Onesto Joins Etreham Roster at €12,500

The G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Onesto (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) has been retired to Haras d'Etreham, where he will be introduced at a fee of €12,500.

From the Juddmonte family which includes Hasili (GB) and her stallion sons Dansili (GB), Cacique (GB) and Champs Elysees (GB), Onesto was named a TDN Rising Star at two and was also placed in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Irish Champion S. He is in the process of being syndicated.

Next season, the Etreham sires Persian King (Ire) and Hello Youmzain (Fr) both have their first crop of runners in action.  Persian King, a Classic-winning son of Kingman (GB), has had his fee held at €25,000, while the fee for dual Group 1-winning sprinter Hello  Youmzain, the only son of Kodiac (GB) in France, also remains static at €22,500.

Almanzor (Fr), the former European champion three-year-old and first major breakthrough runner for his prodigious sire Wootton Bassett (GB), has had his fee cut from €25,000 to €10,000.

Completing the Flat roster is City Light (Fr), the leading first-season sire in France with 13 individual winners and a son of champion sire Siyouni (Fr). He remains on his fee of €7,000.

“This will be a very special season at Etreham because we welcome Onesto with pride and great enthusiasm, and because 2024 will see the first progeny of our young stallions Hello Youmzain and Persian King on the track. These are important and highly motivating events for a stud farm,” said Etreham's Nicolas de Chambure.

“We are committed to offering breeders the very best and we are delighted to be able to offer stallion profiles such as these for the new breeding season.”

 

The post Onesto Joins Etreham Roster at €12,500 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Seven Days: Bucanero Fuerte Times His Run to Perfection

Most normal people spend some of August at the beach. Bloodstock folk do too, though the spade work involves no bucket, just plenty of prowling around the Arqana sales ground looking at yearlings. There may be the odd oyster here and there at the hospitality suites of various consignors but, make no mistake, this is gruelling work.

It's curtain up this Friday for the European yearling sales season, and we all know what that means: Christmas is right around the corner. For breeders and stallion masters, results on the track are important at any time of the year, but they become ever more crucial in the coming weeks and months, with a fresh update providing the pedigree equivalent of gold dust when trying to sell a yearling.

There can be none fresher than the Group 1 victory on Saturday of Amo Racing's Bucanero Fuerte (GB) in the Keeneland Phoenix S. The colt, who is named after a brand of Cuban beer, no doubt prompted the imbibing of a similar product for those closely involved in his career, as he provided a first top-level win for Kia Joorabchian's outfit. He also became the seventh Group 1 winner for his sire, Wootton Bassett (GB). Remarkably, two of those have the same dam, Frida La Blonde (Fr) (Elusive City), with Bucanero Fuerte having followed his brother, the Prix de l'Abbaye winner Wooded (Ire), in snaring a Group 1 success.

When you look at their pedigrees and see the names of Wootton Bassett on top and Elusive City on the bottom line, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that all roads lead to Normandy's Haras d'Etreham, and this is indeed where Frida La Blonde is boarded by her breeder Maurice Lagasse of  Gestüt Zur Küste.

The Swiss-based operation has been behind a good deal of decent winners, most notably Teppal (Fr) (Camacho {GB}), the heroine of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches in 2018 on the same day that another Gestüt Zur Küste-bred, Dice Roll (Fr) (Showcasing {GB}), was third in the Poulains. The G2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier winner San Huberto (Ire) (Speightstown) won his first stakes race in his breeder Lagasse's colours before being part-sold to OTI Racing.

The pairing of Frida La Blonde, whom Lagasse bred in partnership with Pontchartrain Stud, with Wootton Bassett has also yielded the Group 3-placed Beat Le Bon (Fr), who was her first foal, but the 12-year-old mare has visited Dubawi (Ire) twice since foaling Bucanero Fuerte. Her yearling daughter by the Darley stallion is set to sell on Saturday as lot 214 from the Etreham draft.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the Amo team rather likes Wootton Bassett. Robson Aguiar was effusive in his praise of Bucanero Fuerte when he spoke to Brian Sheerin last week ahead of the Phoenix, and he can take much of the credit for presenting Joorabchian, who co-owns the colt with Aguiar's wife Giselle, with a commercial stallion prospect, having bought him last year at Arqana for €165,000.

