Value Sires Part IV: It’s All Relative

We're at the top end now when it comes to stallion fees, but there is quite a range to those prices, which for this feature is anything above £/€20,000. There is of course a massive difference, certainly when it comes to value, in a stallion standing at £35,000 and one at £350,000. In fact, we have two at that latter fee, which makes Frankel (GB) and Dubawi (Ire), the champion sires of the last two years in Britain and Ireland, the most expensive stallions in the world.

Those two representatives of Juddmonte and Darley respectively live within a mile of each other as the crow flies over the stud farms encircling Newmarket. Add to that mighty pair the names of Kingman (GB) at £125,000 and Baaeed (GB) at £80,000, and you have four of the top ten European stallions by price all within that square mile of excellence. 

It's not all about Newmarket, of course, with the Aga Khan Studs standing the most expensive stallion in France, Siyouni (Fr), at €200,000, the same fee commanded by their Sea The Stars (Ire) in Ireland, where he matches Wootton Bassett (GB), who heads the Coolmore roster. The lucky ones among us were those who jumped aboard the Siyouni and Wootton Bassett supporters' buses when those two stallions started out at €7,000 and €6,000 respectively. In bloodstock, as in life, there's a lot to be said for those who have carved out their own lofty niches from humble origins. 

Of course, with this level of sire power, one needs a mare of equally high standing, whether on the racecourse or as a producer or both. Many of the resulting offspring are retained to race by major owner-breeders, and those that do make it to the sales ring can be expected to fetch the level of return that could make even these high fees look good value. It's all relative. 

Dependable

At a more reachable level for many breeders comes this dependable trio – two we can most certainly call stalwarts and one who stamped his presence on the business with his first few crops. 

We discussed Yeomanstown Stud's Dark Angel (Ire) in greater depth in TDN last August. For 2024, he remains at €60,000, which was his fee for the preceding three seasons and down from three years at €85,000 between 2018 and 2020. Admittedly, his yearling sales average, which was in six figures for seven straight seasons, has dipped a little in the last few years and to a certain degree he is perhaps a victim of his own success, with various sons and other younger stallions of a similar profile encroaching on this popular sprinter/miler territory. But he had 77 yearlings sold at an average of £88,637 in 2023 which isn't bad going and, now 19, he was also third in the general sires' table behind Frankel and Dubawi.

From one O'Callaghan family farm to another, we switch to Tally-Ho Stud. At 23, Kodiac (GB) is into veteran territory but he is also at his lowest fee for nine years at €35,000. You pretty much know what you're going to get with him because he's been there, done that, siring plenty of fast colts and fillies and regularly providing the highest number of winners in a season. He hasn't lost his touch, as demonstrated last year by his Group 1-winning son and now stable-mate Good Guess (GB) and the G2 Lowther S. winner Relief Rally (Ire).

Before Good Guess gets a shot at the title, the most credible threat to Kodiac's crown within the Tally-Ho empire comes from Mehmas (Ire), who tore up the first-season sire record books in 2020 and has continued to build on that great start. His European results are backed up by some notable success in America, which should put his sales stock, whether as yearlings or horses in training, on the radar of a wider range of buyers, and at €50,000 in 2024, his fee has come down from last year's high of €60,000. 

His two-year-olds of this year were conceived in his first book after that break-out season of 2020, so we can expect the level of of his mates that year to have risen in line with his fee. That is not always a guarantee of increased success but I wouldn't want to bet against Mehmas continuing to be one of the most exciting younger sires in the European ranks. His equable temperament, and that of many of his offspring, appears to be what sets him apart.

Versatile

If you're looking for a stallion with the potential to get you a Classic winner at a mid-level price then the names of Teofilo (Ire) at €30,000, Sea The Moon (Ger) at £32,500, and Galiway (GB) at €30,000 should all be considered.

