In 2007, Guy Pariente took a gamble on a horse no one else wanted to stand at stud and built an entire farm around him. Within a few years, Kendargent was one of the most popular stallions in France. So when he came up with another unheralded horse a few years later in Galiway, people said lightning couldn't strike twice.

But after producing Sealiway (Fr)-a Group 1 winner at two and three, and now a popular stallion at stud–Galiway is back with a Classic prospect in his full-brother Sunway (Fr). The siblings are out of the Kendargent mare Kensea (Fr). Pariente, it would appear, is not only a stallion maker, but a stallion breeder as well.

The backstories of both Kendargent and Galiway are similar; Kendargent won two races, was second in the G3 Prix Paul de Moussac, and fourth in the G1 Prix Jean Prat. Galiway also won two races, was twice Group-placed, was fifth in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club, and won a Listed race in his final start at three. There were undoubtedly more than a few eyes rolling when Pariente proclaimed his faith in each of them. Now they're not only working, they're working together.

Galiway was raced by Wertheimer & Frere, and was sidelined by a tendon problem at three. He was within 48 hours of being castrated in order to be brought back to the races as a four-year-old when Pariente stepped in with an offer to buy him and stand him at stud.

“He has the type of profile that Mr. Pariente really likes,” said Sally Ann Grassick, who serves as an international representative for Haras de Colleville. “He doesn't necessarily look for Group winners. He likes a horse with a good pedigree, and his being by Galileo was a real attraction. But he likes horses that have had consistent racing careers, and they don't always have had to have performed at the highest level, but just to have had those positive, promising performances at a certain level. It's the profile that Kendargent had as well. He's not going after those Group 1 horses that every other stallion man might be looking for. But Galiway was on Mr. Pariente's radar from pretty early on in his career.”

Guy Pariente has become a stallion kingmaker | Courtesy Haras de Colleville

Galiway retired to stud in 2016 for an initial fee of €3,000, but after siring eight black-type winners-four at the graded level-his star has risen steadily since. Not that there weren't early doubters.

Grassick said that they did hear the `lightning doesn't strike twice' line early on. “Everybody said that Kendargent was a fluke, was lucky. He was a horse that probably should never have been a stallion. Ninety-nine percent of the farms wouldn't have stood him as a stallion. And only through Mr. Pariente's support of him did he end up being as successful as he has been. He kept buying and sending him mares. And Galiway has been similar. In the early days, Mr. Pariente had these Kendargent mares. He needed a cross that would work with them. And that's why Galiway worked so well. But you can say that he's lucky and you can say that he has the Midas touch and all of those things, but Galiway is the proof. He's come out with another good stallion. He's been so popular and has surpassed what we achieved with Kendargent, which was already unbelievable. But now to have a stallion like Galiway standing here, and the breeders that are supporting him, the mares that are coming to him, it's just gone from strength to strength.”

Kendargent | Zuzanna Lupa

From Galiway's first crop, he not only had a Group 1 winner on the Flat in Sealiway, but one over hurdles as well in Vauban. He's the rare higher-echelon stallion who is equally popular with Flat and National Hunt breeders.

“Sealiway really put Galiway on the map, but the fact that he's backing it up with other horses is now making people sit up and pay attention and take note and want to send him mares,” said Grassick.

His 2024 book is shaping up to be his biggest yet, and is expected to top the 169 mares he covered in 2021 and the 170 he serviced in 2022. Those 2022 foals will hit the track this year, and are from his strongest groups of mares to date.

“We've got some really, really nice mares, but also the support from the breeders,” said Grassick. “You know, we've got the Aga Khan, we've also got the Wertheimers sending mares, and we've outside mares coming from international breeders that have never used our stallions before-top-level breeders. Mr. Pariente is very keen on making him a success internationally. So he feels very strongly about encouraging more foreign breeders to come to France and use Galiway. And so now we have people coming and asking, `how many can I have?' And that's that's a nice problem to have.”

But a horse for the Classics could bring a whole other level of success.

G1 Criterium International Winner Sunway | Scoop-Dyga

“Sunway is a horse that we were always massively excited about,” said Grassick. “But I'll be honest, I never thought he was going to be a true two-year-old. Having seen him as a yearling, I always thought his best was to come as a three-year-old. I was in Doncaster when he was second in the Champagne Stakes last year and I actually messaged Mr. Pariente and said whatever this horse does here is just a bonus, because looking at him next to the other two-year-olds walking around the parade ring, he didn't look the finished article yet. Yet he came out and put up a really good performance that day and then went on and won the Criterium International, so I think this will really be his year.”

Now two-for-four, with that second in the Champagne S., Sunway is being pointed to either the April 7 G3 Prix la Force or the April 14 G3 Prix Fontainebleau at Longchamp. “David Menusier has never hidden what he thinks of this horse. He's called him his Classic hope since halfway through last year. He's just he's a really nice horse and he's just developing and getting stronger and stronger. Mr. Pariente always wanted this to be an international farm. So to then have them performing and racing on the track and having people pay attention and want to come and talk to us about our stallions is is really the end goal for him.”

Kendargent is a sire of sires himself, of course, with Goken (Fr) standing alongside him at Haras de Colleville. In 2023, he was the leading French-based sire of two-year-olds in France by earnings and by percentage of winners to runners (67%). He is the sire of 12 black type horses including Zorken (Fr), a dual Listed-winning two-year-old in 2023, as well as Go Athletico (Fr) and Fang (Fr), both Group 3 winners this year. And of course, he was also owned and bred by Pariente, and stands at Colleville for €15,000.

The fact that pinhookers are coming to France and buying Galiway's foals and then bringing them home to sell at the Irish and English sales is rewarding for the Colleville team, who found primarily French success with Kendargent.

