6 minute read
Weatherbys Stallion Scene: Part 1
Showcasing himself as a sire of sires
Whitsbury Manor Stud’s stallion has taken himself to new echelons this summer courtesy of Mohaather, Advertise, Soldier’s Call and Tasleet, who now stands in India in a deal brokered by Ajay Anne
IT HAS BEEN A FINE LATE SUMMER STINT for sons of Showcasing with the four named above all achieving stakes race results.
On the juvenile front the quartet is headed up by Shadwell Stud’s Mohaather and Manton Park Stud’s Advertise – both can boast of colts in Timeform’s current list of top two-yearolds for 2024 – the Molecomb Stakes (G3) winner Big Mojo and Cool Hoof Luke, winner of the Gimcrack Stakes (G2).
August was also the start of a run for new sire Mohaather who, as we write, is in fourth place in the leading European first-season sires’ table by both number of winners and progeny earnings.
Advertise’s Cool Hoof Luke, trained by Andrew Balding, has been a consistent Group class colt this summer having finished fourth in Royal Ascot’s Group 2 6f Coventry Stakes, third in the 7f Vintage Stakes (G2) at Goodwood before finding his way to the front at York.
Two days after the Gimcrack, the stallion’s good form continued with Al Shabab Storm’s victory in the Goldene Peitsche (G3) at Baden-Baden. Fellow second-season sire
Soldier’s Call, who this year got his first Royal Ascot winner with Mickley’s victory in the Britannia, was represented by a clutch of stakes performers in late August and early September.
The Karl Burke-trained two-year-old filly Kaadi ran second in the Prix d’Arenberg (G3) at ParisLongchamp, Soldier’s Gold was runner-up in the Listed Prix Millkom at La Teste and Kuwaitya was placed third in the Listed St Hugh’s Stakes at Newbury.
This season’s late-summer Group 1 sprints have also had Showcasing’s mark all over them, courtesy of the four-year-old colt Bradsell with his impressive victories in the Nunthorpe Stakes and the Flying Five Stakes.
His sire Tasleet is another stallion by the Whitsbury Manor Stud’s patriarch to have enjoyed a fine time of it in August –his daughter American Sonja finished second in the Prix Jean Romanet (G1) to Msqe de Sevigne having won and placed in Group 3s earlier in this season.
Tasleet also got the top lot at the Goffs UK Premier Sale when the three-quarters brother to the Gimcrack winner was sold by Moyfinn Stud for £350,000.
A former Shadwell stallion Tasleet is now resident in India at Star Born Stud, the 11-year-old sire having moved continents for this year’s covering season in a deal brokered by agent Ajay Anne of New Approach Bloodstock.
“I was trying to source a stallion for the farm,” recounts Anne of the decision to purchase Tasleet, “as the team is investing, wanting and aiming to produce some better quality horses.
“Owner Anhad Sidhu was looking for another sire – I had bought him Well Done Fox from King Power last year.
“Tasleet had been a very smart two-year-old, he did not get to run much as a three-year-old, but he came back as a four-yearold and ran again at five.
“He had the ability to carry on his talent and he finished second in three Group 1s, so he was a consistent top class racehorse.”
He adds: “Tasleet is probably slightly on the small side, but so is Showcasing and that doesn’t bother me. I’ve bought a few small horses in the past for breeding purposes and they’ve done well, especially as you don’t want a big, heavy horses for the fast ground in India. When I look for stallions for the continent, I am also generally looking for horses who get progeny who want 5f or 6f.”
Of Showcasing as an influence, he agrees: “Yes, over the last couple of months Showcasing has put his name forward as a sire of sires, though I’m not a big fan of that statement.
“I believe in the individual, I believe in the stallion, I believe in performance and I believe in the dam side of things.
“I’ve done a lot of work on this kind of thing and I’m never inclined towards just leaning towards that phrase.”
He explains: “Showcasing comes from a good Juddmonte family and Whitsbury Manor does a fantastic job with its stallions. He’s progressed, and has started to produce better and better, and more, horses. He has the gene pool to pass it on.”
Anne further explains how he came to focus on Tasleet for his Sidhu’s order.
“Tasleet had already done that job,” he says, “as he had produced the Group 1 winner Bradsell to win the King’s Stand, and when we were negotiating last year American Sonia was starting to show some talent.
“He’s got a lot of horses who are BHA-rated around 85 and people forget that for a racehorse to reach that mark is not easy.
“A stallion who can produce that quality of horse is a safe bet. However, the commercial market in Europe is very harsh, and these stallions can get lost in the run of things as breeders are always after the new names.
“I look into this quality of stallion to see which one fits the bill for the demands for India, and who comes into the budget.
“With Sidhu, when I like the horse he doesn’t debate, apart from a discussion on price, so that helps my situation quite a lot. The horse was priced right for us, and we got the deal done.”
In future it might prove wise for those trying to find the Nunthorpe winner to take note of any stallions purchased by Anne – in 2022 he bought Prince Of Lir, the following year the sire’s gelding Live In The Dream won the Group 1 sprint.
But, is there any chance that Tasleet could return to Europe now that he is back on the radar? That option is not completely out of the question, says Anne.
“Over the last couple of weeks my phone’s been ringing!” he laughs, adding: “The logistics of transporting out of India are a little bit complicated, but, there are a few legitimate enquiries on the table – Tasleet could be back for sale, but it would only be for the right money!"
