11 minute read
Weatherys Stallion Scene
There is a global focus in Hungary
The Hungarian National Stud is looking forward to an international future with the young couple Bence and Luca Földes at its helm and four exciting stallions on the roster –Mokarris, Cirfandli, Pigeon Catcher and Ecrivain.
The team is consigning a draft of seven homebreds at this year’s BBAG October Sale, the farm determined to continue Zsolt Hegedus’ legacy and vision with horses bearing the HUN-suffix
IT HAS BEEN A TUMULTUOUS TIME for the Hungarian National Stud after the sudden death last August of the farm’s enlightened and progressive stud manager Zsolt Hegedus, but the team has been determined to push forward with the plans he initiated and to maintain his legacy.
Before his death Hegedus entered a draft of Hungarian-bred yearlings by Britishbased sires in the BBAG Premier Sale, the in-foal mares previously bought at Tattersalls with the aid of agent Oliver St Lawrence.
Despite that summer’s tragic loss, the stud bravely continued with the plan offering the four horses proudly carrying the HUN suffix in the major yearling sale at Baden-Baden. The four were all sold, and although those transactions did not turn the bloodstock world on its axis, the footings were put in place with the stud successfully taking commercial stock over the Hungarian border to an international, select yearling sale.
For the country’s bloodstock industry this outward view is possibly now quite vital with the domestically produced foal crop numbers falling to just around 100 with the industry undergoing a worrying contraction.
There are, though, enthusiastic new people at the helm keen to ensure that Hungarian bloodstock and horseracing is not consigned to the history books, that new avenues continue to be explored, international boundaries are crossed and Hegedus’ work is continued.
Bence Földes is the farm’s new stud manager, the young man taking the role with his wife Luca. In the pair the Hungarian bloodstock industry has found itself two highly capable, knowledgeable and ambitious people keen to drive the industry forward.
Földes left college with a finance and accounting degree, but he had ridden all of his life and worked with horses through his studies. After graduating and meeting Luca, the pair left the homeland and took jobs with UK trainer Paul Nicholls as work riders.
Although both enjoyed the hands-on roles in the racing stable, they were keen to extend their knowledge and capabilities in their chosen industry. Földes applied, and was accepted, to study veterinary science at the University of Hungary, while Luca, who already had an agriculture engineering degree, signed up for a Masters in Animal Husbandry; the pair went back home in 2019.
Both are still completing studies, the couple due to graduate early next spring, and have successfully combined the new roles at the stud with their education, certainly not a task to be undertaken by the faint hearted.
“We got this opportunity after Zsolt’s death and, yes, this year was really tough for us, but we are close to finishing the studies and then it’s going to be much easier,” smiles Földes. “We are blessed to have been given this opportunity, it’s a beautiful farm, a beautiful environment with nice horses and such good people.”
Földes is just 28 and taking on the role has been a huge undertaking, particularly one that had been fashioned so well by Hegedus, who has himself spent much time in France working on the PMU.
“Yes, it’s a very difficult time now, but we are gaining so much experience. We are trying to learn from the industry in the West as much as we can, and we try to improve all the time."
Földes is not shy to admit his admiration of Hegedus’s enlightened strategy of importing in-foal mares carrying to good Eourpean sires with the aim of selling yearlings with an HUN suffix.
“Zsolt’s purchased mares were carrying to the commercial stallions Too Darn Hot, Kameko and Study Of Man, and the four fetched a total of €100,000 at the BadenBaden sale,” he reports. “It was a big step forward for the farm; it was so sad that Zsolt did not get to see the results.”
Földes continues: “What Zsolt started to do, and how he did it, was brilliant. It was a new direction, Zsolt started to open the farm up to the West because he had a huge experience having owned horses in France, trained in France and he had massive connections all around the western Europe.”
Hegedus’ work and vision has not stopped with his loss. The international outlook that he quietly opened has been continued and the farm is returning to Germany for the BBAG October Sale with seven homebreds by the stud’s three established sires.
Currently, there are four stallions on the National Stud’s roster, a happy mix of Hungarian homebreds and imported sires.
Catch a Pigeon
The oldest of the quartet is the Irish-bred Pigeon Catcher, a son of Dutch Art bred by Castlemartin and Skymarc Farm, yet another legacy of the outstanding late owner-breeder Lady Chyrss O’Reilly. The 15-year-old is a half-brother to the Group-placed Jakarta Jade, while his dam is a half-sister to the Group 3 winner Dubai Prince and he is from the extended family of the multiple 1m2f Group 1 winner Storming Home.
Pigeon Catcher was owned by Hegedus as a racehorse, trained in France by Pia Brandt and achieved wins and placings in competitive mile handicaps in France.
The sire’s leading performer is the gelding Esti Feny, now based in the southern hemisphere. After two Listed-placed efforts in Germany over 1m2f and 1m3f for owner Stall Diospuszta, the colt was purchased by Australian connections.
He won the Listed Mornington Cup in April and has been placed in middle-distance Group races for trainer Matthew Smith.
Esti Feny has already ensured that his sire has an international legacy and that Pigeon Catcher has become that groundbreaking international stallion that Hegedus so desired.
The farm has entered three by the stallion in the October sale, two fillies and a colt.
The fillies are out of Ainippe (Captain Rio), and so a half-sister to the Kameko colt sold at the Premier Sale last year and now in training with Simcock, and out of the Shamardal mare Morning Chimes.
