Those closer to the business end of the stallion market will appreciate the fine line that had to be walked by Kamel Chehboub and his daughter Pauline in making their decision either to continue the racing career of the unbeaten colt they share with Serge Stempniak, or hasten his departure to their brand new stallion operation at Haras de Beaumont. In the end, heads trumped hearts, and while Ace Impact's retirement is racing's loss, it is also very much French breeding's gain.

The man who had the most right to feel aggrieved at Thursday's confirmation of the end of Ace Impact's racing career is Jean-Claude Rouget, who first set eyes on him as a yearling at Arqana two summers ago, and has delivered a masterclass, from Cagnes-sur-Mer to the Bois de Boulogne, in how to train a top-class racehorse. Rouget, though, understands the demands of both sides of the industry all too well, and is magnanimous in regard to the decision that has been taken to stand Ace Impact in Normandy, where the trainer himself was born 70 years ago. 

“I was very pleased to sell the share [in Ace Impact] to Kamel because he is very audacious and he is taking a lot of risk, and in France we need people like that,” Rouget says in a pause between recruiting the next batch of yearlings at Tattersalls.

“I was very pleased that the horse was going to stay in France at stud. It's a wonderful opportunity for the breeders. I am not a breeder myself but I think about the French breeders always going to England and Ireland every year, and we need a better stallion roster than we have. We had Siyouni and Wootton Bassett but Siyouni is getting old and Wootton Bassett has left, so we need some young horses.

“I hope he will become a good stallion, but nobody knows. A new book will open.”

The old book, let's call it the first in the series, was more novella than novel, but it was epic all the same. All we can do now is watch scenes from the story of the season on replay, and we are not alone in so doing.

Last year he was just asking me to give him time.

“What I did the other night as I was trying to get to sleep was to review Ace Impact's six races in fifteen minutes,” says Rouget, as much in awe of the horse as the rest of us.

“It was very interesting. He always had quality. Last year he was just asking me to give him time. He had very bad skin in the summer, which is not usual, so I decided to wait until the winter to start with him.”

Lucky for Ace Impact that he was bought – at €75,000 – by a trainer who has been around long enough to listen when a horse finds his own method of communication. Rouget is of course no stranger to success. In 1991, he set a French record with his 178 wins for the season, but quality has long surpassed quantity.

Three years after that, Millkom (GB) was his breakthrough star, from little heard-of provincial tracks to the big city, winning the Prix Jean Prat and Grand Prix de Paris and becoming the trainer's first runner in the Arc. It took another quarter of a century for Rouget to win that race, but in the last few seasons his impression on the Arc has been emphatic, with victory for Sottsass (Fr) in 2020 followed this year by Ace Impact. In the interim he had a second and fourth with Vadeni (Fr) and Al Hakeem (GB).

It is the Prix du Jockey Club which Rouget can these days just about call his own, however. Since his first win in the Classic with Le Havre (Ire) in 2009 – the year in which he became champion trainer for the first time, having also won the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane with Elusive Wave (Ire) and Stacelita (Fr) – he has now won it six times. Ace Impact's track-record-breaking success in this year's Jockey Club may well go down as one of the most visually impressive of all time. He broke the hearts of supporters of Big Rock (Ire) as he sped past, gathering a head of steam as if propelled by slingshot from the back of the pack. This was the first time the wider racing world outside France had woken up to the colt's extraordinary talents, but Rouget was already firmly of the opinion that he had a good 'un on his hands. 

Casting his mind back to January 26 and Cagnes-sur-Mer, he says, “We gave him a nice first race and he showed good acceleration. At that time it wasn't the same as we saw later in the year, but it was enough to win.

“After that we gave him two months because I knew we had to continue to give him time, expecting a good spring and summer. In Bordeaux he won well, he didn't have the best trip on the outside and he was pulling a bit, but he won easily. After that we started the process to make him into a Group 1 winner.”

He adds, “We passed by Chantilly to show him the track. In the Prix de Suresnes he was blocked inside but again he won very easily and that was the confirmation that he was a very good horse.”