Then there's the imposing King Of Steel, by the same sire, and surely a Group 1 winner in waiting following his runner-up finishes in the Derby and King George, which sandwiched his victory in the G2 King Edward VII S. The contrasting characteristics of these two colts speak to the versatility of Wootton Bassett as a stallion, with his top runners having struck from five furlongs to a mile and a half. Like their sire himself, a number of them are precocious: Al Riffa, Zellie and Bucanero Fuerte are all Group 1 winners at two, and this set may well expand on Sunday if the Coventry S. winner River Tiber (Ire) can extend his unbeaten record in the Sumbe Prix Morny. Wootton Bassett's record with juveniles was further enhanced over the weekend by the victory of Grey Man (Fr) in the G3 Prix Francois Boutin.

Though Wootton Bassett did not really make his mark beyond his own two-year-old season, he atoned for that from the off at stud as he got the European champion three-year-old Almanzor (Fr) from his tiny first crop born in 2013. His Breeders' Cup-winning daughter Audarya (Fr) excelled at four over 10 furlongs, the same distance over which Incarville (Fr) proved best in the Prix Saint-Alary.

After Almanzor's flamboyant start, there was a three-year wait for another Group 1 winner by Wootton Bassett, but let's not forget that his early crops numbered just 23, 18, 45 and 47. Since Audarya, who was foaled in 2016, there has been a Group 1 winner emerge from each of his five subsequent crops.

Almanzor's sterling work in 2016 meant that the following year there were 92 Wootton Bassett foals, a figure which held more or less steady until the three-figure mark was first breached in 2021, when there were 127 on the ground. That was the last batch conceived at Haras d'Etreham, whose Nicolas de Chambure must take great credit in helping to establish the son of Iffraaj (GB) as one of the most desirable stallions in Europe, so much so that he was bought by Coolmore and has stood at their Irish base for three seasons, commanding a fee of €150,000 for the last two years.

It is safe to say that Wootton Bassett has not been short of suitors in Tipperary. He is listed as having covered 229 mares in 2021 and 249 last year. Their names are as starry as they are abundant. Twenty-six members of his first Irish-conceived crop are catalogued for Arqana this week, among them a daughter of the Oaks winner Was (Ire), who is bred on the cross with Galileo (Ire) that has already yielded Al Riffa, who is set to run in Tuesday's G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano. We can expect to see plenty more of his runners bred this way.

With the increase in both the number and the quality of mares that Wootton Bassett has received in recent seasons, it will be a surprise if the exploits of his stock are not filling the racing pages for years to come.

Hot Forecast

Talking of timely updates, the former champion two-year-old Too Darn Hot (GB) was represented by his first group winner at the weekend with a determined performance from Steve Parkin's smart filly Fallen Angel (GB) in the G3 Sweet Solera S.

Simon Marsh, manager of Watership Down Stud where Too Darn Hot was bred, showed a smart turn of foot himself in getting to Newmarket's winner's enclosure to greet the Clipper Logistics colour-bearer, and he was quick to remind us that Too Darn Hot didn't appear on the racecourse until that same week in 2018. From his winning debut in mid-August, he collected a win in every group division to finish the season unbeaten and be crowned champion juvenile. He currently has eight winners from his 33 runners.

Fallen Angel already held the accolade of being her sire's first winner when making a successful debut back in May. She earned her first sliver of black type with a runner-up finish in the Listed Star S., and it would be no surprise to see her chart a similar path to her talented but somewhat ill-fated mother, Agnes Stewart (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), who won the G2 May Hill S. and was second in the G1 Fillies' Mile.

With injury hijacking Agnes Stewart's three-year-old season, and colic claiming her life after Fallen Angel, the last of her four foals, was born, it would certainly be pleasing for the team at Parkin's Branton Court Stud to welcome her daughter back there eventually. As a Group 3 winner, Fallen Angel has already earned her place in the broodmare band, but let's hope there's plenty more to come on the track first.

