into producing young jumpers.

It’s the same reason he didn’t feel the need to be in the Cheltenham parade ring reminding everyone of his involvement, the same reason he spends his Sundays point-to-pointing and the same reason he continues to search far and wide for the next potential star, even though his day job provides him with ample financial security: it’s not about him, it’s about the horse.

“Where we get the most enjoyment is seeing a horse that we liked as a foal going on,” he says. “When he gets on the first steps of that ladder, there’s a certain nervousness because you don’t know where it ends. We feel that pleasure, not for ourselves from a pride point of view, but because we’re attached to the horse himself. I get more pleasure from somebody saying something good about a horse than we feel we had a champion.”

If previous form is any guide, people will have

There’s been a huge change and we’re lucky we’re not starting out now. Thankfully we were already on the ladder as the rising tide started to lift all the boats

The 2023 Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale top lot: the French-bred winning Irish point-to-pointer Jersey des Brosses by leading sire No Risk At All was sold by Colin Bowe’s Milestone Stables for Connors, bought by Gordon Elliott for €370,000

Great expectations

The Dawson family of Nunstainton Stud is looking forward to the future with four progressive NH stallions on the roster for 2023.

We chat with Chris Dawson about the quartet of sires, headed by Kingston Hill and Falco

IT IS NOT a great time of year to try and fix an interview with a busy stud farmer, point-to-point trainer and sheep farmer… there is quite a lot going on in the spring months and March really is the apex of activity.

However, Chris Dawson of Nunstainton Stud, despite having been up the whole of the preceding night foaling down six mares and finding time in between to oversee the night’s activity in a nearby lambing shed, graciously gave some time to chat, the stud owner managing to force his eyes open and also talk eloquently and openly about the development of the family’s stud and stallion farm in the north-east of the UK.

“We usually do the foaling in shifts but last night the shifts seemed to roll in to one!” laughs Dawson. “We had six foals by six different stallions, four mares for outside clients, one of which boards here.”

The development of the operation into an enterprise standing four progressive NH sires headed by the Group 1-winning pair of Kingston Hill and Falco, who is also a dual Grade 1-winning producer, as well as housing a mixed broodmare band of around 30 of its own and around 50 in total, has come around, in farming terms, rather organically – Chris Dawson Snr, who had a few broodmares on the farm, decided to cut out the middle man and stand a stallion to cover his mares himself.

“We had half a dozen mares and generally used local stallions,” recalls Dawson Jnr.

“I would look back at them now and call them ‘hobby horses’, they did not really have pedigrees and were mares Mum and Dad bred out of and sold the progeny as four-year-olds, or they might keep them to point-to-point them.

“One year mares were sent to Ireland and a lot of them came back not in-foal. Dad was fuming. He decided then he would try and find his own stallion, so he rang a few people and we ended up with a horse called Dapper by Hernando. He had been in training with Henry Cecil, had then been used as a teaser in the US and somehow made his way back to the UK. We had him for a season to see how we got on, and then bought him a year later.

“We covered our own mares, maybe four or five, then a few local mares as some friends asked if they could use him too, he got up to books of 10 or 12.

“When you have a stallion, people ring and ask if you would like a mare and we were probably a bit naïve at this stage and took anything that had won at whatever level.”

At that point no one in the farming and rural family had worked on a stud farm; Dapper really was their “schoolmaster” stallion, showing the Dawson family the ropes of stud farming.

Dawson was then a teenager and it was his father’s solid farming experience and knowledge of stock, alongside an obliging stallion, that got the mares successfully in-foal.

Some of the Nunstainton family members at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in 2021

From left to right: Phil Dawson and wife Gemma, Anna and Chris.

The foal is a colt by Lightning Spear and out of the Dansili mare Elenora Delight. He fetched 20,000gns bought by Stroud Coleman Bloodstock (Lot 1191)

Photo by Carl Evans

“We were proper old school about it, we did not use any veterinary intervention other than at the final scan,” recalls Dawson. “When the mares were in season we covered them every other day and Dapper teased all them himself.

“Dad would sit on the back of the quad bike with the stallion on chifney and he would trot down our lane to the mares.

“We’d feed them, Dad would lead him out to the field and Dapper would then tell us which ones were in season – we’d lead the mare back to the farm to be covered. He was a legend of a stallion.”

The son of Hernando still has runners and the 130-rated Dr Kananga enjoyed an outing in this year’s Kim Muir Chase in which he finished in a respectable mid-division position.

Dawson, who likes to focus on the stats, says: “In one year Dapper had nine runners and seven winners in British point-to-points – if that had happened in Ireland it would have been very different for his book sizes.

“His stats are nearly 60 per cent winners to runners, and the book was certainly not the quality of mares that we have now.

“He could have produced us plenty of decent horses with the better mares now on the farm.”

Such initial ad hoc covering methods could be employed on a farm with just 20-odd mares and with one stallion on the roster, but the farm started to change its focus from standing one stallion almost for a bit of fun to a bespoke stallion operation involved as part of the larger farm enterprise.

A relationship with Eoin Banville’s Wexford-based Arctic Tack Stud developed and Nunstainton first stood Banville’s

stallion Great Palm (Manila) in 2009 to 2012 and then Trans Island (Selkirk) in 2013.

“Trans Island probably took the stud to the next level,” recalls Dawson. “His best jumper so far has been I Like To Move It, who was bred by my brother John and his wife Alice. He won the Grade 2 Kingwell Hurdle in the autumn and ran in this year’s Champion Hurdle, he also won the Grade 2 Supreme Hurdle Trial in 2021.

“Fosters Island with Micky Hammond has won six races, Nells Son with Nicky Richards ran in the Coral Cup, Chinwag with Neil Mulholland has also won six races.

“Trans Island only saw books of around 30 and has produced some hardy mares we had here, sadly, we lost him with colic just as he was getting going with a few good horses.”

THE FARM NOW has the four stallions on its roster and all have strong chances of developing into commercially important sires for the farm. The headline act is Kingston Hill, who has relocated from Coolmore’s Castlehyde Stud to the County Durham farm, “Le Stallion Man” Richard Venn helping to transfer the horse over the Irish Sea.

Dawson says: “Richard Venn rang to say that Kingston Hill might be available –Coolmore did not want to sell but were keen to lease him out for a couple of seasons.

“He had covered big books for many years, but the numbers had dropped from 130-150 to around 30 and he perhaps needed a change.

“So we had the opportunity to bring a Coolmore stallion to the north east. Kingston Hill was an unbeaten two-year-old, a Group 1 winner as a two-year-old, a Classic winner at three, ran second in the Derby and was placed in an Arc – a fantastic, hardy and tough racehorse.

“Although we are growing now, I like to call ourselves a ‘little stud in the north-east’ and so to him come to us was massive.

“I have to say that Joe Hernon at Castlehyde was really good to deal with.”

The timing has been good for Nunstainton with the stallion’s bigger books and some NH horses hitting the track.

“Kingston Hill covered 55 with us last year

We covered the mares every other day when they were in season and Dapper teased all the mares himself... he was a legend of a stallion

Kingston Hill: mid-way through a two-year lease deal from Coolmore’s Castlehyde Stud

and I would say we will be well able to get to that this year given his recent exploits,” outlined Dawson.

“The Paul Nicholls-trained seven-time winner and the Saturday Ascot hurdle winner Irish Hill has been a good flagbearer, No Looking Back won the Grade 2 before Christmas and finished second in the Grade 3 at the beginning of March, while Butcher Hollow won his pointto-point, and sold for £200,000 at the Cheltenham February Sale.

“He has also had three four-year-old point-to-point winners, and his bumper stats are looking good. He has had a number of winners in the north of England, which has worked in our favour – the local breeders and the trainers are at the races seeing the Kingston Hills do well, and they know he is only just down the road and easy to get to.

“We have also had a lot of support from the Scottish boarder-based breeders.

“Kingston Hill is a great signing, and he keeps banging in winners and the facebook page keeps updating with a winner or two – we have been able to keep the publicity rolling on, which is important, and we have got new clients through him.

“I really wanted to beat the number of mares he saw in his last season at Castlehyde, and we did that and hopefully will do it again.”

Kingston Hill is not the only stallion on a progressive curve having relocated to County Durham – Falco, a son of Pivotal, who had stood for ten years in France followed by some years at Elusive Bloodstock and Hundred Acre Farm is embarking on his first covering season with the Dawsons and is another stallion for whom the stars are aligning.

“It was just in a passing conversation with James [Gray] when I had asked if he wanted to relocate the stallion as he had used all his mares on him and it might have been

Above: Butchers Block, a four-year-old Tallow point-to-point winner, was sold at the Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale to Hamish Macauley Bloodstock and Bryan Cooper for £200,000

Below: Irish Hill at the Paul Nicholls Ditcheat yard. The five-time winner won a February Saturday Ascot handicap hurdle off a career high of 128

Kingston Hill is a great signing, and he keeps banging in winners and the facebook page keeps updating with a winner or two – we have been able to keep the publicity rolling on, which is important, and we have got new clients through him

Two sons of Kingston Hill, who have been successful in the sale ring and on the racecourse

time for the sire to be moved elsewhere,” recalls Dawson. “The stallion has had a really good spring – two days after he arrived Tahmuras won the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle in January, and then Hudson De Grugy won a graded chase at Sandown at the beginning of March for Gary Moore.

“Hitman ran a great race at Cheltenham this year for Nicholls when third in Ryanair Chase having previously been placed in Grade 1 chases, including the Grade 2 Denman Chase at Newbury in February.

“Falco was in France for a long time so I track a lot of runners in Europe. I have been amazed by his stats, and he has even got 50 per cent winners to runners on the Flat.”

Dawson, a hard-working no-nonsense farmer, admits that adding Dragon Dancer to the roster was a decision driven a little by emotion, however sentiment has not taken over so much that the addition, another sire who has moved to the UK from France, did not also make sense commercially.

He joined the farm in 2018 and his first British-bred four-year-olds are hitting the track this year.

“Dragon Dancer is out of Alakananda,

a full-sister to Dapper, so it was a little bit of emotion involved to bring the stallion to Nunstainton, but he is from the great Kirsten Rausing family of Alpinista – her dam and Dragon Dancer’s dam are three-parts sisters so he also had a great pedigree,” says Dawson.

“We were a little cautious in his first year – we did not push a lot of mares to him as we wanted to make sure we liked what we were getting. Touch Of A Dragon is fro mthat first crop – he was bred here, is one of his first to debut in a British NH bumper and has been third in two such races for trainer Micky Hammond.”

The final stallion of the four is Cannock Chase. He is on his second stint at the County Durham farm having made his career debut in 2017 at Nunstainton when standing on behalf of then owner Worsall Grange.

The road has not been smooth since for the son of Lemon Drop Kid, and he is now back at the farm having been purchased outright by the Dawsons.

“Cannock Chase is a lovely horse, we stood him a year and covered 55 mares in that first book,” explains Dawson. “He is not big, but

is a lengthy scopey and racy looking horse, powerful and strong and from a great family.

“We only had him that year and he went back to Worsall Grange which was keen to send him Flat mares.

“When the Worsall came to an end in 2019 we tried to buy him under sealed bids, but were not successful.

“He went to Vauterhill Stud, but he only saw small books there. When myself and Wendy, my wife, were on holiday in Devon I happened to call in to Vauterhill on the off chance to see Cannock Chase, and on chatting we found out that he could be bought. We spoke to the owner David Maxwell and got a deal done.

“He covered only 14 mares last year, but we found that owner-trainers were really wanting to use him – people such as Chris Grant and Harriet Graham, who were wanting to breed racehorses, supported him.

“People were coming around to look at the stallions and they would notice him and say ‘Bloody hell he is an athlete, he should get racehorses!’.

“He was a good himself and is bred really well – he was a Grade 1 winner and a Royal Ascot winner, his full-sister was a

Hitman: winning at Haydock in November. The son of Falco went on to run a fine race at The Festival and finish third in the Ryanair Chase (G1)

Royal Ascot winner, his half-sister was a three-time Group 1 winner and a Royal Ascot winner, and under the third dam is the US champion juvenile Action This Day. He has a really good family, and being by Lemon Drop Kid he is also a good outcross.”

The stallion’s early NH results are beginning to show some results.

“This year he has had four point-to-point runners, two have won and two have been placed, and he has also had a winner on the track. He has 13 runners, and nine of the 13 have won or placed.

“He is quite exciting, but it is going to be a process. That first book are now fiveyear-olds, but a lot of those were out of very average Flat mares. He got sent a lot of rubbish... he got the numbers, but they were bad numbers.

“But he is getting a lot of support now from people who already have his stock in their yards – trainer Chris Grant has three and Chase A Fortune won for him at Catterick this spring, and he says he would have a yard full of his progeny.

“The five-year-old Cannock Park won a point-to-point at Alnwick in February and has already gone on to finish a good second in a bumper at Carlisle.

“On the back of those results we have taken bookings, and a few breeders with mares in-foal to Kingston Hill are sending

the mares to Cannock Chase having seen him when they have visited the stud. He needs to produce a top-class horse, but with the right support he could really get going.”

Dawson adds: “I want to try and get Cannock Chase as many mares as we can, and I especially want winning mares – I have upmost confidence in him as a sire.”

A former amateur and point-to-point jockey, Dawson, whose five-minute-long hopes of a return to the pointing field this season to stand-in for injured brother John, a leading point-to-point rider, were quickly quashed by his mother, somehow manages

A change of business focus at Nunstainton

“When we first started we bred a few and Dad would buy a few foals and we would sell them as stores or keep them to try and win a point-to-point and then sell them, he was ahead of his time trying to do that in the UK.

“We produced the Becher Chase winner West End Rocker – Dad bought him as a foal and I won a point-to-point on him – we had a horse called Steely Edition, who was rated 153 with Philip Hobbs.

“Recently, we have not had to run them – if I have one that I quite like and people ring me looking for a horse I just tell them to come and ride the horse on our circular gallop. It works really well and is something you can’t do at a sale. We sold four or five over the last couple of years like that.

“Now the stud has grown our business model has changed from producing the pointers to a business in which we ideally sell as foals, possibly as stores if we need to hold on to them a little longer for pedigree or conformation reasons.

“Any left we will put into the point-to-point yard or will be sold if

to find time in his busy week to play a spot of local rugby.

It is a weekly release from the year-round commitments of managing a stud farm, broodmare band, stallion operation, pointto-point yard and farm, and is a way for him to keep his own competitive fires burning bright.

Our early evening conversation has more than evidenced what a busy multi-faceted enterprise is in operation at Nunstainton.

As we come to the end of our chat there is a knock in the window from Dawson’s mother Rachel to signal that another broodmare is heading to the Nunstainton maternity unit and that her son’s birthing services are required.

It shows just how strongly the Dawson family is bonded to work together with a goal of producing top class young racehorses.

“Mum and Dad are just rocks, they are warriors,” smiles Dawson, one of four siblings who are all involved in some way on the farm and its various enterprises.

“We could not manage without them. Mum does nights with me, Dad really is the gofer now – he does all the fetching and carrying jobs, all the jobs no one else wants to do!”

Team work, as they say, makes the dream work, and the dreams are certainly big at Nunstainton.

people come to ride them. This seems to suit, but the ones we keep now to point are the lesser end of the horses we produce.

“And we train a lot of fillies now – if a filly wins a point-to-point and looks capable of winning on the track, there is a market now as trainers can buy knowing the filly might win a fillies’ bonus.

“We sold a mare called Ruby Island to trainer Mark Walford, she has won £35,000 in bonuses and I sold her for £5,000!

“It has been amazing for the owners and, because of her, they have come back and bought another one off me.

“It is important now to get a filly into training, even the ones you think are a bit too small or have some faults, and now I am more proactive finding them a trainer and putting them into training.

“If a filly is in the scheme and a trainer takes her, if it works out great, the pedigree gets an upgrade, I will win some bonuses as will the trainer. If she does not show much, then they can be sold into another sphere.

“If you have a mare who can win one, then often they can win more than one. For instance, Ruby Island has won £35,000, and she has only been a neck and a head from winning £75,000!”

I want to try and get Cannock Chase as many mares as we can, and especially want winning mares to come to him – I have upmost confidence in him as a sire

WIN €10,000 BUY IRISH

The IRE Incentive Scheme awards €10,000 bonuses to owners of Irish-breds. To spend on Irishbreds at Irish sales. Over €2.4m already awarded

Over 200 races in 2023

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Flat & National Hunt supported

2023 NH stallions

Consitution Hill making “that” mistake at the last on the way to his clear cut Champion Hurdle triumph

Leading NH

sires in

Britain

and

Ireland 2022-23: (by prize-money earned to March 20, 2023) Courtesy of Weatherbys

Yeats on top

Ahead of the Grand National meeting, the Castlehyde stallion is repeating his feat of 2021-22 and tops the NH sires’ table

THE SEEMINGLY always underrated Yeats both ahead of Cheltenham and after the meeting is once again lording it at the top spot of the British and Irish NH stallions’ table, the title he took for the first time last season. At present, and ahead of the valuable Grand National meeting, which of course last year was won by his son Noble Yeats, the first two spots from last season are due to be repeated – the late Fame And Glory once again on the heels of his former stud mate. Yeats was the only sire last season to break through the £3 million barrier in earnings, and it was a feat that had not been achieved since King’s Theatre’s victory in 2015-16 season, when the former Ballylinch Studbased sire had 115 winners at a 35 per cent strike rate.

Yeats echoed those figures himself last year – 112 winners at 37 winners to runners percentage – and Conflated’s victory at the Dublin Festival in the Irish Gold Cup backing up Noble Yeats’ Aintree victory.

A trio of Yeats’ leading performers and earners this season

Top: Tudor City, winner of the Galway Plate, trained by Tony Martin

Above: Conflated going to post in the Gold Cup, he finished third in the showcase chase

Right: Noble Yeats, the 2022 Grand National winner and fourth placed in this year’s Gold Cup

As we go to press Yeats is repeating that feat again and has had 92 winners this season at a 37 per cent hit.

His leading performers both ran in the Gold Cup with Noble Yeats in fourth and following home Conflated. While we are writing this the Waley-Cohen-owned runner is due to head to Aintree to reclaim his National crown with his Festival running looking to be the ideal prep race. Conflated is also entered in the same race, as well as the Irish version due to be held five days earlier.

The stallion’s leading earner this season, ahead of Aintree, is his French-trained runner Figuero, who won November’s Prix de Haye Jousselin and has picked up the equivalent of £196,000 in earnings.

The gelding, trained by Francois Nicolle, is out of the ever-dominant NH broodmare sire Saint Des Saints and was bred by the Cypres family.

Another with six-figure earnings for the sire is Tudor City, the Tony Martin-trained 11-year-old gelding who won the valuable Galway Plate in June.

Yeats’s progeny do seem to achieve a certain amount of longevity to their careers, while at the other end of the age scale is the six-year-old The Goffer, trained by Gordon Elliott. He won a €80,000 handicap hurdle at the Dublin Festival and was fourth in the Ultima Handicap Chase (G3).

Yeats does not get quantities of NH Flat race winners, perhaps the reason that he is not a hot shot at the sales, but he has had five such winners this season, including the impressive Bective Stud homebred The Yellow City, a winner on his career debut at Leopardstown at the beginning of March for Elliott.

Yeats has had a respectable seven winners in the Irish point-to-points this winter and is a top 10 sire in that sphere, but his score is dwarfed by the 18 winners for Mahler and 14 apiece for Getaway and Walk In The Park.

Yeats, now a 22-year-old, is huge value for breeders at his €5,000 fee at Castlehyde.

Shirocco achieving in points and under Rules

Yeats was not the leading sire in the sphere last year, though, and that honour went to Shirocco who bagged 25 winners last season, and is on 11 so far time around.

Shirocco, a Rathbarry Stud sire, also by Monsun, is having a fab time of it under Rules in 2022-23 with 72 winners and a third-placing, which if maintained, will be his best-ever table result.

Leading earner is Le Milos, trained by Dan Skelton, winner of the Grade 3 Coral Cold Cup at Newbury in November, and second-placed in a Listed chase at Kelso. He is another due to be heading to Aintree, but the lengthy race might be too long an ask for

his stamina capabilities.

The Tim Vaughan-trained Eva’s Oskar also has an Aintree entry on his card, and although a current 100-1 chance for that seasonal showpiece event, proved that extreme staying is his forte with a fourthplace finish behind fellow Welsh-trained Kitty’s Light in the Eider Chase.

He had previously won the Grade 3 Dahlbury Handicap Chase in December over 3m2f at Cheltenham.

Thunder Rock, who is out of an Old Vic mare, has been in form for Olly Murphy, winning at Uttoxeter and Ascot in the autumn and stepping up to Grade 1-placed form in the Scilly Isle Novices Chase at Sandown in February. He was sixth at Cheltenham in the Brown Advisory Novices Chase (G1).

He was bought by Murphy and his father Aiden at the Goffs UK Summer Mixed Sale for just £42,000 in July 2020.

Shewearsitwell went to the Close Brothers’ Mares’ Hurdle in form with a two from two

Shirocco, a Rathbarry Stud-based sire, also by Monsun, is having a fab time of it under Rules in 2022-23

Shirocco’s Thunder City won a limited handicap at Ascot and has collected Grade 1 placed form

established active nh sires

in 2022-23 season, including in a Grade 3 hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas. The Willie Mullins-trained eight-year-old is another out of an Old Vic mare having been bred by Cathal Ennis, and the mare, who is on an improving arc, is from the family of the good chaser Bradbury Star.

Shirocco got a Grade 1 third at The Festival with Queens Brook in the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle (G1) and a fourth placing in the cross-country chase with Lieutenant Rocco.

The stallion has had two lots make over £200,000 since last March – at the Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale, Elliott spent £280,000 on the winning pointer and top lot What’s Up Darling, while at the same sale company’s Festival Sale Walters Plant Hire went to £220,000 for the then five-year-old Alfie’s Princess. Her dam Dunahall Queen (Saddler’s Hall) is a half-sister to Harbour Pilot.

Flying season for Getaway

After a best-ever result in last season’s NH stallion table with a third-placing and earnings of £2,167,042, Getaway is on

much the same consistent trajectory for this year – at the time of writing is in fourth and currently with earnings of £1,745,980.

In France he has had Motu Fareone flying his flag with a Listed chase win in September, and two subsequent runnerup spots. Motu Fareone is out of the King’s Theatre mare Arrive In Style and is a grandson of the Grade 1-winner Kates Charm (Glacial Storm).

Trainer Stuart Coltherd has enjoyed a good season with Cooper’s Cross, who has won twice and finished on the places three times in six starts this season, the horse’s first year out of novice chasing company.

The Big Breakaway put in a big effort to finish second in the Welsh National for trainer Joe Tizzard, the gelding’s first attempt over 3m6f. The Ultima did not work out for him. He looked as though every yard was required and he goes to the 4m2f Grand National with every chance.

The Big Breakaway did not go to Cheltenham last year but had finished third to Monkfish in the Brown Advisory Novice Chase in 2021.

Bred by William Mangan, he was a €360,000 winning point-to-point purchase

by the Tizzards from Monbeg Stables at the Goffs Punchestown Sale in 2019.

Getaway did get a top ten lot at the Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale –Tizzard and Doyle Bloodstock going back to the sire with whom they have been successful and spending £165,000 on Lord Of Thunder, who had finished second to Mt Fugi Park at Bellharbour point-to-point in February for Sam Curling.

Henrietta Knight spent €210,000 on the gelding out of Dreambaby (Yeats), a halfsister to Rhinestone Cowboy and Wichita Lineman, offered by Oak Tree Farm at the Derby Sale.

Getaway is a son of Monsun and he has done well in the pointing field this season, and looks like he could go close to repeating his feat of 2021-22 when he got 22 winners between the Irish flags.

Walk In The Park continues his march upwards

Walk In The Park has been the established sire at the sales this winter, buyers mad keen to buy almost anything by him whether it might be a foal, store horse and or a point-to-pointer. He was the leading sire at the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale with 39 lots sold at an average price of €44,500 and got top foal – a colt out of a Presenting half-sister to Vegas Blue and sold by Yellowford Farm for €100,000 to Aiden Murphy.