“That's huge for a farm that was started only in 2007,” said Grassick, “and was started by a man who had a horse that he believed in. He bought him to be a racehorse, and he believed in him to be a stallion, and decided to stand him himself when no one else wanted to stand him. So now it's massive for us to have that demand and have people coming, especially to try and buy progeny of Galiway. It really cements what we've done, not just with Kendargent, but now continuing it on with Galiway. It wasn't just potluck. It wasn't a one-trick pony.”

From an initial fee of €3,000 in his first year at stud in 2016, Galiway now commands 10 times that amount.

“I think that the world is his oyster at the moment,” said Grassick. “He's had such success with the crops he's had to date, and it can only get better as he's got bigger crops, but also better quality crops to come. He's got more support than ever before from from really top breeders. For Mr. Pariente, the objective of being a top breeder is huge for him in its own right. But then to be so popular and in demand with all these top breeders, when you've only started your farm in the last 17 years or so, it's a big compliment that all of these breeders going back generations now want to come in and use your stallion. It's a really exciting time to be part of the team with Galiway.”

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By mares covered in 2023, Galiway was second only to his son Sealiway (Fr), the full-brother to Sunway who stands at Haras de Beaumont. Galiway covered 153 mares and Sealiway's first book numbered 166.

Kendargent (Fr), who is the broodmare sire of Sunway and sire of the Group 1 winner Skalleti (Fr), has been trimmed to €15,000 from €17,000, while his son Goken (Fr) remains at €15,000.

Dual-purpose stallion Soft Light (Fr) (Authorized {Ire}) also remains unchanged at €5,000 for his third season at stud.

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Normandie Breeding brought 16 horses to the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale from their operation in Beuvron-en-Auge about 30 minutes southeast of Deauville, after bringing 23 to the October sale and selling 18 of them.

Vitse left Haras de Colleville in 2018 after 11 very successful years there, where he not only oversaw the stallions' careers, but helped Pariente to build the farm. But in 2018, he and Camille decided they were of an age where they were either going to go out on their own, or miss the chance and spend their lives working for others.

“We thought it was time,” said Vitse, now 49. “Camille and I were very ready to have our own place. We liked having our own horses and doing business. We wanted to do it before we were 50 and we said if we don't do it this year, we'll never move. Sometimes, you have to move on and do something new. We started from scratch. No money, no farm, no clients. We had two little kids. And we said `let's go.'”

The first five or six months were tough going, he said. “We leased a farm,” he said, “but the farm was empty. We had no horses. It's a good experience when you set up your own place. You think it's going to be easy, that clients are going to come, but that's not the way it goes. You have to prove yourself anew. You have to show you have enough money to feed the horses, to do a good job. So it was pretty difficult, but we made it.”

Not only have they made it, but they have made it look easy, even if it weren't so.

“Before we started, we had two mares in association with trainers Phillippe Decouz and Yann Barberot. And we had two horses born that year that we kept, and they turned out to be very good horses–black-type performers. One of them, Go Athletico (Fr) (Goken {Fr}) went on to win a Group 3 at two and ran in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland in 2020, so that was amazing. And the other, Axdavali (Fr), went on to be Group 3-placed at two.

“We bought a mare for 4,000 guineas at Tattersalls called Miss Pimpernel (Ire), who wound up being the dam of Toimy Son (Fr), who was a listed winner at three. We sold him at the Arc Sale for €160,000 and now he's headed to David Menusier, so hopefully he'll be an even better horse. We bought Artifix (Ire), who is now the dam of Around Midnight (Fr), by Almanzor (Fr), trained by Jean-Claude Rouget, who is a listed winner at two and Group 3 runner-up, beaten a nose, at two. She's a Classic prospect for next year, so we have been very lucky. We have done a good job, but we have been very lucky that everything has gone well, and we just hope it keeps on going like this.”

The name Normandie Breeding is fitting for Vitse in more than one way. A native of the region, he was born in Argentan in 1973. His father Jean-Patrick managed Haras de la Verrerie, the farm of Elie de Brignac, the late president of l'Agence Francaise de Ventes du Pur Sang, the predecessor to Arqana. He lived there until he was six and his parents divorced. He moved to Paris with his mother but came back to Normandy to live with his father at 14. “School wasn't made for me,” he said with a smile. “I kept on working with horses while I finished school,” he said, “and I traveled around.”

For someone not yet 50, Vitse has accumulated a resume which has grounded him in every aspect of the business. He worked at Plantation Stud starting in 1991, working with Rafha (GB)–who would go on to produce Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Kodiac (GB)–when she was a maiden mare. He worked at sales and started riding out for a jumping yard, “just to know how to ride racehorses, to have another feeling, another connection with them. And the following two, three, four years I continued on like this, working the breeding season at Coolmore and Kildangen Stud during the yearling season.”

He spent a very formative two years in the United States at Lane's End where he worked with mares. “I was in Mare Barn 4, where we had some complicated mares to get in foal, some sick foals. It was a great learning experience. It's a very good farm to work at. They have the best stallions, and a very good team. Mr. Farish was in charge, and Bill was also there–such nice people and a very good place to work. I saw a lot of things. And if you want to be the best, you have to work with the best.”

After two years, he decided to return to France to get some experience running farms on his own.

“I was a young guy and went down to the south of France and ran Haras de la Clauzade, then Haras du Vieux Pont and then I went on to the Haras du Thenney, where I met my wife. And then I met Mr. Pariente. We started Colleville in 2007.”

Kendargent stood his first season at stud for €500 before going on to become one of the great French stallion success stories, and a successful broodmare sire. He was followed by Galiway, purchased from Wertheimer & Frere as a 3-year-old, and sent to stud with just a listed win and a Group 3 placing to his credit. He quickly become the Champion first-crop sire in France, and a Group 1 producer with Sealiway (Fr), who has just retired to stud not far away at Haras de Beaumont. Galiway stood for €30,000 in 2022 after covering more mares than any other stallion in France in 2021.