Up and Coming

It is the time of year when the juvenile races start to become much more interesting. One would question the wisdom of having the pretty much identical Group 1 contests of the Phoenix S. and the Prix Morny just eight days apart, but this coming Sunday's line-up should be pretty stellar, and will hopefully pitch Christopher Head's filly Ramatuelle (Justify) against the aforementioned River Tiber, whose trainer Aidan O'Brien opted for Deauville over the Curragh, and possibly the recent G2 Richmond S. winner Vandeek (GB). The latter's sire Havana Grey (GB) continues to go from strength to strength and was second in the Morny himself to his stable-mate Unfortunately (Ire).

Amo Racing have rarely been unrepresented in juvenile stakes races this season, and this weekend they could have the G2 Norfolk S. winner Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) in action for Bucanero Fuerte's trainer Adrian Murray as well as the Dominic Ffrench-Davis-trained G2 Duchess of Cambridge S. victrix Persian Dreamer (Ire) (Calyx {GB}).

The Irish National Stud's Phoenix Of Spain (Ire), who beat Too Darn Hot in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, has crept into the picture in the first-season sires' table. He's had just 17 runners to date, but six of them have won, including the G3 Vintage S. winner Haatem (Ire). Similarly, another European Classic winner, Lanwades Stud's Study Of Man (Ire), has made an encouraging start with three winners from just eight runners. His dual winner Deepone (GB), trained by Paddy Twomey, garnered some black type on Friday when a close second to Warnie (Ire) (Highland Reel {Ire}) in the Listed Coolmore Stud Churchill S.

It is also worth noting that City Light (Fr), Etreham's son of Siyouni (Fr), has eight winners from 19 starters, giving him a strike-rate just above 40%.

Inspiral Emulates Miesque

The Prix Jacques Le Marois has become something of a Gosden benefit in the last decade, with John, and later John and Thady Gosden, winning five of the last ten runnings, including four consecutive victories with just two horses: Palace Pier (GB), who is a son of the 2014 winner Kingman (GB), and now Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Cheveley Park Stud's four-year-old remained unbeaten as a juvenile  and is now a Group 1 winner in each of her three seasons.

Only one other filly, the great Miesque (Nureyev), has won the Jacques Le Marois twice, and in joining her, Inspiral provided Frankie Dettori with an emotional big-race success on his final ride at Deauville. She may yet give him a chance to shine at Santa Anita, with her trainers considering the Breeders' Cup Mile on the first weekend of November after Inspiral's 'win and you're in' success in Deauville.

Thousand Stars

While there was Group 1 action occurring just a stone's throw from his Deauville stable, Stephane Wattel crossed the border to Germany to notch his first win at the top level on Sunday with Simca Mille (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) in the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin.

Torquator Tasso (Ger) and Alpinista (GB) both went on to score in the Arc in the year after winning Hoppegarten's major prize. Perhaps that means we should be following Rebel's Romance (Ire) this year, and Simca Mille in 2024, though Wattel is already eyeing that prize for his four-year-old Haras de la Perelle homebred this season, and rightly so.

Simca Mille has run at Longchamp  on four occasions, winning two Group 2 contests, the Prix Niel and the Prix d'Harcourt, and twice finishing runner-up, in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and G1 Prix Ganay. In fact, he has only ever been out of the first two twice in his 14 starts and it had long appeared to be only a matter of time before he claimed his own Group 1 triumph. Simca Mille also gave his young jockey Alexis Pouchin his second Group 1 victory in as many weeks, following the win of Mqse De Sevigne (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) in the Prix Rothschild a fortnight earlier.

Sweeping the Board

Croom House Stud's Sweepstake (Ire) is already a noted matriarch as the dam of the multiple group winners Broome (Ire) and Point Lonsdale (Ire), who are both sons of Australia (GB). Her two youngest racing offspring have both added to the 18-year-old mare's record since the start of August, with Saadiyat (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) having won at Vichy on Aug. 2 for Al Shira'aa Farms. The juvenile Diego Velazquez (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) followed suit when making a scintillating debut at the Curragh on Saturday to win his maiden by almost five lengths. He was awarded a TDN Rising Star for his efforts.

As a 2.4 million-guinea yearling, he is his dam's most expensive offspring to date, but his siblings haven't exactly been cheap. Sweepstake has certainly done her bit to help balance the Croom House books, as another eight of her offspring have been sold for six-figure sums as yearlings.