Rouget, whose training career began in Pau in south-west France, has in recent years increased his satellite stable in Deauville. But he sensibly still steers the easiest route possible to the metropolitan tracks if he can. Of the decision to start Ace Impact at the seaside in the south of France, he says, “We had to choose a path: to run at two a couple of times or to start in March. To me, it's very difficult to start in March and to have a Group 1 horse. I did it with Valyra and she won the Diane two months later, but it is very rare. 

“I prefer to give them experience and, to me, Cagnes-sur-Mer is a very good track. 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.”

He continues, “Deauville is very interesting but I like Pau, I prefer to have the yearlings there, because Deauville is racetrack. Pau is a special training centre beside the racetrack.

“I think it is better for them to start in the provinces where racing is less strong at the beginning and you can give them one or two races to build their confidence. After that you can go to Deauville to try to win a Listed race. I prefer that route to starting in Longchamp or Deauville with a knife in their teeth.”

Ace Impact brought his own weapon to his tussles at Chantilly, Deauville and Longchamp in his killer turn of foot. He retires as the European champion three-year-old of 2023, having blazed, comet-like, through a career which spanned a little over eight months. 

He had been under the tutelage of Rouget and his team since the August of 2021, however. By then, his half-brother Alessandro (Fr) (Australia {GB}) had been second on three starts for Rouget, including in the Prix du Suquet on debut, the same race won by his sibling two years later on his own first visit to the races. 

I am very happy to choose my horses myself and to train them,
and to understand why I did well or why I did badly.

Rouget, then, was not entirely unfamiliar with the offspring of Absolutly Me (Fr) (Anabaa Blue {GB}). The 14-year-old mare is owned by German breeder Waltraut Spanner and resides at Barbara Moser's Haras du Long Champ – about as prophetic a birthplace for a future Arc winner as there could be.

Alessandro went on to win three races and finish second in a Listed contest, while his younger brother moved between Pau and Deauville, his trainer just biding his time.

Recalling his impression of Ace Impact at the yearling sales, Rouget says, “It was his conformation. He was very pleasing to watch, and his dam was doing well.”

Anyone who has seen the trainer in action at the sales will know that watching is what he does best. A regular presence ringside, he selects his own horses, and is analytical while accepting the blame if things don't go to plan. Such a lesson in scrutiny would be well learned by prospective bloodstock agents.

“It's my premiere passion to buy yearlings, maybe more than to train horses,” he says. “I am very happy to choose my horses myself and to train them, and to understand why I did well or why I did badly. Year after year I watch what I bought and ask myself, 'why is this one no good?' It's very interesting.”

Rouget was among the buyers last week at Tattersalls, and he will certainly feature prominently at Arqana this week, a sale which is a home from home for him in Deauville. It will be hard to find one to match Ace Impact, but the trainer will not be deterred from trying to unearth a fledgling racehorse with similar qualities.

“He has a tremendous stride,” Rouget says in attempting to pinpoint what set his newly retired star apart. “The same acceleration with a horse who doesn't move as well as he does is less effective. But his allows him to go very fast; he is covering a lot of ground, with an engine, and as the year went on he became more and more impressive.”

While he awaits the first offspring of Ace Impact at the sales, Rouget this year has had a chance to peruse yearlings by his first Arc winner, another home-grown French star, Sottsass. 

“I try to stay neutral but I have to accept that his horses walk well and seem, like him, to have good minds,” he says. “I have bought a few and Peter Brant will send me a few that he has bred. We will try to help Sottsass to become a good stallion.”

In the meantime, Ace Impact has helped his trainer to become champion for the second year running, having snatched the title back from his arch rival Andre Fabre last year. Since Rouget's first championship in 2009, it has passed to and fro between the pair, with Rouget's impending coronation marking his fifth time at the top of the table. 

He says, “There has been a challenge between Andre Fabre and me for a long time, especially in the last four or five years. Before, he was always in front, but I beat him in 2009, and 2016 was for me the best year with plenty of good horses. 

“For me, when I was a young trainer in Pau I couldn't even imagine that. I am very proud of it. Step by step we have built up the stable over 45 years.”