Jan. 1, the family, including their children, ages 11 and eight, are scheduled to move into their new farm. They have 23 hectares where they will keep only their own mares and those of their associates. “We're not going to board any outside mares,” he said. “We're going to keep the consignment, because we have an annex where we can keep fillies on one side and colts on another. So we can have 15-17 yearlings per sale.”

“We had a big draft in October, with 23 horses. But 15 is a good draft. We have some very good foals. We have regular clients, who come every year, we are expecting some very good horses to come along.” Vitse said that Sylvain Vidal and Mandalore Racing Stables were among those who have supported them loyally from the beginning.

Vitse said he believes in bringing home horses rather than selling them cheaply. “If a horse is going to sell cheaply, for 10, 15, 20,000 euros, we would rather keep her. If you sell at an average price, you end up with an average trainer and an average horse. You may as well get rid of the mare. If we have a cheap mare, it is because we believe in her.”

With Normandie Breeding, Vitse has come full circle. He is selling horses this week in the Elie de Brignac sales pavilion, named after his father's employer. He has worked with foals, yearlings and mares, and helped to launch two of France's best stallions. Now, he's just looking for the chance to do it for himself, and for his family. It has given him a satisfaction and a contentment that some people never achieve.

“We are very happy with where we are now,” he said. “It's family work. I am very in tune with my wife Camille; everything is 50-50. We see the horses together, we sell them together, we do the matings together. We see the stallions together. It's a family story, and nothing would be possible without my wife. Two of us together, we can do the job. I love my job, and I love my wife. Everything is perfect.”

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Until Sottsass came along, the Aga Khan Studs' Siyouni had been best represented by his daughters. Ervedya (Fr) became his first Group 1 and Classic winner, Laurens (Fr) advertised his abilities to a wider audience with her six Group 1 wins in Britain, Ireland and France, while Etoile (Fr) took it a step further with a Grade I strike in Canada, and Dream And Do (Fr) has more recently enhanced his Classic roll of honour. What is clear is that Siyouni is an extremely accomplished sire, and there is plenty to suggest that as his reputation has grown, along with his stud fee–from €7,000 in 2011 and for the next three seasons to a high of €140,000 since 2021–then so will his achievements on the back of bigger and higher-quality books.

At this relatively early stage of his career, Siyouni has been represented by just one stakes winner as a broodmare sire, courtesy of the Deauville Listed winner Hurricane Dream (Fr) (Hurricane Cat), and there is surely hope for the Christophe Ferland-trained Times Square (Fr) (Zarak) to build on her juvenile season which saw her finish second in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac. But in a year in which he was also represented by the Group winners Seachange (Fr), Wally (Ire), Sacred Life (Fr), Policy Of Truth (Fr), Acer Alley (GB), Mise En Scene (GB) and Who Knows (Fr), taking his lifetime tally to 113 stakes winners, it is safe to say that Siyouni is already paying a handsome tribute to his much-loved sire Pivotal (GB), who died in November. 

Another stallion sadly lost in 2021 was the German champion sire Adlerflug (Ger). Like Siyouni, he had secured his first championship in his native country in 2020, and he repeated that feat 12 months later, as well as finishing runner-up in France. In 2020, Adlerflug had the first and second in the G1 Deutsches Derby, In Swoop (Ire) and Torquator Tasso (Ger). The former went on to run second to Sottsass in the Arc that year, but his 2021 season was cut short in July after four runs, including a further Group 2 and Group 3 success. Torquator Tasso picked up the baton as it was announced that In Swoop would be retired to Coolmore's National Hunt division, and the final two races of the year for Gestut Auenquelle's colour-bearer and future stallion resulted in victories in the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. 

Adlerflug had just 29 runners in France, resulting in 12 winners of 22 races, but Torquator Tasso's prize-money haul from Europe's richest race was enough to secure his sire the runner-up spot in the stallion table.

During a decade in French breeding when some classy stallions have emanated from some less-than-obvious sources, Wootton Bassett (GB) has been one of the great success stories. Chapter two of his stud career is currently being written in Ireland at Coolmore, where he has stood since last year following nine seasons at Haras d'Etreham. He too has had an enormous upturn in fee, from a starting price of €6,000, to a low of €4,000 in 2014 and his current high of €150,000. That of course has been fanned by the flames of success, and Wootton Bassett enjoyed another good year, with Prix Marcel Boussac winner Zellie (Fr) and Incarville (Fr) two new Group 1 winners, taking his tally to five, while Royal Patronage (Fr), Atomic Jones (Fr), Ilaraab (Ire) and Wootton Asset (Fr) were new Group/Graded winners outside France. 

Wootton Bassett has 44 stakes winners to his name from eight crops of racing age, and it is worth remembering that none of his first four crops of foals exceeded 50, with his smallest, in 2014, numbering just 18. In his first season at Coolmore he covered 244 mares. Expect bigger and better things to come. 

With 59 winners in France, and Skalleti having provided a first Group 1 success, Haras de Colleville's Kendargent (Fr) was fourth in the French sires' table for 2021. 

Skalleti's full-brother Skazino (Fr) upheld the family honour with three Group wins, including the G2 Prix Kergorlay, while the Teruya Yoshida homebred Tokyo Gold (Fr) gave Kendargent a Classic victory in the G2 Derby Italiano for the French-based, Japanese-born trainer Satoshi Kobayashi. 

It is also worth keeping an eye on Kendargent's growing profile as a broodmare sire, with the G1 Champion S. winner Sealiway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) being his leading representative in this regard, along with the G1 Deutsches Derby winner Sisfahan (Fr) (Isfahan {Ger}).

The winner of the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and third in the Arc, Hurricane Lane (Ire) helped to propel Britain and Ireland's champion sire Frankel (GB) into fifth place in the French table, just ahead of Sumbe's Le Havre (Ire). The latter's daughter Wonderful Tonight (Fr) bowed out in August before she was able to meet her end-of-year appointment in the Arc, but she did add a further two Group 2 wins to her tally of the previous year, winning at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood. 