From the first crop of Acclamation (GB), Sweepstake became her sire's second stakes winner in the same week that Pencil Hill (Ire) beat her to the punch when holding off You'resothrilling (Storm Cat) to win a Listed contest at the Curragh. This duo emanated from the same crop that also produced the G1 Middle Park S. winner Dark Angel (Ire), who on Saturday was represented by his 100th black-type winner when Heredia (GB) landed the Listed Dick Hern S for owner/breeder Andrew Stone of St Albans Bloodstock.

Fev Takes The Bev

It takes a little adjustment to get used to the Arlington Million and the Beverly D S. being run at Virginia's Colonial Downs rather than in Chicago, but both those Grade 1 contests last Saturday fell to familiar names on this side of the pond.

Juddmonte's Set Piece (GB), by the late Dansili (GB), took the Million. Winner of the Listed Hyde S. and third in the Craven for Hugo Palmer before joining Brad Cox, the seven-year-old gelding has been a solid performer in America with five graded stakes wins to his credit.

Not quite so advanced in years, the Manister House Stud-bred Fev Rover (Ire), now five, continued her admirable career with her first top-level strike in the Beverley D. The daughter of Gutaifan (Ire), who is by the aforementioned Dark Angel, claimed the first of her wins at two in the Listed Star S. for Richard Fahey, before landing the G2 Prix Calvados and finishing fourth in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac. She was third in the 1,000 Guineas the following May and though she didn't manage another win in Europe, she strung together enough impressive runs to ensure a 695,000gns price tag when she went through the Tattersalls December Sale and was bought by Tracy Farmer. She has rewarded her new owner and her trainer Mark Casse with victories in the GII Canadian S. and GII Nassau S. and two further Grade 1 placings prior to Saturday.

Fev Rover is out of the High Chaparral (Ire) mare Laurelita (Ire), and her three-parts-brother has been catalogued for the Goffs Orby Sale on Sept. 27, selling through breeder Luke Barry's Manister House draft.

Barry was understandably delighted with the latest important update for the family. He said, “We're chuffed to bits. It's becoming more and more important to breed good horses. It's the Group 1 winners that catch people's attention and we've had so many messages from well-wishers.

“She's actually the third Group 1 winner we've sold at Doncaster after La Collina (Ire) and Law Enforcement (Ire). That's always been a lucky sale for us.

“Laurelita's yearling colt was bred specifically to produce a racehorse–it's a good cross–and she is now back in foal to Starspangledbanner.”

 

The post Seven Days: Bucanero Fuerte Times His Run to Perfection appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“Everyone Is Welcome,” – Opportunity Knocks On La Route Des Etalons

Is it just me or should France be known as the bloodstock land of opportunity? This is the country that saw Wootton Bassett (GB) and Walk In The Park (Ire) pull themselves up by the bootstraps after entering the stud book at relatively modest sums. There are few serious racing nations that provide as much of a chance for a stallion to flourish than France does.
Take Kauto Star (Fr), the greatest staying chaser of the modern era, as an example. He hailed from the largely unheralded Village Star (Fr) but the cream was still provided with the right chance to rise to the top here.

A similar story was shared on one of the final stops of this year's Route des Etalons at Haras de Montaigu as the stud's Mathieu Leffray, along with his brother and father, sourced a mare by the name of Idaho Falls (Fr) for the miserly sum of €500 from the French equivalent of Done Deal.


What has that got to do with anything, you might ask? Because it was Idaho Falls who went on to produce multiple Grade 1-winning chaser Allaho (Fr), the highest-rated son of Haras de Montaigu's No Risk At All (Fr), who played a starring role on the Route des Etalons.

No Risk At All has proven his versatility as a jumps sire given he is also responsible for Champion Hurdle-winning mare Epatante (Fr) and, as he stood proud in the French sunshine, another high-class prospect, Allegorie De Vassy (Fr), hardened her reputation for Cheltenham Festival honours when winning by a street at Thurles.