Step by step, too, he built the career of the best racehorse we have seen in Europe this year, one which was shrewdly not started too early, but which finished all too soon. It was brief, he was brilliant, and boy did he make an impact. 

The post Rouget: ‘It’s My Premiere Passion to Buy Yearlings, Maybe More Than to Train Horses’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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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.

The great No Risk At All, sire of Allegorie De Vassy, who should harden her reputation as a leading Cheltenham Festival contender @thurlesraces today.
Already the sire of Allaho and Epatante, it's easy to see why @HarasMontaigu's No Risk At All is so popular with NH breeders. pic.twitter.com/JPKxuZT0Bz

— Brian Sheerin (@BrianSheerin91) January 22, 2023

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.”

First stop on the Route des Etalons, the TDN Europe team drop in to @Haras_d_Etreham, where Nicolas de Chambure tells @BrianSheerin91 all about young sires Hello Youmzain and Persian King. pic.twitter.com/gBKjV4B5gn

— TDN (@theTDN) January 21, 2023

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.

how good is Mishriff looking? pic.twitter.com/G0LfM6XLKr

— TDN (@theTDN) January 22, 2023

“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.

Wooded is quite impressive @AlShaqabRacing! pic.twitter.com/cDKQU0WEPU

— TDN (@theTDN) January 21, 2023

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.

Well hello Zarak @AgaKhanStuds pic.twitter.com/5t42wzsa1L

— TDN (@theTDN) January 21, 2023

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.

Not an easy name to pronounce, but Beaumec De Houelle could be an interesting one for NH breeders in Britain and Ireland being a Grade 1-winning hurdler by Martaline. pic.twitter.com/tNqNpYARgR

— Brian Sheerin (@BrianSheerin91) January 22, 2023

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

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

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

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

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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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Le Havre is hard to replace, but in the season after his death, Sumbe could hardly have a more alluring new arrival than Prince AA Faisal's Mishriff (Ire). Like Le Havre, he won the Prix du Jockey Club, a race with a tall reputation when one considers the winners who progressed successfully to the stallion ranks: think Darshaan (GB), Bering (GB), Peintre Celebre, Hernando (Fr), Montjeu (Ire), Shamardal, Lope De Vega (Ire), and New Bay (GB), with Study Of Man (Ire), Sottsass (Fr) and St Mark's Basilica (Fr) to follow.

Mishriff's immediate male line is formed of three different Guineas winners in three countries: Make Believe (GB), Makfi (GB) and Dubawi (Ire), and this is surely the first time that the latter, the newly crowned champion sire in Britain and Ireland, features as the great grandsire of a stallion. Underneath, the lineage of Sumbe's treble Group 1 winner is no less impressive. With the great Rafha (GB) (Riverman) as his third dam, this is a family which includes two stalwarts of the Irish scene, the half-brothers Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Kodiac (GB). It is their half-sister, the G3 Princess Royal S. winner Acts Of Grace (Bahri) who is Mishriff's grand-dam, and his mother is the winning Raven's Pass mare Contradict (GB), who has already produced three black-type horses, including Listed winner Orbaan (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and G3 Craven S. runner-up Momkin (Ire) (Bated Breath {GB}).

Prince Faisal, who has carefully cultivated this family over generations, also raced Mishriff's sire Make Believe, a 180,000gns purchase as a foal from breeder Simon Hope of Aston Mullins Stud. His support of that Ballylinch Stud resident with a member of his signature family has resulted in Make Believe's best offspring to date, and the prince will surely put his breeding clout behind Mishriff, too, along with Sumbe's Nurlan Bizakov, who has a significant broodmare band of his own spread across his studs, which include Haras du Mezeray and Hesmonds Stud in England. 

“Mishriff was a one-of-a-kind horse,” says Sumbe's Mathieu Le Forestier. “He won a [French] Derby and there are only a handful of Derby winners each year, but even fewer go on to become superstars and be consistent and repeat their form in the long run, which he did.”