These of course did not count towards Le Havre's tally in France, but Glycon (Fr) took the G2 Prix de Deauville and Waliyak won the G3 Prix Bertrand de Tarragon. The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Ville De Grace (GB) is a filly to keep an eye in in 2022 following her win in the G3 Pride S. at Newmarket in the autumn.

Outside the leading contenders, it is also worth noting the five stakes winners for Intello (Ger) in France in 2021. He remains at Haras du Quesnay in 2022, having served two years at a time when alternating between Cheveley Park Stud and Quesnay for the first eight seasons of his stud career, and his fee for this year has been dropped to €8,000, down from a high of £/€25,000. Bubble Smart (GB), Dawn Intello (Fr) and Adhamo (Ire) were all Group 3 winners for him in France, while Waldbiene (Fr) won Germany's G2 T von Zastrow Stutenpreis.

Leading German Sires

The posthumous success of Adlerflug during the 2021 season has already been referenced above and his untimely death in April after covering a mare at the stud where he was born, Gestut Schlenderhan, will continue to be lamented in Germany and beyond. The son of In The Wings is champion for the second year running, with his 28 winners led by Torquator Tasso, whose major success at home came in the Grosser Preis von Baden. Outside Germany, Adlerflug's leading runners in 2021 were In Swoop and the G2 King Edward VII S. winner Alenquer (Fr).

The first crop of Adlerflug's fellow German Derby winner Isfahan (Ger) were only three in 2021, but the victory in that same Classic of his son Sisfahan (Fr) helped to put the Gestut Ohlerweiherhof resident in second place in the German sires' table. 

Isfahan was also represented by the G1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) runner-up Isfahani (Ger), who sadly died in September. 

Sisfahan, who was runner-up to Torquator Tasso in the Grosser Preis von Baden, is reported to be heading to the Saudi Cup meeting in February for Germany's champion trainer Henk Grewe.

Soldier Hollow (GB) has just turned 22 and has previously been champion sire in Germany on three occasions. This time around he had to settle for third, but he sired the most winners (43) and highest number of stakes winners (nine). The diminutive son of In The Wings (GB) remains a huge credit to Gestut Auenquelle and to his owner Helmut Von Finck. 

Another sad loss to the German stallion ranks and to Gestut Etzean in 2021 was Isfahan's sire Lord Of England (Ger). The 18-year-old was represented by another Classic winner in the last year of his life in the Preis der Diana winner Palmas (Ger). 

Etzean has also been home for the last four years to the veteran former multiple champion sire Areion (Ger). The son of Big Shuffle turns 27 this year and had the valuable BBAG auction race winner Mister Applebee (Ger) among his leading performers of last year.

The Etzean stallions featured prominently in the sires' championship, with Amaron (GB), a son of Shamardal whose eldest runners were four in 2021, finishing sixth in the table. He will be joined at stud in 2022 by the Group 1 winner Japan (GB), who becomes the first son of Galileo (Ire) to stand in Germany.

A German sire of whom we could hear more this year is Guiliani (Ger), a son of Tertullian out of a full-sister to Getaway (Ger). Like Isfahan he had his first 3-year-old runners in 2021 and while Guiliani is yet to make a major impression, a notable member of his second crop is the Group 3 winner Tunnes (Ger), a half-brother to Torquator Tasso who is currently favourite for the Deutsches Derby. 

Arcano Shines In Italy 

Arcano (Ire) left Derrinstown Stud for Italy in 2016 and having spent the intervening years at Allevamento di Besnate, just north of Milan, he is now champion sire in his adopted country for the first time. His 26 winners included the G2 Oaks d'Italia heroine Eulaila (Ity), and she is out of a mare by the  GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Pounced, who has stood at the same stud for his entire career and is also now represented in the stallion ranks by his Group 2-winning son Full Drago (Ity), who had his first juvenile runners this year. 

Second in the table was another former Allevamento di Besnate resident and Shadwell runner, Mujahid. Arcano has recently been joined at the stud by two more Shadwell-owned stallions, Mukhadram (GB) and Adaay (Ire).

The G1 July Cup winner Sakhee's Secret (GB) died in November at the age of 17. Having moved to Italy's Allevamento Si Fra in 2015, he was champion sire in 2019 and 2020, and finished fourth in the table in 2021, just behind Kendargent, who was represented by the Italian Derby winner Tokyo Gold. 

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Plenty has been written about Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) and Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and the fact that both sides of their families are very much ingrained in the Bolger breeding and training academy. What is equally admirable, especially in the case of Mac Swiney, is the fact that they are being rigorously campaigned. The trainer has already confirmed that the Irish 2000 Guineas winner is now on course for Epsom in an attempt to emulate both his sire and grandsire in the race that many people still consider to be the greatest of them all. Surprisingly, the master breeder Jim Bolger is not one of them.

Following Poetic Flare's triumph at Newmarket, Bolger declared that he believed the 2000 Guineas to be the most important race. That said, he surely will not mind if Mac Swiney delivers a second Derby victory for him, 13 years after New Approach became the first of six Derby winners for Galileo.

It is worth rewatching Galileo's own Derby triumph 20 years ago to be reminded how the relatively small horse with the massive stride skated round Tattenham Corner and scooted clear in the straight. 

In an interview with TDN earlier this year, Aidan O'Brien reflected on the racing days of Europe's multiple champion sire, who gave him his first Derby victory, recalling how those connected with Galileo at Coolmore had a high opinion of him even as a yearling.

“He didn't walk, he prowled, ” O'Brien said. “His walking stride was so long and there was so much power from his front and back, so I suppose the lads had him as a king before he came here.”

He has more than justified that belief, both on the racecourse and at stud, and Galileo has in no small way played a significant part in the training careers of both Bolger and his protege O'Brien.

The latter has eight of the remaining Derby entries, Bolger has just one, Mac Swiney, the horse who could become the first Derby winner to be inbred to Galileo, through Bolger's two champion juveniles New Approach and Teofilo (Ire). Furthermore, as breeder, Bolger has another roll of the dice via the Mark Johnston-trained Gear Up (Ire), a son of Teofilo. 

For all his success, which includes wins in the G2 Beresford S., G1 Vertem Futurity and now the Irish 2000 Guineas, the mud-loving Mac Swiney has never started favourite and remains perhaps under-rated. Following the coldest, wettest English May in living memory, it would be folly to overlook the neat, tenacious colt at Epsom on the first Saturday of June. Destiny calls.

Gold For Japan In Rome

Chantilly-based Satoshi Kobayashi has had seven winners in France so far this year but it was in Italy on Sunday that he recorded the biggest success of his career to date. The trainer sent the Teruya Yoshida homebred Tokyo Gold (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) to Capannelle for an easy four-length victory in 138th running of the Derby Italiano, which was downgraded to Group 2 status in 2009.

Tokyo Gold is the first Classic winner for his sire Kendargent, and his third group winner this year after the likeable Skalleti (Fr) and his full-brother Skazino (Fr). The latter claimed his second group victory of the season when winning the G2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at ParisLongchamp on Monday.

Now 18, Kendargent is having a fruitful season in France and is numerically the most successful sire with 38 winners as well as the Nicolas Caullery-trained Kennella (Fr), who was third in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches. The Haras de Colleville stallion's reputation is also being enhanced by his son and stablemate Goken (Fr), who was leading first-season sire and leading sire of 2-year-olds in France last year, with 15 winners from just 33 runners, including the group winners Go Athletico (Fr) and Livachope (Fr).

Yoshida, owner of Japan's famous Shadai Farm, has a notably international outlook when it comes to selecting broodmares, and his support extends to to a number of leading French sires, including Le Havre (Ire) who is the sire of the latest foal for Arc winner Dandedream (Ger) (Lomitas {GB}). The 13-year-old mare foaled a filly by the Sumbe stallion last Wednesday in Japan.

Yoshida also bought Le Havre's Classic-winning daughters La Cressonniere (Fr) and Avenir Certain (Fr). The latter has been represented by two winners this season in her two daughters by Deep Impact (Jpn), the G2 Hanshin Himba S winner Dea Ailes (Jpn), and 3-year-old Honneur (Jpn), who are sadly her only offspring as she died after being covered by Deep Impact in 2018. 

La Cressonniere visited Shalaa (Ire) and Golden Horn (GB) in Europe and is now in Japan, where she had a colt last year by Epiphaneia (Jpn) before being covered by his fellow Shadai stallion Lord Kanaloa (Jpn).

Carvalho Has Classic Double In Sight

It has been a successful couple of days for the French-born, German-based trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho, who won Monday's G2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen (German 2000 Guineas) with Mythico (Ger), another promising 3-year-old for the recently deceased Adlerflug (Ger).

On Sunday, Carvalho, a former private trainer at Gestut Schlenderhan, saddled Sea Of Sands (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) to win the G3 Derby Trial at Hoppegarten for owner/breeder Gestut Hony-Hof, an operation we will be covering in greater detail in Wednesday's TDN. 

Sea Of Sands represents a family which has had an enormous impact on the German Classics over the last two decades. His grandam Salve Regina (Ger) (Monsun Ger) won the G1 Preis der Diana for Hony-Hof's owner Manfred Hellwig and was second in the G1 Deutsches Derby in 2002, two years after her full-brother Samum (Ger) had won the Derby at Hamburg. In 2005, another full-brother Schiaparelli (Ger) followed suit, and three years later Samum's son Kamsin (Ger) won the Derby en route to becoming German champion 3-year-old. The run continued with the 2014 winner, Sea The Moon (Ger), a son of Sea The Stars and the unraced Sanwa (Ger), another full-sibling to Salve Regina. Now a successful sire in his own right at Lanwades Stud, Sea The Moon is thus very similarly bred to Sea Of Sands, who is now co-favourite for this year's Deutsches Derby on July 4.

Second-Crop Sires To Watch

For the current second-crop sires, what happens this year on the racecourse is arguably so much more important than the results from their first 2-year-old runners. 

Mehmas (Ire), who made a frankly staggering start to his stud career last year with a record 56 winners, looks to be making that important transition with his 3-year-olds and is also compiling an international profile. The Tally-Ho Stud resident has so far had only four runners in America but three of them have won, including the treble Grade III victrix and appropriately named Going Global (Ire), who has now won all four of her American starts. 

The G3 One Thousand Guineas Trial winner Keeper Of Time (Ire) has recently been sold to race in America and will surely add to her good record across the Atlantic, as has been the case for Tetragonal (Ire), a first-time-out winner for Hugo Palmer last year who won for Richard Baltas on Saturday at Santa Anita on the same card as Going Global.

One second-crop European sire we've heard much less about is Protectionist (Ger), but that may soon change. For a start, he is the only one in the table who boasts a strike rate of 11% group winners to runners. The final son of Monsun (Ger) at stud in Germany, Protectionist has large shoes to fill but, from only 18 starters this year, he has been represented by two group winners. The first, Lambo (Ger), won the G3 Bavarian Classic on May 1, beating subsequent G2 Derby Trial winner Sea Of Sands, before finishing third in Monday's G2 Prix Hocquart at ParisLongchamp. 

Protectionist also looks to have a genuine contender for the G1 Preis der Diana on Aug. 1 in Amazing Grace (Ger), winner of Sunday's G2 Diana Trial for owner/breeder Dr Christoph Berglar, who also bred her sire. His son Liban, a winner at Cologne in April, also holds a Derby entry. 

The winner of the G1 Melbourne Cup and G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, Protectionist, in common with most German sires, has covered relatively small books and had 44 foals in his first crop, followed by 36 in 2019. However, he has the advantage of standing at Gestut Rottgen, which has supported him with members of its own powerful broodmare band, including Wellenspiel (Ger) (Sternkoenig {Ger}), the dam of consecutive Deutsches Derby winners Windstoss (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}) and Weltstar (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). Furthermore, Protectionist's owners Australian Bloodstock have not only supported him with mares but have also bought his yearlings in Germany, and Lambo now races in their colours.

Two of Protectionist's offspring, a filly from his first and second crops respectively, have already been exported to Australia and it is fair to expect that more will follow. 

In the meantime, Protectionist is very much a stallion to follow with interest in Europe.

Hello Royal Ascot

It seems as if almost every British race meeting has at least one Amo Racing runner these days, and Kia Joorabchian's operation looks set to be well represented at Royal Ascot.

The latest to have advertised strong claims for a trip to the Berkshire course in mid-June was Monday's impressive Wolverhampton winner Hello You (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who trounced her rivals by six and a half lengths in one of the most impressive juvenile performances of the season to date. Trained by Ralph Beckett, she was a €350,000 purchase by Robson Aguiar at last year's Arqana Select Sale from her breeder Serge Boucheron. 

Hello You's win on debut brought up 18 for the season for Amo Racing, which equalled their tally of winners for the whole of 2020. This followed victories on Saturday for Raadobarg (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), who completed a treble at Haydock, and Beautiful Sunshine (GB) (Ardad {Ire}), who struck for the second time at Sandown on Thursday and is likely to return there this week for the listed National S.

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The A to Z of the region's stallions, from Almanzor (Fr) to Zelzal (Fr), has a price range from €1,000 to €140,000, the latter commanded by France's champion sire, Siyouni (Fr), sire of last season's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sottsass (Fr). Between those two figures can be found a horse to suit just about every breeder's budget and, as has increasingly been the case in recent years, a number of high-profile young stallions have joined the French ranks for 2021.

There's quite a leap in price from Siyouni down to the next most expensive stallion in France at €40,000, the established Classic sire Le Havre (Ire). His best runner last year was the dual Group 1-winning filly Wonderful Tonight (Fr), who was bred at Haras de Montfort et Préaux, where her sire stands under Nurlan Bizakov's Sumbé banner. Le Havre has recently been joined by new recruit Golden Horde (Ire). The G1 Commonwealth Cup-winning son of Lethal Force (Ire) whose grandam is a half-sister to champion racemare and producer Serena's Song (Rahy), makes his debut at €10,000.

“It's always very nice to meet the breeders, especially when you have a new horse, but we were lucky that we were able to bring Golden Horde in to Deauville during the sales so plenty of people saw him there, and he has had visitors every day,” said Mathieu Alex of Sumbé. “But of course there is always a great atmosphere for the Route des Etalons, when you can welcome people, and breeders meet, but this year we have to be sensible and be careful.”

He added, “We obviously liked Golden Horde a lot physically but it's always nice to get feedback and to hear that people agree with us. He's going down well and it's obviously important to get the support from the breeders. Mr Bizakov will support him with mares also.

“It's also an exciting year for Recorder (GB) with his first runners. We've worked for three years for that and he has 100-plus horses in training, in France and some abroad. We have 15 that were bred here that we've sent to good trainers, so fingers crossed.”

While its flagship stallion Wootton Bassett (GB) has moved to stand at Coolmore in Ireland, Haras d'Etreham has an exciting year in store with the arrival of two new Group 1 winners, Persian King (Ire) and Hello Youmzain (Fr), each being the sole French representative of their popular respective sires Kingman (GB) and Kodiac (GB). Furthermore, once the Flat season starts, Wootton Bassett's champion son Almanzor (Fr) will be represented by his first runners, while the first foals of his fellow Etreham resident City Light (Fr) will be arriving over the next few months.

Camelot (GB) enjoyed a terrific season with his runners in 2020 and two of his sons join French studs this year. Etreham's National Hunt wing, Haras de la Tuilerie, welcomes the Irish Derby winner Latrobe (Ire), while among Haras d'Annebault's new faces for the season is Fighting Irish (Ire). Breeders using the Group 2 winner in his first season will be eligible for a €50,000 bonus if they are fortunate enough to breed Fighting Irish's first Group winner in France, Britain or Ireland.

The retirement of Kendargent (Fr) to stud in 2010 coincided with the first year of the Route des Etalons initiative. Breeders who viewed him and perhaps used him then at his introductory fee of €1,000 will have enjoyed the success he has had in the ensuing years, which has really put Haras de Colleville, the farm of his owner Guy Pariente, firmly on the map of Normandy's leading studs. The grey, now 18, was joined at stud in 2017 by his son Goken (Fr), who was France's leading first-season sire in 2020, and their stud companion Galiway (GB), has also made a pleasing start to his career, most notably as the sire of G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Sealiway (Fr).

Another son of Kendargent returns to France this year. The former Godolphin campaigner Jimmy Two Times (Fr) spent his first two seasons in Germany at Gestut Hofgut Heymann but is now resident at Haras de Montaigu alongside the popular young National Hunt stallions No Risk At All (Fr) and Beaumec De Houelle (Fr).

“Jimmy Two Times is small and compact but he is very well-balanced, strong horse,” said Sybille Gibson of Haras de Montaigu. “I took him to the Hippodrome de Clairefontaine during the sales in December and lots of people came to see him then. We just hope he will do as well as Goken has done. 'Jimmy' was the best colt by Kendargent so we dream.”

The offspring of No Risk At All include the reigning Champion Hurdler Epatante (Fr), while Beaumec De Houelle, who now has yearlings on the ground, is a son of the late Montaigu resident Martaline (GB).

Gibson continued, “No Risk At All and Beaumec De Houelle are both fully booked, with mares from all the best breeders in France, and more and more people from abroad. The English are just mad for No Risk At All. Both horses are limited to 150 mares and they were full in November.”

Breeders going both ways across the Channel this year face increased expense and paperwork in the wake of the end of the Brexit transition period, which is understandably causing a few headaches for stud owners.

“We have had received a few mares from England and we have already had one or two cancellations,” Gibson said. “And for us it's the same, we don't know if we are going to send all our mares that were due to go to England because with Brexit the transport is now quite complicated.”

She added, “We will really miss the Route des Etalons this year. We have had a few breeders come to the farm but I think some people don't really want to travel too much at the moment. Normally we would have between 200 and 300 people visit us over the weekend. They came not only to see the new stallions but to see us and to see how the horses were changing. We had more and more people coming from a long way, not just Normandy. We will just have to look forward to next year.”

The burgeoning stallion unit at Larissa Kneip's Haras de Saint Arnoult has been extended again this year to include newcomers Elarqam (GB)—a son of two champions in Frankel (GB) and Attraction (GB)—and Yafta (GB), a Group 3-winning son of Dark Angel (Ire).

Kneip said, “Elarqam is very well booked, which is not surprising. He's the only son of Frankel in France and he was Frankel's second-highest rated runner after Cracksman. Yafta already has about 50 mares booked to him. Until recently we didn't have too many speed stallions in France but there are a few more now and obviously there was a demand for them. But none of them seem to have the sort of pedigree Yafta has, because it is really speed throughout, back to the fifth generation, and that's quite a rarity.”

The farm with the largest roster of nine stallions is Al Shaqab's Haras de Bouquetot, which this year has signed up Robert Ng's G1 Prix Jacques le Marois winner Romanised (Ire) as well as the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner Wooded (Ire), a son of Wootton Bassett. They join Shalaa (Ire), who has recently returned from Arrowfield Stud in Australia, where his first crop includes the Magic Millions 2yo Classic winner Shaquero (Aus), and Al Wukair (Ire), who has first-cop runners in Europe this season.

Sea The Stars (Ire) has two young sons at stud in France, Bouquetot's Zelzal (Fr), who his first runners this year, and Haras du Logis resident Cloth Of Stars (Ire), the G1 Prix Ganay winner who was placed in two Arcs and has his first yearlings at the sales of 2021. Another young stallion taking that next important step in his career this year is Recoletos (Fr), the winner of seven of his 14 starts including two Group 1s. He stands alongside the Derby winner Motivator (GB), sire of the mighty Treve (Fr), at Haras du Quesnay.

Plenty will be expected from the first-crop runners by Zarak (Fr) when they take to the track this year. Not only is he a Group 1-winning son of Dubawi (Ire), whose sons Night Of Thunder (Ire) and New Bay (GB) have made encouraging starts to their own stud careers in the last two seasons, but he is out of the brilliant Arc winner Zarkava (Fr) and shares his broodmare sire Zamindar with Kingman. Ordinarily, a visit to the Aga Khan's Haras du Bonneval is one of the highlights for travellers on the route. This year Zarak, Dariyan (Fr) and their illustrious stablemate Siyouni must be admired from afar.

Videos and further information on the stallions from the 28 participating studs will de displayed online over the weekend and, when the world returns to some sort of normality, be sure to brighten up next January with a trip around the picturesque farms of Normandy.

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Siyouni, who now commands a fee of €140,000 having started his career at €7,000, is the French champion sire and was second overall in Europe to Galileo (Ire). He had to play second fiddle to Galileo in his home country last year and to an extent that could be put down to what a difference an Arc makes. Galileo sired the 2019 Arc winner Waldgeist (GB), while new Coolmore stallion Sottsass (Fr) enjoyed the biggest day of his career in front of an almost empty ParisLongchamp grandstand in October 2020. He made a huge contribution to Siyouni’s overall progeny earnings of just over €4 million—double that of Le Havre—but the Aga Khan Studs stallion had plenty of other winners, 63 in total in France including nine stakes winners and 17 black-type performers in France, with 27 of the latter throughout Europe.

While Sottsass was the stand-out, Siyouni also sired his second winner of the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, Dream And Do (Fr), who is now in the ownership of Katsumi Yoshida. His reputation farther afield was bolstered by the G1 Dewhurst S. winner St Mark’s Basilica (Ire) and GI EP Taylor S. victrix Etoile (Fr).

The 62 winners for Le Havre were led by a filly trained outside France but by a Frenchman. The G1 Prix de Royallieu and G1 QIPCO British Champion Fillies & Mares S. Winner Wonderful Tonight (Fr) is the stable star for Sussex-based David Menuisier and she was a another feather in the cap of her breeders Sylvain Vidal and Mathieu Alex, who have played a major role in the rejuvenation of the French stallion scene at what was originally known as Haras de la Cauvinière and is now Haras de Montfort et Préaux. Now under the ownership of Nurlan Bizakov, the stud has a further name to grapple with this year in Sumbé, the title which now unites Montfort et Préaux with Bizakov’s original breeding base of Hesmonds Stud in England. 

Le Havre, who was tenth overall in the European table, notched 11 black-type winners in Europe last season included the hugely promising Normandy Bridge (Fr), winner of the G3 Prix Thomas Bryon and runner-up to Van Gogh (American Pharoah) in the G1 Criterium International. A tall colt with plenty of scope, he could be one to put his young trainer Stephanie Nigge firmly on the map in 2021.

Kendargent has been one of the great success stories of the French ranks in recent years. The non-stakes winner who started out at a fee of €1,000, he received significant backing from his passionate owner Guy Pariente, whose Haras de Colleville, near Deauville, has blossomed into a breeding operation of some repute. 

Now 18, Kendargent is in danger of being upstaged by his son Goken (Fr), who was France’s leading first-season sire of 2020, and Kendargent has also featured as the broodmare sire of several stakes winner by his other Colleville companion, Galiway (GB). His fee peaked at €22,000 and is down to €10,000 for 2021. His leading performer from 63 French winners last season was the globe-trotting Skalleti (Fr), who beat Sottsass when winning the Prix Gontaut-Biron, followed that up by winning the G2 Prix Dollar and was then second to Adeyybb (Ire) in the G1 QIPCO British Champion S.

Wootton Bassett has also been a real success story for French breeding, so much so that he was headhunted by Coolmore last year and is about to serve his first season in Ireland at a fee of €100,000, having stood for as little as €4,000 in this third and fourth seasons. The James Fanshawe-trained Audarya (Fr) followed up her G1 Prix Jean Romanet win with a memorable victory at the Breeders’ Cup, while Wooded (Fr) won the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye before being whisked off to stud himself. There were also close calls for Wootton Bassett’s offspring in the French Classics: his daughters Speak Of The Devil (Fr) and Mageva (Fr) were second and third in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and The Summit (Fr) was runner-up (Ire) in the Poulains.

The winner of that race, Victor Ludorum (Ire), helped his late sire Shamardal to a fifth place in the French sires’ table, his 10 black-type winners including the Aga Khan’s classy Tarnawa (Ire) and Pinatubo (Ire), winner of the G1 Prix Jean Prat.

Rajsaman (Fr) is another to have left France and is now at Ireland’s Longford House Stud but he still sires plenty of winners in his native country, with 60 last year, to put him in sixth place. 

Completing the top ten were Juddmonte’s Kingman (GB), whose outstanding French representative was Persian King (Ire); Haras du Quesnay’s Anodin (Ire), who sired four stakes winners in 2020 including G3 Prix de Fille de l’Air winner Directa (Fr); Dabirsim (Fr) and the now Japanese-based Makfi (GB).

The aforementioned Goken was not only leading first-season sire in France but also the country’s leading sire of 2-year-olds, with his 15 winners putting him three ahead of Siyouni in the juvenile category.

Leading sires in Germany
That Sadler’s Wells is a major influence is hardly newsflash material. His reach in Germany is predominantly through one of his lesser-heralded sons, the late In The Wings (GB), whose best sire son, arguably, was Singspiel (Ire). The German ranks are headed by two of his other sons, Adlerflug (Ger), who is champion for the first time ahead of Soldier Hollow (GB), the title holder in the previous two years as well as in 2016. 

Physically they are chalk and cheese. Adlerflug, a tall, flashy chestnut, is a product of Germany’s oldest stud farm, Gestut Schlenderhan. Meanwhile, the diminutive bay Soldier Hollow, was bred in England by Car Colston Hall Stud and has spent his stud career initially at Gestut Rottgen before moving to Karl-Dieter Ellerbracke’s Gestut Auenquelle in 2012, whence he has been Germany’s busiest and most expensive stallion for a number of years. Incidentally, Soldier Hollow’s owner Helmut von Finck, who has had notable success with his offspring, has commissioned a video to celebrate the stallion’s 20th birthday, which can be found here.

Adlerflug covered 39 mares in 2020 and he really is a stallion who should be taken more seriously outside Germany. For a start, he is bred very similarly to Galileo (Ire): beyond the Sadler’s Wells top line they share a third dam, Anatevka (Ger), with Adlerflug’s grandam Alya (Ger) being a full-sister to Allegretta (GB).

Ranking 20th overall in the European sires’ championship with markedly fewer runners than all the stallions above him, Adlerflug was responsible for the first two home in the G1 Deutsches Derby, Schlenderhan’s In Swoop (Ire), who was subsequently runner-up in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and Torquator Tasso (Ger), who went on to win the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin. A rare runner for him in Britain in 2020 was the William Haggas-trained juvenile Alenquer (Fr), an easy winner on debut at Newbury who followed up with second in the listed Ascendant S. and looks a colt to follow in 2021.

Alenquer is out of a mare by former German champion sire and classy sprinter Areion (Ger), a veteran son of Big Shuffe (Ger) who was third in the table in 2020 and, now 25, has spent the last three seasons at Gestut Etzean.

Among the younger stallions to note is Gestut Ohlerweierhof’s Isfahan (Ger), the leading German-based first-season sire in 2020. Like Adlerflug, he is a former winner of the Deutsches Derby, and from his 10 runners in 2020, five were winners, including Isfahani (Ger), who won the G3 Premio Guido Berardelli on debut in the colours of her sire’s owner Stefan Oschmann of Darius Racing. Isfahan should be expected to make a bigger impression with his first 3-year-olds, and the same can be said for Gestut Rottgen’s Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist (Ger), the lone son of Monsun (Ger) remaining at stud in Germany.

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The 5-year-old gelding-who stays in training next year-was trying Group 1 company for the first time in the Champion. He has won nine of his last 12 starts including six black-type races and two runnings of the G2 Prix Dollar. He has been off the board just once in 16 starts.

“You always go to the races with a lot of confidence with this horse, because he always gives you everything,” said trainer Jerome Reynier. “He had the conditions to suit [at Ascot], because he handles that sticky ground well. To be fair, he is good on soft and heavy, straight tracks or right or left-handed, and he has even been winning on Polytrack–he’s just an amazing horse.

“Now the question is whether we go to Hong Kong with him. He hasn’t had a big campaign this year, because he only started in May and had two light starts on good ground before we started to step things up in August. We could now be aiming for Hong Kong, where I will enter him in the Hong Kong Cup over a mile and a quarter and the Hong Kong Vase over a mile and a half. You have to stay really well over a mile and a quarter at Ascot on that sort of ground, and he wasn’t fading out–when Magical came to him he kept going to finish second. I think he would stay a mile and a half on good ground in Hong Kong. Everyone is saying the races will not be as competitive this year, because the Japanese horses are not so good and the local level isn’t so strong either, so this could be the year to try it.”

Skalleti’s trainer is already eyeing a return to Ascot for next year’s G1 Prince of Wales’s S.

“The owner really wants to keep him in one piece and doesn’t want to try silly things, so I can understand if he decides to put him away for next year,” Reynier said. “We could aim for the [G1] Prix Ganay in France in April, and everyone is saying we should consider the Prince of Wales’s S. in June, because sometimes it’s raining and they can get soft ground. We will definitely consider that, because there is no option in France at that time of year.”

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