Opportunity does not just knock for the National Hunt breeder alone at Haras de Montaigu, either, with G1 Prix Morny and G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Dabirsim (Fr) new to the roster, as Emma Berry highlighted in her preview of La Route.

Along with the opportunities available to Flat an National Hunt breeders in France, another thing that quickly became apparent whilst touring through Normandie was how interconnected the breeding sector is, with every stud playing host to a foreign-registered vehicle and many of the same faces who toured the Irish Stallion Trail a week previously spotted in attendance.

One man in particular who reported an increased level of international traffic, largely down to young sires Persian King and Hello Youmzain, was Nicolas de Chambure of Haras d'Etreham. A strapping son of Kingman (GB), the French 2,000 Guineas winner Persian King is quite the contrast to the dual Group 1-winning sprinter Hello Youmzain (Fr), but both stallions, whose foals sold well in 2022, compliment each other at stud.

“We have great expectations for them,” de Chambure said. “We put in plenty of work in getting Persian King and Hello Youmzain purchased and then by putting the syndicate together to support them.

“When the foals arrived, it was the first step towards seeing a little bit more of them, and obviously the breeders had high expectations and they've met those expectations so we are very happy.
“Persian King and Hello Youmzain are very different horses. That is also why we took the risk to retire two horses in the same year because they have very different profiles and are from different sire lines.

“The foals also looked different and were what you'd expect from their stallions. We will keep a good eye on them throughout the spring and right up to the yearling sales. That's going to be very important for them and then hopefully they will be spread out among good trainers around Europe. We will be supporting them as well.”

De Chambure added, “The fact that British and Irish breeders can see that these good French sires have appeal to the main pinhookers and trainers in the industry, I think that will give them the confidence to increase their trust in these French stallions on the whole. It has been very positive.”

Etreham also has the first 2-year-olds by City Light (Fr), a smart miler by Siyouni (Fr), to look forward to in 2023 while, interestingly, de Chambure revealed that breeders are now adopting a different approach to the mares they are sending to Almanzor (Fr).

He explained, “City Light has over 90 2-year-olds to run this season and, being a son of Siyouni, there is a bit of a buzz about him. The first reports are positive. His 2-year-olds are quite racey and, by the end of the year, we can expect them to be showing what they can do because they should be 2-year-olds.

“Almanzor has four or five exciting horses who have just turned three. He has an important year ahead of him but I think he has the numbers coming and breeders have adapted in the mares that they have been sending him. We are going to continue to see him improve and his next big horse is just around the corner, I am sure of that.”

That horse could well be the Aga Khan's Rajapour (Ire), unbeaten in three starts at two and, crucially, hailing from the smart Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire) mare Raydara (Ire), who is exactly the type de Chambure will be encouraging breeders to send Almonzor going forward.

“We were all a bit surprised that Almanzor had been throwing some size and, from his first crop, we got a few who were a bit big and backward. We all realised that and, even though they were like that, he showed that he can sire a really good horse. They can quicken and they have a turn of foot. Most of the breeders, the mares they have sent him now have a bit more speed and are more short-coupled, and we have seen the difference in the progeny.”

a half an hour down the road from Etreham, some of the finest National Hunt sires standing in France were on show Haras de la Hetraie , including Gold Cup-producing Kapgarde (Fr), whose Fakir D'Oudaires (Fr) took the feature G2 Kinloch Brae Chase at Thurles on Sunday.

The sire of last year's Gold Cup hero A Plus Tard (Fr) was joined in parade by fellow accomplished National Hunt stallion Great Pretender (Ire), best known for being the sire of Benie Des Dieux (Fr) and Greaneteen (Fr).

But it wasn't all about the stallions at Haras de la Hetraie, as not only did the stud offer top-notch entertainment when For Fun (Fr) lived up to his name by trying his hardest to break away from his handler, but the spread on offer was not bettered on the trip.

If it's French onion soup made by the boss himself, Pascal Noue, a fine selection of cured meats and enough oysters to feed a small village, Haras de la Hetraie was worth the trip even for those who hadn't got a mare in tow.

However, the majority of the people who made the trip to Sumbe were there in a professional capacity, according to Mathieu Le Forestier, nominations and racing manager at the stud, who reported that a lot of business had been done across the two days.