It would be wrong to compartmentalise Teofilo as a staying stallion, though he is very good at that, as his Melbourne Cup-winning sons Without A Fight (Ire), Twilight Payment (Ire) and Cross Counter (GB) show, not to mention the Ascot Gold Cup winner Subjectivist (GB). But there is much more in Teofilo's playbook than that, and he remains a hugely dependable sire across the distances, and of fillies too, from the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Pleascach (Ire) to Irish St Leger winner Voleuse De Coeurs (Ire). If you also factor in some of his achievements as a broodmare sire – Coroebus (Ire), Mac Swiney (Ire), Cachet (Ire) and Dreamloper (Ire) are among the Group 1 winners in that category – and a case can be made for Teofilo being an elite sire at a much more affordable fee than some in that category. 

Sea The Moon has defied the level of commercial acceptability usually granted to winners of the Deutsches Derby and throughout his career to date has posted very consistent sales returns via his yearlings. His fee has remained sensible – starting at £15,000 for the first six seasons, and then rising steadily to £22,500, then £25,000 and to his current high of £32,500. No doubt helped by the fact that he tends to get very good-looking stock, Sea The Moon has a following in both hemispheres despite never having left Lanwades since retiring to stud, and he coasts into 2024 having sired the winners of the equivalents of the Derby and the Oaks in his native Germany, where he is the champion sire.

Climbing up the ranks in France is Galiway, whose two Group 1 winners are the full-brothers Sealiway (Fr), who was also busy last year at Haras de Beaumont, and Classic prospect Sunway (Fr). We can perhaps expect Galiway to make as much of an impact at the Cheltenham Festival as he may do at Chantilly or Epsom, and that has increased his appeal to the National Hunt crowd, with another of his sons, Kenway (Fr), having recently joined Coolagown Stud in Ireland. 

But it is the Flat with which we are chiefly concerned here, and Galiway's French yearling results last year – six sold at Arqana in August for an average of €131,667 and 23 in October for a €44,761 average, all from his 2021 fee of €12,000 fee – make him a stallion worthy of closer attention. Since 2021, his price has increased to €30,000.

The Next Step

This year is a critical one for the two young stallions who made the biggest impression with their first-crop runners in 2023. Understandably, both Blue Point (Ire) and Too Darn Hot (GB) have been given fee increases, the former from €35,000 to €60,000 and the latter from £40,000 to £65,000. Getting a mare in to either of these Darley stallions might have been the toughest first challenge for the many breeders who wanted to use them at their higher fees. There is plenty of sales-ring and some racecourse evidence to back up those decisions, and a Group 1-winning three-year-old, preferably a Classic winner, will be required to keep these reputations soaring.

A year ahead of them is Coolmore's Sioux Nation, whose juveniles of this year were conceived at his lowest fee of €10,000. He is now at €27,500 thanks to the exploits of the hugely likeable Brave Emperor (Ire) and Matilda Picotte (Ire) among his 10 Group winners from his two crops of runners to race. Sioux Nation was third in the second-season sires' table last year behind Ace Impact's sire Cracksman (GB) and Havana Grey (GB), and while the latter had the highest number of black-type winners (11), Sioux Nation was represented by the most Group winners of this intake (7). He is definitely a horse to watch, even though his fee has increased by €10,000 in the last year.

Everything to Prove

I'm going to pitch in two names here who are teetering on the brink of triumph or disaster. That's not actually true, of course, but such is the knee-jerk reaction to the early results of stallions by industry people who really should know better, that some horses can be commercially 'dead' before we have even had a proper chance to see what they can do. If mass desertion by breeders follows then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that the stallion will fail, sometimes through no actual fault of his own, other than the fact that he is unlikely to get you a Brocklesby winner. 

Anyway, as I climb down off my soapbox for the umpteenth time with the fading hope that folks will just wait'n'see awhile, I will put forward Ghaiyyath (Ire) at €25,000 and Hello Youmzain (Fr) at €22,500 as two of the more interesting names among those with first runners in 2024. 