He has had three pointers fetch over £300,000 since last April, the trio topped by the £400,000 given by trainer Gordon Elliott for two-time winning pointer Croke Park at the Goffs UK Aintree Sale, while agent Alex Elliott spent £360,000 for Mahon’s Way at Cheltenham November on behalf of Cheveley Park Stud.

Ben Pauling spent £350,000 on Flash In The Park at the inaugural Tingle Creek Sale, and at the recent very strong Cheltenham February Sale, the Grange Stud-based stallion had four of the top ten lots.

The results in the ring have been highly influenced by the stallion’s continuing results on the racecourse with his headline acts Jonbon and Facile Vega heading up the charge, although the pair did not convert for him at the Festival, both taking second

Simple Getaway: the point-to-point winner was bought for £180,000 at the Cheltenham December Sale by Gwent Holdings from Monbeg Stables, he had been a €52,000 Derby Sale store

spots in their Grade 1 races.

The 2023 two-time novice chase winner six-year-old Limerick Lace did not go to The Festival and has not run at graded level yet, but she is an improving sort trained by Gavin Cromwell. She is a McManus homebred out of the Califet mare Sway, and is a full-sister to the year-younger Inothewayurthinkin, who was fourth in the Grade 1 Lawlor’s Of Nass Novice Hurdle in January, a Listed hurdle third in February, and was also one to side step The Festival.

First Festival success for Mahler

Mahler is heading for a best-ever stallion table finish, the son of Galileo currently in sixth spot. The Real Whacker, trained by Patrick Neville, who has moved from Ireland to Yorkshire, is enjoying a fine time with the lightly raced Dipper Novice Chase winner, the horse progressing to win the Brown Advisory and give the sire his first-ever Festival winner and the sire’s third Grade 1 winner.

The Real Whacker was bought for just €21,000 as a Goffs Land Rover store in 2019 and is out of the winning Witness Box mare Credit Box.

Blue is all the trend

Foals by Blue Bresil were also in much demand at the November NH Sale, and the stallion’s three Cheltenham Grade 1 winners – Constitution Hill, Blue Lord and Good Land – have propelled him into 12th spot on the general sires’ table. Ahead of The Festival, he was the season’s leading sire of Grade 1 winners with three from three and ahead of Saint Des Saints, who was three from four.

In February, Blue Bresil also bagged a Grade 1 second spot with Inthepocket, bred by Tessa Greatrex and David Futter and trained by Henry de Bromhead. The gelding was sold at the 2019 Yorton Farm Sale to Hamish Macauley, won his pointto-point for Paul Cashman, and was sold at the Cheltenham December Sale 2021 for £290,000. It looks money well spent as the six-year-old gelding was a Grade 2 winner on his second start under Rules and finished fourth in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (G1).

Pembroke was a Grade 2 runner-up at Cheltenham in January behind Rock My Way (Getaway), while Royale Pagaille, a Grade 2 winner of the Peter Marsh

Handicap Chase in 2022, finished second to Bravemansgame in the King George VI Chase.

Valirann attracting the Malone nad Nicholls money

Knappers Hill is leading the way for Valirann, a son of Nayef who stands at Whytemount Stud for €2,000. The sevenyear-old gelding won the Elite Hurdle at Wincanton in November, and was twice Grade 2 placed in 2023 – in the Kingwell Hurdle at the same track and in the National Spirit Hurdle at Fontwell.

Paul Nicholls trains Knappers Hill and he and Tom Malone went back to the ring to invest again in one by the sire when spending £170,000 on Annie K at the Tingle Creek Sale. She is out of the Stowaway mare Anno Whyte and was bred by Ronnie O’Neill.

Diamond Boy does it again

Diamond Boy shot to prominence at last year’s Festival with L’Homme Presse’s Grade 1 victory. It could not happen again

Mahler’s first Festival success came courtesy of the fine jumping display put in by The Real Whacker under Sam Twiston-Davies in the Brown Advisory

established active nh sires

for the same horse, who is on the sidelines for the remainder of this season, but the sire’s Impaire Et Passe gave the Kilbarry Lodge-based sire this year’s Grade 1 Festival win in the Ballymore Novices Hurdle. The impressive winner for the double green silks has a range of options ahead.

Diamond Carl, who is trained in France, the stallion’s homeland, has picked up over £200,000 in earnings with two Grade 3 victories as a four-year-old and a second spot in the Grade 1 Prix Maurice Gillois.

Behind Impaire Et Passe in the Ballymore was the Maxios gelding Gaelic Warrior, the sire’s leading earner. The sire is having plenty of success in graded jumps races in Europe having stood at Fahrhof until 2019 and Gaelic Warrior is his most prominent British or Irish performer since the juvenile pair of Quilixios and Aramax.

Maxios’s book grew considerably in 2021 to 171 and in 2022 to 231 so there will be plenty to come shortly for the stallion.

Ocovango putting his name in lights at Alne Park Stud

Ocovango joined the stallion roster at Alne Park Stud in the autumn and the move to stand him in the UK by the Skeltons looks to have been well judged, and Cheltenham was a fine advertisement for his services.

The eight-year-old son of Monsun had been standing at the Beeches Stud since 2015, his oldest crop are now seven-yearolds. His runners are beginning to make an impact and he bagged his first Grade 1 winner in February when Champ Kiely won the Lawlors Of Nass Hurdle building on a fourth place in early December’s Royal Bond Novice Hurdle (G1) and a Grade 3 victory in the Woodlands House Novice Hurdle at Tipperary. The horse went on to finish a good third in the Ballymore Novices Hurdle (G1).

From that first crop of his sire, Champs Kiely was bought for just €5,800 at the Tattersalls Ireland January Sale by Michael Murray.

But it is last year’s Grade 3 Aintree hurdle winner Langer Dan, trained by the Skeltons and winner of this year’s competitive County Hurdle, who probably did most of the PR job for the stallion at Cheltenham – the trainer

sunsequently enthusing about the horse’s hardy outlook, and outlining him as one of the reasons that led the Skeltons to invest in the stallion, who has eight winners in pointto-points in Ireland this season.

Ocovango is also collecting a batch of good graded performers – Ukantango took third in the Grade 2 Dovecote Hurdle, a race won by Rubaud, who is by Air Chief Marshal, and second in the Grade 2 Supreme Hurdle Trial in November. The Michael Scudamoretrained Mofasa was a Grade 2 Ballymore Novices Hurdle third, he is out of a Garde Royale mare and was bred by Mill House Stud.

In the last year, his sales returns have been headed by the £100,000 given by Tom Malone for the Robert Moloney-trained winning pointer Mylesfromwicklow at the Cheltenham November Sale and the horse has subsequently finished second at Ffos Las in a maiden hurdle for Dan Skelton.

By Monsun and out of the good mare Crystal Maze (Gone West), the 13-year-old stallion was bred by Watership Down Stud.

El Salvador in the placings at The Festival

El Salvador, bred by Hascombe and Valiant Stud and Balmerino B/S, bought by Bobby

O’Ryan from the Ballydoyle draft at the Tattersalls Horses in Training Sale 2012 for just 18,000gns, and now standing at Killack Stud, achieved a handicap second place at The Festival with Salvador Ziggy in the Pertemps Network Final(G3) off a BHA handicap mark of 147.

The 14-year-old is by Galileo and is out of the Coronation Stakes winner Balisada (Kris), and looks a bargain option for breeders priced at just €1,500.

Golden Horn: a good season of graded NH winners

Golden Horn’s recent NH representatives have continued to build on the good start made by his first transferees from the Flat to the jumping code.

He is still achieving a winner to runner statistic of 57 per cent and has had four graded race winners so far with three Grade 2 winners this season in Britain –Nusret, Nemean Lion and First Street.

Marketed has a dual-purpose sire and still just an 11-year-old, it is going to be fascinating to see what turn the career takes as the purpose-bred NH runners start to hit the track, and with the dedicated support from his new owner Jayne McGivern.

The diminutive Langer Dan: by Ocovango and winner of the Grade 3 Coral Cup Handicap

WELL BRED, TOUGH & CONSISTENT STAKES WINNER

WON/PLACED IN 8 STAKES RACES

OUTSTANDING PEDIGREE

Half-brother to 6 Stakes horses including Gr.1 winner Matterhorn and Gr.2 winning 2yo The Foxes descending from Fall Aspen. Only son of Australia to stand in GB.

Fee: £3,000 1st October FFR

GR.1/GR.2 SIRE ON THE FLAT, OVER HURDLES & JUMPS

SIRE OF GR.1 CHAMPION STAYER TRUESHAN

2022 dual Gr.2 Chase winner Gran Diose and Gr.2 Hurdle winner Edidindo.

HIGHEST EARNING SON OF DANEHILL DANCER

Sire of the late Jeremy, a leading NH sire.

Fee: £4,000 1st October FFR

Concessions available

PLANTEUR BANGKOK WALZERTAKT HELLVELYN INDIAN HAVEN

HIGH-CLASS STAYER BY MONTJEU

WON/PLACED IN 5 STAKES RACES

HALF BROTHER TO 4 GROUP HORSES

Including the sire of Grade 1 winner Adagio. Bred on the same cross as Camelot.

40% WINNERS TO RUNNERS OVER FENCES

Fee: £2,500 1st October FFR

A BRAND PASSIONATE ABOUT THE GREAT BRITISH THOROUGHBRED Roisin Close 07738 279 071 roisin@ chapelstud.co.uk

Tina Dawson 07776 165854 tina.dawson@ tdbloodstock.com

The new jumps boys

The new NH stallions on the British and Irish roster range from a top-class Flat stayer to a classy dual-purpose son of Midnight Legend

MARE AUSTRALIS

Australia – Miramare (Rainbow Quest)

Haras de la Hetraie

€4,500

Mare Australis earned a place at stud courtesy of four wins and three placings from his 11 starts, including his Group 1 Prix Ganay victory, a race won previously by top NH sires Doctor Dino, Cadoudal and fellow Hetraie resident Pastorius.

His sire is the dual Derby winner Australia and is sire of five Group 1 winners namely Broome, Order Of Australia, Galileo Chrome, Ocean Road and Mare Australis and stands this year at Coolmore for €25,000.

Owned and bred by Gestüt Schlenderhan, Mare Australis started his career with JeanPierre Carvalho and won his sole two-yearold start over a mile in a November Maiden at Munich.

Transferred to André Fabre he reappeared at three when fourth in a 1m2f Saint-Cloud maiden and followed that a month later in June when successful in the Listed Prix de L’Arve at Chantilly, prevailing by a short neck over 1m4f.

He wasn’t seen again until the October of that year and rounded off his three-year-old campaign registering more black-type when second to Baron Samedi on heavy ground over 1m3f in Longchamp’s Group 2 Prix du Conseil de Paris.

Stronger and more mature at four he made returned to Longchamp for his

seasonal debut and ran a fine second to multiple Group race winner Skalleti in the Prix d’Harcourt (G2) prior to making his Group 1 breakthrough at the same track in the Ganay over ten and a half furlongs when making all.

That was that for the season and Mare Australis wasn’t seen until April last year when once again behind Skalleti when third in the Harcourt.

He was unable to regain his crown next time out in the Ganay finishing fourth behind State Of Rest, Pretty Tiger and once again Skalleti but regained the winning thread on his next start over 1m4f at Chantilly in the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly, beating notable performers Bubble Gift, Mendocino and Grocer Jack.

On his last four-year-old start he was unplaced behind Arc heroine Alpinista in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, and on his sole start at five he ran down the field in the Arc.

Mare Australis is out of the Listed-placed Rainbow Quest mare Miramare, a half-sister to Group 2 Prix de Pomone winner and Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak second Macleya and Group 3 Prix de Barbeville scorer Montclair. Miramare was a winner at three in Germany, placed four times and was Listedplaced three times in the Dragonfly Stakes, the Pinnacle Stakes and the Warwickshire Oaks.

His second dam Minaccia also won in

Germany with four wins at two and three years, two of which came at Listed level in the Preis des Gestüt Wiesenhof (Krefeld) and the Meile der Nord at Hannover.

Pascal Noue, owner of Haras de la Hetraie, said: “Mare Australis has got everything physically and Group 1 winners over 2100/2400 meters have done well as sires of jumpers and we are particularly happy to welcome such a quality new stallion.

“He’s also a winner of the Prix Ganay, like the late Pastorius who has had plenty of successs on both the Flat and over obstacles this year with the likes of Dalika, Parol, Riocorvo, Josubie, Alycone Rouge and Zenta.”

Mare Australis joins a roster that also includes Kapgarde, Great Pretender, Gris De Gris, Bathyrhon, Nirvana Du Berlais, Born To Sea, Roman Candle and For Fun.

MIDNIGHTS LEGACY

Midnight Legend – Giving (Generous) Alne Park Stud

£3,000

One of the most successful British-based NH sires of recent years stood at David and Kathleen Holmes’ Pitchall Stud. His name was Midnight Legend, sire of the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Sizing John and it was the couple’s long-held ambition that he would be able to sire a son capable enough to follow in his hoofprints and earn

a place at stud.

The appropriately-named Midnights Legacy is the product of that quest and the stallion starts his stud career at Dan and Grace Skelton’s Alne Park Stud.

Although he didn’t win a black-type race, Midnights Legacy was a durable sort and had a decent career on both the Flat and over hurdles, winning under both codes.

On the Flat he raced 19 times for five wins and three placings, including when winning the second of his two starts at two in a 1m3f Bath maiden, his first two starts at three, both in handicap company, and a decent handicap at Epsom on Derby Day as a fouryear-old.

At four his first NH start was a winning one in a Plumpton novice hurdle as was his first chase start the following season in a 2m event at Ludlow in March. He was still plenty quick enough to head back to Epsom that summer, once again on Derby Day to land the Northern Dancer Handicap. He retired the winner of eight races and with six placings from 26 starts under both codes.

His first dam Giving (Generous) was

also a winner at two and she placed three times at four in France.

She produced a pair of Listed-winning hurdlers – Midnight’s Gift, who is also by Midnight Legend, and Giving Glances, who is by Midnight Legend’s former stud mate Passing Glance.

His second dam Madiyla was a winner at three and is dam of the Listed winner Burn

The Breeze, and of Lethals Lady, winner of the Prix Aymeri de Mauleon (L) at Toulouse. Her legacy will, however, be remembered as the dam of Katchit, the three-time Grade 1 -winning hurdler of the Champion Challenge Trophy Hurdle, the Triumph Hurdle and the Anniversary Novice Hurdle at Aintree.

Sire Midnight Legend was sire of 28 NH black-type winners, and his progeny of both sexes were well known for toughness and a solid will to win.

STRADIVARIUS

Sea The Stars – Private Life (Bering)

The National Stud

£10,000

When the 2014-born chestnut son of Private Life was offered at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale in 2015 he failed to make the 330,000gns reserve owner Bjorn Nielsen had placed on the yearling consigned by Watership Down Stud.

The owner felt that the colt was already showing a touch of class so decided to keep the son of Sea The Stars colt and send him

Mare Australis has got everything physically and Group 1 winners over 2100/2400 meters have done well as sires of jumpers

Midnights Legacy: the son of Midnight Legend bred by David and Kathleen Holmes achieved a BHA rating of 101 on the Flat and 124 over hurdles

into training with John Gosden.

Nielsen says: “He deserved the high reserve because he had a very good pedigree and was a lovely yearling.

“I’m thankful of it now because he could have gone to somebody else and we wouldn’t be talking about the same story at all. He could have turned out a totally different horse.”

And what a horse he turned out to be.

Retired to The National Stud as a dualpurpose sire for 2023, Stradivarius enjoyed a stellar career that saw him win three Ascot Gold Cups, four Goodwood Cups, three Lonsdale Cups and the Doncaster Cup twice.

The homebred chestnut won 20 of his 35 starts over seven seasons for racecourse earnings of £3,458,968 and the most Group wins by any horse trained in Europe.

Stradivarius ran three times within a month as a back-end two-year-old finishing fourth in his first two starts in maidens (one

of which was behind Cracksman) before breaking his duck on Newcastle’s All-Weather track over a mile in November.

It’s difficult to imagine now but he debuted at three in a Beverley handicap, rated 78 which he won comfortably prior to finishing runner up in a Chester handicap, but put that behind him next time out winning his first Group race in the Queen’s Vase (G2)at Royal Ascot.

Further Group glory beckoned next and he won the first of his Goodwood Cups (G1) at the Glorious Meeting and he rounded off his three-year-old season with two third placings firstly in the Classic St Leger to Capri and finally in the British Champions Long Distance Cup (G2) at Ascot.

He made his seasonal debut at four in the Yorkshire Cup (G2) which was the first of a ten-race winning streak over the next two seasons until he came second on his final

five-year-old outing behind Kew Gardens in the British Champions Long Distance Cup.

That ten-race streak included wins in the Ascot Gold Cup (G1) twice, a pair of Goodwood Cups (G1), two Lonsdale Cups (G2) at York, the Yorkshire Cup (G2) and the Doncaster Cup (G2).

Aged six he began his season over 1m4f, a distance he hadn’t raced over since his early three-year-old days, and ran third to Ghaiyyath in the Coronation Cup (G1), relocated to Newmarket in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.

Put back to more familiar staying trips for his next two starts he was victorious winning his third Ascot Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup. Connections then decided to have a tilt at the Arc de Triomphe and having run Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck to a short neck in the Prix Foy (G2) he was allowed to take his chance in the big race itself finishing

Stradivarius: the winner of 18 Group races, seven Group 1s and over £3 million in earnings, there

are some significant bonuses on offer for breeders

a respectable seventh behind Sottsass, one place behind wonder mare Enable in sixth on unsuitably heavy ground.

His final 2020 start was however disappointing and he trailed home second-last behind Trueshan in Ascot’s Long Distance Cup.

Now aged seven, Stradivarius made a winning seasonal reappearance in the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes at Ascot but was unable to regain his crown and win an historic four-timer next start in Ascot’s Gold Cup finishing fourth behind Subjectivist.

He did, however, win his next two starts displaying all of his old sparkle once more winning the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup at York and the Group 2 Doncaster Cup. Sent to Longchamp on his next start, this time in the Group 1 Prix du Cadran over 2m4f rather than the Arc, he was runner up to Trueshan and finished third behind the same horse on his final 2021 start in Ascot’s Long Distance Cup.

Aged eight in what was to be his final season his first start was a winning one in the Yorkshire Cup (G2) before finishing third to new Champion Kyprios in the Ascot Gold Cup who also beat him into second in the Goodwood Cup.

Stradivarius’s dam Private Life (Bering) was a dual winner from eight starts, including a mile Longchamp maiden on her second two-year-old start for André Fabre and a fillies’ conditions race at the same track at three.

She was also twice Listed-placed, each time third, in the Prix de Thiberville at Deauville then the Prix de Lioncourt at Longchamp.

Her final start was when ninth of eleven in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille.

In addition to Stradivarius, Private Life is dam of two Group runners – Rembrandt Van Rijn (Peintre Celebre) whose four wins came in succession at five and who was Group placed Dubai, and Persian Storm (Monsun). He was the winner of three of his 17 races, which included a Bremen maiden first time out at two, the Group 3 Bavarian Classic at Munich and the Group 3 Furstenberg-Rennen as a three-year-old.

His second dam Poughkeepsie (Sadler’s Wells) is granddam of the multiple European and German champion stayer and winner of the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin and the Group 1Melbourne Cup.

Third dam Pawneese was a champion European three-year-old filly in 1976.

Breeders are being offered a range of financial incentives, in the form of a bonus structure for foals by the sire born in 2024.

The breeder of any Stradivarius first-crop Group 1 winner in Britain, Ireland or France among will receive £250,000, while the breeders of any Group 2 and Group 3 scorers will each be £100,000.

Furthermore, the breeders of the first ten two-year-old winners by Stradivarius in the same countries plus Germany in 2026 will each take home £25,000.

WALDKONIG

Kingman – Waldlerche (Monsun)

Knockhouse Stud

€2,500

As a Kingman Group-winning half-brother to Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Waldgeist and from the immediate family of Masked Marvel, Waldkonig offers NH breeders a class option.

Owned and bred by Newsells Park and Ammerland it was not until December of his juvenile season that he reached the racecourse when 9l successful on his debut at Wolverhampton in a novice stakes over eight and a half furlongs eased down by 9l.

As a three-year-old he didn’t reappear until June and was pitched straight into Listed company in the Newmarket Stakes, just losing out of second place on the line to Volkan Star, the race won my multiple Group 1 winner and new sire for 2023 Mishriff.

He only ran twice in 2020 and he wasn’t seen again until the following April when he comfortably won a 1m2f handicap at Pontefract.

His final racecourse appearance was also a winning one two weeks later at Sandown when he landed the Group 3 1m2f Gordon Richards Stakes beating Desert Encounter and Baaeed’s brother Hukum.

Waldkonig retired won or placed in his five career starts and earned an official rating of 114.

His dam Waldlerche won two races at two and three in France, including the Prix Penelope at Saint-Cloud (G3) and was placed twice, one of which was at Listed level in the Honda Nereide-Rennen at Munich.

Her star son Waldgeist (Galileo) won nine wins, four at Group 1 level and £4,298, 560 earnings, and she is also dam of Waldlied (New Approach) who won twice in France with one Group 2 succees in the Prix de Malleret.

His second dam Waldmark was a winner at two and a subsequent runner up in the Falmouth Stakes (G2). She is dam of sire Masked Marvel, winner of the St Leger and the champion European three-yearold stayer of 2011. He is sire of this year’s Grade 3 Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase winner Maskada and the Stayers’ Hurdle (G1) runner-up Teahupoo, winner of December’s Grade 1 Hattons Grade Hurdle.

One of Waldmark’s seven winners is Gifted Icon and her daughter Waldfest is dam of multiple Grade 1 hurdler Vauban.

WELLS FARHH GO

Farhh – Mowazana (Galileo)

Norton Grove Stud

£2,500

Farhh has always struggled with fertility issues and therefore hasn’t had the opportunities of most of his contemporaries, but from limited books he has been capable of siring a more-than-decent runner –Norton Grove Stud’s Wells Farhh Go, new to the stallion ranks for 2023 certainly fits into that category.

As a Kingman Group-winning half-brother to Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Waldgeist and from the immediate family of Masked Marvel, Waldkonig offers NH breeders a class option

Wells Farhh Go was undefeated in both of his juvenile starts. The first of those was a July novice at York and he returned a month later at the Ebor Meeting where he got up on the line to deny young Rathbarry sire James Garfield in the Group 3 Acomb Stakes with Dee Ex Bee, who stood his first season at stud in 2022, down the field.

Put away until the following season, Wells Farhh Go reappeared at York in the Dante Stakes (G2) but could only finish sixth behind runaway winner and subsequent champion Roaring Lion.

Stepped up in distance next time in Royal Ascot’s Group 2 King Edward VII Wells Farhh Go couldn’t land a blow and once again finished sixth, this time behind Godolphin’s Old Persian, who made a promising start with his first crop of NHbred foals in 2022.

Over a furlong further in the Bahrain Trophy (G3) and one month later Wells Farhh Go won his second Pattern race making all to defeat Loxley and Giuseppe Garibaldi.

His final start as a three-year-old was in a strong renewal of the Great Voltiguer (G2) behind Old Persian, Cross Counter, the subsequent winner of the Melbourne Cup (G1) and the Dubai Gold Cup (G1), and Classic winner of the St Leger Kew Gardens in third.

At four Wells Farhh Go won on his seasonal reappearance this time in Newmarket’s Listed Fred Archer Stakes but remained win-less in three further efforts that year.

He ran once more when third at Chester’s Stand Cup Stakes (L).

Wells Farhh Go is out of the Shadwellbred and owned Galileo mare Mowazana.

She ran three times all at 1m2f, for Marcus Tregoning and improved with each run.

She was third on her debut in a Sandown maiden, second in a Bath maiden and returned to that track on October that year to register a four length success.

Mowazana is a daughter of the Nashwan mare Taqreem, who placed four times from five starts and although she was only an ordinary performer she earned her place at stud by virtue of being a half-sister to Irish St Leger winner Ibn Bey and the Yorkshire Oaks winner Roseate Tern.