Easy to see why. Horses like Mishriff (Ire) don't retire to stud very often and, despite the fact that his debut season will be interrupted due to a slight setback, Le Forestier explained how interest in the stallion has not dwindled in the slightest because of it.

He said, “We envisage him covering 140 mares this year, which is a good number. The Prince [Faisal] will send him 35 to 40 mares of his own, which leaves about 100 nominations in Mishriff. “There have been virtually no cancellations from breeders after we announced his setback and the interest in him did not wane. We expect that he will resume covering on Mar. 15 and we don't see it being a big issue, except maybe for in the case of maiden mares.


“There aren't many alternatives to a horse of the quality Mishriff has in France and we have waited a long time to have a freshman with credentials as good as he has in the stud book here. Selling him is not the hardest job in my life.

“The good thing about Mishriff and Golden Horde (Ire) here at Sumbe is that they do the talking. We have done a lot of business over the past two days. There have not been many passers by and most of the people that have come here have been serious breeders.”

On the 2020 G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Golden Horde, who stands for €8,000, he added, “Golden Horde has been popular. He'll have good numbers but, most importantly, the right blend of people who breed to race and those who breed to sell have used him. We have 15 yearlings by him that we plan to race and they will be divided up between Andre Fabre, Jean-Claude Rouget, Roger Varian and Clive Cox.”

The sentiments shared by Le Forestier about Mishriff were be echoed by Mathieu Alex at Haras de Beaumont about G1 Qipco Champion S. winner Sealiway, set to stand for €12,000 this season, and very much the pride and joy of Pauline Cheboub's operation.

Asked if there had been much international interest at Haras de Beaumont on Saturday and Sunday, Alex said, “Yes, German, Irish, English, Swedish, Danish, American–we have had plenty of interest. This is business but also, and this is very important, the Route des Etalons gives us a chance to open our doors to the public and the industry needs that. Tourists, neighbors, it doesn't matter, everyone is welcome and we have to open the doors and explain our game. We have to show them that we love our horses. We have a mission.”

He added, “Sealiway was a champion two-year-old, which is extremely important nowadays. He won a Group 1 in England, the Champion S., where he beat three Classic winners, so he is a serious horse for France. That type of horse usually retires somewhere else. This place is for him. If it wasn't for him, none of this would be here. He's an extremely important horse and stallions like him are extremely important for this country. You've seen it with Le Havre (Ire), Siyouni (Fr), Wootton Bassett (GB), the whole country is propped up by them because they attract breeders from abroad. Also, they prop up the sales. So we need stallions like that.

“There has been a short-supply of top-class stallions in France and then we had three or four good ones at the same time. I don't know why that is. Siyouni is getting old, Le Havre is dead and now Wootton Bassett is gone. There is an opening and we need new good ones coming through. French people know that and, without mares, it doesn't matter how good Sealiway is, we need the mares. We are in the process of sorting out the mares for him this year and the important thing is numbers.”

If La Hetraie boasted the best food of the tour, well then the biggest crowd was recorded at Haras de Bonneval, where over 100 people turned out to see Siyouni and co strut their stuff during one of the afternoon sessions on Saturday.

Siyouni may have been the star attraction but Zarak (Fr), one of the hottest properties the country has to offer and set to stand for €60,000 this term, sent tongues wagging. Even Alain De Royer-Dupre turned out to say a few words about his Group 1-winning son of Dubawi (Ire) who has quickly made his mark at stud.


One of the more famous studs in France, Haras de Bouquetot, were provided with an opportunity to showcase some of its newbies, with Galileo Gold (GB) having made the move from Tally-Ho to stand alongside fellow newcomer Thunder Moon (Ire). Armor (GB) should make plenty of appeal to breeders, being a speedy son of No Nay Never, but there was no doubting the star attraction, as Wooded (Ire) wowed everyone in attendance and makes plenty of sense at €12,000.

Whether you are a high-end breeder on the Flat, want to produce the next big jumping star or are in search of a bit of value over both codes, the 2023 Route des Etalons confirms that there is something for everyone in France.

Three takeaways from the Route des Etalons
After a helter-skelter two days touring some of the best studs in France, here are some takeaways from a memorable trip.

