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Beaumont has Ace in the Hole in a Stellar French Intake

The stallion business, just like many other aspects of life in the racing world, is a cyclical one. Riding the high waves is easy, but arguably of most importance is to keep paddling away below the water line when things are a little flat.

Keen observers of the French scene will detect a swell on the horizon. Following the untimely demise of Le Havre (Ire) and the sale to Coolmore of Wootton Bassett (GB), Siyouni (Fr) has been almost a lone head bobbing along in the elite waters, but the pool of talent is swiftly being refilled. A strong intake of stallions in France this year has an obvious leading player in the unbeaten Prix du Jockey Club and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Ace Impact (Ire), whose light shone brightly, if a little too briefly for some, during the summer of 2023.

The son of Cracksman (GB) has joined Haras de Beaumont, which, in less than two years of existence, is already home to the busiest French stallion of the year in Sealiway (Fr). That dual Group 1 winner will now have to make room for Ace Impact as he embarks on his new career as the most expensive first-season sire in the country for 2024 at a fee of €40,000.

Mathieu Alex runs Haras de Beaumont for Kamel Chehboub, who bought a 50% share in Ace Impact from Serge Stempniak midway through the season, and whose daughter Pauline is also heavily involved with the stud and the family's horses in training, who compete under the name of Gousserie Racing.

“Serge Stempniak, who previously owned 100%, made it very clear when we approached him that he would like the horse to stand in France,” Alex explains. “Obviously Kamel and his family were very ambitious from day one. With Haras de Beaumont the idea was to try to have the best possible stallion prospects.”

Plenty of breeders have already had the chance to inspect Ace Impact during the week of the Breeding Stock Sale at Arqana, just 10 minutes down the road from Beaumont, which sits on part of the estate of the storied Haras du Quesnay. It is a safe bet that the stud will also be inundated with visitors during La Route des Etalons on the weekend of January 20 and 21.

“Haras de Beaumont was created last year, summer 2022, really. And when we had our first discussion with Kamel about this project, it was always very clear for him that standing stallions was an important part of the movement,” says Alex.

“Obviously it started with Sealiway. He and his family were the owners of Sealiway, a top-class performer, so it was a nice introduction, you know, to be able to stand a horse like Sealiway. But we never could have thought that a year or two in we'd be standing on a horse like Ace Impact. It's great for the team. It's great for me. It's great for France.”

He continues, “I think his acceleration is probably what everyone is talking about. And the fact that he's unbeaten is a big deal. His trainer did a wonderful job in the way he spaced time between the races and targeted the best races he could. He was extremely impressive in the French Derby because he was so far back, yet very relaxed. And when you think that he was probably ten lengths behind Big Rock at the end of the straight and won by two and a half lengths beating that Group 1 winner, it's extraordinary.”

It is easy to forget that Ace Impact was still unraced at this time last year. Between the end of January and the beginning of October, he ran six times in a faultless progression from maiden to champion. Shortly after the horse's retirement, his trainer Jean-Claude Rouget told TDN why he had chosen to start the horse off at Cagnes-sur-Mer in January.

“I prefer to give [my horses] experience and, to me, Cagnes-sur-Mer is a very good track,” he said. “I used to send 30 or 40 horses every winter. I did the same with Raabihah. She should have won the Diane for me. She was a close fourth, and after [Cagnes] she won [a Listed race] in Longchamp. I consider running in January to be the same as running in November. I don't push my horses to start. First time out I want there to be no risk.”

With Frankel's son Onesto (Ire) retiring to Haras d'Etreham for the coming season, Ace Impact extends that line again to the next generation and also increases the amount of Galileo blood available at Beaumont. Alongside Galileo's grandson Sealiway, there is also the dependable Intello (Ger), a son of Galileo whose season has been lifted by his dual Group 1-winning son Junko (GB).

Ace Impact's dam Absolutly Me (Fr) is a daughter of another Prix du Jockey Club winner in Anabaa Blue (GB), which brings in some inbreeding to the influential mare Allegretta (GB), whose daughters Urban Sea and Allez les Trois appear on opposite sides of Ace Impact's pedigree as the dams of Galileo and Anabaa Blue respectively.

“Ace Impact is obviously from the Frankel line and his dam has produced five runners, five winners, and three black-type horses, including a champion. She's a good mare. And it's a nice combination between speed–Cracksman's dam is by Pivotal–and obviously stamina,” says Alex.

“Because he never raced outside France, we've had a lot of people coming to see him–Americans, Japanese, obviously [breeders from] Europe, England, Ireland, Germany, France. You know, it's very exciting. They all come with the excitement of coming to see a champion, and to see him physically is very important. He's going down very well.”

As Pauline Chehboub greeted those breeders through early December, she was able to bring them into the stud office for refreshments alongside the imposing trophy presented for the horse's final race, which is a replica of the Arc de Triomphe itself.

She casts her mind back to that day at Lonchamp in October. “The preparation was so good. Jean-Claude Rouget was so happy with him, so there was no pressure until the week of the race,” she says. “It was crazy to have the Arc favourite, an unbeaten three-year-old. So it was a memorable day, maybe [the most memorable] in our life.”

Chehboub continues, “It's special that we're just a new stud, a new project; and to have a champion like that, just one year after the beginning is incredible. And we are very happy with Sealiway, too, because he was the most popular stallion in France this season, for his first season.”

But this year, it's the Cartier champion three-year-old colt that people are flocking to see. She adds of Ace Impact, “Everybody wants to see him, to touch him. He's not a legend, but he will be, I hope so. He's special and it means a lot to us.”

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Frankel’s Tour de Force Brings French Champion Honours

Having provided the winners of this year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Prix de Diane, Prix Jacques le Marois, Grand Prix de Paris and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Frankel (GB), unsurprisingly, has been named the champion sire of France in 2022. He ceded his position as champion in Britain and Ireland to Dubawi (Ire), whom he finished in front of when it comes to overall European earnings.

Of the winners of the above named Group 1 races–Alpinista (GB), Nashwa (GB), Inspiral (GB) and Onesto (Ire)–all bar Alpinista remain in training in 2023 giving Frankel an impressive battalion of older horses, which should also include 2021 Derby hero Adayar (Ire) and Irish Derby winner Westover (GB). Then of course in the Classic division for next season there's Chaldean (GB), who is in the running to be named European champion 2-year-old when the 2022 international classifications are announced in January.

There are few certainties in life, let alone in horseracing, but what we can say with some certainty is that these titles so early in Frankel's stud career will only be multiplied as the years progress.

Leaving aside this interloper in French territory, the Aga Khan Studs resident Siyouni (Fr), who was champion in his home country in 2021, again finished best of his compatriots and second in the table overall. He is the great hope for now as France seeks up-and-coming stallions to show themselves worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as him, Le Havre (Ire), who died in March and was ninth overall this year, and Wootton Bassett (GB), who was bought by Coolmore in 2020 and relocated to Ireland.

Siyouni was more than €3 million behind Frankel in prize-money and he now owns a truly international reputation. For the past two years he has been available to cover mares to southern hemisphere time and he notched a new Group 1 winner in Australia, the extremely promising 3-year-old filly Amelia's Jewel (Aus), in November. In Europe his star of 2022 was Tahiyra (Ire), who earned her Group 1 laurels in Ireland on just her second start in the Moyglare Stud S. The Aga Khan-bred half-sister to Tarnawa (Ire) must be considered one of the leading female Classic contenders for next season.

It would be no surprise to see Siyouni start to make a proper mark as a broodmare sire, too. His leading light in this regard is Erevann (Fr), a son of Dubawi and Siyouni's first Classic winner Ervedya (Fr), who in 2022 won the G2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein and was third in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois. He looks a Group 1 winner in waiting.

Lope De Vega (Ire) of course plied his own trade in France during his racing days and was, like his sire Shamardal, a dual Classic winner there. In 2022, he sired his highest number of stakes winners (24), with three of his four Group 1 winners triumphing in France. They were led by Dreamloper (Ire), whose two top-level victories came at Longchamp, in the Prix d'Ispahan and the Prix du Moulin. Sweet Lady (Fr) landed the Prix Vermeille and Place Du Carrousel (Ire) broke the hearts of Nashwa fans in the Prix de l'Opera.

Churchill (Ire), whose first-crop runners were 3-year-olds in 2022, had only 26 representatives in France through the year. However, exactly 50% of them won, and they included both of the Coolmore sire's Group 1 winners to date. Of those, Vadeni (Fr) backed up his victory in the 'stallion-making' Prix du Jockey Club by taking on his elders when travelling to England to win the Eclipse. He is a highly exciting individual to follow next year when considering he wasn't beaten far when third to Luxembourg (Ire) in the Irish Champion S. and was subsequently only half a length behind Alpinista when trying 12 furlongs for the first time in the Arc.

Then from Churchill's second crop came Blue Rose Cen (Ire), who was asked lots of questions during her debut season by her young trainer Christopher Head, and generally answered them with ease, winning four of her six starts, including the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and G3 Prix d'Aumale.

Churchill was the fourth-leading sire in France in 2022 and managed a top-10 finish overall in Europe when leading his intake in ninth place overall, splitting Kingman (GB) and Siyouni, which is no mean feat for a second-season sire. His haul of seven stakes winners included the Group 2 scorers The Foxes (Ire) and Ladies Church (GB).

Of Churchill's contemporaries, Zarak (Fr) continued his ascent and was 11th overall in the French sire rankings. Most impressive was his tally of seven stakes winner (8.5%), which included the G2 Prix de Sandringham winner Purplepay (Fr), while La Parisienne (Fr) was placed in both the G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Prix Vermeille. That elusive Group 1 winner will surely not be far away.

We heard plenty about Dubawi in Thursday's appraisal of the leading sires in Britain and Ireland, where he was crowned champion for the first time. The Darley sire was fifth in the French table, having sired the Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Modern Games (Ire), who went on to glory at the Breeders' Cup for the second time, and Dubawi finished just ahead of the second of the French domestic sires, Dabirsim (Fr).

It is hard to consider Dabirsim as much more than a useful sire. From six crops of runners he has sired two Group 3 winners and another five stakes winners, but he does get plenty of winners and was second only to Siyouni in this regard. There was a flurry of excitement when he was represented by the G3 Albany S. winner Different League (Fr) in his first crop, and the offspring of the large book of mares that he covered the following year (2018) were 3-year-olds in 2022. Having stood his first two seasons in Germany at Gestut Karlshof, he moved to France's Haras de Grandcamp and from 2023 will be in his new home of Haras de Montaigu.

One can only admire Kendargent (Fr), the blue-collar lad of the French stallion ranks, who, as a non-stakes winner still has his name printed in upper and lower case in the France Galop table, which in itself, ironically, makes him stand out. And stand out he should because by now it has been well documented that from pretty humble beginnings, he has put his owner Guy Pariente's Haras de Colleville firmly on the map. He finished seventh in the table this year, his lowest ranking since 2017, having been third and fourth in the last three years. Furthermore, he is not only a successful sire but appears to be an up-and-coming broodmare sire.

Goldikova's brother Anodin (Ire), who is now at Haras de la Haie Neuve after starting his career at Haras du Quesnay, was represented by two stakes winners in 2022 and was eighth in the table ahead of the late Le Havre.

Saxon Warrior (Jpn) made a pleasing start to his stud career and ended the year as the leading first-crop sire in France. That was thanks in no small part to his GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Victoria Road (Ire), who, prior to jetting to America, won both the G3 Prix de Conde and Listed Criterium du FEE. But he wasn't his sire's sole group winner in France, as Moon Ray (Fr) won the G3 Prix Miesque, while Gan Teorainn (Ire) was runner-up in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac.

Adlerflug's Reputation Continues to Fly High

For the third year in a row Adlerflug (Ger) was the champion sire in Germany, though regrettably his premature demise in April 2021 means that the last two of those championships have been awarded posthumously. Only Dubawi could better Adlerflug's percentage of 11% stakes winners to runners in Europe in 2022, his top-flight representatives being headed by G1 Grosser Preis von Baden winner Mendocino (Ger) and G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Alenquer (Fr).

Adlerflug's Arc-winning son of 2021, Torquator Tasso (Ger), added the G2 Grosser Hansa-Preis to his record and was third in this year's Arc after runner-up finishes in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. and the Grosser Preis von Baden. He has now joined the stallion barn at Gestut Auenquelle, while Adlerflug's other representatives at stud in Europe include In Swoop (Ire) and his full-brother Ito (Ger), as well as Iquitos (Ger).

Camelot (GB) was represented by the Deutsches Derby and Grosser Dallmayr-Preis winner Sammarco (Ger) and was runner-up in the table ahead of former multiple champion Soldier Hollow (GB), who also features as the broodmare sire of Sammarco.

Sea The Moon (Ger), who, like Adlerflug, was a Deutsches Derby winner during his racing days, has the favourite for that race next year in the form of the G3 Preis der Winterfavoriten winner Fantastic Moon (Ger). The Lanwades resident was fourth in the German rankings, with Areion (Ger), who died earlier this year, in fifth. The latter has been succeeded at stud in Germany by his son Alson (Ger), who stood his first season at Gestut Fahrhof in 2022.

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Sea The Stars Looms Large in French Covering Numbers

The mighty Sea The Stars (Ire) seems to have had more sons retired to the National Hunt stallion division than to the Flat, and he is of course represented by some notable new recruits to the stallion ranks this year in Britain in two of his most celebrated sons, Baaeed (GB) and Stradivarius (GB).

Another son, Crystal Ocean (GB), topped the charts for the number of mares covered in Britain and Ireland in 2022, though of those 338 he of course covered predominantly jump mares at the Beeches Stud in Ireland. Over in France, however, the two busiest Flat stallions were both sons of Sea the Stars, the Group 1 winners Zelzal (Fr) and Cloth Of Stars (Ire), both of whom are bred on the same cross with Kingmambo as Baaeed. Zelzal had the edge and was sent 189 mares at Haras de Bouquetot at his elevated fee of €15,000, with Cloth Of Stars covered 173 at Haras du Logis at €7,000.

The covering shed at Bouquetot was well used last spring. It may surprise some to see Hurricane Run's son Ectot (Ire) so well supported this year following early crops born from 2019 and numbering 43, 52 then 37. But his early runners, which included 'TDN Rising Star' Good Too (Fr) and the listed-placed Al Shaqab homebred Bennetot (Fr), have given his profile a real boost to the point that the well-bred dual Group/Grade 1 winner from Gerry Oldham's prolific black-type family has been lent the level of support his pedigree deserves. Ectot was the sixth busiest Flat stallion in France, and his studmate Toronado (Ire), who is still well supported in both hemispheres, was sent 148 mares. Alongside them at Bouquetot is Romanised (Ire), whose second book numbered 141, while the Group 1-winning sprinter Wooded (Fr), who is at the same stage of his stallion career, covered 112.

Galiway (GB), whose Group 1-winning son Sealiway (Fr) is just about to take up stud duties in Normandy, has taken over from Kendargent (Fr) as the most in-demand stallion at Guy Pariente's Haras de Colleville. The son of Galileo (Ire) was sent 170 mares, while Dubawi's leading son in France, the Aga Khan Studs' Zarak (Fr), a son of the great mare Zarkava (Fr), surpassed celebrated studmate Siyouni (Fr) with 159 disposals; the latter, who was French champion sire in 2021, covered 132.

At Julian Ince's Haras du Logis the stallion ranks increased by two last year, with Victor Ludorum (GB), one of Shamardal's three Group 1-winning juvenile colts of 2019 and later winner of the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains, the busiest newcomer this year on 155.

In a changing landscape on the French stallion stud scene, those sires previously standing at Haras du Quesnay have moved to various pastures new, with Intello (Ger) joining Sealiway next door at Haras de Beaumont and Recoletos (Fr) moving to Haras du Petit Tellier. Goldikova's brother Anodin (Ire) had already moved last year and had a revival of fortunes in covering numbers when sent 140 mares at Haras de la Haie Neuve.

Haras d'Etreham operates a maximum book policy of 140 for its stallions, and four on the Flat roster were all in three figures, with Almanzor (Fr) on 129, Hello Youmzain (Fr) 128, Persian King (GB) 115, and City Light (Fr) 112.

The Grey Gatsby (Ire), who has been at Petit Tellier throughout his stallion career, has made an interesting start at stud with three Group 3 winners to his credit in France, Germany and Italy. His fee jumps from €8,000 to €12,000 in 2023 after a year in which he was sent 120 mares.

The final stallion who just sneaked into three-figure territory is certainly worthy of mention as the Shadwell-bred Motamarris (Ire) entered stud earlier this year just as his popular sire Le Havre (Ire) died. The latter leaves a hole in the French ranks, and Motamarris is of extra interest as he is out of an Anabaa mare of rich heritage. His dam Thamarat (GB) has two stakes-producing daughters–the dams of G1 Irish Derby winner Santiago (Ire) and treble Group 3-winning sprinter Tantheem (GB) respectively–and she is a half-sister to the underrated and now-retired Tamayuz (GB). The family also includes Group 1 winner Eshaada (GB), while Motamarris's third dam is Allez Les Trois, dam of a Classic winner and sister of two Group 1 winners, one of whom just happens to be a mare by the name of Urban Sea.

It will be very interesting to monitor the progress of Motamarris at Matthieu Talleux's Haras du Mazet near Pompadour in the heart of France. His best win was in the Listed Prix de Compiegne, but his third place behind Sottsass (Fr) in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and fourth behind Persian King in the G1 Prix d'Isaphan show that he wasn't too far shy of the top level and it is good to see that he has been given support in his first year at a fee of just €1,800.

Bubbling slightly under the three-figure book mark in France this year were the Colleville father-and-son duo of Kendargent and Goken (Fr) on 80 and 87, respectively. Golden Horde (Ire) covered 84 mares at Sumbe, where he has recently been joined by Mishriff (Ire), while Gutaifan (Ire)'s move from Ireland to Haras des Faunes in south-west France brought about a book of 82, and Haras de Bonneval's Dariyan (Fr) covered 73 mares.

French Flat stallions who covered 100+ mares in 2022

Name, Mares, Sire

Zelzal (Fr) 189 Sea The Stars (Ire)

Cloth Of Stars (Ire) 173 Sea The Stars (Ire)

Galiway (GB) 170 Galileo (Ire)

Zarak (Fr) 159 Dubawi (Ire)

Victor Ludorum (GB) 155 Shamardal

Ectot (GB) 154 Hurricane Run (Ire)

Toronado (Ire) 148 High Chaparral (Ire)

Romanised (Ire) 141 Holy Roman Emperor (Ire)

Anodin (Ire) 140 Anabaa

Siyouni (Fr) 132 Pivotal (GB)

Almanzor (Fr) 129 Wootton Bassett (GB)

Hello Youmzain (Fr) 128 Kodiac (GB)

The Grey Gatsby (Ire) 120 Mastercraftsman (Ire)

Persian King (Ire) 115 Kingman (GB)

Wooded (Fr) 112 Wootton Bassett (GB)

City Light (Fr) 112 Siyouni (Fr)

Motamarris (Fr) 102 Le Havre (Ire)

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Sealiway the Centrepiece at Brand New Beaumont

It is unquestionable that the cessation of the Head family's operation at Haras du Quesnay is a sad development for French breeding but there is at least one phoenix to rise from those ashes in the launch of the Chehboub family's Haras de Beaumont. Set on 100 acres of land formerly owned by Alec and Ghislaine Head on the Quesnay estate, and just across the road from the chateau, the new operation's proximity to Deauville is one major draw, as is the retirement to the French stallion ranks of the dual Group 1 winner Sealiway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), who carried the Chehboubs' green-and-yellow silks of their Haras de la Gousserie with distinction in France and England.

Kamel Chehboub and his daughter Pauline, who plays a key role in the family's racing and breeding interests, campaigned Sealiway in partnership with his breeder Guy Pariente having bought him as a yearling at the Arqana August Sale in 2019. His subsequent rise to Group 1 star is very much a feather in the cap of Pariente's Haras de Colleville, as not only is Sealiway from the first crop of resident stallion Galiway, a son of Galileo (Ire), but his dam Kensea (Fr) was also bred there and is by the stallion that made the farm's name, Kendargent (Fr). Step back one more generation in the pedigree of Sealiway and we find that his second dam Sea Island (Fr), bought inexpensively by Pariente as a yearling, is by the former Quesnay resident Gold Away (Ire). What goes around, comes around.

The success of this horse on the racecourse has in no small way driven the Chehboubs' desire to make a major impact on the French scene by launching their own stallion operation. Sealiway has been joined at Haras de Beaumont by the 12-year-old Intello (Ger), whose stud career thus far has been split between Quesnay and Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket, and the George Strawbridge-bred Stunning Spirit (GB), a Group 3-winning miler by Invincible Spirit (Ire) in the same colours as Sealiway who started his stud career at Haras de Hoguenet and has his first foals on the ground this year. It is plain, however, that this new venture very much centres on one horse.

“Sealiway, It starts with him,” says Pauline Chehboub. “We have a horse like him, a champion, and we wanted to do the best for him. We are very proud to offer Sealiway in France. He won the Champion Stakes in the UK and he was the best two-year-old in France.”

The Chehboubs are certainly not newcomers to the racing scene. Hailing from Marseille, Kamel and his brother Bouzid raced the 2008 GI Arlington Million winner Spirit One (Fr) (Anabaa Blue {GB}) who spent some years at stud in France. They already own Haras de la Gousserie in the Loire region, and they also enjoyed a major victory on Arc weekend last year when Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}) won the G1 Prix de l'Opera. She was subsequently sold for €3 million to Peter Brant and Michael Tabor and went on to win this season's GI EP Taylor S. for Chad Brown.

Running a commercial stallion operation is a new direction, however, and the family has played a masterstroke in appointing Mathieu and Emilie Alex to run Haras de Beaumont. Mathieu Alex, who cut his teeth in the business with a lengthy stint at Coolmore, was a key player in the success of Haras de la Cauviniere, later Montfort et Preaux, and its flagship stallion Le Havre (Ire), who died earlier this year.

Pauline Chehboub adds, “We are very happy to establish this new project in France and to do that with family and with a good team like Mathieu and Emilie. That's super exciting.”

Alex is all too aware of the commercial imperatives key to launching a new stallion when he says, “It's clear [Sealiway had] quite an extraordinary racing career because he won his first race as a two-year-old in May over six furlongs. He had the speed to win over six. He won the Champion Stakes over ten. He was second only to St Mark's Basilica in the French Derby, which is a great stallion-making race. He was a champion two-year-old in France.

“It's the interesting part about him. Because he raced at two, three and four people forget, but he was extremely good as a two-year-old and had a lot of precocity, and there is a lot of precocity in his pedigree. And that's one of the targets with him, to try to target that two-year-old market as well.”

Sealiway, who had only arrived at Haras de Beaumont three days in advance of TDN's visit in early December, is certainly playing his part well so far. A relaxed individual who appears to enjoy posing for the camera, he is an easy-moving horse who will surely draw admirers as visitors descend on the new stud through the early months of 2023 and for the Route des Etalons on January 21 and 22.

“Sealiway is obviously a very important horse for for the this new operation and this farm,” Alex continues. “The owners want to support the horse. It's so important not only to send good mares to the horse, but also to raise [the offspring] properly and send them to good trainers. It doesn't always work, but this is the formula we like to follow.”

Alex acknowledges that the former inhabitants of the land now known as Haras de Beaumont set a formidable example to follow.

He says, “It's part of the Quesnay, which has been extremely successful. It's going to be very difficult to do as well as the Head family but we'll try hard for sure. And we are very fortunate to have this land. A lot of champions have been bred here. Treve has been raised here. So, you know, it's a dream for us, but we work hard for it. This location as well, when you're standing stallions, we are 10 minutes away from Deauville, so when people are at the sales, they can give us a call, we have a shuttle, they come here, they'll see the horses, and they can be back in town 10 minutes later.”

Sealiway is of course not alone in the new stallion barn. His fellow Galileo-line sire Intello is rising 13 and has the Group/Grade 1 winners Intellogent (Ire) and Adhamo (Ire) to his credit. Stunning Spirit, meanwhile, hails from the Strawbridge family that produced Group 1 winner Rainbow View (Dynaformer), a sister to his dam.

“Intello has got an extraordinary ratio of stakes horses, 11% stakes performers to runners, which is huge,” Alex notes. “And he's a very well-bred, good-looking horse. He was a French Derby winner, and he's a proven sire at a very reasonable fee, so we are very happy to have him, and we are also going to stand Stunning Spirit, who is a group winner by Invincible Spirit and his dam is a full-sister to Group 1 winner.”

As outlined by Alex, the Chehboub family plans to support Sealiway with a number of mares from their own broodmare band as well as some recent purchases, including Key Success (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), the dam of black-type earners Axdavali (Fr) (Goken {Fr}) and Axdaliva (Fr) (Elusive City), bought at Arqana last weekend.

Pauline Chehboub says, “We bought three mares at Goffs especially for him: one by Dubawi, one by Acclamation in foal to Sea The Stars, and another Group 1-placed [mare], so we'll send maybe 25 or 30 mares to him this year.”

Pauline will have her work cut out as she oversees the family's stable in Chantilly, which is the base of trainer Ludovic Rovisse. Their 55 horses in training are also spread between a number of trainers including Jean-Claude Rouget, Francis-Henri Graffard, Yann Barberot and Didier Guillemin.

“I have a lot of trainers to follow and we have maybe 25 two-year-olds, so it is very busy,” she says. “But I love the breeding, it is my passion, so I will help Mathieu and Emilie and spend time in Deauville and Chantilly.”

She adds of Sealiway's recent retirement from the Graffard yard, “It was a special moment when he left the stable at Chantilly for the last time because there was a lot of sentiment for this horse. He has been different class from the beginning, since my father saw him as a yearling. He's a good mover, he could do short distances and Classic distances so, for me, he had everything.”

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