A dual Group 1-winning son of Kodiac, Hello Youmzain's yearlings were in demand in Deauville last year and he must be odds-on to be France's leading first-season sire this year. He covered 140 mares in his first season at Haras d'Etreham at his opening fee of €25,000.

Ghaiyyath's fee has also been trimmed slightly from his starting point of €30,000. Not all sons of Dubawi are created equal, of course, and there is now no shortage of them at stud, but Night Of Thunder (Ire), bred on the same cross as the 130-rated Ghaiyyath, and Too Darn Hot, bred on a similar cross, have set the bar high. 

Both Hello Youmzain and Ghaiyyath became Group winners themselves for the first time in the second half of their juvenile seasons. If their offspring can follow suit, it is easy to imagine that both stallions could be more expensive by this time next year.

TDN Value Podium

Bronze: Acclamation (GB), Rathbarry Stud, €25,000

If we are spruiking Dark Angel and Mehmas in this piece, then we must have their sire on the podium. At 25, Acclamation is still going strong and is an increasingly significant influence. As last year's G1 Hong Kong Cup and G1 Cox Plate winner Romantic Warrior (Ire) showed, he is far from just a one-trick pony, though he is obviously best known as a sire of sprinters, with the brilliant Marsha (Ire) among them. Al Shaqab's Orne (Ire), who was bred at home by Rathbarry, has Classic claims ahead of this season, and with Acclamation's fee sliding down from his career-high of €40,000 in 2018 and 2019, he's very much still one to keep on your side. 

Silver: Pinatubo (Ire), Dalham Hall Stud, £35,000

Perhaps boosted by the success of his fellow son of Shamardal, Blue Point, last year, Pinatubo seems to be many people's idea of this season's leading freshman in waiting. If you had the chance to see him last week during Darley's open days, then it would be hard to disagree, as he has swagger and substance in spades. 

His yearling average of almost £154,000 for 41 sold tells of his commercial popularity to date. It's up to him now, and up his sleeve he has the fact that he is from the same family as Invincible Spirit and Kodiac. 

Pinatubo has remained at £35,000 throughout his stud career and that could look very reasonable if his stock live up to expectations this year. 

Gold: Sottsass (Fr), Coolmore, €25,000

We hear a lot about 'stallion-making races' and I'm not sure I believe in the concept, but all we need to know about Sottsass is that he won the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe – two races that most owners would give their eyeteeth to win – not to mention the G1 Prix Ganay and G2 Prix Niel. He was also third in the Arc as a three-year-old behind the older horses Waldgeist (GB) and Enable (GB).

Sottsass is from one of the current 'it' families, with his half-siblings including the stellar Sistercharlie (Ire) and My Sister Nat (Fr), while full-brother Shin Emperor (Fr) looks a Grade 1, or even Classic, winner in the making in Japan this year.

He is the first cab off the rank when it comes to Coolmore's sons of Siyouni (Fr). In general, his first yearlings looked athletic and together, and they may raise a few eyebrows by coming to hand sooner than expected. More importantly, however, they should go on, and as we know, it's best to rely on a Classic winner to get you a Classic winner.

 

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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.”

 

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Kentucky Derby-Winning Owner and Agent Ramiro Restrepo Excited For Arqana

DEAUVILLE, France–Ramiro Restrepo has arrived. Fresh off the plane, the first port of call is to pay a visit to Etreham's base in Barn C, where his Hello Youmzain (Fr) colt (lot 38) is based.

The Kentucky Derby-winning owner and bloodstock agent has not seen the colt since he purchased him as a foal here at Arqana in December but it doesn't take long to gauge his approval.

“Man I am pumped,” a larger-than-life Restrepo effuses as the colt exits his stable. There is a certain amount of showmanship to Restrepo, as anyone on the other side of the Atlantic will confirm, but his appreciation of what a good horse looks like is genuine.

His arrival on the international scene as a bloodstock agent and owner was fast-tracked by Mage (Good Magic), the brilliant winner of this year's Kentucky Derby, who has left Restrepo sitting high amongst his peers–a place where he is more than comfortable.

“Winning the Kentucky Derby is the realisation of a dream on so many levels,” he says. “There have only been 149 Kentucky Derby winners and for us to be the 149th is amazing. To think that from now until the end of time, your name is going to be up there with the luminaries of the sport and that Mage's name will be up there with some of the most successful racehorses we have seen, it's just a dream.”

He added, “It's opened up a few doors and it's just been an amazing amount of attention and love sent your way, which is just indescribable. I pinhooked a Breeders' Cup winner [Structor] in 2019 and that gave me the confidence. But when you achieve a Grade I Kentucky Derby win, it's like a holy grail, you know.

“So many famous and important people in our industry have been chasing that and haven't been able to achieve it. And to say that you're able to do that, you look around and are so grateful for the team because it takes a village to get something like this accomplished. It's been a life changer for all of us.”

If Restrepo once walked this sale ground as a little-known American-based bloodstock agent, Mage has changed that. He has been coming to Arqana since 2018 but this week marks his first trip to the August Yearling Sale and he plans to make it a memorable one.

“I came here for the first time with a group of Americans in 2018 and we walked around the sales grounds and I got, you know, full fever. I ended up buying a No Nay Never colt who we sold for a tidy profit as a two-year-old in training. That was right at the time when No Nay Never was really taking off.

“So, in my career, first-crop stallions have always been something that I've been drawn to. If you were to look at a highlight of the horses who I have bought that went on to either sell well or perform well on the racetrack, they've all been sons or daughters of first-crop sires.”

Arqana lot 38, a Hello Youmzain (Fr) colt owned by Ramiro Restrepo and Haras d'Etreham | Etreham photo

In many ways, lot 38 is a Restrepo special. Bought in partnership with Nicolas de Chambure of Haras d'Etreham for €67,000 with the help of Hubie de Burgh and Martin Buick at the December Breeding Stock Sale, the Hello Youmzain colt fits Restrepo's tried-and-trusted model.

By an unproven sire who was a deadly fast racehorse, winning twice at the highest level, including the Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot, there is scope for the share price in the progeny of Hello Youmzain to rise this week. That's the hope at least.

“I was here last winter with Hubie de Burgh and Martin Buick, who are two amazing people. Obviously Hubie is an amazing judge of equine talent and Martin has been a good pal and we were walking the sales ground together.

“They were shopping for some racehorses but at the same time there were some foals that I kept seeing. This Hello Youmzain colt caught my eye. I've been a big fan of Hello Youmzain, being a son of Kodiac (GB), and you saw him do some nice things as a two-year-old before he beat Calyx (GB) in a Group 2 at three, which really caught my attention. Then at four, he obviously won the Diamond Jubilee and became one of the best sprinters in Europe.”

He added, “I know Nico [de Chambure], who obviously stands the stallion, and I asked him if I bought the colt would he be interested in partnering up. Nico had seen the colt and liked him a tonne so we went ahead and got in there and threw some punches. So here we are. He's grown up here [in France] and we're ready to rock. He was accepted to this sale and now hopefully he can do well.”

Lot 38 is just what you'd expect from a son of a top-class sprinter. A fast-looking colt, he has been described as “a baby version” of his sire by Restrepo, who is cautiously optimistic about how he gets on in the ring on Friday.

“I hope everyone here sees what we saw in him way back in December and that he is accepted positively by the marketplace. Hopefully he is purchased by some pretty successful connections and he goes on and has a great career. That's all you can ask for, is to have tempered expectations and then, you know, be very happy if things work out.”

Restrepo added, “As for myself, I'm just really enjoying the sale. I'm also going to be shopping it for the first time. I've been here in the winter, but it's my first summer sale. I just came here on a plane of 50 Americans. Most of them have come here for the first time so there's a lot of excitement to come over here and participate in the sale.

“We've heard about it and read about its success for so long, and it's a blessing to be able to come over here and be a part of it.”

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“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.

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