Important Newbies
Mathieu Alex obviously has a vested interest in seeing Sealiway succeed but he spoke frankly and honestly about the need for another superstar stallion in France.

Siyouni is obviously operating at his pomp and, if Zarak continues on the trajectory that he is on, he could well take over the mantle but the importance of horses like Sealiway and Mishriff entering the stud book in France cannot be understated. Let's hope they are a success as there is clearly an opening there.

Exciting Times For Haras d'Etreham
Haras de Etreham managed Wootton Bassett from a €6,000 freshman to becoming a €40,000 stallion after just seven seasons before Coolmore swooped in and secured a deal for him to stand in Ireland in 2021 where he stands to this day for a cool €150,000.

Have Etreham uncovered the next Wootton Bassett in either Persian King or Hello Youmzain? That is obviously an exceptionally high bar to aim for but the early signs are promising.

In Persian King, Etreham can offer breeders a quality son of Kingman who has plenty of size while Hello Youmzain is exactly what you'd expect one of the fastest sons of Kodiac to look like.
The first foals by both stallions went down well in 2022, with some notable names signing for the progeny of the two, and it appears as though the future is bright for everyone at the famous French stud.

Dominance Of The Jumps
The dominance of the French-breds over jumps in Britain and Ireland is nothing new and a major highlight of the trip was getting the chance to see Kapgarde and No Risk At All in the flesh.
On Saturday, the Willie Mullins-trained It's For Me (Fr) (Jeu St Eloi {Fr}) shot to the head of the Champion Bumper betting when bolting up in a Navan bumper for Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.

Jeu St Eloi is more or less an unknown as a stallion in Britain and Ireland, which goes back to the point made about France's ability as a nation to churn out top-class horses time and time again from relatively obscure origins.


Beaumec De Houelle (Fr) could be the next sleeper of a stallion for National Hunt breeders to take note of. One of the only sons of Martaline (GB) to stand in France, he won five of his six starts, including the G1 three-year-old hurdle at Auteuil in 2018.

Of course, jumps horses retiring to stud is nothing new in France, with Balko being another example, whereas it is quite rare in Ireland. Apart from Nickname, few entires have competed at the highest level, although who's to say what heights Sir Eric would have reached had he not suffered a fatal injury.

The French do things differently, that's for sure, and they are all the better for it. The proof, as they say, is in the eating, and there was a lot to digest on this trip.

The post “Everyone Is Welcome,” – Opportunity Knocks On La Route Des Etalons appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Almanzor and Persian King Head Etreham Roster

Almanzor (Fr), who was recently represented by his first Group 1 winner in Australia, will stand at the reduced fee of €25,000 for 2023. Among his potential top-class 3-year-olds for next season are the Aga Khan's unbeaten Rajapour (Fr), winner of the Listed Prix Isonomy at Deauville last month, and Ecurie Billon's Around Midnight (Fr), who was beaten a short-head for second in the G3 Prix des Reservoirs.

Also commanding a fee of €25,000 for next season is the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Persian King (Ire), who has his first foals on the ground this year. Like Almanzor, his fee has been clipped from €30,000. The son of Kingman (GB) remained in training at four to take the G1 Prix d'Ispahan and G1 Prix du Moulin, and also finished third in the Arc.

His fellow Etreham resident Hello Youmzain (Fr) has also been represented by his first crop of foals this year from a debut book of 128 mares, and the dual Group 1-winning sprinter will stand next season at €22,500, trimmed slightly from €25,000.

Completing the stud's Flat roster is City Light (Fr), a son of French champion sire Siyouni (Fr) who will have his first runners on the track next year. His fee has remained at €7,000.

“I would like to take the opportunity of this announcement to thank breeders once again for their loyalty and continuing support in 2022,” said Haras d'Etreham's Nicolas de Chambure. 

“With the aim of optimising the value of the investment of breeders who place their trust in us and support our stallions, we reaffirm our conviction to limit each of our sires to 140 mares per year. This limit ensures a certain rarity appeal and guarantees value for their progeny.”

The fees for Haras d'Etreham's National Hunt stallions will be announced soon.

The post Almanzor and Persian King Head Etreham Roster appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights