Victor Ludorum Turf Monthly October 2022

VICTOR LUDORUM

DARLEY’S WINNER OF THE GAME

Victor Ludorum is Latin for the overall champion in a sports competition, especially at a school or college. While his racing career may not have put him quite in the champion league, he was an outstanding racehorse befitting his Latin roots. He was an unbeaten 2yo and multiple Group 1 winner from one of the great female families in the world. There is certainly a lot to like about him, and he seems very affordably priced by Darley who should be able to attract plenty of interest in this Freshman stallion.

On the track Victor Ludorum started his career by winning a 2yo maiden at Longchamp in September over a mile. Two weeks later he won over the same distance at Chantilly. He then lined up in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere Sponsorise Par Manateq back at Longchamp again at the mile. Victor Ludorum won by three quarters of a length from the quality German colt, Alson. The colt returned as a 3yo to run third in the Group 2 Prix de Fontainebleau before chalking up his second Group 1 in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains at Deauville. Again over the mile, he settled towards the rear before finishing strongly to beat his last start conqueror

in The Summit, with Alson in third in a race better known as the French 2000 Guineas. A third in the French Derby behind Mishriff and The Summit followed, and then the colt was to finish third behind those two horses in the Group 2 Haras du Logis Saint-Germain. His final race as a 3yo was a fifth against the older horses in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp won by Persian King with another of the Darley stallions in Pinatubo finishing second.

As a 4yo, Victor Ludorum started his season by running third over a mile in the Group 2 Prix du Muguet. A fifth in the Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan at Longchamp followed before he easily won the Group 3 Prix Messidor at Chantilly. In the Group 1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois, he finished seventh behind Palace Pier. Next up it was the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp over a mile and Victor Ludorum finished third behind the very good galloper, Baaeed. He had his final start in the Prix Daniel Wildenstein over a mile, finishing a disappointing eighth behind Real World before retiring. In all he was to win five of his fourteen races and earnings of £465,072. All of his wins were at a mile, and unlike many horses, he never raced outside of France which probably impacts his appeal to many British breeders but should have little impact here. He also never raced at a distance less than 1600m. It is interesting to see that the colt finished third in the French Derby which once had a reputation of one of the world’s great races. A shift in distance back to 2000m seems to have seen it lose much of its prestige and this should be a good lesson for many Australians who question the value of our Derbies.

Victor Ludorum is a son of Shamardal who we have spoken about at length in the past. He is closely related to the top stallion, Street Cry but became a champion in his own right in the Northern Hemisphere. His impact in Australia where he shuttled from 2004 to 2010 was underwhelming. It is fair to say that his performances under local conditions have not matched his overseas results which is always something to consider with overseas sons coming to stud. The key feature of Victor Ludorum’s pedigree though is the presence of a close duplication of Helen Street, the dam of Street Cry and the female family is worthy of some closer examination. His dam is Antiquities by Kaldounevees who was herself stakes placed in France and also the dam of Mary Tudor by Dawn Approach who won the Listed Navan Salsabil Stakes. Kaldounevees is a son of Kaldoun by Caro and we know him best in Australia as the sire of Dunaden who won the 2011 Geelong and Melbourne Cups, Hong Kong Vase and 2012 Caulfield Cup. The second dam of Victor Ludorum is the Listed winner, Historian by Pennekamp, a son of Bering by Arctic Tern. While Pennekamp is not a name many in Australia are very familiar with, he was an outstanding racehorse winning six of his seven starts including the 2000 Guineas and Dewhurst Stakes in the UK. He was crowned Champion 2yo in France and Champion 3yo Miler in Europe. He stood originally at stud in Sweden but was later moved to Bracklyn Stud in Ireland.

A key to the success of Victor Ludorum is that he appears as very much an outcross to many of our traditional lines. Of course, we have our share of Shamardal and Street Cry stallions and mares in Australia but it is likely that these will not be the ones who will make or break the stallion. The two major lines that we see in his pedigree is that of Storm Cat through Giant’s Causeway, and Mr Prospector through his son, Machiavellian. Both have had success with Danehill lines which is one of the major attractions of the Shamardal sire line. He will certainly have his opportunity with this outcross style pedigree with stallions like I Am Invincible, Written Tycoon, Lonhro, and most of the Danehill sons like Exceed And Excel, Fastnet Rock and Redoute’s Choice having plenty to offer. As we saw with Street Cry though, he was not the source of speedy types that the yearling buyers look for, and as a result took some time to reach widespread acceptance in the Australian

market. As we have seen with some of the Shamardal sons in Puissance De Lune, Ghibellines, Captain Sonador and Shamoline Warrior, they can produce a little of a mixed bag. Some are later maturing sprinters, while others are more miler types with a sprinkling of stayers in the mix. This in effect is the real issue with Shamardal in Australia. His progeny tend to be a lot of the slower maturing 1600m types that our market does not like to preservere with. Oddly, owners are more likely to be patient with a slower maturing stayer than a slowly maturing sprinter, tending to try and push these too early. Local breeders tend to only see the need to breed to more precocity to try and get these to the track earlier, and it is not a strategy that has necessarily had success with Shamardal.

Perhaps this will be the key to Victor Ludorum who has influences in his pedigree that reflect more stamina than in many of the Shamardal’s. If this is the case, perhaps the presence of Kaldounevees, who actually had an average winning distance of his progeny of 2400m might see a much better balance to some of his progeny when mated with these early speed types that we see in Australia. If this suspicion is correct, and Kaldounevees can be an important influence, then Victor Ludorum may well be the son of Shamardal that excels under local conditions. On the other hand, perhaps the stamina that may be present in the pedigree may see an outlet under local conditions that is regularly missing in our modern horses. We could easily see Victor Ludorum being a stallion who can produce serious staying prospects and to see Derby and Cups winners by him would not be out of the question from some of our great old staying families.

The other option with Victor Ludorum is to investigate these more obscure influences in his pedigree that we have mentioned in Kaldounevees and Pennekamp. Kaldounevees sees the stallion Le Haar in his pedigree. We saw Le Haar play a role locally, and a NZ stallion called Dance Floor who was the damsire of Dance Hero is one example of the importance that some of these influences can have locally. Le Haar many may know better as the grandsire of Balmerino who was such a wonderful galloper and later an important influence at stud. Le Haar can also be found in the female line of More Than Ready who is another stallion that may just be able to bring out some of these hidden gems in the pedigree of Victor Ludorum. Another of these influences is Caro who we see in the pedigree of Danehill Dancer and his son, Choisir. Again, these are lines that offer breeders an interesting alternative in the pedigree of Victor Ludorum. Pennekamp is a son of Bering who we saw as the grand damsire of another Melbourne Cup winner in Green Moon. The damsire of Pennekamp is Green Dancer who is a stallion who we saw in the pedigree of two Melbourne Cup winners in Americain and Jeune. Perhaps more importantly Green Dancer was the damsire of Quest For Fame of Woodlands Stud fame who was the sire of over 30 stakes winners including Viscount, Dracula and Unwordly.

Victor Ludorum could well offer breeders an interesting choice in sons of Shamardal. There is no doubt as to the quality of that stallion, nor is there any as to the racing ability of this important Darley newcomer. It is his pedigree that just may offer local breeders their chance to cement the legacy of Shamardal in Australasia, although perhaps not quite how they may expect. Breeders and buyers may need a little more patience with Victor Ludorum, but he could be another jewel in the Darley crown.

seasons at stud.