The colt is out of Spice of Life (Sea The Stars) from the Kirsten Rausing-developed family of Songerie.
Second-season sire Mokarris making an impressive early mark
Also with three entries in October is the second-season sire Mokarris. He has been doing great things in Hungary and is already the sire of nine winners from just 16 runners, achieving a strike-rate of 56 per cent.
By More Than Ready, Mokarris was bred in the US by St Elias Stables, bought by Shadwell at the Craven Sale for 220,000gns in 2016 from Mocklershill. He is a first foal of the French Listed winner Limonar (Street Cry), a half-sister to the US Grade 1 winner Talco and out of a half-sister to the Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Bachelor Duke.
A Listed-winning two-year-old, he also finished second in the Gimcrack Stakes (G2) and sixth in the Middle Park Stakes (G1), but unfortunately did not run after his juvenile year.
Since his own racing days, his two half-brothers have been doing their thing on the track – Spanish Mission, a son of Noble Misson, won the Yorkshire Cup (G2), placed third in the Ascot Gold Cup (G1) in 2021 and went on to finish third in the same year’s Melbourne Cup (G1) for Andrew Balding. The entire has remained in Australia picking up further Group 1 placings.
The stallion’s younger half-brother Dude N Colorado (Uncle Mo) has won at Listed level in the US and placed third in the Kitten’s Joy Stakes (G3).
On retiring from the track Mokarris was purchased by the farm and has always stood in Hungary.
“He has lots of speed and his progeny suits the racing here especially as we often have firm ground,” says Földes, adding: “The mares that we have here descending from the
older Hungarian broodmare lines are staying types and he can give them a bit of speed. Trainers like his horses, they have good minds, they are trainable, and are early sorts.”
The farm is selling two of his colts in Germany – both are out of Nayef mares, the Bishop Walton Stud-bred Hala Madrid and Ejtihaad, the dam of Esti Feny.
The son of the Budapest Bullet definitely a farm favourite
The homebred stallion Cirfandli is a son of the “Budapest Bullet”, the legendary Hungarian superstar sprinter Overdose, who won the Group 2 Goldene Peitsche, finished fourth in the King’s Stand Stakes (G1) and won a voided Prix de l’Abbaye (G1).
Cirfandli, himself, was the winner of top races in Hungary and went on to become a multiple Listed-placed performer in Italy.
He has first yearlings this year and the farm is sending a colt out of Miss Brooch (Aerion) to Germany. She is dam of two winners from two runners in Hungary, including the four-time winner Mr Penny (Penny’s Picnic).
“For me, Cirfandli is a special horse as I was his work rider when he was in training –I always loved him and it very nice to see him here as a stallion,” explains Földes.
“His yearlings look fantastic, they are well built and I hope he can prove himself as a stallion.
“He was an outstanding racehorse in our region, he won every big race in Hungary between 6f and a mile, and was beaten in Italy in a 7f Listed race by just a nose.
“We trust him and we have given him as many mares as we can. He will not be a ‘fancy’ stallion at the German sale, but I have entered one yearling by him in the hope that we can get the sire’s name out there a bit.”
The Balbona Stud has added a new stallion to its roster this year, the Wertheimer & Frere-bred Ecrivain, a son of Lope De Vega out of a Danehill Dancer Group-placed Sapphire Pendant. He is from the family of the Fillies’ Mile (G1) runner-up Maryinsky, the dam of the outstanding fourtime Group 1 winner Peeping Fawn.
“Ecrivain was a Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed as a two-year-old so he’s an exciting stallion for us as he had lots of speed. He has a good mind and he’s so laid back. He is very friendly, intelligent horse.”
Földes is keen that Hungary is viewed as a country that can produce good runners able to compete on the global stage.
“It has been proved, that we can breed high quality horses,” says the ambitious young man. “Esti Feny been a great advertisement, but we need to do lots of work, we need to improve in lots of ways, but really I’m desperate to do it and prove it.”
International goals to overcome tumultuous recent history
The stud is on 300 hectares with around 70 hectares down to pasture, and it produces its own oats and hay.
There are 95 horses on site, including 45 mares, 10 privately owned and boarding at the farm. This year the farm produced a foal crop of around 30.
Sadly, the Hungarian industry has had to weather the storm of political turmoil and this disruption has resulted in a declining domestic foal crop.
“The stud was established in 1912, and then there was a big training centre and racetrack with more than 500 horses in training,” explains Földes. “It really was the ‘Newmarket’ of Hungary.
“But it was devastated by the world wars and all that is left now is a museum. During the privatisation after the communism era lots of the best mares were sold, or taken away further East.”
He adds: “Now the racetrack at Kincsem Park and the Hungarian National Stud are owned by the government, run by the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Agriculture.
"We get good support and they are keen to develop, but, like the world, over there is never enough money for the horseracing!”
The stud’s international outlook is mirrored by Budapest’s racecourse Kincsem Park, the executive headed by manager Szotyori Nagy Ádá, who is keen for its best races to be fully recognised by the Pattern.
Last year, the track joined in on the Frankie Dettori farewell tour attracting the big-name jockey to ride at the premier meeting in September.
With the Hungarian racing and bloodstock industries working in tandem under the protective wing of the government, and such determined and ambitious people as Földes at the top, the country’s bloodstock certainly deserves to prosper and maintain that vision initiated by Hegedus.