Wells Farhh Go (blue): seen here beating James Garfield in the 2018 Acomb Stakes (G3)

Five Festival Grade 1 winners

CONSTITUTION HILL

winner of Champion Hurdle, Gr. 1 sold Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale by Throckmorton Court Stud

to Warren Ewing/Barry Geraghty for €16,500

ENVOI ALLEN

winner of Ryanair Chase, Gr. 1 sold at Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale by Milestone Stables (Colin Bowe) to Tom Malone for £400,000

HONEYSUCKLE

winner of Mares’ Hurdle, Gr. 1 sold Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale by The Glanvilles Stud

to Mark O’Hare for €9,500

ENERGUMENE

winner of Queen Mother Champion Chase, Gr. 1 sold Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale by Moanmore Stables to Tom Lacey for €50,000

LANGER DAN

winner of Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle sold Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale

by The Premier Consignment to Ballinaroone Stud for €12,000

STAY AWAY FAY

winner of Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, Gr. 1 sold Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale by Ballycrystal Stables to Tom Malone/Paul Nicholls for £305,000

sold Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale (Supp C19 Sale) by Oaks Farm Stables to H Macauley/Ballycrystal/M Doyle for £39,000

sold Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale by Hillview Stud to Oaks Farm for €31,000

tattersalls.ie

tattersallscheltenham.com

IMPERVIOUS

winner of Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase, Gr. 2 sold Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale by Peel Hall Stables to Colm Murphy for €26,000 sold Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale by Creedons Lodge to Peel Bloodstock for €4,000

SEDDON

winner of Magners Plate Handicap Chase sold Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale by Galbertstown Stud to Monbeg Stables for €30,000

Cheltenham

You’ll buy more Grade 1 winners when you buy with us winners

Statistics courtesy of Weatherbys NH Stallion Book

Young NH sires at stud in Britain

An A-Z outlining the profiles of the younger NH sires on the roster

Standing at an advertised fee of £2,000 or above

ARRIGO

Shirocco-Aiyana (Last Tycoon)

Yorton Farm Stud

€2,000

Year to Yorton Farm Stud: 2021

Arrigo has the pedigree to succeed as a stallion as a member of the leading Monsun sire line, from the family of Galileo and a half-brother to the top-class Adlerflug; his credentials are undoubtedly of the highest calibre.

The son of Shirocco, sire of Champion Hurdler Annie Power and six Group 1 winners on the Flat, including the Classic winners Brown Panther and Windstoss, Arrigo stood his first season in the UK in 2021 having begun his career in his native Germany and his oldest foals are six-yearolds in 2023.

Bred by Gestüt Schlenderhan, the Group 2 Oppenheim-Union-Rennen winner resembles his sire physically with the same strong shoulder and forearm.

Second in the Group 1 Gran Premio del Jockey Club and Group 3 Bavarian Classic (over 1m2f), he is a half-brother to the German champion three-year-old of 2007 Adlerflug.

By In The Wings, Adlerflug is the sire of Arc hero Torquator Tasso and the 2020 Group 1 Deutsches Derby winner In Swoop, who was second to Sottsass in the Arc that year. Their Last Tycoon dam Aiyana was a winner at two and three in Germany and has also foaled the Listed winner Andorn by Monsun and is the second dam of Zoffany’s German 2000 Guineas winner Knife Edge.

Second dam Alya was runner-up in the

Preis Der Diana and is a full sister to the dynasty founding matriarch Allegretta. The daughter of Lombard, the German St Leger winner and twice Horse of the Year, she is a full sister to another German St Leger winner in Anno and Listed winner Arionette. She is also a half-sister to the Group 2 winner and Group 1 second Anatus and Andronikus, a Listed winner. It is arguably the best family in the Stud Book.

Arrigo’s pedigree has two lines of Northern Dancer through The Minstrel, who is the damsire of Shirocco, and Try My Best the sire of Arrigo’s broodmare sire Last Tycoon. Despite this influence, he is free of Sadler’s Wells so is an option for mares by his sons and grandsons. Annie Power, Shirocco’s most famous offspring, is out of an Old Vic mare, as is the Grade 3 Joe Mac Novice Hurdle winner Shewearsitwell. The Listed winning hurdlers Dysart Diamond and Off Your Rocco have Accordion as their broodmare sire.

The Grade 2 Dovecote Novice Hurdle winner Highway One O Two is out of a Supreme Leader mare and Shirocco’s Gold Cup runner-up and Cheltenham Festival winner Minella Rocco is out of a mare by Alleged so daughters of Flemensfirth and Shantou are options for Arrigo.

The mares Arrigo has covered in France and Germany included Kauto Abana, whose dam Kauto Karolyna is a full-sister to the legendary Kauto Star.

Arrigo has had 19 starters from 76 foals and five winners of eight races to date, and he had 32 foals on the ground in 2022.

He covered 42 mares last year.

BANGKOK

Australia–Tanaghum (Darshaan)

Chapel Stud

£3,000

Year to stud: 2022

The first son of Australia to retire to stud in Britain, Bangkok descends from the blue hen Fall Aspen and has an outstanding pedigree as well as all the necessary attributes required by a successful sire.

Bred by David and Diane Nagle at the world renowned Barronstown Stud, Bangkok was the joint second most expensive yearling from the first crop of the dual Derby winner Australia making 500,000gns to Alistair Donald on behalf of King Power Racing at Book 1.

Sent into training with Andrew Balding, Bangkok ran three times in just over a month at two finishing second in a 7f Newmarket maiden on debut. Bangkok won his maiden at Doncaster over 10f on his first start at three, defeating subsequent Dante Stakes winner Telecaster. On his next start, his first at Stakes level, he won the Group 3 Classic Trial at Sandown beating another subsequent Group 1 winner, this time Technician who was also bred by the Nagles and would win the Prix Royal-Oak.

Considered a live chance in the Derby, Bangkok couldn’t handle Epsom and beat just Telecaster home. However he showed his true colours on Ascot’s more forgiving track to finish second behind Japan in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes. Showing a liking for trips around 10f, he was also a close second to Zaaki in the Group 3 Strensall Stakes at York and that horse

would go on to become a multiple Group 1 winner in Australia. Bangkok’s final start of his three-year-old season was in the Qatar Derby just prior to Christmas, in which he was second.

He started his four-year-old season by winning the Listed Winter Derby Trial at Lingfield and was third in the Group 3 Winter Derby itself. Back on Turf for the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes he was fifth behind Lord North and seventh in the Eclipse.

A summer break followed before he went to the Middle East once more, this time to Bahrain for the International Trophy. He returned to England for the Listed Quebec

Stakes at Lingfield and was second, beaten just a nose by Sangarius.

He tackled the Saudi Cup in late January before he returned to Lingfield for a repeat of his Winter Derby Trial success but skipped the Winter Derby. He was fourth to Armory in the Group 2 Huxley Stakes at Chester and fourth to Sir Ron Priestley in the Group 2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes before gaining a deserved success in the Group 2 York Stakes and ended his career in the Group 3 Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor. In all, Bangkok won and placed in eight stakes races.

Bangkok has an outstanding pedigree and it is quite simply a stallion’s family; he is a half-brother to the Group 1 winner

Matterhorn by Raven’s Pass, the Group 3 winner Tactic by Sadler’s Wells and the Listed winner Yaazy by Teofilo. He is also a half-brother to the Listed-placed Zahoo, dam of the Group 3 winner Convergence and to Mujarah, the dam of European champion miler Ribchester.

His dam Tanaghum was second in the Listed Harvest Stakes and is a Darshaan half-sister to the Group 2 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Najah. They are out of the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Mehthaaf by Nureyev.

Methaaf is a half-sister to the July Cup winner, champion sprinter and sire Elnadim, and to Only Seule who is the dam of Group 1 winner Occupandiste, herself the

Bangkok: hails from an “outstanding” stallion’s pedigree being a half-brother to the Group 1 winner Matterhorn and from the family of Fall Aspen

young nh sires: gb

dam of Group 1 winner Mondialiste and second dam of Group 1 winner and sire Intello.

Bangkok’s third dam Elle Seule won the Group 2 Prix d’Astarte and is a daughter of Exclusive Native and blue hen Fall Aspen who is the second dam of Dubai Millennium.

Other stallions under the Grade 1-winning daughter of Pretense are Timber Country, Fort Wood, Harbour Watch and Charnwood Forest.

His sire Australia has had five Group One winners, including Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Order Of Australia, Grand-Prix de Paris victor Broome, new 2023 sire Mare Australis (Prix Ganay), the filly Ocean Road who won 2022’s Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita and the Classic winner Galileo Chrome (2020 St Leger).

DARTMOUTH

Dubawi–Galatee (Galileo)

Shade Oak Stud

£3,000

Year to stud: 2018

The Royal Ascot winner Dartmouth, whose eldest foals are five-year-olds of 2023, offers NH breeders access to the exciting DubawiGalileo cross that has produced leading young sire Night Of Thunder and world champion Ghaiyyath.

The Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes winner and King George third is one of three blacktype winners so far out of Galatee, a member of Galileo’s first crop and winner

of the Group 3 Blue Wind Stakes. She has also foaled the Group 2 Grand Prix du Chantilly and Prix du Conseil winner Manatee by Montjeu and the Listed-winning Dubai Destination filly Gaterie. Galatee is a half-sister to the dam of Australian Group 2 winner Aylmerton.

Bred by The Queen, Dartmouth hails from a wonderful Wildenstein family. His second dam Altana is a half-sister to the champion Arcangues and to Group 3 winner Agathe, who is the dam of champion Aquarelliste and Group 1 winner and sire Artiste Royal, and the second dam of 1,000 Guineas winner Cape Verdi. Altana is also a half-sister to the dams of Group 1 winner Angara and Group winners Actrice, Breton Rock and Forgotten Voice.

Dartmouth’s sire and broodmare sire both work exceedingly well with mares by Monsun and with that sire line currently one of the pre-eminent in Europe, Dartmouth is a very attractive option for Monsun mares.

Dubawi has a 24 per cent stakes winners to runners rate with his runners out of Monsun’s daughters, headed by the triple Group 1 winner Wild Illusion and her fullbrother Yibir, successful in last season’s Breeders’ Cup Turf.

To date, Dartmouth has had 191 foals and nine starters with two of those winners.

At the sales last year Dartmouth’s foals showed an average of £10,609 and his threeyear-old stores averaged £25,470.

His Flat runner, the BHA 88-rated Naval

College, bred by The Queen, was bought by Sackville Donald at the Tattersalls Autumn HIT Sale for 185,000gns and is the stallion’s top-priced sale horse to date.

At the Derby Sale last year Dartmouth’s three-year-old crop was headed by Peel Bloodstock’s €62,000 sale of the gelding out of the Alflora mare Becky B, while at the Goffs UK Spring Sale agent Kevin Ross

Foals parading before selling at last autumn’s Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale

Dartmouth’s sale averages

went to £42,000 for Lady Jane Grosvenor’s €24,000 pinhooked gelding out of Unika La Reconce (Robin Des Champs).

The sire’s most expensive foal of 2022 was Highflyer Bloodstock’s purchase of the colt out of the King’s Theatre mare Theatre Belle at the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale, purchased for €32,000.

He covered 39 mares in 2022.

FRONTIERSMAN

Dubawi–Ouija Board (Cape Cross)

£1,000

Overbury Stud

Year to stud: 2019

An impeccably bred son of Dubawi who is a half-brother to Derby winner Australia out of seven times Group 1 winner Ouija Board, the appeal of Frontiersman is obvious.

The Listed Godolphin Stakes winner, who was runner-up to Highland Reel in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes impressed breeders with his first crop of 38 foals. IN 2021 and 2022 he has 64 and 41 foals registered, a total of 143 foals in his first three crops

Bred by Ouija Board’s owner-breeder Lord Derby, the ten-year-old is also a half-brother

to Australian Group 3 winner Voodoo Prince. Frontiersman raced in the Godolphin blue silks for Charlie Appleby and made his debut at three, winning over 10f on his second start.

In all he ran five times that year and won twice. On just his third start at four, he was pitched into Group 1 company and produced possibly the best performance of his career, running second to the global Group 1 winner Highland Reel and finishing ahead of Group 1 winners Hawkbill and Journey, as well as Group 2 winners Idaho, Red Verdon, Prize Money, Group 3 winner and Derby runnerup US Army Ranger, Listed winner and Group 1-placed Elbereth and Listed winner Air Patrol.

Later that summer he won the Godolphin Stakes, a 1m4f Listed race at Newmarket, defeating subsequent Group 1 winner Best Of Days, and he was placed in the Group 2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes and the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes.

Frontiersman made two starts in Meydan at five and was placed both times, as runnerup to Hawkbill in the Group 2 Dubai City of Gold Stakes and fourth to Vazirabad in the

Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup on the World Cup card. He ran 16 times and was only out of the first four on three occasions.

His pedigree is an exciting one; his Galileo half-brother Australia won three times at the highest level and was third in the 2,000 Guineas before commencing upon a promising stallion career that has yielded 17 Group Black Type winners, 32 black type winners headed by last year’s St Leger winner Galileo Chrome and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile hero Order Of Australia, and three other Group 1 winners Ocean Road, Mare Australis and Broome.

Ouija Board died last November at the age of 21 and among the seven top level trophies collected by Lord Derby’s homebred daughter of Cape Cross were consecutive victories in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Her dam Selection Board is a Welsh Pageant full sister to Grade 1 Arlington Million and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Teleprompter and a half-sister to Rosia Bey, the dam of Group 1 winners Roseate Tern and Ibn Bey and second dam of Red Camellia, a Group 2 winner who has been a highly influential broodmare for

Cheveley Park Stud.

As a son of Dubawi and a half-brother to one of Galileo’s five Derby winners, with a pedigree absolutely clear of Sadler’s Wells, Frontiersman is an excellent choice for daughters of Galileo and his stallion sons. As mentioned earlier, Dubawi has an excellent record with various branches of the Sadler’s Wells line and daughters of Kayf Tara, Milan, Old Vic, Singspiel, In The Wings, Alderflug, Soldier Hollow et al would also suit Frontiersman on pedigree. Black Sam Bellamy could be a good fit as he is a fullbrother to Galileo.

At auction, 14 have been catalogued and nine sold from 14 offered for an average of 9,611gns.

At this year’s Goffs UK January Sale, Johnny Collins’s Brown Island Stables spent £37,000 on a filly out of the Heron Island mare Rosita Bay. She is the dam of the Long Distance Hurdle (G2) winner and Grade 1-placed gelding Thyme Hill.

HARBOUR LAW

Lawman–Abunai (Pivotal)

Batsford Stud

£2,000

Year to stud: 2019

A tough and talented Classic winner from an excellent Hascombe Stud family, Harbour Law brings an exciting genetic mix to NH breeders as a son of Lawman out of a Pivotal mare.

Bred by Anthony Oppenheimer’s Hascombe and Valiant Studs, Harbour Law is a half-brother to the Group 3 Craven Stakes third Moheet out of Abunai, a Pivotal half-sister to the Grade 1 EP Taylor Stakes winner Miss Keller by Montjeu.

Abunai is also a half-sister to Group 2 May Hill Stakes second Kotsi, Sir George Turner, who was second in the Group 3 Select Stakes and Listed Dee Stakes, and to Oshiponga, the winning dam of Hatta Fort and Spirit Of Appin and Group 3 winner Blue Bayou and the second dam of Irish St Leger second and Group 2 Geoffrey Freer Stakes winner Agent Murphy.

His second dam Ingozi won a Listed mile at Sandown and is a Warning half-sister to Inchinor who died before he could fulfil his early stallion potential. She is also a

Frontiersman: Brown Island Stables bought a daughter at the Goffs UK Sale for £37,000

half-sister to Listed winner Incheni and to Inchyre, the winning dam of Group 3 winner Ursa Major and second dam of Poet’s Word, the dual Group 1 winner by Poet’s Voice.

Sold by Malcolm Bastard to Killtown Bloodstock at the Goffs London Sale in 2015, Harbour Law had a short but successful racing career that began at three with a debut second place in a 1m4f maiden. He won a Salisbury maiden over that trip on his second start and stepped up to 1m6f for his third run, and he added a second success.

Harbour Law was less than a length behind Sword Fighter when second in the Listed Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot, and ahead of subsequent Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment. Dropped back to 1m5f for the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy for his next run, he was 2l fourth behind Housesofparliament.

His greatest moment came in his sixth race, the St Leger, where he provided trainer Laura Mongan with her first Classic success showing determination and talent to defeat Ventura Storm and Housesofparliament.

He ran twice at four, his final start a sterling effort when chasing home Big Orange and Order Of St George to finish third in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup. The merits of that performance only increased when it was discovered he had suffered a tendon injury that ultimately proved careerending.

Lawman’s Group 1 winner Most Improved and the Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed US Law are both out of mares by Linamix, which would hint that mares with Linamix and his sons such as Martaline might suit Harbour Law.

Lawman has also sired the Grade 2-placed

chaser Secret Sinner in Italy and the Listed Summer Handicap Hurdle second Legal History.

Harbour Law has 43 foals from his first three crops, and none of his progeny have yet been through a sales ring.

JACK HOBBS

Halling–Swain’s Gold (Swain)

Overbury Stud

£3,000

Year to stud: 2018

Over the past four decades the Irish Derby has impacted massively on the breeding of Thoroughbreds with winners including Kahyasi, Old Vic, Montjeu, Galileo, High Chaparral, Soldier Of Fortune and Fame And Glory making their mark on the breed. Through stallions such as Old Vic, Montjeu and Galileo, with their sons Soldier Of Fortune and the late, lamented Fame And Glory, National Hunt breeders the Irish Derby has exerted enormous influence on National Hunt racing. Jack Hobbs, the John Gosden-trained winner of the 2015 race, is the first Irish Derby hero since Fame And Glory to retire directly to the National Hunt breeding ranks.

Bred by legendary jockey Willie Carson and his late wife Elaine, Jack Hobbs was sold for 60,000gns to Blandford Bloodstock at the 2013 Tattersalls Book 3 Sale. He had the misfortune to be of the same Classic crop as stable companion Golden Horn who he chased home in both the Group 2 Dante

Stakes and Derby. In between those two runs he was purchased by Godolphin for whom he comfortably won the Irish Derby, beating Storm The Stars, Highland Reel and Oaks winner Qualify.

Freshened up after a summer break, Gosden sent him to Kempton for the Group 3 September Stakes which he won easily before his third place behind Fascinating Rock and Found in the Group 1 Champions’ Stakes at Ascot.

Injury problems meant he ran just twice at four, again taking the third step on the podium in the Champions’ Stakes, this time behind Almanzor and Found with Group 1 winners My Dream Boat and The Grey Gatsby in fourth and fifth.

Kept in training at five, he started the season with a triumphant return to the winners’ enclosure after the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic, defeating Group 1 winners Highland Reel, Postponed and Seventh Heaven. He ran twice more that year, both times finishing down the field at Group 1 level and he was retired to Overbury Stud for the 2018 season.

He is one of four winners out of Swain’s Gold and the best runner she has produced so far. Her other black-type performer is Niceofyoutotellme, a son of Hernando who was third in the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes for Ralph Beckett the same season Jack Hobbs won the Irish Derby.

His second dam Golden Pond, by the Ahonoora stallion Don’t Forget Me, was twice a Graded winner at Gulfstream Park

A tough and talented Classic winner from an excellent Hascombe Stud family, Harbour Law brings an exciting genetic mix

Jack

Hobbs’ sales averages

and won the Listed Prix de Cochere at Saint Cloud. At stud she foaled the Stakes winner Stravinsky mare Brazilian and is a halfsister to the dam of Group 3 May Hill Stakes winner Pollenator.

As a son of Halling out of a Swain mare, Jack Hobbs offers breeders a complete outcross with a pedigree clear of inbreeding within the first five generations and with just one line of Northern Dancer.

Halling is already the sire of Coastal Path who was on his way to becoming an influential NH sire before a testicular problem forced his retirement from stud duties at the age of 15. He is the sire of a trio of Willie Mullins trained Grade 1 winners Asterion Forlonge, Bacardys and Franco De Port as well as the Closutton maestro’s 2020 Fred Winter winner Saint Roi.

Jack Hobbs has received strong support from breeders in his first four seasons at stud with a first crop of 106 foals and 90 foals registered in 2020 and those numbers rose again with 97 in 2021 and 134 last year.

He has had 21 starters so far for four winners of five races – The Gadget Man has won two races on the Flat for Ralph Beckett and was sold at the Tattersalls Autumn HIT Sale for 310,000gns to agent Guy Mulcaster and Australian-based trainer Chris Waller.

His daughter Irish Chorus was third in a good mares’ Newbury bumper at the begining of March for trainer Alan King.

Clever Minded, a Tattersalls Derby Sale 2022 graduate, fetched €110,000 when sold by Oak Tree Farm to Philip Dempsey, the gelding had cost just €33,000 as a foal at the same sale company’s November NH Sale when bought by Brendan Bashford.

He also spent £60,000 on the three-yearold gelding out of the Kayf Tara mare Lady Karina at the 2022 Goffs UK Spring Sale.

At the same sale Tizzard and Doyle went to £55,000 for the gelding out of Miss Serious (Kalanisi).

At the Derby Sale, Milestone Bloodstock also invested €62,000 in the three-year-

old gelding now named Professor Klump, while at the Goffs Land Rover Sale Stroud Coleman Bloodstock spent €62,000 on a filly out of Annie’s Answer (Flemensfirth). Alne Stud has also bought a filly out of the King’s Theatre mare Queen Of The Stage.

His three-year-olds averaged 44,875gns last year, helped by the sale of The Gadget Man to Australia.

Intense Approach (€9,000 Goffs UK January 2020) became Jack Hobbs’ first Irish point-to-point winner in February winning a 2m4f maiden at Farmaclaffley for trainer Warren Ewing and jockey Dara McGill. The four-year-old was subsequently sold at the Tattersalls Festival Sale to John McConnell Racing for £210,000.

KINGSTON HILL Mastercraftsman–Audacieuse (Rainbow Quest)

Nunstainton Stud

£2,000

Year to stud: 2016

The St Leger and Racing Post Trophy winner stands his second season in the UK having moved from Coolmore to the north of England, and Nunstainton Stud in Durham in 2022.

Kingston Hill was a Group 1 winner at two and three, and hails from the Danehill Dancer sireline with the excellent Rainbow Quest as his broodmare sire. His first crop are now five but as he began his stud career at Coolmore’s main base in Fethard and only transferred to Castlehyde Stud in 2020, his purely National Hunt-bred crops are a few years away from making the track.

His pedigree is a mix of speed and stamina influences. Kingston Hill is out of the Rainbow Quest mare Audacieuse, who won the 10f Group 3 Prix de Flore at Saint Cloud and is a half-sister to the Group 3 Acomb Stakes winner and Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes fourth Waiter’s Dream by Oasis Dream. Another of her half-brothers is the Listed Challenge Stakes winner Lord Jim while her

half-sister Intellectuelle is the second dam of Captain Conan, winner of the Grade 1 Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle and three Grade 1 novice chases.

Second dam Sarah Georgina is by Persian Bold and was fourth in the Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes at two. She is a half-sister to the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Prix de la Foret winner Danseuse du Soir who is the dam of Scintillo, a son of Fantastic Light who won the Group 1 Gran Criterium, and the Group 3 winner Jumbajukiba. Sarah Georgina is also a half-sister to a pair of Listed winners and to the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club third Circus Dance.

Kingston Hill has attracted enough mares and in his first six seasons has got 485 foals with 47 winners of 104 races and total earnings of £695,803.

His best performer to date is his first graded race winner, December’s Grade 2 Coolmore NH Sires Kew Gardens Hurdle winner No Looking Back. He has won three of his four starts having won a bumper on debut and a Thurles maiden hurdle prior to his black-type race success.

With a Listed race placing is four-year-old gelding Shinji, who was third in a Listed Newbury bumper in February for trainer Martin Keighley.

In the sales ring last year his foals averaged £10,924 and his three-year-old stores achieved £12,217.

At the Cheltenham February Sale, his Tallow winning four-year-old gelding Butcher Hollow made £200,000 bought by Hamish Macauley and Bryan Cooper, while at the same sale company’s November Sale trainer Martin Todhunter spent £70,000 on Kingofthegame, who had finshed third in a four-year-olds maiden for Monbeg Stables.

LOGICIAN

Frankel–Scuffle (Daylami)

Shade Oak Stud

£4,000

Year to stud: 2022

A Classic-winning son of Frankel from a typically strong Juddmonte family –Logician is out of a half-sister to Bated Breath – and stands his second season at Shade Oak Stud in 2023.

The seven-year-old went through his

Intense Approach became Jack Hobbs’ first Irish point-to-point winner in February winning a 2m4f maiden at Farmaclaffley

three-year-old season unbeaten, beginning with a debut success in Newbury maiden over 1m2f for trainer John Gosden, who increased the scale of the challenge faced by Logician with each run.

Victory in a Newmarket novice followed on his second start and he returned to Newbury for a 1m4f handicap after which his record read three wins from three starts.

Gosden decided to test the horse’s mettle in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at York on his next run and he passed with a comfortable success over a field which included Nayef Road.

Sent off odds-on favourite for the St Leger, he defeated Sir Ron Priestley, Nayef Road, Sir Dragonet and Technician to secure the final Classic of the season and European champion three-year-old stayers’ honours.

A couple of months after his Classic triumph, Logician had to undergo surgery to treat life-threatening peritonitis and pleurisy and his joust with illness left its mark on the grey. He returned to race almost exactly a year after his St Leger victory, winning a conditions race over course and distance.

He ran once more at four and had two further starts last year as a five-year-old before the decision was made to retire him and he was purchased by Shade Oak for stallion duties.

Logician is a full-brother to Collide, a Listed winner in France who was also Listed-placed in Australia. They have a Champs Elysees half-sister Suffused, who won three Grade 3 contests in the US and was second in the Grade 1 EP Taylor Stakes.

Dam Scuffle was third in the Listed Snowdrop Stakes at Kempton and is a Daylami half-sister to the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free winner and sire Cityscape, and the Group 2 winner and multiple Group 1-placed sire Bated Breath. Scuffle has produced six winners with her first six foals and is also a half-sister to Tarentaise, the unraced dam of Group 2 Meydan Sprint winner and Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes second Equilateral.

His second dam Tantina was twice a Listed winner at Goodwood and is a Distant View half-sister to the Chilean Listed winner Colonialism, and to the dam of Gimcrack Stakes (G2) winner Ajaya and Group 3 winner Extra Elusive.

Third dam Didina won the Dahlia Handicap at Hollywood Park and is a Nashwan daughter of Didicoy, a half-sister to European champion two-year-old Xaar. Didicoy is a granddaughter of blue hen Best

In Show, so from an outstanding female line. Logician’s sire Frankel has done well on the Flat with mares by Monsun and his son Shirocco, who is the broodmare sire of 2021 Irish Derby, St Leger and Grand Prix de Paris winner Adayar. Monsun himself is the dam sire of Frankel’s Japanese Group 1 winner Soul Stirring.

Mares by Monsun and his sons Shirocco, Manduro, Maxios, Getaway, Schiaparelli, Gentlewave and Masterstroke could all really suit Logician.

Logician is inbred 5x5 to Blushing Groom through Rainbow Quest and Nashwan, and is also 4x4 to Miswaki, who is the broodmare sire of both Galileo and Daylami. He is 4x5 to both Danzig and Northern Dancer. He covered 183 mares in 2022.

MARMELO

Duke Of Marmalade–Capriolla (In The Wings)

Norton Grove Stud

£2,000

Year to stud: 2020

One of two sons of the late Duke Of Marmalade at stud in Great Britain, the Group 2 winner Marmelo has an ideal race record and staying pedigree to make a lovely NH stallion.

Bred by Deepwood Farm Stud, Marmelo won or was placed in 16 of his 22 starts in Europe and Australia. Trained by Hughie Morrison, he was unraced at two and broke his maiden at the third attempt as a threeyear-old. After that success he finished second in the Listed Prix Michel Houyvet over 1m7f, then third to Doha Dream in the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay and rounded off the campaign with second in the Listed Prix Vulcain at Deauville.

As a four-year-old he defeated Bateel in the Group 3 Prix de Barbeville on his seasonal reappearance and later that season claimed the first of his two victories in the Group 2 Prix Kergorlay. He was also second to Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Talismanic in the Group 2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil before his first trip to Australia where he contested the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

At five he was second to Vazirabad in the Group 2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier and then took the Listed Grand Cup at York before going one better than the previous season in

Logician: the St Leger-winning son of Frankel

Mares by Monsun and his sons Shirocco, Manduro, Maxios, Getaway, Schiaparelli, Gentlewave and Masterstroke could all really suit Logician

the Prix Maurice de Nieuil. He finished his European season in the runner-up position in the Prix Kergorlay and, returning to Australia for a second successive year, he ran Cross Counter to a length when second in the Melbourne Cup.

Kept in training as a six-year-old, he retained all his ability with two wins from five starts.

Those victories came in the Group 3 John Porter Stakes and his swansong, the Prix Kergorlay. He also contested the Prix Maurice de Nieuil for the third time and was second behind Way To Paris.

Marmelo is a half-brother to the Group 3 Henry VII Stakes winner Vent Du Force and to the Italian Grade 3-winning chaser Atalan and they are three of the eight winners out of Capriolla. She is an In The Wings half-sister to the Lingfield Derby Trial winner Saddler’s Quest by Saddler’s Hall and to the French Listed-winning fillies Seren Hill and Quiz Mistress. Capriolla is also a half-sister to the dam of Group 3 Prix Thomas Byron winner

Circumvent and the Group-placed Tioga’s Pace and Devious Company.

His second dam Seren Quest is a Rainbow Quest daughter of Italian Listed winner Serenesse.

Marmelo’s Ulysses half-brother made 67,000gns at the 2021 Tattersalls December Foal Sale where he was purchased by the Jamie Railton Sales Agency from Selwood Bloodstock.

From his first two seasons at stud, Marmelo has 19 foals and covered 15 mares in 2022.

OCOVANGO

Monsun–Crystal Maze (Gone West)

Alne Park Stud

£3,000

Year to stud: 2015

Ocovango has made a very promising start to his stud career, and the promise has translated to a change of stud and country for this covering season, the horse moving

from The Beeches Stud to the Skelton’s Alne Park Stud in Warwickshire, England, Already the sire of the Skelton-trained Langer Dan, winner of the Grade 3 Alder Hey Aintree Handicap Hurdle, the Grade 3 Imperial Cup, the Listed Wensleydale Juvenile Hurdle and now the County Hurdle (G3), from his first crop, the sire now also has Champ Kiely, winner of four of his five races for Willie Mullins which include the Grade 3 Fitzgerald’s Woodland House Hotel Novice Hurdle at Tipperary prior to his breakthrough at the highest level taking the Lawlors of Naas Grade 1 Hurdle at the turn of the year and finishing third in the Ballymore Novices Hurdle (G1).

The Noel Meade-trained Pinkerton was also runner up in a valuable Grade A handicap hurdle at Fairyhouse in December. Ocovango’s pedigree combines the influences of Monsun, Surumu, Gone West and Nureyev and it is free of inbreeding through the first five generations.

Langer Dan is out of a Milan mare which

The 2m5f Ballymore Novices Hurdle (G1) third-placed Champ Kiely, a seven-year-old son of new Alne Park Stud stallion Ocovango

bodes well for Ocovango’s prospects as an option for mares by Sadler’s Wells line sires, despite the presence of that stallion’s three-parts brother Nureyev as the sire of Ocovango’s second dam.

By Monsun and out of the Gone West mare Crystal Maze, Ocovango was trained by André Fabre for Prince Faisal.

A winner on his only start at two, he began his three-year-old career with victory in the Listed Prix Francois Mathet and followed that up with success in the Group 2 Greffulhe, both at around 1m2f. He was then fifth to Ruler Of The World and Libertarian in the Derby at Epsom and third to Flintshire in the 1m4f Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris. He filled the same position behind Kizuna and Ruler Of The World in the Group 2 Prix Niel, again at 1m4f, before finishing down the field in the first of Treve’s successive Arc wins. Ocovango ran five times at three with his best result third in the Group 3 La Coupe at Longchamp over 1m4f.

Bred by Lord and Lady Lloyd-Webber’s Watership Down Stud, he comes from an excellent family that has excelled around the world. His second dam Crystal Maze won the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at two and was second in the Irish 1,000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes at three. She is the dam of five black-type performers, headed by the Meydan Listed winner Firnas. Crystal Music is a half-sister to the Group 3 winners Dubai Success by Sadler’s Wells, Solar Crystal, an Alzao mare, and State Crystal, a daughter of High Estate.

State Crystal is the dam of Jack The Giant by Giant’s Causeway, who won the Grade 2 Wayward Lad Novices Chase for Nicky Henderson.

Her Sadler’s Wells daughter Opera Aida is the second dam of Group 1 Prix Jean Prat winner Zelzal, a son of Sea The Stars who stands at Haras de Boquetot and had his first highly promising runners in 2021.

Opera Aida’s full-sister True Crystal is the dam of Australian Group 2 winner Libran. Space Traveller, winner of the Group 2 Boomerang Stakes and Group 3 Jersey Stakes is a grandson of Snow Crystal, a Kingmambo half-sister to State Crystal.

From the outset Ocovango was heavily subscribed, resulting in 204 foals from that first crop. He has 170 from his 2017 crop, his

third crop numbered 118 registered horses, and he has 111 four-year-olds.

Numbers have dropped since, but he will not lack for support from his new connections, and he has 773 foals born through to 2022.

He has had 58 winners of 97 races and those two black-type winners from that first crop.

At the 2022 Tattersalls Cheltenham January Sale, Sam Curling sold his second crop Dromahane four-year-old maiden winner Inch House for £125,000 to Peter and Ross Doyle, and the gelding is already a winner under Rules in the UK.

At the same sale company’s auction the previous month Tom Malone went to £100,000 for Mylesfromwicklow, who is out of a King’s Theatre mare. He has since run once for the Skelton yard when second in a Ffos Las bumper

His store sale average rose from €13,763 in 2021 to €16,081 last year.

PETHER’S MOON

Dylan Thomas–Softly Tread (Tirol)

Yorton Farm Stud

£2,500

Year to stud: 2016

The Group 1 Coronation Cup winner is one of seven individual Group/Grade 1 winners by the Arc winner Dylan Thomas, the first horse to win successive renewals of the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes.

Pether’s Moon was bred by Michael Daly and bought for €52,000 by Peter and Ross Doyle at the 2011 Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.

Trained by Richard Hannon, he made two starts at two finishing runner-up by a neck over a mile on the second of them. He ran seven times at three at trips varying from 1m to 1m6f and won three, first over a mile while his second success came over a 1m4f.

The most important victory was his first at stakes level in the Listed Floodlit Stakes at Kempton. He was also placed three times

Pether’s Moon: his six-year-old daughter Anneloralas has been Listed placed over hurdles in France

from 1m2f up to 1m6f.

He ran up a sequence of four placed results in Group company on his first four starts at four, including behind Telescope and Hillstar in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot, before defeating the St Leger winner Encke in the Group 3 Glorious Stakes at the Goodwood Festival.

Pether’s Moon won the Group 2 Bosphorus Cup and the Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes, beating Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes winner Parish Hall, during his four-year-old season.

Owner John Manley kept Pether’s Moon in training at five and was rewarded with a breakthrough Group 1 success in the Coronation Cup.

That triumph was the final act of a 21-race career in which he failed to finish in the first three on just four occasions, demonstrating remarkable consistency across a variety of distances.

He is out of the Group 3 Gladness Stakes and Listed Tyros Stakes winner Softly Tread (Tirol) so his dam showed precocity to win a Listed race at two and was successful over 7f at three. She is one of two winners produced by the Listed Trigo Stakes second Second Guess who is by Ela-Mana-Mou.

Pether’s Moon is another outcross option

Telescope’s sale averages

for NH breeders – Sadler’s Wells is entirely absent from his pedigree.

He is inbred 5x5 to the great Natalma through his grandsire Danehill and with the known affinity of the Galileo line with Danehill line sires, he is a valid option for mares by Galileo and his stallion sons.

There have been ten winners from 17 runners by Dylan Thomas out of Galileo mares, headed by the Listed winner Ralston Road.

Two of Dylan Thomas’s Group 1 winners had Sadler’s Wells as a broodmare sire, while the Australian Group 2 winner and the Group 1-placed Not Listenin’tome was out of

a mare by Encosta De Lago, a son of Sadler’s Wells full brother Fairy King, so mares by Sadler’s Wells and his sons are an obvious choice for Pether’s Moon.

Peintre Celebre and the Nureyev line could also work as two more of Dylan Thomas’s top level winners were out of Nureyev mares

From a first crop of 45 registered fiveyear-olds, Pether’s Moon has had 26 runners and seven winners and, of his 239 lifetime foals, 56 have started with 14 of them winning 19 races.

Pether’s Moon’s best performer to date, his daughter Anneloralas, won an Auteuil three-year-old hurdle for Gabriel Leenders and was placed in the Listed Prix Robert Weill and Prix Fiferlet. She was bought at the 2019 Yorton Sale and is out of Kahyasi mare Loralas, a half-sister to two Listed placed jumpers. She cost £19,000 and has won over £80,000.

Pethers Moon is also the sire of Moon Dawn, who won £17,799 for her victory in the Prix de L’Oudon at Lion d’Angers, and Deere Mark who picked up £17,559 when winning a 2m handicap hurdle at Kempton.

He was another bought at a Yorton Sale for £25,000, is now the winner of three races for trainer Sam Thomas, owner Walters Plant Hire and is rated 129.

His top-priced store horse so far is the two-year-old gelding out of Azza. He was bred by Jean and James Potter and NBB Racing went to £75,000 for him at the Goffs UK Yorton Sale of 2021.

Azza won the Listed Prix Finot at Auteuil and is a Great Pretender half-sister to Vieux Lion Rouge from the family of Tolworth Hurdle winner Marcel.

At the same sale, Tizzard and Doyle spent £50,000 on a three-year-old gelding out of Karla Jane (Unfuwain), while Alan King and Highflyer Bloodstock paid £42,000 for the yearling gelding out of Fabrika, a winning Presenting full-sister to the Listed-winning chaser Chilli Filli. His second dam Daprika is a half-sister to Geos and Kapgarde.

Moon Hunter, trained by Henry Daly, is also the winner of two races and holds a 128 rating. He was a £15,000 purchase from Peel Bloodstock at the Goffs UK Summer Sale 2020.

Pether’s Moon is another outcross option for NH breeders –Sadler’s Wells is entirely absent from his pedigree

TELESCOPE

Galileo–Velouette (Darshaan)

Shade Oak Stud

£3,000

Year to stud: 2016

Bred by the David and Diane Nagle at their renowned Barronstown Stud, Telescope was trained by Sir Michael Stoute for Highclere

Thoroughbred Racing and his career received the careful nurturing that has been the hallmark of his trainer’s approach.

He made his racecourse debut in the September of his two-year-old season, finishing second over 7f before stepping up to a mile for his second start and winning a Newmarket maiden.

Successful on his seasonal reappearance at three, he was then second in the Group 3 Rose of Lancaster Stakes ahead of Noble Mission before winning the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes.

At four he won Royal Ascot’s Hardwicke Stakes (G2) and performed well in defeat at Group 1 level, giving Taghrooda a stone in the King George but managing to get within 3l of the filly in second, while he was also third to Australia and The Grey Gatsby over the 1m2f of the Juddmonte International.

He was also twice runner-up to Noble Mission – in the Gordon Richards Stakes and the Huxley Stakes both Group 3 contests. Telescope ended the season taking fourth place behind Main Sequence and Flintshire in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf.

He ran three times at five, adding the Listed Aston Park Stakes to his career wins and was beaten a head into second in the Group 2 Jockey Club Gold Cup finishing 18l clear of Pether’s Moon in third.

Telescope is by Galileo and out of the Darshaan mare Velouette, thus bred on a cross that has an impressive 19 per cent black-type winners-to-runners rate.

Velouette is an unraced half-sister to the Group 1 Dubai World Cup winner, Champion Stakes second and Derby third Moon Ballad, who also won the Group 2 Dante Stakes. She is also a half-sister to the Nashwan mare Velvet Lady, who is the dam of Grade 2 Elite Hurdle winner Purple Bay (Dubawi).

His second dam Velvet Moon is a daughter of Shaadi, already discussed under Diplomat, and won the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at two

so there is potential for speed in Telescope’s genes along with the obvious stamina influences of Galileo and Darshaan and the stouter elements of his dam’s family.

Velvet Moon is a half-sister to the Cheltenham Festival-winning hurdler Buena Vista (In The Wings), and his Group 1 Derby Italiano and Premio Presidente della Repubblica-winning full-brother Central Park and full-sister Mellow Park, winner of the Group 3 Lancashire Oaks. They are out of the Relkino mare Park Special.

Telescope’s first crop of 2017 has produced ten winners of 19 races from 59 runners and from a lifetime 637 foals, the majority of whom are yet to run he’s had 134 starters and 19 winners of 32 races.

Telescope has yet to have a black-type winner, but plenty have run with promise including Martha Divine, winner of a 2m6f Punchestown maiden hurdle; Ferns Lock, twice successful in point-to-points and a dual hunter chase winner, four-time hurdle winner the six-year-old mare I Spy A Diva and the Paul Nicholls-trained five-yearold mare Seeyouinmydreams, who has won a 2022 Largy point-to-point and was successful on her Rules race debut in a

March Newbury bumper.

Bought at the Tattersalls May 2022 Sale for 235,000gns, she is owned by Ged Mason, Alex Ferguson et al and is reportedly due to appear next in the Aintree Grade 2 mares’ bumper.

The sire has also had two winners in Irish point-to-points this season.

WALZERTAKT

Montjeu–Walzerkoenigin (Kingmambo) Chapel Stud

£2,500

Year to stud: 2017 (to Chapel for 2022) The brilliant Montjeu, sire of four individual Derby winners, has left an indelible legacy as a sire of NH stallions. His own greatest accomplishment as NH sire was the brilliant Hurricane Fly, but his stallion sons Authorized, sire of the little legend that is Tiger Roll, Fame And Glory, Jukebox Jury and Motivator have all become Grade 1 sires in that sphere.

Masked Marvel, his St Leger-winning son, has made a promising start to his stud career, too, with two Grade 1 winners, both 2017 geldings namely the multiple graded

Seeyouinmydreams: the daughter of Telescope was bought by Malone/Nicholls for 235,000gns at the Tattersalls May NH Sale 2022

scorer Teahupoo, who made the top level breakthrough last Christmas in the Hattons Grace Hurdle, and Sel Jem, winner of four races including the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris last year at Auteil and first or second in all of his eight starts.

His daughter Maskada, who is out of the Saint Des Saints mare Mandina, won the Grade 3 Grand Annual at The Festival.

It is an excellent time for Chapel Stud to launch Walzertakt on to the English market.

The Group 2 winner is a half-brother to a Deutsches Derby winner and was bred by Gestut Schlenderhan. He won four of his 21 starts over three seasons with his best season coming in 2015 when he won the Group 2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil, beating Bathyrhon and Spirit Jim, and the Group 3 Prix Gladiateur. He was also third to Alex My Boy in the Group 2 Prix Kergorlay.

He is a half-brother to Wiener Walzer whose two Group 1 victories included the Deutsches Derby. Their Galileo half-brother Port Douglas won the Group 2 Beresford Stakes for Ballydoyle and Coolmore and Port Douglas is a full-brother to Boulevard, who was third in the Group 2 Premio Frederico Tesio and the Group 3 Prix Gladiateur.

Walzertraum, their half-brother by Rahy, won the Group 3 Bavarian Classic.

Walzertakt is one of seven winners out of the German champion older mare Walzerkoenigen, who won the Premio Emilio Turatti (G2) and the Euro Cup (G2), and the Group 3 Prix Chloe. The daughter of Kingmambo was also second in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational and third in the Falmouth Stakes over a mile.

Walzerkoenigen is out of Great Revival by Keen, a full-brother to Diesis and Kris who was placed in the St James’s Palace Stakes. Great Revival is a half-sister to the European champion two-year-old filly Play It Safe, who won the Prix Marcel Boussac, and to the Grade 1 Washington DC International Stakes winner and sire Providential.

He is bred on the same MontjeuKingmambo cross as Camelot, who is the sire of the ill-fated Grade 1-winning juvenile hurdler Sir Erec.

Camelot has two Group 1-winning daughters out of Danehill mares and his

Vertem Futurity (G1) and Irish Champion Stakes winner Luxembourg has Danehill Dancer as a broodmare sire, which would make Walzertakt an attractive prospect for mares by Jeremy.

Interestingly, Sir Erec had Galileo as his broodmare sire, creating 3x3 inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells and 4x5 to Mr Prospector. With the proliferation of sons of Sadler’s Wells and Galileo in the NH stallion ranks, plenty will be encouraged to attempt that with Walzertakt.

The 14-year-old retired to stud in 2017 and spent his first season at Haras de la Hetraie before moving to Haras de la Croix Sonnet.

His first crop are now five-year-olds and he has had five winners of 14 races from 16 runners so far.

Since retiring Walzertakt has a total foal crop of 169 of which 30 have started with 12 winners of 22 races.

His best so far have come in France headed by the now Venetia Williams-trained Zertakt, winner of three races and £62,222. The five-year-old gelding was bought at the 2022 Arqana Summer Sale for €195,000.

Wal Cassandre is the winner of two fouryear-old chases, including Lion d’Angers’ Prix Telayou, while Jazz d’Arc was successful on his sole start for Guillaume Macaire in a three-year-old conditions hurdle.

Of the few to have run in Britain or Ireland so far, the French-bred Jilaijone, trained by David Pipe, won a juvenile hurdle in December and is now rated 116, and In Excess, also with an FR suffix and trained by Willie Mullins, won a Fairyhouse hurdle in January beating a Walk In The Park dual winner trained by Henry De Bromhead.

The post-race analysis reported that In Excess was an“emphatic” winner and has “a ton of scope for improvement and is a useful sort in the making”.

At auction Walzertakt’s store horses averaged €55,000 in 2021 and €38,700 last year, topped by a €60,000 three-year-old purchase by Ian Ferguson / Caherty Stables at Goffs Land Rover Sale. He has not yet had any foals sell in Britain or Ireland.

Walzertakt: his gelding In Excess looks a highly promising novice hurdler with Willie Mullins

Walzertakt is one of seven winners out of the German champion older mare Walzerkoenigen

Statistics courtesy of Weatherbys NH Stallion Book

Young NH sires at stud in Ireland

Young Irish-based NH stallions come under the microscope

Standing at an advertised fee of €2,000 or above

AFFINISEA

Sea The Stars–Affianced (Erins Isle)

Whytemount Stud

POA

Year to stud: 2017

As a Sea The Stars three-parts brother to Group 1 winner and established NH sire Soldier Of Fortune, the appeal Affinisea

holds for NH breeders was immediately apparent when he retired to the O’Neill family’s Whytemount Stud.

Bred by Jim Bolger’s Redmondstown Stud from the first crop of world champion Sea The Stars, Affinisea topped the Goffs November Foal Sale when selling for €850,000 to his sire’s owner-breeder.

He made a winning racecourse debut at four over 1m4f for John Oxx and narrowly failed to make it two wins from two starts when second over 1m6f at Killarney as a five-year-old.

Affinisea has an outstanding pedigree that has been nurtured by Jim Bolger over successive generations; in addition to boasting an Irish Derby and Coronation Cup-winning sibling, he is also a three-parts brother to Group 3 Meld Stakes and Listed Silver Stakes winner Heliostatic, who is at stud in Argentina.

Carriglawn, their Rock Of Gibraltar halfbrother also won the Listed Silver Stakes, and they are out of Affianced, a daughter of Erins Isle and winner of the Curragh’s Debutante Stakes when it was a Listed race.

Affianced is a half-sister to the Group 1-winning two-year-old Sholokhov, the sire of Gold Cup winner Don Cossack and leading 2m chaser Shishkin.

Another half-sister, the Listed winner Zvaleta, is the second dam of Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes winner Intense Focus and third dam of Skitter Scatter, winner of the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes.

In his first season at stud, Affinisea covered 123 mares but that number has increased in each of the subsequent three seasons with his book accommodating 2011 mares in 2020 on the strength of the quality of his foals. In 2021 he was the busiest stallion in Europe, covering 325 mares and that figure was surpassed further last year when he saw 382.

Affinisea’s oldest crop is five and 29 of

Affordable Fury (red and black): the son of Affinisea finishing second in the Albert Bartlett

that first crop have had a racecourse start yielding nine winners of 11 races.

That first crop averaged €28,761 at the store sales in 2021 and the sale results have gone from strength to strength since.

His top-priced lot so far is the point-topoint winner Brook Bay, who was bought by Wasdell Properties / JJ O’Neill for £380,000 at the inaugural Goffs UK Tingle Creek Sale.

At the same sale O’Neill, this time with Stoud Coleman Bloodstock and Colin Russell spent £110,000 on the filly Only By Night. She finished third at Warwick in February.

Classic Anthem, sold by Rob James Racing, made £200,000 to Peter and Ross Doyle and Tizzard at last spring’s Aintree Sale, while Durcan Bloodstock bought the four-year-old filly Molly Sanderson at the 2022 Festival Sale for £120,000.

Affinisea’s foals averaged €16,226 last year and his three-year-old stores averaged €29,619.

On the track, Affordable Fury, who is out of the Choisir mare No Greater Fury, won a point-to-point last spring and progressed to win his first two starts under Rules at Galway last October, a bumper and a maiden hurdle, before crashing out at the last on his next start at Navan’s Monksfield Novice Hurdle (G3) when in the lead.

Elevated into Grade 1 company he finished sixth in January in the Lawlor’s of Naas Novice Hurdle (G1) Affordable Fury then finished a fine second at huge odds in the Albert Barlett Novice Hurdle (G1) at Cheltenham behind Stay Away Fay.

Ifiwerearichman landed a Down Royal maiden hurdle over Christmas and has subsequently run fourth at Thurles in the Grade 3 Michael Purcell Memorial Novice Hurdle.

Affinisea has had four Irish point-to-point winners so far this season.

AUSTRIAN SCHOOL

Teofilo–Swiss Roll (Entrepreneur)

Clongiffen Stud

€1,500

Year to stud: 2020

A Teofilo half-brother to one of the most famous and popular chasers of the decade, Austrian School’s kinship with Tiger

Roll is not the main reason why this 16.2hh bay was snapped up for stud duties – he has a further pedigree to recommend him.

Dam Swiss Roll has produced blacktype performers on the Flat, as well as her Cheltenham Festival and Grand Nationalwinning son. The daughter of Entrepreneur was second in the Listed Vintage Crop Stakes and her Dubawi son Ahzeemah was a high-class stayer on the Flat for Godolphin winning the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup and the Group 3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy, and finishing second in the Group 1 Irish St Leger to Voleuse De Coeurs.

Austrian School was a classy performer and earned an official rating of 110 during his four-year-old season. Forward enough to win on his debut at two over a mile for Mark Johnston in August, he also won over 1m2f that season. At three he made a winning seasonal reappearance over 1m6f and was second in the Listed Glasgow Stakes over 1m6f. His final start of 11 that year came in the 1m6f Listed Noel Murless Stakes when a close third.

The following year he won on his seasonal bow once more and was third to Dee Ex Bee in the Group 3 Henry II Stakes at Sandown and second in the Listed Rose Bowl Stakes.

A remarkably consistent horse, Austrian School ran 18 times and won four races, finishing out of the first four on just three occasions.

His dam Swiss Roll is a full-sister to Berenson, who was second in the Group 1 National Stakes at two and is a half-sister to

Group 3 Park Express Stakes winner Pollen, the dam of the Japanese Group 3-placed Pollentia.

Swiss Roll’s three-year-old full-brother to Austrian School made 155,000gns to Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm at 2020’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sales.

Austrian School retired to Clongiffen Stud in 2020 and is an option for mares free from Sadler’s Wells blood considering he is inbred 3x3 to the dominant sire of our times.

He has 17 reported foals in his first crop and 18 last year, his first foals include a filly out of Mariah Mooney, a half-sister to the Grade 1 Leopardstown novice chase winner Mariah Rollins, who is also the dam of Pendra, a Grade 3-winning chaser and second-placed in the Grade 1 Tolworth Novice Hurdle.

Haarth Of Gold, an unraced Alhaarth half-sister to the Grade 3-winning mare Listen Dear from the family of Grade 1 Finale Hurdle winner Tempo d’Or, has a two-yearold filly by Austrian School.

Austrian School covered 37 mares in 2021 and 20 in 2022.

CAPRI

2014 Galileo–Dialafara (Anabaa)

Grange Stud

€2,500

Year to stud: 2020

A striking looker with the pedigree and race record to excite in equal terms, Capri has a reported 108 foals from his first season at stud, 68 and then 72 last year.

The handsome grey is a dual Classic winner defeating Cracksman and Wings Of Eagles in the Irish Derby and Crystal Ocean and Stradivarius in the St Leger. He was also a classy juvenile, landing the Group 2 Beresford Stakes at two for Aidan O’Brien.

Bred by Lynch Bages and Camas Park Stud, Capri ended a juvenile season that included a Listed win and defeat of Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling in a Galway maiden with third place to Waldgeist and Best Solution in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint Cloud.

He remained in training at four and won the Group 3 Alleged Stakes over 1m2f at Naas on his seasonal reappearance. His

Affordable Fury then finished a fine second at huge odds in the Albert Barlett Novice Hurdle (G1) at Cheltenham behind Stay Away Fay

best performance of the season in Group 1 company was his fourth place over the same trip in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes behind Cracksman and Crystal Ocean and ahead of Group 1 winners Rhododendron and Verbal Dexterity.

At five he was third in the Listed Saval Beg Stakes at 1m6f behind subsequent Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment and filled the same position in the 2m Group 3 Loughbrown Stakes.

The nine-year-old is one of nine stakes winners from 27 runners, including his full-sister Passion and full-brother Cypress Creek, bred on the successful Galileo-Anabaa cross.

Europe’s champion three-year-old stayer of 2017 is a grandson of the Group 2 Prix de Malleret winner and the Group 1 Prix Vermeille second Diamilina, a daughter of the hugely influential sire Linamix.

The top class NH stallion Martaline was a son of Linamix, while the Group 1 Prix du Cadran and dual Group 1 Prix RoyalOak winner Vazirabad, the Classic winner Blue Bunting, the Group 1 winner Ectot and his Group 1-winning half-brother Most Improved are amongst the top class horses with Linamix as their broodmare sire. Bauer, who was second in the Melbourne Cup for Luca Cumani and comes from the same family as Capri, is also out of a Linamix mare.

Capri’s first crop averaged 15,145gns at the sales with eight foals making at least €25,000. They were headed by Baroda Stud’s €38,000 colt at the Goffs December NH Sale, who was bought by Kieran Shields and is the third foal out of a winning halfsister to Irish St Leger winner and Grade 1 Punchestown Champion Hurdle winner Wicklow Brave.

In 2022, the figure dipped just slightly to 11,693gns, with a top price of €37,000 given by Ian Ferguson for a colt foal out of the Kris Kin mare Kris Krystal at the Goffs December NH Sale.

At the Tattersalls Ireland November NH

SaleBridge Consignment paid €30,000 for the colt sold by Ballinroone Stud out of Bourbonnaise (Mansonnien).

CRYSTAL OCEAN

2014 Sea The Stars–Crystal Star (Mark Of Esteem)

Beeches Stud

€8,000

Year to stud: 2020

Crystal Ocean’s foals have caused quite the stir in the sale ring and his progeny were one in high demand at last autumn’s sales.

His NH sale average for his first crop was an impressive €35,688 with the sessiontopping €120,000 foal from Tattersalls Ireland, the standout amongst some meaty auction prices.

Foal prices stayed strong the following year and his 2022 average was €25,644 with a top price of €75,000 given by Ian Ferguson at Goffs December NH Sale for the colt out of Presenting Juno (Presenting).

At the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale, Joey Logan bought the colt out of the

Yearts mare Hour Before Dawn for €72,000, while Sabrina Harty gave €70,000 for the colt out of Whistle Dixie (Kayf Tara) sold by The Beeches Stud.

Bred by the late Renee Robeson and raced in the colours of her brother Sir Evelyn Rothschild, Crystal Ocean was an incredibly consistent racehorse. Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, he was never once out of the first three in 17 career starts, all but two of which were in Group races. One of those was his debut over 7f at two, when he was second by just a neck in a Newbury maiden.

At three he finished third in the Group 2 Dante Stakes to the more experienced Permian and Benbatl. He occupied the same position behind Permian in Royal Ascot’s Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes before breaking through the glass ceiling in the Group 3 Gordon Stakes. He went down fighting to Capri in the St Leger, a trait that would come to define some of his greatest performances over the following two seasons.

Given time to mature, Crystal Ocean developed into one of the best horses in the world at four and five. He ran off a treble

Crystal Ocean’s top-priced foal of 2022: Lot 499 at the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale made €77,000. He is out of the Yeats mare Hour Before Dawn. Her 2021 foal by the same sire made €80,000 at the same sale the previous year

of Group wins in his first three starts at four and then was second to Poet’s Word in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, losing out by a neck with the pair pulling 9l clear of the field. He was second to Cracksman in the 1m2f Group 1 Champions’ Stakes, beating Group 1 winners Capri, Rhododendron and Verbal Dexterity.

As a five-year-old he was involved in some of 2019’s most memorable European races, starting off his campaign with his second successive victories in the Group 3 Gordon and Aston Park Stakes before finally getting his head in front in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, defeating Group 1 winners Magical, Waldgeist, Sea Of Class, Deirdre, Zabeel Prince and Desert Encounter.

In a thrilling renewal of the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, he and Enable battled most of the way up Ascot’s home straight with the mare just getting the better of him by a neck.

It was a similar scenario in the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York with the two-year younger Japan, who had to dig deep into his reserves to see off Crystal Ocean by a head, getting 7lb from his elder.

Crystal Ocean is a three-parts brother to the dual Group 2 Pride Stakes winner Crystal Capella (Cape Cross) and a half-brother to the Grade 1 Canadian International winner Hillstar. He is also a half-brother to the Listed Newbury Fillies’ Trial winner Crystal Zvezda.

With Darshaan as the sire of Mark Of Esteem and Be My Guest the sire of his second dam Crystal Cavern, he has noted NH stallion credentials and his own sire Sea The Stars is a half-brother to Galileo, who has 20 sons at stud who have sired at least one Group/Grade 1 winner.

Crystal Ocean’s average for 36 foals sold at the 2021 Tattersalls Ireland November NH Foal Sale was €32,728, which although fell slightly to €25,821 in 2022, he was still the third-best sire by turnover with 56 foals sold.

His most expensive foal so far is still was the Mariga family’s colt out of Daydream Beach, a Mahler full-sister to Royal Bond winner Airlie Beach from the family of the 2021 Grade 3 mares’ hurdle winner Our Girl Salley. He was purchased by Kevin Ross and Ben Case for €120,000.

From his first two crops Crystal Ocean has a 389 foals and covered 352 mares in 2022.

DEE EX BEE

Farhh–Dubai Sunrise (Seeking The Gold)

Arctic Tack Stud

€3,500

Year to stud: 2022

Trained by Mark Johnston, Dee Ex Bee ran 21 times, won four races, and was placed second or third 12 times. Dee Ex Bee was a consistent runner and was unlucky to bump into first Kew Gardens and then Stradivarius.

He won on his first start at Goodwood over 7f in August, finished third at Listed level in September, won at Epsom over a mile in October and at the end of the season finished second in the 1m2f Zetland Stakes to Kew Gardens.

His appreciation for Epsom continued as a three-year-old – he was second in the racecourse’s Listed Blue Riband Stakes on his first start in April, was second in the Chester Vase (G3), before he ran the race of his career in the Epsom Derby (G1) when just a length second to Masar.

He finished down the field in the Irish Derby but bounced back when third to Kew Gardens in the Grand Prix de Paris (G1), second to Cross Counter in the Gordon Stakes (G3), fourth in the Group 1 St Leger (once again behind Kew Gardens), and then third to Iquitos in the Grosser Preis von Bayern (G1).

At four, he won on his first two starts – on his first try over 2m in the Sagaro Stakes (G3) and then over the same distance in the Henry VII Stakes at Sandown.

He took on Stradivarius in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, and was just a length down at the line, shortening that distance to just a neck in the Goodwood Cup. He rounded the year off with a third-placed finish in the Prix

du Cadran, behind Holdthasigreen and Call The Wind.

A two-race sojourn to the Middle East did not reap rewards and he has retired Artic Tack Stud for this season.

His sire Farhh has not really had the opportunity to prove himself due to fertility problems, but his progeny are headed by the Group 1-winning miler King Of Change, who is out of an Echo Of Light mare and is standing this year at Starfield Stud at a fee of €6,000..

A new sire for 2023 Wells Farhh Go, winner of the Group 3 Acomb Stakes and the Group 3 Bahrain Trophy, is out of a Galileo mare and stands at Norton Grove Stud for a fee of £2,500.

Dee Ex Bee hails from a leading stallion family – his unraced dam Dubai Sunrise is full-sister to the champion and leading sire influence Dubai Millennium, of course, the sire of one of the world’s best stallions, Dubawi. Farhh is also sire of Away He Goes who is a three time winner of £34,920 but whose total earnings are almost £300,000 courtesy of some good placed results plus Owners’ Star, an eight-year-old gelding who has been plying his trade mostly in Happy Valley handicaps and has accumulated almost £400,000 in prize money.

His third dam Fall Aspen, a two-time Grade 1 winner, was dam of the sires Hamas, Fort Wood, Timber Country and grand-dam of Elnadim.

He covered 136 mares in 2022.

FIFTY STARS

Sea The Stars-Swizzle Stick (Sadler’s Wells) Sunnyhill Stud

€3,000

Year to stud: 2022

From 36 starts, Fifty Stars won seven races, was placed 10 times and picked up race earnings over £1,500,000.

His strong prize-money record is due to the fact that he raced throughout his career in Australia, despite having been bred in Ireland by Airlie Stud. He was bought as a yearling by John Foote at the Tattersalls October Book 2 Sale 2016, the agent paying 110,000gns for the colt.

He did not run at two, and began his racing career in May 2018 winning on his

Dee Ex Bee was a consistent runner and was unlucky to bump into first Kew Gardens and then Stradivarius

young nh sires: ire

career debut over 7f and rounding the year off on his fourth start with success in a Group 3 over the same distance.

He ran 11 times in 2019, mainly over 7f and a mile, and while he did not trouble the judge at Group 1 level, he collected two Group 2 races in succession – Flemington’s mile Blamey Stakes and the 7f Ajax Stakes at Rosehill.

He finished mid-division on his next five starts before he finished second in the Group 1 Cantala Stakes over a mile, beaten just a short-head.

The following February, after he finished second on that year’s debut, he made it two in a row in the Blamey Stakes and then collected his Group 1 when winning the Australia Cup at Flemington.

Spelled then through to the southernhemisphere spring season, he ran from October 2020 to September 2021 in nine Group 1s, four Group 2s, once in a Group 3 and once in a handicap without success but with three runner-up results, including in the McKinnon Stakes (G1) behind Arcadia Queen and in the A D Hollindale Stakes (G2) to the British-bred Zaaki, who is now a three-time Group 1 winner.

A sound horse he was repatriated to Ireland to stand at Sunnyhill Stud as a jumps sire, the farm keen to capitalise on the fact that he is a half-brother to Whiskey Sour, winner of the Future Champions Novice Hurdle (G1) at Leopardstown.

His second dam Viz (Darshan) was dam of Viztoria (Oratorio), a joint champion juvenile filly of 2012 in Ireland, while third dam For Example is dam of Forbearing, placed second in the Rose of Lancaster Stakes (G3), the Winter Hill Stakes (G3) and a three-time hurdles winner. She is granddam of King Of Camelot, who finished third in the Prix de Conde (G3).

Swizzle Stick is an unraced daughter of Sadler’s Wells so it does rule out mares by him or his immediate descendants.

GALILEO CHROME Australia-Curious Mind (Dansili)

Starfield Stud

€3,000

Year to stud: 2021

The first son of dual Derby winner Australia

to retire to stud, Galileo Chrome had 44 foals born in 2022.

As well as being Australia’s first stallion son, Galileo Chrome also has the distinction of being the first Group 1 winner by the impeccably bred sire.

Raced once at two, Galileo Chrome pieced together an unbeaten three-year-old season starting with a maiden success over 1m2f at The Curragh where the vanquished included subsequent runaway Derby winner Serpentine. His first attempt at stakes level gave him victory in the 1m5f Listed Yeats Stakes, an impressive performance which convinced connections to let him take his chance in the Group 1 St Leger at Doncaster, a decision that was rewarded with a thrilling success over Berkshire Rocco and Pyledriver with Irish Derby winner Santiago in fourth.

Bred and raced by Mohamed Ali Meddeb, who will be lending his star stayer significant support in his stud career with some choice mares, Galileo Chrome hails from the outstanding Lanwades Stud family founded by Alruccaba.

His dam Curious Mind is a Dansili half-sister to a pair of Listed Cocked Hat Stakes winners in Private Secretary and Michelangelo, who was also third in the St Leger.

They are out of the Listed-placed Intrigued, a Darshaan full-sister to the Listed Ballymacoll Stakes winner Approach, who is the dam of Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and Prix Jean Romanet winner Coronet (Dubawi) and Midas Touch (Galileo), who won the Group 2 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial and was second in the Irish Derby.

Intrigued’s Danehill half-brother Aussie Rules won the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile for Coolmore. They are out of the Alzao mare Last Second, who won the Nassau Stakes and Sun Chariot Stakes when they were both Group 2 contests.

Last Second is a half-sister to the Group 3 Doncaster Cup winner Alleluia (Caerleon), who is the dam of Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak winner Allegretto (Galileo), and she in turn is the dam of last season’s Listed Aphrodite Stakes winner and Group 2 second Cabaletta. She is also a half-sister to Listed Oyster Stakes winner Alouette, a daughter of

Darshaan, who was also third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stakes at two and is the dam of the Group 1-winning Alzao full-sisters Albanova and Alborada, a dual winner of the Champion Stakes.

Another of Last Second’s half-sisters is Jude, a daughter of Darshaan who failed to win on the track but has made a lasting impact as a broodmare with no less than six daughters earning black-type. They are headed by the Sadler’s Wells full-sisters of Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Yesterday and Group 1 Moyglare Stakes winner Quartermoon, who was also placed in three Classics and is the dam of four blacktype performers including Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes winner Diamondsandrubies. Quartermoon is also the second dam of Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed Eminent by Frankel.

The dynasty-founding matriarch

Alruccaba is Galileo Chrome’s fourth dam. He has a two-year-old half-brother by Dream Ahead and Curious Mind was covered by Gleneagles last year.

Galileo Chrome is inbred 4x5 to Northern Dancer and 5x4 to his son Danzig so they are far enough back that they will only appear in the fifth generation of his foals’ pedigrees and Sadler’s Wells will be back in the fourth generation.

HILLSTAR

Danehill Dancer–Crystal Star (Mark Of Esteem)

Garryrichard Stud

€2,500

Year to stud: 2016

A Danehill Dancer half-brother to Crystal Ocean who with his first crop of 51 runners has had four winners of eight races from 14 starters, Hillstar is an exciting young sire for Garryrichard Stud.

The untimely demise of Jeremy, whose success came towards the end of his sire Danehill Dancer’s stud career, has transformed Danehill Dancer stallion sons into a hot commodity for NH stud masters.

The Grade 1 Canadian International winner Hillstar was one of the first to retire to an Irish NH stud, the Hickey family’s Garryrichard in Wexford, after the brief but brilliant career of the star-crossed Our Conor

and Jeremy’s deaths in 2014.

His pedigree is top notch and has only improved in the intervening years thanks to his young half-brother Crystal Ocean’s Group 1-winning exploits.

Hillstar represented the same connections as the world champion and was a high-class racehorse in his own right. Unlike Crystal Ocean, he won at two and went two better than his sibling when winning the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.

On his next start Hillstar was third to Novellist and Irish Derby winner Trading Leather in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and ahead of Cirrus Des Aigles and Red Cadeaux.

At four he won the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine, beating the fourtime Grade 1 winner Big Blue Kitten. He also won the Group 3 Newbury Arc Trial and was second in the Hardwicke Stakes and Princess of Wales’s Stakes, both Group 2 races.

He was second to Group 1 winner Brown Panther in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes and occupied the same position in the Rose of Lancaster Stakes, also a Group 3.

Hillstar’s best result at five was a third place in the Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot.

From his first crops of racing age, Hillstar is the sire of five winners from 26 runners with the Listed Henrietta Knight Mares’ Bumper third Hillfinch, and Another Choice, a six-year-old gelding placed third in the Listed Dunraven Arms Novice Hurdle, his best runners to date.

His 2021 store horse average was €18,800 and in 2022 it was €15,794.

His best result has been the €70,000 Ballycrystal Stables paid for the gelding out of the Saddlers’ Hall mare Lucy Murphy at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale 2022.

Mags O’Toole paid €60,000 at the 2021 Goffs Land Rover Sale for a half-brother to two winners from two runners out of Luanna, an unraced Luso mare from the family of Lord Of The River. He was sold by Peter Nolan Bloodstock.

At the Land Rover Sale 2022, Matthew Smith spent €50,000 on the mare’s year younger full-sibling.

HUNTING HORN

Camelot–Mora Bai (Indian Ridge)

Castlefield Stud

€2,000

Year to stud: 2021

By Camelot, who hails from the influential Montjeu line, what makes Hunting Horn of particular interest is his female family – his dam Mora Bai is an Indian Ridge half-sister to High Chaparral. His best NH offspring has been Altior and he was an excellent stallion and sired Group 1 winners in both hemispheres and his best son So You Think is enjoying a fantastic season in Australia.

Hunting Horn is a closely-related to the Group 2 Beresford Stakes winner David Livingston by Galileo, who was also third in the Group 1 National Stakes. Their dam Mora Bai is a full-sister to Treasure

Hillstar’s percentage wins by going: the few runners he has had so far have seemed to show a marked preference for good and faster ground Hillstar progeny and going stats

The Lady, who was Listed-placed and is the second dam of last season’s Group 3 Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial winner Love Locket and the Listed winner Raakib Alhawa.

Mora Bai is also a half-sister to Chenchikova, the dam of the 2020 Group 1 Prix de Diane and Nassau Stakes winner Fancy Blue, the Listed winner and Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes third Smuggler’s Cove and Casterton, a Listed winner in France. She is also a half-sister to Black Bear Island, by Sadler’s Wells, and winner of the Group 2 Dante Stakes who was second in the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes.

The family is a fine Aga Khan one and second dam Kasora, by Darshaan, was bred by His Highness out of thr Group 2 winner Kozana, who was placed in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin at a mile and the 1m4f Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

A daughter of Kris, she produced four black-type performers at stud, including the Group 1-placed Khoraz.

From Camelot’s first crop, Hunting Horn was a Group winner in both hemispheres claiming the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot at three and the Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup as a four-year-old.

He ran twice at two, placing on both occasions at the start of a 25-race career that included third in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, fourth to Old Persian in the Dubai Sheema Classic, fourth in the Grade 1 Man O’War Stakes and the same place in the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s to Crystal Ocean, Magical and Waldgeist.

His maiden victory at three came over 1m2f and at the expense of Latrobe, also by Camelot, while his Group race wins were at 1m2f and 1m4f and he was placed in Group 1 contests at both those distances.

Hunting Horn covered 80 mares in his first year at stud and his first-crop foals averaged €10,055.

IDAHO

Galileo–Hveger (Danehill) Beeches Stud

€3,000

Year to stud: 2019

A full-brother to the globe-trotting seventime Group 1 winner Highland Reel, from a

top class family and a Royal Ascot winner on the track, it’s easy to see why Idaho has been popular with breeders with 134 foals born in his first crop, 122 in his second and 88 last year.

Successful on debut at two, and pitched straight into Group 1 company on just his second start by Aidan O’Brien, Idaho was a high-class performer from the start of a career that took him around the world.

Placed behind Harzand in both the Derby and Irish Derby, Idaho was an authoritative winner of the Group 2 Great Voltiguer Stakes and was sent off favourite for the St Leger at Doncaster in which he suffered a nasty spill.

At four he was a comfortable winner of the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot and then finished third to Enable and Ulysses in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Sent on his travels, his next four starts were all in Group or Grade 1 company and he went from New York to Paris to Woodbine and then Tokyo with fourth in the Grade 1 Canadian International at 1m4f his best result.

His first start at five was in Dubai for the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic and he next popped up at Chester where he easily won the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes over 1m5f.

In that last year his best performances came in his two third places behind Stradivarius in the Group 1 Goodwood Cup and York’s Group 2 Lonsdale Cup, both around 2m.

Idaho has an impressive pedigree and is bred on the excellent Galileo-Danehill cross that has produced Group 1 winners and leading stallions Frankel and Teofilo, as well as his full-brother Highland Reel whose first crop last year yielded eight winners from 29 starters and are three-year-olds of 2023.

Idaho is also a full-brother to Cape Of Good Hope, who won the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes, and the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes winner Nobel Prize. Idaho’s full-sister

Cercle De La Vie is the dam of last season’s dual Group 1-winning juvenile Angel Blue by Dark Angel. Another sibling is the Group 1 Storm Queen Stakes and Victoria Oaks second Valdemoro.

Their dam Hveger was placed in the Group 1 Australasian Oaks and is a full-sister to the Australian champion and five-time Group 1 winner Elvstroem, and a half-sister

to another Australian champion, the threetime Group 1 winner Haradasun. They are out of Circles Of Gold, winner of the Group 1 AJC Oaks and a half-sister to the second dam of Group 1-winning sprinter and good sire Starspangledbanner.

His first crop of foals went under the hammer in 2020 and averaged €10,575 for 17 sold, his second crop averaged €6,800 and in 2022 averaged €3,993.

The most expensive foal by Idaho sold so far is a half-brother to the Grade 2 Paddy Mullins’ Mares Handicap Hurdle winner and Grade 1 Fairyhouse Mares’ Novice Hurdle third Alletrix. He made €28,000 to Richard Frisby at Goffs December NH Sale from the Beeches Stud.

His second crop was topped by a €16,000 colt out of Rose Cottage, an unraced Flemensfirth sister to the Grade 3 winner Emily Gray and the Grade 3-placed Pride Of The Parish. He was sold at Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale by the Beeches Stud to Lulham Bloodstock for €16,000.

Idaho saw 136 mares in his third book and has 346 registered foals from his first three crops.

IN SWOOP Adlerflug–Iota (Tiger Hill)

Beeches Stud

€4,000

Year to stud: 2022

The talented son of Adlerflug did not run as a two-year-old but made his three-year-old debut a winning one over 1m3f in May at Lyon Parilly. He was sent off race favourite so had not been hiding his talent in his home work.

He was stepped up quickly to Group 2 company in the Prix Greffulhe over the same course and distance and finished just a length and a quarter behind the race winner, despite lacking a bit of room in the last furlong.

Connections maintained their ambitious approach and he ran in the Grade 1 Deutsches Derby, which he won by threequarters of a length.

It is a race that with the benefit of hindsight is looking amazingly strong – in second was the subsequent 2021 Arc winner Torquator Tasso (also by Adlerflug), third (but disqualified) was Grocer Jack, the multiple Grade 1 and Grade 2 winner who

In Swoop: the Arc runner-up saw 217 mares in his first year at the Beeches Stud

was sold for a sale-topping 700,000gns at 2021’s Tattersalls Autumn HIT Sale.

In Swoop then finished second to Mogul in the Grand Prix de Paris (G1) and filled the same position putting in his most memorable performance when a neck runner-up to Sottsass in the Arc de Triomphe.

An Arc challenge was firmly on the cards as four-year-old, and his early runs in 2021 looked as though he had retained all of his ability – he won the Group 3 Prix d’Hedouville, the Grade 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly and then finished fourth in the Grade 1 Grand Prix de Saint Cloud. Sadly, that was to be the last race in the horse’s career as injury intervened.

Adlerflug, who was sadly lost as a 17-yearold as he was starting to make a real mark, he boasts a cracking German-produced pedigree. He is out of the Preis der Diana winner Iota and is a full-brother to Ito, the German champion, winner of the Grosser Preis von Bayern (G1) and also a multiple Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed.

In addition to In Swoop, Adlerflug’s leding performers include the Arc winner and

new sire Torquator Tasso, the multiple Group 1 winner Iquitos, successful in the Grosser Preis Von Baden (G1), the Grosser Dallmayr Preis-Bayerisches Zuchtrennen (G1) twice, Mendocino, winner of the Wettstar Grosser Preis Von Baden (G1), the Grosser Preis Von Bayern (G1) winner Ito, and the Tattersalls Gold Cup (G1) winner Alenquer.

His second dam Iora by Konigsstuhl is dam of the Group 3 winner Illo (Tertullian), Ioannina, a Listed winner and Group 1 third, and to Iowa, dam of the Group 2 winner Itoba (Areion). It is also the further family of Iran, the top-rated German miler of 2009, and Iberus, the third top-rated German twoyear-old of 2000.

Sadler’s Wells and Danehill are in In Swoop’s third generation so there is room for mares from those lines. On the Flat, Adlerflug has also done well with mares by Monsun, Areion, Toylson and by Mount Nelson, while from his few jumps runners he has had winners from mares by Arctic Tern, Protektor and Platini.

He covered 217 mares in 2022, including 17 with black-type.

KEW GARDENS

Galileo–Chelsea Rose (Desert King)

Castle Hyde Stud

€3,500

Year to stud: 2021

A handsome son of Galileo with a Group 1-winning dam and a stakes-winning juvenile himself, Kew Gardens was amongst the busiest new stallions at stud in 2021 when he covered 198 mares which resulted in 107 reported foals of 2022.

Bred by David and Diane Nagle at their renowned Barronstown Stud nursery, Kew Gardens ran five times at two for Aidan O’Brien winning the Listed Zetland Stakes at Newmarket in a track record time by more than 3l from Dee Ex Be,e who went on to finish second in the Derby. Kew Gardens was also second in the Group 3 Champions’ Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown and won his maiden over a mile on his second start.

At three, he won the Group 2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot on his first start over 1m6f, stretching more than 4l clear of his pursuers. That victory set him up for Group 1 glory in the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp, the first of his two triumphs at the highest level at three. He added the St Leger comfortably from Lah Ti Dar with Dee Ex Bee and Old Persian further back. Kew Gardens was also third to Old Persian and Cross Counter in the Group 2 Great Voltiguer Stakes.

Remaining in training at four, he performed at the highest level losing by a nose to Defoe in the Group 1 Coronation Cup and finishing runner-up to Search For A Song in the Irish St Leger. His final race was memorable for halting the unbeaten run of champion stayer Stradivarius by a nose in thrilling finish to the Group 2 British Champions’ Long Distance Cup.

He is one of three Group winners out of the Moyglare Stakes winner Chelsea Rose, a daughter of Desert King, so he is bred on a version of the Galileo-Danehill cross.

His full-sister Snow won the Group 3 Munster Oaks and their older Tamayuz half-sister was a Group 3 winner and was second in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest.

Chelsea Rose’s Red Ransom colt Hamlool was second in the Listed Lingfield Classic Trial and her winning Invincible Spirit daughter Pale Orchid is the dam of Free

Kew Gardens: covered 198 mares in 2021 and saw 107 mares in 2022

Eagle’s first crop Listed Caravaggio Stakes winner Justifier.

Chelsea Rose trained on to win the Ballyroan and Dance Design Stakes (both Listed contests then) and to be placed in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes and Premio Lydia Tesio. She is a half-sister to Downdraft by Camelot, who won the Group 3 Holtham Stakes in Australia and the Listed Lenebane Stakes and Her Majesty’s Plate in Ireland. European, their half-brother by Great Commotion won the Listed Amethyst Stakes.

Their dam Cinnamon Rose is by Trempolino, and out of the Green Dancer mare Sweet Simone, who is the dam of Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam winner River

Warden and Sweettuc, who won the Grade 3 Hoist The Flag Stakes.

Galileo now has 20 stallion sons who have sired at least one Group/Grade 1 winner, but Kew Gardens stands out due to his inbreeding to the great mare Special. She features in the fourth and fifth generations of his pedigree through her daughter Fairy Bridge, dam of Sadler’s Wells, and son Nureyev who is a three-parts brother to Sadler’s Wells and is the broodmare sire of Desert King.

Kew Gardens is also 4S x 5D x 5D to Northern Dancer but two of those lines won’t appear in the first five generations of his foals’ pedigrees.

He had 108 foals born last year, and achieved an average price at the foal sales of €8,598.

Niall Bleahen spent €24,000 on a colt out of the Westerner mare Western Diva at Fairyhouse in November, while his daughter was the second-best price of €20,000 at the same sale. She is out of the Martaline mare Cathodine Cayras from Adamsfield Stud and was bought by White Gold Stud.

Amongst the mares he covered in his first book are Cattiva Generosa, who is the dam of multiple Listed winning hurdler Catmoves, the Listed winner and Grade 1-placed hurdler Merie Devie and the Grade 2 winner Lounaos.

Khalifa Sat: the Derby runner-up, son of Free Eagle and a three-parts brother to Unsung Heroine, stands at Lacken Stud at a fee of €2,000

KHALIFA SAT

Free Eagle–Thermopylae (Tenby) Lacken Stud

€2,000

Year to stud: 2022

Runner up to Serpentine in the 2020 Derby, Khalifa Sat comes from a high-class staying family.

The son of Free Eagle is a threeparts brother to Unsung Heroine (High Chaparral), who won the Group 3 Give Thanks Stakes and was second in the St Leger. He is also a half-brother to Ghostmilk by Golan who was Listed-placed in Australia.

They are out of Thermopylae, a Tenby full-sister to the Listed Singapore Gold Cup winner Carry The Flag and a half-sister to the Gran Premio di Milano (G1), the Hardwicke Stakes (G2), the Princess of Wales’s and John Porter Stakes (G3) winner Posidonas.

Thermopylae is also a half-sister to Nomothetis, the dam of Italian 2,000 Guineas winner Spirit Of Desert and second dam of the Minstrel Stakes and the Somerville Tattersalls Stakes winner Larchmont Lad.

Khalifa Sat’s second dam Tamassos is by Dance In Time, a son of Northern Dancer, and is a half-sister to the Juddmonte International winner and Coronation Cup second Ile De Chypre and to the classy hurdler Halkopous, who won the Fighting Fifth, Bula and West Yorkshire Hurdle for Venetia Williams.

A son of Free Eagle, Khalifa Sat was bred by Declan Phelan and the Irish National Stud and sold for €20,000 at the Goffs November Foal Sale. As a yearling he made €40,000 at Goffs Orby to Andrew Balding who trained him for Ahmad Al Shaikh.

From his Group 1-winning sire’s first crop, Khalifa Sat ran twice at two winning his maiden over 1m2f at Goodwood on his second start. At three he came out and won the Listed Cocked Hat Stakes on his seasonal reappearance and then came his second place in the Derby. Khalifa Sat had one more run, behind Mogul in the Group 3 Gordon Stakes.

He is inbred 4S x 5S x 5D x 4D to Northern Dancer through Sadler’s Wells, Danzig, Nijinsky and the aforementioned

Dance In Time and also has Mill Reef 6S x 5D.

He covered 48 mares in 2022.

MANATEE

Monsun–Galatee (Galileo)

Whytemount Stud

€2,000 for a colt, €1,000 for a filly Year to stud: 2022

Relocated to Ireland in 2022, Manatee’s oldest crop are five-year-olds of this year from his time previously spent in France and his first Irish foals are due in 2023.

The Group 2 Prix de Conseil du Paris and Grand Prix de Chantilly winner is one of three black-type winners so far out of Galatee, a member of Galileo’s first crop and winner of the Group 3 Blue Wind Stakes.

She has also foaled the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes winner and King George third Dartmouth, who stands at Shade Oak Stud, and the Listed-winning Dubai Destination filly Gaterie. Galatee is a halfsister to the dam of Australian Group 2 winner Aylmerton.

Bred by Darley, Manatee hails from a wonderful Wildenstein family. His second dam Altana is a half-sister to the champion Arcangues and to the Group 3 winner Agathe, who is the dam of champion Aquarelliste and Group 1 winner and sire Artiste Royal, and the second dam of 1,000 Guineas winner Cape Verdi.

Altana is also a half-sister to the dams of Group 1 winner Angara and Group winners Actrice, Breton Rock and Forgotten Voice, who won the Dovecote Hurdle and is a half-brother to the dam of the current Derby favourite Luxembourg.

Manatee won four of his 13 races over

three seasons and was placed in a further six contests, including the Group 2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier. He was also fourth in consecutive runnings of the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud for André Fabre.

He retired to Haras du Hoguenet where he stood for five seasons prior to his acquisition by Ronnie O’Neill.

Manatee covered relatively large books of mares in France with and to date has had 47 starters with 11 winners of 17 races. His best performer to date is Juste Milieu runner up in the Listed Prix Antoine de Palaminy in February for Guillaume Macaire at Pau. He’s posted decent sales results and has averaged €24,000 and €33,906 3-y-o store prices in the last couple of years.

Manatee is the best of the three runners by Monsun out of Galileo mares and his pedigree is free of inbreeding in the first five generations.

Manatee has had 11 winners so far, with Juste Mileu boasting black-type with a Listed second place at Pau.

The dual winner Imagine Allen has won over €24,000 in France, while Nikatee’jac has won twice from just two starts in France.

The Jane Williams-trained filly Jaminska won a junior bumper at Hereford in January, after twice finishing second in similar events.

Jeremiah McGrath spent €50,000 at the Tingle Creek Sale for the Lackhill pointto-point winner Matchadam a first British winner for handler Eamonn O’Donnabhain, who works for licensed trainer Tom Lacey.

Gerry Hogan bid to €47,000 for a gelding out of the Majorien mare I Want It All, and at the Arqana Autumn Sale PR Bloodstock Services bought Judy Du Seuil for €50,000.

Two more have ended up in the UK pointing field and have yet to run – Paul Manate, who was purchased by Ed Bailey and Joe Hill for £40,000 at the Goffs UK Spring Sale, while Charlie and Francesca Poste spent €42,000 on Mon Coeur from Arglo House Stud.

MOGUL

Galileo-Shastye (Danehill)

The Beeches Stud

€3,500

Year to stud: 2022

Successful over 1m4f at the highest level

Manatee has had 11 winners so far, with Juste Mileu boasting black-type with a Listed second place at Pau

and a Group 2-winning juvenile, Mogul is bred on the outstanding Galileo-Danehill cross that produced the 2021 champion sire Frankel, as well as Teofilo who is the sire of more than 20 individual Group 1 winners, Mogul got off the mark on his second start at two in a mile maiden at The Curragh before he was sent into Group 2 company for the Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown, which he won before ending his juvenile season with fourth to subsequent 2,000 Guineas winner Kameko in a rearranged Vertem Futurity Trophy on Newcastle’s all-weather track.

COVID disrupted the 2020 Flat season and Mogul was forced to make delayed seasonal debut in the King Edward VII Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot in which he was fourth to Pyledriver.

The topsy-turvy nature of the season meant that the Derby was run on July 4,

and Mogul finished sixth to runaway winner Serpentine.

Stepped up to 1m6f for the Group 3 Gordon Stakes at Goodwood on his next start, Mogul returned to winning ways, defeating subsequent Ascot Gold Cup hero Subjectivist. He couldn’t follow up in the Great Voltigeur Stakes (G2), in which he finished third of four but in the Grand Prix de Paris (G1), which was run in September 2020, he succeeded his older full-brother Japan as the winner of that 1m4f Group 1.

His immediate victim that day was Deutsches Derby winner In Swoop, who would follow up that performance with a close second to Sottsass in the Arc and joins Mogul on the Coolmore NH roster in 2022.

Mogul went to the Breeders’ Cup and was beaten just 3l by Tarnawa in the Grade 1 Turf before heading on his travels once more, this time east to Hong Kong for the Group 1 Vase

at Sha Tin, in which he defeated champion and horse of the year Exultant to win his second Group 1 over 1m4f.

Kept in training as a four-year-old, Mogul was campaigned at the highest level around the world with his best performance third to Mare Australis in the Prix Ganay at Longchamp.

Bred by Newsells Park Stud, Mogul cost MV Magnier 3.4m guineas at the 2018 Tattersalls Book 1.

His year-older full-brother Japan was also a dual Group 1 winner and beat Crystal Ocean in an epic tussle for the Juddmonte International.

Their older full-sister Secret Gesture won the Group 2 Middleton Stakes and was placed five times at the highest level, including in the Oaks.

He is also a full-brother to the Group 3 winner Sir Isaac Newtown and a half-brother

Mogul: the Group 1-winning son of Galileo and full-brother to Japan covered 168 mares in 2022, his first season in the covering shed

to the Austalian Listed winner and the Group 3-placed Maurus by Medicean. His unraced Sadler’s Wells three-parts sister Shabyt is the dam of 2021 Listed winner Shandoz by Golden Horn and the Listed-placed Shaherezada by Dutch Art.

Dam Shastye has produced sales of over 14m guineas for Newsells Park Stud with three of her yearlings selling for in excess of 3m guineas apiece. On the track she was second in the Listed Pontefract Castle Stakes and boasts an excellent pedigree.

Her Linamix half-brother Sagamix won the Arc, while her Highest Honor half-brother Sagacity was a Group 1 winner at two. She is also a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Sage Et Jolie, dam of the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan winner and sire Sageburg and her winning Linamix half-sister Saga D’Ouilly produced two Listed winners and the granddam of 2021’s Group 1 Middle Park and Prix Morny winner Perfect Power.

Crossing Mogul with daughters of Soldier Hollow would create 3x4 inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells, which is a little further back than crossing a son of Galileo with a daughter of Montjeu. That particular cross has produced Group 1 winners for both Frankel and Teofilo so crossing Mogul with Soldier Hollow mares could prove successful.

Another avenue open to him will be the abundance of Monsun mares in the NH broodmare herd in Ireland and the UK. He covered 168 mares in 2022, including 36 winning mares and 10 black-type performers

MIRAGE DANCER

Frankel–Heat Haze (Green Desert)

Castlefield Stud

€3,500

Year to stud: 2022

Mirage Dancer hails from the amazing Juddmonte-produced family of Hasili. He is out of her daughter, the dual US Grade 1 winner Heat Haze (Green Desert), a close sister to fellow two-time Grade 1 winner Intercontinental, Cacique, also a dual Grade 1 winner, Champs Elysess, a threetime Grade 1 winner and late sire, who was developing into a NH sire, as well as the champions filly Banks Hill, the leading sire Dansili and the Grade 3 winner Delux.

Of

He ran 40 times and was with Sir Michael Stoute in Europe for whom he won on his sole start as a juvenile. At three, he collected placed results in the 1m2f Hampton Court Stakes (G3) and the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes.

In the May of his four-year-old season, he won at Listed level over 1m4f at Goodwood before a good second to Best Solution in the Princess Of Wales’s Stakes (G2) and then winning the 1m4f Group 3 Glorious Stakes from Red Verdon.

As a five-year-old in 2019 he continued to run to placed efforts in Group company before the decision was made to send him Down Under for a Melbourne Cup. He kicked off with a third placing in the 1m4f Group 1 Caulfield Cup before finishing middivision in the big Group 1 in November.

He remained in Australia, put in

some good placed efforts over middledistance trips before gaining victory in the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) in October 2020. In ran in 14 further Group and stakes races until his last start in October 2021 and although he failed to trouble the judge was always in the first quarter of the field.

He covered 135 mares in 2022.

OLD PERSIAN Dubawi–Indian Petal (Singspiel)

Glenview Stud

POA

Year to stud: 2021

Old Persian is a Group 1-winning son of Dubawi from one of the greatest families of the past 40 years.

Dubawi isn’t a stallion normally associated with NH racing, but he has produced a

Old Persian: had a foal top price of €47,000 given for a colt out of a half-sister to The Big Bite

Order

St George’s most expensive filly in 2022 was the daughter of Colleen Donnoige bought by Rathmore Stud for €40,000

number of classy performers over jumps, including the Grade 1 Champion Chase, the Tingle Creek and the Clarence House Chase winner Dodging Bullets. He is also the sire of Grade 1 Punchestown Champion Four-YearOld Hurdle winner Hisaabaat, who is from the same crop as Dodging Bullets.

Old Persian’s dam-sire is Singspiel, a Group 1-winning son of In The Wings who is no stranger to NH breeders and those interested in producing top-class middledistance horses and stayers on the Flat.

In The Wings himself sired triple Grade 1 Stayers’ Hurdle hero Inglis Drever, while his son Winged Love produced the dual Tingle Creek winner Twist Magic. Singspiel is the sire of Irving, who won two renewals of the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle, and the Grade 2 winners Junior and Prima Vista.

The In The Wings’ sire line has excelled in Germany where his son Soldier Hollow, sire of Grade 1-winning hurdlers Arctic Fire and Saldier, is the outstanding stallion.

His dominance was challenged by another son of In The Wings in the late Adlerflug, who was German champion sire in 2020 with his son In Swoop claiming the Deutsches Derby and running Sottsass very close in the Arc. Torquator Tasso, who was second to In Swoop in the Deutsches Derby went on to win the 2021 Arc for Alderflug.

Old Persian’s female family traces back to Pasadoble, his fourth dam who was a Listed winner in France but excelled as a broodmare, foaling the champion racemare and broodmare Miesque to Nureyev.

At stud Miesque produced the Group 1 winner and top-class sire Kingmambo, the triple Group 1 winner East Of The Moon, who is the second dam of Group 1 winners Alpha Centauri and Alpine Star, and the dam of dual Group 1-winning two-year-old Rumplestiltskin, who is the second dam of Japanese Group 1 winner Real Steel.

Miesque is also the second dam of Group 1 Prix du Jockey-Club winner and young sire Study Of Man by Deep Impact.

Miesque is a full-sister to Massaraat, a Listed winner in France and the dam of Tessa Reef, who was also a Listed winner in France and is the dam of Group 2 Dante Stakes and Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes winner Permian by Teofilo.

Now eight, Old Persian is a Darley

homebred who was third on debut at two and won his next two starts, both over mile, that season.

At three he progressed from victory in a 1m2f handicap at Newmarket to winning the Listed Fairway Stakes over course and distance before emulating his relative Permian with victory in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.

He added the Group 2 Great Voltiguer Stakes in which he defeated Group 1 winners Kew Gardens and Cross Counter before finishing fifth in the St Leger itself.

Shipped to Dubai he began his four-yearold season with success in the Group 2 Dubai City Of Gold Stakes before making the breakthrough at Group 1 level in the Dubai Sheema Classic over the Japanese-trained Cheval Grand and Suave Richard with Hunting Horn and Magic Wand in fourth and fifth.

Back in Europe he was a narrow third in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin behind French King before Canadian success in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes over 1m4f. He made two starts at five; in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint Cloud won by Way To Paris and the Group 2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes.

In his first season at stud, Old Persian covered 158 mares and has a reported 110 foals. He saw 160 mares last year.

His foals averaged €9,625 last year, with a top price at the Tattersalls November NH Sale of €47,000 given by Gerry Hogan Bloodstock for a colt sold by Ballincurrig House Stud out of a Westerner half-sister to The Big Bite and from the family of Cooldine.

ORDER OF ST GEORGE

Galileo–Another Storm (Gone West)

Castle Hyde Stud

€6,500

Year to stud: 2019

The first foals by the Ascot Gold Cup winner set sales rings ablaze in December 2021 and the feat was repeated in 2022.

The most expensive of his foals to sell so far has been Ballyreddin Stud’s half-brother to Listed bumper winner Tetlami, who made €90,000 to Mags O’Toole on behalf of Aiden Murphy at the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale 2020.

That colt was one of four by the sire to sell for more than €50,000 at the 2020 Tattersalls Ireland NH Foal Sale.

At the Tattersalls Ireland NH November Sale in 2021, his top price of €58,000 was given by Alan Harte Bloodstock for Ballyreddin Stud’s half-brother to Labaik.

The price was matched by Glenvale Stud, which bought the half-brother to Mister Blue Sky, while Henrietta Knight went to €52,000 for Limekiln Stud’s colt from the cracking family of Offshore Account, The Listener, Yorkhill and Gallant Oscar.

At Goffs December NH Sale in 2022, Cottage Bloodstock spent €58,000 on a colt out of the Astarabad mare Asta Belle at the Goffs December NH Sale.

Order Of St George’s most expensive filly foal in 2022 was the daughter of Colleen Donnoige (Beneficial) bought by Rathmore Stud for €40,000 at Goffs.

Order Of St George’s foals averaged €15,825 last year.

As well as large numbers of mares seen – in 2020 he had 167 foals bourn, 137 in 2021 and 200 in 2022 – Order Of St George has attracted high class mares in his early seasons at stud.

In 2022 he covered 287 mares.

As a racehorse, Order Of St George was out of the top drawer; his second victory in the Irish St Leger was hailed on these pages as one of the greatest staying performances of modern times.

That was the third of his three Group 1 victories having won his first Irish St Leger by 11l and the Ascot Gold Cup by 3l. Despite having the stamina to win the 2m4f Ascot Gold Cup and finish second in it, he also had speed and played his part in the unprecedented clean sweep of the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for his sire Galileo and trainer Aidan O’Brien, finishing third to Found and Highland Reel who were both Group winners over shorter trips. He was also fourth to Enable the following year, ahead of the Group 1 winners including Brametot, Iquitos, Winter, Zarak, Seventh Heaven and Capri.

Order Of St George was a tough and sound horse who demonstrated remarkable consistency to only once finish outside the first four in 25 starts over four seasons. His overall record reads 13 wins of which 11 came

in stakes races, six seconds and a third.

His pedigree marks him out as something special, coming from an excellent female line. He is one of six foals out of Another Storm to earn black-type; the others include Grade 3 winner Angel Terrace, Asperity, the winner of the Group 3 Prix Paul Moussac, and Listed winner Sehoy.

Another Storm is daughter of Gone West and the US champion two-year-old filly of 1996 Storm Song, and her Kingmambo half-sister Strawberry Fair is the dam of nine winners including Japanese Group 2 winner Midsummer Fair.

POET’S WORD

Poet’s Voice–Whirly Bird (Nashwan)

Boardsmill Stud

€6,000

Year to stud: 2019 (2020 to Boardsmill)

Poet’s Word began his stallion career at Shadwell’s Nunnery Stud in Norfolk before his switch to the Flood family’s Boardsmill Stud in 2020 after just one season as a Flat stallion. The change from Flat to NH made a marked difference to his book size, indicative of the disappointing shift away from high class middle-distance horses on the Flat.

His first crop foals are now three-year-olds and there are only 20 of them registered, but his first Irish-born crop of Boardsmill foals numbers 196 and he got another 171 in 2022.

Of course, given his race record and pedigree he is another stallion who should have major appeal to Flat breeders looking to produce a middle-distance prospect.

He also has the major attraction of being entirely free of Sadler’s Wells blood, making him an attractive proposition, especially as he is inbred 5x3 to the great Shirley Heights. Poet’s Word also offers a different sireline, he is a grandson of the brilliant Dubawi, who has worked to great effect with Galileo mares to produce top class racehorses, including the exciting young stallion Night Of Thunder.

With all of these pedigree pointers, without even looking at his own female family and his race record, it’s easy to see why he attracted such large books of mares in Ireland.

That female family is top notch – he is out of the Nashwan mare Whirly Bird,

who was third in the Listed Harvest Stakes and is also the dam of Malabar by Raven’s Pass, who won the Prestige Stakes and the Thoroughbred Stakes, both Group 3 contests at Goodwood, and was fourth in three Group 1 races including the 1,000 Guineas.

She is also the second dam of Beckford, who won the Group 2 Railway Stakes at two and was second in the both the Phoenix Stakes (G1) and National Stakes (G1) that season.

Whirly Bird is a half-sister to Ursa Major by Galileo, a Group 3 winner who was also fourth in the St Leger. Her Sadler’s Wells half-sister Inchiri won the Listed Galtres Stakes and is the dam of South African Group 3 winner Hawk’s Eye. Inchberry, a Barathea half-sister to Whirly Bird, was fourth in the Oaks and is the dam of Australian Group 3 winner Divine Unicorn. Second dam Inchyre is a half-sister to Inchinor who was putting together a good stud career prior to his early death. Inchyre is also a half-sister to the Listed winners Incheni and Ingozi, the latter is the dam of Grade 1 EP Taylor Stakes winner Miss

Keller and the second dam of Harbour Law, successful in the St Leger.

Ingozi’s daughter Oshiponga is the dam of Group 2 winner Hatta Fort and the Group 3 winners Spirit of Appin and Blue Bayou and the second dam of Group 3 winners War Story and Agent Murphy, who was also second in the Group 1 Irish St Leger. The Group 3 Give Thanks Stakes winner and Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes and Irish Oaks second Venus De Milo is out of Inchmahome, a half-sister to Inchyre.

Poet’s Word is a son of Poet’s Voice who was a classy miler and won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes over that trip at three. He also won the Group 2 Champagne Stakes at two and the Celebration Mile, also a Group 2, as a three-year-old.

At four, he was second in the 1m2f Group 2 Jebel Hatta and third in the Joel Stakes. He died at the age of 11 having stood just six full seasons at Darley’s Dalham Hall Stud and Poet’s Word is the best of his runners.

Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Poet’s Word had a profile typical of his trainer’s classy middle-distance horses.

Poet’s Word: has seen some big books of mares since his move to Ireland for the 2021 season

Bought for €300,000 as a yearling, he ran once at two and moved up through the ranks at three. He ran five times during his threeyear-old season, winning a 1m2f maiden and an 1m3f handicap as well as recording a second place finish in a 1m2f 0-105 handicap at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting which earned him a rating of 104.

At four, he began with victory in another handicap before his first try at stakes level resulted in second to Deauville in the Group 3 Huxley Stakes. Stepped up to 1m4f for the Group 3 Glorious Stakes he made the breakthrough to win comfortably before an impressive brace of second places in his first two runs in Group 1 company behind Decorated Knight in the Irish Champion Stakes and Cracksman in the Champion.

He fulfilled that promise as a five-year-old becoming one of the best middle-distance performers in Europe; turning tables on the Cracksman in the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes and defeating Crystal Ocean to win the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Poet’s Word also added a second place in the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic to Hawkbill and he ended his career with second in York’s Group 1 International Stakes.

His first foals have been well received and averaged €19,201 in 2021 which remained just abut the same for 2022 at €19,401.

He had had five foals make over €50,000 so far with a 2022 top price of €78,000 paid by Gerry Hogan Bloodstock for the filly out of the good mare Glens Melody (King’s Theatre) sold by Ballincurrig House Stud.

Kevin Ross and Ben Case went to €75,000 at Goffs for Mountain View Stud’s colt out of the Saddler Maker mare Dinaria

Des Obeaux, while Ross, as a sole buyer, bought Supreme Breda’s colt for €62,000 at Fairyhouse.The stallion was the fifth leading sire at the sale by turnover.

RICH HISTORY

Dubawi-Polished Gem (Danehill)

Kedrah House Stud

On Application

Year to stud: 2022

It did not really happen for Rich History on the racecourse, in five starts in Ireland for owner-breeder Moyglare Stud he failed to

finish better than sixth place.

Transferred to Qatar and ownership of owner Hamad Ahmed Hassan Al Malki Al Jehani, he won twice over 1m1f and 1m2f and picked up a handful of placed efforts.

Rich History is a son of Dubawi and gained a place at stud due to his wonderful pedigree, long nurtured by Moyglare. Dam Polished Gem won at two and she has gone on to produce seven black-type winners, headed by Search For A Song (Galileo), a joint champion European three-year-old of 2019 and three-year-old stayer in Ireland, the accolades given after her two Irish St Leger victories.

Her closely related brother is Free Eagle, a joint champion older horse in Ireland Europe and winner of the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (G1). He stared out as a Flat sire at the Irish National Stud, his best runner the Epsom Derby third-placed Khalifa Sat, who is out of a mare by Tenby. He is now getting some jumpers and Coltar out of a Red Ransom mare, and See The Eagle Fly, out of a Verglas mare, are heading that division to date.

Polished Gem is also dam of the multiple Group 2 winner Custom Cut, top-rated older mile in Ireland for 2015, Sapphire, winner of the British Champions Fillies/Mare Stakes (G2), and dam of the Group 2 placed Kiss For a Jewel (Kingman).

Falcon Eight, her 2015 gelding by Galileo, was a Listed winner and Group 3 Loughbrown Stakes placed and has won over hurdles this year.

Polished Gem is out of the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Trusted Partner, dam of Dress To Thrill, winner of the Grade 1

Success Days was a remarkably tough and sound racehorse who ran 30 times during his six-season career

Santiago: winner of the Irish Derby is from the middle-distance family of Urban Sea

Matriarch Stakes, and of Archive Footage (Sadler’s Wells), who won three times over hurdles, including a Grade 1 at Leopardstown. She is also dam of three further hurdle winners and the dam of Indian Pace, who won the Galway Hurdle (G1).

Rich History’s third dam is the US champion Talking Picture, dam of Easy To Copy (Affirmed), a champion older stayer in Ireland in 1985.

It is also the further family of Unaccompanied, winner of the December Hurdle (G1) and the Spring Juvenile Hurdle (G1), Plinth, a Grade 2 winner over hurdles and multiple Grade 1 placed, and Heaven Help Us, runner-up in the Future Champions Novice Hurdle (G1).

Rich History is from a top-class Flat family and there are plenty of jumpers in there too, giving NH breeders some confidence – he is an exciting acquisition for Kedragh Stud.

He covered 107 mares in 2022.

SANTIAGO

Authorized–Wadyhatta (Cape Cross)

Castle Hyde Stud

€4,000

Year to stud: 2022

The Irish Derby winner Santiago ran three times as a juvenile, finishing second in his first two maidens until breaking his duck on September over a mile at Listowel.

In the interrupted COVID year he made his three-year-old debut a winning one in Royal Ascot’s 1m6f Group 2 Queen’s Vase before heading to The Curragh for the Irish Classic which he won by a head.

A step up to 2m at Goodwood for the Cup saw him finish a two and a quarter lengths third to Stradivarius before he concluded the year with a fourth place finish in the St Leger.

At four, he collected a fourth placing in April’s Group 3 1m6f Vintage Crop Stakes, a second placing in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup, was down the field in the Cup at Ascot before rounding things off with a good fourth to Trueshan.

His sire Derby winner Authorized, a son of Montjeu, has become a significant NH sire, whose leading performers include the dual Aintree Grand National winner Tiger

Roll, the Stayers’ Hurdle (G1) winner Nichols Canyon, the talented Goshen and Zamdy Man.

Montjeu is sire of the late Fame And Glory, whose progeny are performing so well, as well as the popular Walk In The Park. His best so far is the Grade 1 winner Douvan and his dual Grade 1 winner, and Grade 1 Supreme Hurdle and Arkle runnerup full-brother Jonbon. They are out of Star Face by Saint Des Saints.

The dual Champion Bumper and Future Champions Novices Hurdle (G1) winner and Supreme Hurdle (G1) runner-up Facile Vega is out of the leading mare Quevega (Robin des Champs).

Santiago’s half-sister La Jocondae, third in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille and the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks, is by Frankel, while his Cape Cross dam Wadyhatta is a half-sister to Montamarris (Le Have), third in the Prix du Jockey-Club, to the dam of Tantheem (New Approach), winner of the Prix de Cabourg (G3), and to the Listedplaced Saraaba (New Approach) and to the dam of Glounthaune (Kodiac), a Group 3 winner of the Killavullan Stakes (G3) in 2021.

Under his third dam is the Prix Jean Prat and Prix Jacques Les Marois (G1) winner Tamayuz, the Group 3 winner Nuqoosh (Machiavellian), the Listed -placed Thamarat and the dam of the Muhaarar’s Group 1 winner Eshaada.

His fourth dam is the blue hen Group 3-winning mare Allez Les Trois, dam

of Anabaa Blue, and a daughter of Allegretta and a half-sister to Urban Sea.

Santiago will have his first foals in 2023 and saw 209 mares in 2o22.

SUCCESS DAYS

Jeremy–Malaica (Roi Gironde)

Kilbarry Lodge Stud

€3,000

Year to stud: 2020

The 2021 victories of Appreciate It in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Black Tears in the Mares’ Hurdle and Sir Gerhard in the Champion Bumper as well as Belfast Banter in the Grade 3 County Hurdle, emphasised just how big a role the Group 3 Jersey Stakes winner could have played in NH breeding had he not died at the young age of 11.

His son Success Days could be the one to carry on his sire’s good work from Kilbarry Lodge, where he is currently standing his third season.

Success Days was a remarkably tough and sound racehorse who ran 30 times during the course of his six-season career, winning a 7f maiden at two.

He announced himself as a Derby contender with victories in both of Ireland’s most successful trials – the Ballysax Stakes and the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial – both 1m2f Group 3 contests but he finished down the field in the Blue Riband itself. Given a break, he came back to run in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Bayern but ran too keenly.

At four he was unlucky to come up against Group 1-winning mares Zhukhova and Found in his first two starts, finishing second to the former in the Listed Alleged Stakes and the later in the Group 3 Mooresbridge Stakes. He was third to Fascinating Rock and Found in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup and then turned the tables on Fascinating Rock with victory in the Group 3 Royal Whip Stakes when future Melbourne Cup winner Moonlight Magic was third.

He ran six times at five and won the Group 2 York Stakes from Mondialiste and was placed in the Group 3 Alleged Stakes and International Stakes. He travelled to Australia in early 2018 for the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and returned to Ireland where he was second in the Group 2 Mooresbridge Stakes and ended the season

On the strength of his first foals, Success Days’ book size doubled for his second season and he covered 98 mares in his second season.

with a third place finish in the Listed Trigo Stakes.

Kept in training as a seven-year-old, he ran five times and his best result was third to Forest Ranger in the Group 2 Huxley Stakes at Chester. In total, he won six races during his career, including four stakes races, and finished second or third on 11 further occasions. After his 7f win at two, all of his other victories were at around 1m2f.

Success Days was bred by Robert Ng and Dermot Farrington out of the Roi Gironde mare Malaica and trained by Ken Condon. Malaica was a classy juvenile with podium positions in the Albany Stakes and the Prix Miesque and she is a half-sister to the Group 3 Fort Marcy Stakes winner Olympico.

His second dam Carmel is an unraced Highest Honor mare, which is where he gets his grey colouring, and she is a half-sister to Group 1 Prix Ganay winner Execute, who was twice runner-up in that race also. She is also a half-sister to the Group 2 Grand Prix d’Evry winner Tot Ou Tard and Ing Ing, who won the Group 3 Prix Quincey. Her unraced half-sister Sissysis is the dam of French Listed-winning hurdler Magneli.

His pedigree includes three lines of Northern Dancer through Danzig, Danseur Fabuleux, who is the dam of Jeremy’s broodmare sire Arazi, and Fairy King, the full-brother to Sadler’s Wells who is the sire of Success Day’s damsire Roi Gironde.

He also has two lines of Sharpen Up, 4 x 5, through Mira Andonde, who is the dam of Danehill Dancer and Sharpo sire of his third dam Sharpo.

Success Days has 38 members in his first crop, including a filly out of Dona Katharina, who is a winning hurdler and full-sister to the multiple Grade 1 winner Outlander, the Grade 2 winners Western Leader and Ice Cold Soul, the Listed winner Mart Lane and the Grade 2-placed Now McGinty. Now a yearling, she is the most expensive by Success Days, selling for €70,000 to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock at the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale.

The stallion’s top-priced filly fetched €52,000 when sold as a yearling at the Goffs Sportsman’s Sale to KJ Condon and RPG Bloodstock, consigned by Rossenarra Stud.

At Goffs UK in January 2022, Ian Ferguson bought a Success Days colt out of

the placed Kayf Tara mare Night At Tara for £17,000.

On the strength of his first foals, Success Days’ book size doubled for his second season and he covered 98 mares in his second season. Last year he saw 180 mares.

His first crop foals averaged €22,357 and last year realised €11,430. His top priced foal in 2022 was the colt out of Kilbarry Angel bought for €38,000 by Stroud Coleman at the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale. He was sold by Kilbarry Lodge Stud.

SUMBAL €2,500

Year to stud: 2019 (moved to Boardsmill Stud for 2020)

Sumbal is by Jeremy and out of a daughter of Linamix – enormous positives for his stud career.

Sumbal was bred by Aleyrion Bloodstock and, as befits a six-figure yearling, he is a handsome looker with an attractive profile.

He was bought by David Redvers at Arqana and was trained initially by FrancoisHenri Graffard for Qatar Racing. Unraced at two, he was unbeaten in his first three starts at three, including the Group 2 Prix Greffuhle before finishing fifth to New Bay in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey-Club on his next start. He was also second in the Group 3 Prix du Prince d’Orange that season.

As a four-year-old he was second to Garlingari in the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt and Group 3 Prix Exbury, both 1m2f races and ran twice more in France before he was switched to England and the yard of David Simcock. His best result in England was fourth placed in the Group 3 St Simon Stakes over 1m4f.

He is a half-brother to the Listed Grand Prix du Nord winner Lily Passion and Lavender Lane, who was third in the Group 2 Prix de la Nonette and Group 2 Prix de Malleret.

His dam Alix Road was a three-time winner by Linamix and was also second in the Group 2 Prix du Conseil de Paris and third in the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary.

She is a half-sister to the Listed Prix du Courcelles winner Fils De Viane and to Princesse de Viane, dam of Group 3 Prix de la Nonette winner Viane Rose, who is the

Success Days: his top priced foal in 2022 was a colt out of Kilbarry Angel who fetched €38,000

dam of two Listed winners in Japan.

Second dam Life On The Road is a Persian Heights half-sister to Listed Prix de Tuilleries winner West Side out of the unraced Irish River mare Arkova.

His pedigree is an interesting mix and although there is plenty of Northern Dancer in there, he is 5x5 to him and 5x5 to his son Lyphard, he is free from all Sadler’s Wells blood. He is also inbred 4x5 to the influential Caro through Lettre d’Amour, second dam of Danehill Dancer, and Miss Carina the dam of Linamix’s sire Menez.

Sumbal has nine registered three-yearolds from his first season in France and 20 two-yrear-olds from his season at Anshoon Stud.

He has nine first crop foals, 20 from his 2020 covering year and 72 born in 2022.

His foal average has improved from €6,917 in 2021 to €9,200 in 2022. His top prie so far is €35,000 given by Mulryan Bloodstock at Fariyhouse last autumn for the Boardsmill Stud-offered filly out of Smart Talk (Hubbly Bubbly). Also at Fairyhouse, Marys Choice’s colt was bought by Ralahine Stud for €32,000, while at this year’s Tattersalls Ireland February Sale Boardsmill Stud bought the colt out of the Presenting mare Kenzie.

VADAMOS

Monsun–Celebre Vadala (Peintre Celebre)

Coolmore

€6,000

Year to stud: 2017

The transfer of Vadamos from Tally-Ho Stud to Coolmore’s Grange Stud before his second crop even ran, raised a few eyebrows among commentators who were desperate to see a son of Monsun get the chance to shine as a Flat stallion.

However the switch made enormous sense – Vadamos is a Group 1-winning miler by Monsun so theoretically should bring speed to some of the more stoutly bred mares amongst the NH broodmare population and he was already covering NH mares so the demand for breeders to use him was there.

Vadamos has a similar profile to Maxios –both horses won the Group 1 Prix du Moulin over mile and are sons of Monsun with the influence of Nureyev on their dam’s side.

Vadamos is out of the Peintre Celebre mare Celebre Vadala, while Maxios is out of the Nureyev mare Moonlight’s Box.

The two stallions are impressive physical specimens with good looks to go with their pedigrees and proven ability.

That ability to inject an element of pace into NH pedigrees might be seen in Vadamos’s relative success as a first season Flat sire. Overshadowed by his former stud mate Mehmas, Vadamos still managed to quietly compile 17 individual Flat winners headed by Spycatcher who was second in the Group 3 Acomb Stakes to Gear Up, and that horse went on to win the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

As a four-year-old Spycatcher won the Listed Kachy Stakes at Lingfield in February and is one of two members of that first crop rated over 100.

In New Zealand, where Vadamos shuttled to Rich Hill Stud, he is the sire of Group 2 Avondale Guineas winner and Group 1 New Zealand Derby second La Crique, as well as the Listed winners Grace’s Secret and Art De Triomphe.

His five-year-olds with NH pedigrees

include half-brothers to Marsh Warbler, who won the Grade 1 Finale Juvenile Hurdle, Nicky Henderson’s Listed Summer Cup Handicap Chase winner Brave Eagle, and Grade 3 handicap hurdle and chase winner Rock The Kasbah out of a halfsister to Top Novices’ Hurdle winner Royal Shakespeare.

Vadamos recorded his first four-yearold maiden winner at Tallow last February when Matata won on debut for Barry Court Stables and was sold to Highflyer Bloodstock for £75,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale.

That crop did well at the store sales with an average of €33,000 headed by the €105,000 purchase by Kevin Ross Bloodstock of a half-brother to Australian Listed winner Future Score at the Derby Sale 2021.

At the Goffs Land Rover Sale, Bobby O’Ryan bought the Vadamos half-brother to Grade 1 David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle winner Black Tears for €50,000 from Glen Stables.

At last autumn’s November NH Sale, Timmy Hillman bought the colt out of the Diamond Boy mare Don’t Hesitate for

Sumbal: the son of Danehill Dancer has had 101 foals born in Ireland in 2021 and 2022

€64,000, the sire’s top-priced sale ring progeny in 2022.

Riverside Stud went to €52,000 for the colt out of the Ruler Of The World mare Katie’s Reign at Fairyhouse, and Abbeylands Farm paid€45,000 for the Yellowford Farmconsignoed colt out of Ballycloven Oscar.

Vadamos has had 256 starters with 118 winners of 221 races. In 2022 his foals averaged €33,000 and his three-year-old stores €20,491.

WAY TO PARIS

2013 Champs Elysees–Grey Way (Cozzene)

Coolagown Stud

€3,500

Year to stud: 2021

The Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner offers breeders a proven outcross for the Galileo line as he is a son of the Group 1 winner Champs Elysees by Danehill.

His sire proved enormously popular with NH breeders when he moved to Coolmore’s Castle Hyde Stud from breeder Juddmonte Farms’ Banstead Manor Stud and covered over 400 mares in the two seasons he stood there before his premature death at the age 16 in 2019.

Way To Paris was a tough, sound, cleanwinded horse who made 35 starts over six seasons and mixed in the best company. Once-raced at two, he won a pair of Listed races at three. He ran seven times at four, finishing second in the Gran Premio di Milano and the Premio Federico Tesio and third in the Gran Premio del Jockey Club, all Group events from 1m2f to 1m4f. He was also third in the Group 3 Prix d’Hedouville behind Tiberian and subsequent Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Talismanic.

He started his five-year-old season with second in the Group 3 Prix Exbury and was second to Waldgeist in the Group 3 Prix d’Hedouville.

Way To Paris was third to Waldgeist and Group 1 winner Dschingis Secret in the Group 2 Grand Prix de Chantilly, defeating Tiberian and Cloth Of Stars.

He was also fourth to Waldgeist, Talismanic and Cloth of Stars in the Group 2 Prix Foy at Longchamp.

As a six-year-old he won the Group 2 Prix Maurice de Neuil at Longchamp from

a field that included Marmelo and Call The Wind. He was also second to Waldgeist in the Group Prix Foy and was runner-up in the Group 2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier and Group 3 Prix de Barbeville.

Kept in training at seven, he started off the season with a narrow defeat to Shaman in the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt and then went down by a head to subsequent Arc winner Sottsass in the Group 1 Prix Ganay before making the breakthrough at Group 1 level in his next start, the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud. Given a summer break he ran three more times, including a swansong in the Japan Cup.

Way To Paris is a half-brother to the dual

Group 1 Premio Presidente della Repubblica winner Distant Way by Distant View and the Group 3 Premio Ambrosiano winner Cima de Pluie, who is by Singspiel. Their dam is the Group 2 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Grey Way by Cozzene who was champion sire in North America in 1996 and is a son of Caro. Way To Paris proved to be very popular with breeders and covered 110 mares at Coolagown Stud in his first season, and 98 mares in 2022.

WINGS OF EAGLES

Pour Moi–Ysoldina (Kendor)

Beeches Stud

€4,000

Year to stud: 2018

A gorgeous stallion from the excellent Montjeu line, Wings Of Eagles emulated his sire Pour Moi with a breathtaking last-gasp victory in the Group 1 Derby at Epsom but unlike his sire he looked a horse with more to give.

Unfortunately he suffered a career-ending injury in the Irish Derby, but the fact that he managed to finish a close third in that race to Capri and Cracksman, while fracturing his near-fore sesamoid, speaks volumes to the courage and ability of the horse, characteristics that if he passes them on to his offspring are likely to make him a success at stud.

Bred by Aliette and Giles Forien, the imposing bay was bought by Coolmore’s MV Magnier at the 2015 Arqana August Yearling Sale for €220,000.

He won his maiden over mile at Killarney and finished fourth to Coronet, who would go on to be a Group 1 winner, in the Listed Zetland Stakes.

On his seasonal reappearance he was second to stable companion Venice Beach in the Group 3 Chester Vase before his sensational Epsom triumph over a field that included subsequent Group 1 winners Cracksman, Benbatl, Capri, Best Solution and Rekindling.

Despite his injury in the Irish Derby, he still managed to finish a length and a half clear of Prix du Jockey-Club and Arc winner Waldgeist who was fourth.

Wings Of Eagles is out of the Kendor mare Ysoldina, who won the Group 3 Prix de la

This top priced foal of 2022 by Vadamos made €64,000 and is out of Don’t Hesitate

Grotte and was third in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches.

He is the best of five winners so far produced by Ysoldina, who also include the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes third Sparkle Roll and the Listed-placed fillies Torentosa and Gyrella. Ysoldina is a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Belle Et Celebre and Group 2 Prix Jean Romanet winner Whortleberry, who is the dam of Group 3 Unicorn Stakes winner Straw Hat. Her half-brothers are the Group 3 winners Valentino and Appel au Maitre and they are out of Rotina by the Blushing Groom stallion Crystal Glitters.

Third dam Rudolfina is a Listed-winning daughter of Pharly and is the dam of the Listed Prix Ridgway winner Rupert and the Group 3 Prix Daphnis second Rampoldi.

Over jumps her progeny include the Listed placed pair of Riccordo Bello and Reach Me.

He is inbred 4x5 to Northern Dancer on his sire’s side as Pour Moi’s third dam Royal Statue is a daughter of the breed-shaping sire.

Once recovered from his surgery it was announced that Wings Of Eagles would return to his breeders’ Haras du Montaigu to begin his stud career. Wings Of Eagles spent one season in Normandy at a fee of €12,000 before being recalled to Coolmore and a spot in the team at The Beeches Stud.

His first crop, conceived in France, are now four-year-olds and number 37 registered foals, including the Listed Prix Delahante (at two) and Listed Grand Prix des Provinces (as a three-year-old) winner Blue Wings.

She is one of 17 winners from 30 runners in that initial crop, 30 of whom have been race starters.

Wings Of Eagles also has Lovely Diamond, placed second over 1m4f in the Listed Derby du Languedoc at Toulouse.

He has 156 three-year-olds from his first season at The Beeches Stud, and 148 twoyear-olds. Last year his foals averaged €7,013 and his three-year-old stores €19,040.

His top-priced foal of 2022 was the colt out of Streets Of Promise (Westerner) sold by Beeches Stud to Ian Ferguson for €25,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale, while Gerry Hogan Bloodstock spent €24,000 at the Goffs December NH

Sale on the Galbertstown Stables-offered colt out of the Milan mare Rowanville Lady, dam of the 2023 black-type placed novice hurdler Knowsley Road, who is trained by Paul Nicholls.

WORKFORCE

King’s Best–Soviet Moon (Sadler’s Wells) Knockhouse Stud

POA

Year to stud: 2017 (transfer from Japan)

Workforce was an exciting colt from the start of his career, winning a 7f maiden on debut at two by 6l at Goodwood for Sir Michael Stoute and Ryan Moore.

Put away for a Classic campaign at three, he made his seasonal debut in the Group 2 Dante Stakes wher a tack malfunction hampered him but he ran on to take second place behind Cape Blanco.

That experience was put to good use in the Derby where he was a commanding 7l winner on just his third start, evoking comparisons with Shergar such was the authority of his success in a track record time.

He appeared to be suffering a hangover from his Epsom exploits in his next start when he could only manage fifth behind stable companion Harbinger in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

However, he was back to his Derby winning self in the Arc, winning the European showpiece in just the fifth race of his life by a head from Japanese raider Nakayama Festa and a field that included Group 1 winners Sarafina, Fame And Glory, Planteur, Victoire Pisa, Youmzain, Lope De

Vadamos has a similar profile to Maxios –both horses won the Group 1 Prix du Moulin over mile and are sons of Monsun

Wings Of Eagles: the son of Pour Moi has had three winners of four races in Britain and Ireland

Vega, Wiener Walzer and Cape Blanco.

Juddmonte Farms resisted the temptation to retire him to stud after his Parisian triumph and he made his four-yearold debut a winning one in the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes and then took on So You Think in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes, in which the Australian raider’s superior turn of foot proved decisive.

A second attempt at the King George again proved unsuccessful, being struck into during the second last furlong and veering across the course. Despite this he managed to be second to Nathaniel and beat St Nicholas Abbey in third.

He ended his career with a below-par effort in his attempt to win successive runnings of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

His stud career in Japan was a quiet one, but he is the sire of six stakes performers there, headed by the Listed Kobi Stakes winner Meisho Keimei.

Bred by Juddmonte Farms he is by King’s Best, winner of the 2,000 Guineas and a three-parts brother to the outstanding broodmare Urban Sea.

His dam is a Sadler’s Wells unraced fullsister to the Group 1 St Leger winner Brian Boru and the Listed Park Express Stakes winner Kitty O’Shea who is the dam of the Listed winner Kissable.

Another of Soviet Moon’s full-sisters is Kushnarenkova, who was second in the Group 3 Noblesse Stakes and is the dam of Listed winner Kosmische and second

dam of Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden and Caulfield Cup winner Best Solution by Kodiac.

She is also a three-parts sister to Group 2 Great Voltiguer Stakes and Hardwicke Stakes winner Sea Moon, and there is more on the family under his entry in this guide. Workforce’s pedigree features inbreeding to Special, dam of Nureyev and second dam of Sadler’s Wells and Fairy Bridge who are sons of Fairy Bridge, her daughter by Bold Reason. Workforce is inbred 5x4 to Special through the three-parts brothers Sadler’s Wells and Nureyev who also create 5x3 inbreeding to their sire Northern Dancer.

He is also inbred 5x5 to Native Dancer through his son Raise A Native who is the sire of Mr Prospector, the grandsire of King’s Best, and through Natalma dam of Northern Dancer.

While not boasting huge numbers of mares, Workforce has received solid support in his four years at stud and he has 495 foals on the ground born since 1018.

His first stores averaged €21,933 with the most expensive member of that crop to come under the hammer was a granddaughter of Cleeve Hurdle winner Kates’ Charm, who made €37,000 at the Land Rover Sale to Milestone Bloodstock from Carrigbawn Stud.

In 2022 his stores averaged €22,721 and his foals €11,000.

His top priced sale has been achieved by a winning point-to-point filly when Gordon Elliott bought Working Away for £330,000 at the 2022 Cheltenham November Sale from Denis Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables, the filly considerably improving her store horse valuation of €34,000.

Man At Work joined the David Pipe and after the Cheltenham April Sale bought by Tom Malone for £155,000. He has since won and finished fifth in a Grade 2 novices’ hurdle at Sandown before Christmas.

Largy Force is another of the sire’s daughters to fetch a big price when bought by Highflyer for £85,000 at the April Sale after winning a point-to-point.

The sire had had one jumps graded placed runner so far – Man O Work claiming a Grade 2 second place in the Lartigue Hurdle

Through the British and Irish NH 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons the stallion has had 18 starters, five winners of six races.

Working Away: the point-to-point winner by Workforce was bought by Gordon EIliott for £330,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham November Sale

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Adrien Cugnasse evaluates some of the young French-based sires who are making an early impression, and tells the story of the Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs

AT THIS YEAR’S CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL, French-bred horses won 11 graded races (48 per cent), compared to ten (43 per cent) for the IRE-suffixed runners and just two (nine per cent) for Britain.

It is an impressive figure especially if considering that the horses bearing an“FR” suffix only made up 37 per cent of the runners in these races, and represents just 18 per cent of runners across the jumps season in the UK.

All while the NH foal crop in Ireland is twice that of France!

Despite what is often suggested in the press, not all the good French-breds are exported outside their country of birth. Last February, Willie Mullins remarked: “Maybe it is a cyclical thing but what amazes me is that the French produce a small number of NH foals compared to Ireland, the winning ratio is huge.”

The figures seem to prove him right. Nonetheless, from a breeding perspective there are two situations that are difficult to explain: why, when the victories come, they do so and what is wrong when they don’t…

Nobody would appear to have an obvious and easy explanation for the success of the ‘FR’ over jumps.

If there is one thing that France does better than its neighbours, it is that there is a programme with plenty of depth for young horses, which is a huge asset for breeders.

The races for three and four-year-olds are, in general, those targeted by the majority of breeders, and they are easy to analyse. There

is no need to have an inside line, as with Irish point-to-pointing, for buyers to come to the correct conclusion.

Take stallions, for example. If a young stallion can produce promising three and four-year-old winners, especially at Auteuil, it is an evident pointer to the quality of his stock.

And succeeding at this highly selective track requires innate jumping talent.

The first crops of Saint Des Saints (Cadoudal), Poliglote (Sadler’s Wells), Voix Du Nord (Valanour) and Doctor Dino (Muhtathir) all showed quality at the age of three. At four, the first signs of success were seen from the freshman crops of Network (Monsun) and Blue Bresil (Smadoun).

There are jump races for young horses throughout the year in the hexagon, with the first three-year-old races starting in March. At the time of writing, already around 40 three-year-olds have run over the French hurdles.

Stallions, who are now standing in Ireland, Sumbal (Danehill Dancer) and Mekhtaal (Sea The Stars), have each had a good runner that has placed on debut over hurdles from their first crop of three-yearolds.

There has yet to be a runner from the highly anticipated Beaumec De Houelle (Martaline), Cloth Of Stars (Sea The Stars) or Tunis (Estejo).

It is still therefore too early to be drawing any conclusions on this generation of stallions, but it should be interesting to revisit them in two or three months and see what progress has been made.

Stallions who retired to stud in 2018

Unfortunately, Pastorius (Soldier Hollow) has recently died, nonetheless, we can expect to see his progeny continue on an upward trajectory.

He first retired to stud in Germany, and his first jumps-bred French foals were born in 2019, and so are now four. Nearly half of his runners to date are winners, and a significant number of these will be competitive in the good conditions races, such as Josubie, Jabuse Machine and Joue Contre Joue.

The best of his progeny include the precocious Zenta, who was third in the Triumph Hurdle (G1), and Bolero, third in the Prix Cambacérès (G1).

The manner in which a jump sire is selected by a breeder is noticeably different on each side of the Channel.

In France, the first criteria is a pedigree that has proven jumping ability. The French breeder takes a chance on sires of diminutive size such as Poliglote, chestnuts (Doctor Dino) and those who ran themselves over jumps, a list that include sires such as Saint Ses Saints and Kapgarde as their pedigrees are resplendent with jumping performance. On the other hand, it is difficult to launch a son of Galileo or Dubawi on the French market as neither of these great sires have a great reputation with French jump breeders. This said, rules are made to be broken. Both Zarak (Dubawi) and Galiway (Galileo) are currently two of the leading young French sires over jumps.

Unfortunately for the jump breeders, they are both also extremely successful on the

Flat, which means the former is standing at €60,000 and the latter at €30,000.

They are therefore completely priced out of the NH breeding market.

Zarak’s first crop are now four-yearolds, and he already has two black-type performers over jumps as well as the promising Bo Zenith in Britain.

As an aside, the first generation by Galiway are six-year-olds, and he is already the sire of eight black-type performers over jumps, including Vauban and Gala Marceau.

Ectot (Hurricane Run) has the type of pedigree that French jump breeders rave about with Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells), Linamx (Mendez) and jump performers in his close maternal pedigree. His first foals were born in 2019 and from the start, despite being

marketed for the Flat, Ectot covered jumpbred mares. French stallion masters have no problem accepting non-Flat mares.

Four of his offspring have run over hurdles, including two winners. Louvetot has landed a smart conditions race and is highly regarded by his trainer Arnaud Chaille-

Chaillem, while Sultan Pierji has progressed to win on his second try over hurdles.

Already reputed for producing tough racehorses, The Grey Gatsby (Matercraftsman) also covered jump mares in his first season. A straightforward filly on the Flat, his daughter Grey Val won a Listed hurdle at Doncaster.

For the moment his runners over jumps in France have not shown the same quality as those on the Flat, who are a cut above average.

Stallions who retired to stud in 2017

These sires have two generations of runners to their name.

In France the rising star in this age group is Karaktar (High Chaparral), who stands at

Ectot has the type of pedigree that the French jump breeders really rave about

Beaumec De Houelle: the highly anticipated son of Martaline, a Grade 1 winner over hurdles, stands at Haras de Montaigu at a fee of €6,000

Haras de Cercy for €4,500.

He was purchased for only €110,000 as a four-year-old, this former Classic prospect has the perfect profile for the French breeders with a brother Group 1-placed over hurdles, and both High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) and Kahyasi in his pedigree.

He received 74 mares in his first season; a rarity in France for a new sire who was just a Group 3 winner. Although his statistics are not hugely different to that of his peers, what makes Karaktar stand out is that he has already sired two Group winners at Auteuil,

including the champion Il Est Français.

Unsurprisingly, the sire is now in high demand and his book was filled early on in the season.

Following the success of Network, sons of Monsun (Konigsstuhl) have been highly sought after at stud, but many of them did not go on to become established jump sires. However, Triple Threat (Monsun) has enjoyed a solid debut. Just over a third of his runners are winners, including the useful Pacific One (Triple Threat), who has been Listed placed at Auteuil, and the tough Sans

The story of a Gold Cup winner

HUBERT BUNEL, the breeder of Galopin des Champs, is 90 years old, and thanks to his 15 foals bred each year, he has produced Group-level trotting horses.

Like many trotting breeders, he explored breeding thoroughbreds, but without really knowing much about the breed. Things did not go to plan and, unfortunately, success did not come.

However, when the trotting jockey-driver Damien Bonne came to visit Bunel, as he did each year on a purchasing mission, a foal in the field caught his eye.

Without even looking at the pedigree, just looking at his conformation, Bonne bought the youngster for €6,000; Galopin Des Champs was the trotting man’s first thoroughbred purchase.

Bonne also took the opportunity to negotiate the purchase of the full-sister for €5,000, and he returned later to buy the dam.

At the time Bunel confessed that he was relieved to be rid of these thoroughbreds that had been such an unsuccessful experiment.

Back at his training center, Bonne broke in the youngster as if he was a trotter, and his children were the first to ride him

The horse was sent to trainer Arnaud Chaillé-Chaillé, who rang him less than a month later to report that Galopin Des Champs seemed to be a phenomena.

Strapped for cash at that time, Bonne immediately put the horse up to a number of French jump owners: they all refused to even come and see him.

At four, Galopin Des Champs posted an impressive debut win in May at Auteuil, a victory which caught the eye of Willie Mullins and Pierre Boulard, who bought the gelding for owner Audrey Turley.

Bonne reportedly sold the horse “very well”, and the money allowed him to save his business.

Manon Des Champs did not produce another foal, but Galopin Des Champs’s Listed-winning full-sister Flute Des Champs is due to Doctor Dino.

She is owned by Bonne and the resulting foal will be for sale.

Bruit, who is already a Grade 3 winner.

In Britain, Gary Moore looks to have a promising four-year-old by the sire in Spirit d’Aunou.

The stallion’s popularity has taken a sharp rise and he covered over 100 mares in 2022, a big number for a young French sire, especially as he stands for just a small fee of €4,500 at Haras du Mont Gouber.

You would not necessarily expect a son of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) to succeed as a jump sire, yet Martinborough (Deep Impact) despite not seeing books of

When the racing press look at the pedigree of Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs (Timos) they are most likely to suffer “blank page syndrome”.

His sire Timos (Sholokhov), who died crossing the border of Lybia and Tunisia, was a well-bred German horse who covered very few mares (60 foals in seven years in France).

Perhaps there are still some offspring in Tunisia, should anyone wish to check!

He did win at Listed level, and was most likely a better horse than his form suggests.

He was given a chance at stud as his sire Sholokhov at that point had produced some smart horses from his first crop.

Although Galopin Des Champs is Timos’s only Grade 1 winner to date, a number of horses by him have shown quality over jumps.

Manon Des Champs won five small races, but more importantly is a daughter of Marchand De Sable (Theatrical), who is making a name for himself as a top dam-sire, and has produced two other Grade 1 winners (Sceau Royal and Taquin Du Seuil) in the sphere.

The grand-dam of Galopin Des Champs is a daughter of Mont Rouge (Shirley Heights), a four-time winner at Auteuil in the mid1980s, and two of those races are now Listed class. Mont Rouge stood in East France, not far from the German border, which was a form of exile for French stallions.

In the history of French breeding, dozens of horses who ran over jumps have retired to stud and this is no recent phenomena.

And their importance in the French bloodlines cannot be underestimated.

Take, for example, the pedigree of a horse such as Energumene. His sire Denham Red (Pampabird), was an extremely tough racehorse who won at Group level at Auteuil, and who outperformed a modest book of mares.

Denham Red crossed well with daughters of sires who had some Flat class – Un De Sceaux and Energumene are out of dams by April Night, while Oculi’s dam is by the Group 1 two-year-old winner Saint Cyrien).

Energumene’s granddam was a daughter of Pot d’Or (Buisson d’Or), winner of the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris (G1) in 1971

particularly good mares, could yet do so.

He is already the sire of six black-type performers, as well as this April’s impressive Autueil three-year-old winner Majborough.

Breeders are beginning to take notice –his books are progressively changing, and he is now receiving jump mares of some quality.

Fly With Me (Beat Hollow) received little support from breeders, and has had just nine runners over jumps. However, five of these are already winners, notably Jereviendrai, who won a Listed race at Auteuil.

Sires who retired to stud in 2016 Chœur Du Nord boasts a superb pedigree –he is by Voix Du Nord (Valanour) and out of a Cadoudal (Green Dancer) mare and is from a strong female line. Unsurprisingly, the stallion has been strongly supported since his debut at stud.

He has not yet produced a stand-out winner, despite having two runners Grade 1 placed, but he has produced a lot of winners and French breeders retain the faith.

He stands at Elevage Lassaussaye Guillaume for a reasonable €5,500 fee, and

he will once again cover a big book of mares in 2023.

This is also the case for the Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed Bathyrhon (Monsun).

He is a very popular sire who produces plenty of winners, including at Auteuil and at black-type level.

Highly sought-after, he is just missing a top-flight individual, able to compete at Grade 1 level in France, Britain or Ireland – that would add another dimension to his career.

and a leading jump sire.

The limiting factor in the thoroughbred is jumping ability not Flat class. Any Group winner on the Flat can bring quality to a NH mare, and there are many on the market. Inversely, the jumping ability is harder to find. Either you need to be lucky with a Flat horse

whose progeny can jump or use sires who were top class over jumps themselves.

With sires that have performed at Auteuil and a well-developed program for mares, the French bloodlines have decades of well-nurtured jumping aptitude on which to draw upon.

The 2023 Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs with trainer Willie Mullins after the victorious homecoming parade through the village of Leighlinbridge

NH stallion foal averages

Stallions with horses sold as foals at NH sales in 2022 in Britain, Ireland and France showing numbers sold, averages and medians. In guineas, compiled by Weatherbys.

Blue Bresil’s top priced foal of 2022 was the colt out of Chill Time (Fame And Glory), a half-sister to the Listed bumper winner Timetochill. He was bought from Hillview Stud for €85,000 by JC Bloodstock

NH stallion store horse stats

Stallions with two or more horses sold as NH three and four-year-old store horses at the major NH store sales in 2022 in Britain, Ireland and France. In guineas, compiled by Weatherbys.

stallion store sale statistics

Leading NH stallions by store horse average 2022 (three or more sold)

Above, the highest-priced store horse ever sold in Britain is this son of Adlerflug sold by Ballincurrig House Stud to Henrietta Knight for £200,000 at the Goffs UK Spring Store Sale

Below, the Derby Sale 2022 top lot was the Kapgarde filly sold by Lakefield Farm to Gordon Elliott for €310,000. She is a half-sister to Mighty Potter and French Dynamite

Stallion covering stats 2022

Table showing the covering statistics of the major NH / dual-purpose sires standing in Britain or Ireland in 2022. Black-type results include both NH and Flat From Weatherbys

STALLION mares

NH stallions by nos of mares covered

NH

by winning mares covered

Croke Park (Walk In The Park) the top-priced point-to-pointer of 2022 Kudasheva (Pour Moi) was the most expensive point-to-point filly of 2022

Most expensive point-to-pointers sold in 2022

Sale Horse Consignor Purchaser Price (gns)

G Court Cave (IRE)-Lady Knightess (IRE) Charlestown Racing Henry de Bromhead 223,810

Cheltenham December Rainbow Trail (FR) G Davidoff (GER)-Amulet (FR) Monbeg Stables Aidan O’Ryan/G Elliott 209,524

Cheltenham January Tullyhill (FR) G Martaline (GB)-Ragtime (FR) Loughanmore Farm H Kirk/WP Mullins 209,524

Cheltenham Festival Alfie’s Princess (IRE) F Shirocco (GER)-Dunahall Queen (IRE) Greenhills Farm Walters Plant Hire 209,524

Goffs UK Aintree Encanto Bruno (IRE) G Mahler (GB)-Stratosphere (GB)

Cheltenham January Weveallbeencaught (IRE) G Getaway (GER)-Curvacious (IRE)

Yellowford Racing John McConnell Racing 200,000

Michael Kennedy Racing Twiston-Davies Equine 200,000

Cheltenham Festival Salt Rock (GB) G Soldier of Fortune (IRE)-Saltbarrow (GB) Station Yard Kim Bailey 195,238

THE REAL WHACKER remained unbeaten over fences with a gutsy front running victory in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase. Trained by Patrick Neville for owners Neville, Mann, Duffus & Dennis and bred by Mrs B Keane. Congratulations to all connections!

It's a magic feeling. He's a super horse. His jumping was unbelievable… This is unreal, next year it'll be the Gold

Other top performers over fences this season include Grade 2 Ten Up Novice Chase 1-2

CHURCHSTONEWARRIOR and MAHLER MISSION, Grade 3 winner JOURNEY WITH ME etc

Proven Grade 1 sire by GALILEO

Cup. Trainer Patrick Neville

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Contact: David Magnier, Albert Sherwood, David O’Sullivan, Andrew Magnier & Catherine Magnier: 025-33006. Robert McCarthy, Bobby McCarthy & Peter Kenneally: 058-56254. Tom Gaffney, Joe Hernon, Paddy Fleming, Cathal Murphy & Barry Kennedy: 025-31966.