And that really gets right to the crux of the matter. Mishriff will be six by the time he covers his first mare. In his 21 starts he won seven times. Just three of those appearances were made in his juvenile season, in the manner in which his trainer John Gosden often introduces his Classic prospects, and he won his maiden in November at Nottingham by ten lengths. His Saudi ownership meant that he had a slightly less orthodox Classic preparation than would ordinarily be the case for a Newmarket-based three-year-old. In February of 2020 he was flown to Riyadh for the inaugural Saudi Cup meeting and finished second in the Saudi Derby. 

We all know what happened next. With the Covid pandemic wreaking havoc on the early days of the European Flat season, Mishriff made a delayed reappearance back at his home course in early June, winning the Listed Newmarket S., setting him up perfectly for his success in the Prix du Jockey Club, which was run in early July. A second French raid that summer saw him add the G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano to his record. More was to come.

“His breakthrough was when he was four,” says Le Forestier. “He went on a winning streak starting in February in the Saudi Cup on the dirt over nine furlongs. And he won three weeks later in Dubai, over 12 furlongs on the turf [in the Sheema Classic]. And after the stint in the Middle East, he came back to win the Juddmonte International in the summer by six lengths, which was a stunning performance, and it was very important to be able to win a Group 1 on British soil.”

That season also included being runner-up to Adayar (Ire) in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. after a rather over-exuberant performance in the Eclipse, in which he was third of four on ground he perhaps didn't appreciate. However, he came close to winning that same contest this season when beaten only a neck by Vadeni (Fr) having been hampered in his run. He couldn't add to his tally of wins in his final season of training, but in six Group 1 starts this summer and autumn he was only out of the first four once, closing out his career with a fourth in the Breeders' Cup Turf.

Le Forestier continues, “Mishriff arrived soon after the Breeders' Cup and he's settled in well. He's a very nice, quiet horse, a little bit manly in the yard.

“Of course, we will send him a number of mares ourselves, and Prince Faisal will as well. So he'll have good support from his owners.”

Mishriff joins a young roster at Sumbe. Recorder (GB), a son of the Galileo bred and owned by the late Queen Elizabeth II stands alongside De Treville (GB), the Oasis Dream (GB) half-brother to Too Darn Hot (GB), whose first-crop runners in 2022 included the TDN Rising Star Gain It (Fr). The line-up is completed by G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Golden Horde (Ire), who will have his first yearlings at the sale in 2023. 

Though Le Havre was lost to a tumour in March, his influence will be felt for some time to come. At the Tattersalls December Mares Sale his Group 3-winning daughter Ville De Grace (GB) sold for 2,000,000gns to Lordship Stud, while later that same week at Arqana, a Le Havre weanling half-sister to the dual Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Treve was sold to Juddmonte. With the Yoshida family also having bought Le Havre's first two Classic winners, Avenir Certain (Fr) and La Cressonniere (Fr), his legacy as a broodmare sire is gaining momentum internationally, while one of his sons, Motamarris (Fr), stood his first season at Haras du Mazet this year.

“Losing Le Havre at age 16 was a big loss. It was not expected so soon,” says Le Forestier. “It's not easy to find a replacement for such a horse, so they've been looking carefully, making bids here and there, trying to find the right one. And eventually they made a decision on Mishriff and we are very thankful that we could reach this agreement so that Mishriff could come to France.”

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Since 1958, the Head family has been raising champion Thoroughbreds at Haras du Quesnay, just a few kilometers from the Arqana sales ring. But now, with the passing of the family patriarch, Alec Head, and the sale of the historic nursery, the family's colors will fly for the last time at the December Breeding Stock sale, with the complete dispersal of the Heads' bloodstock interests.

Le Quesnay will offer 48 broodmares, fillies and foals during the sale.

“It's a big bunch of horses, and it's sad to see them going,” said Vincent Rimaud, Quesnay's Stud Manager. “On the other hand, it's nice to look after them. A decision was taken to sell them in Arqana because we're here, we're in France. We're 10 miles away from the site, and we've always sold there. And while a lot of these horses will stay in France, a few of these mares will attract international clients.”

In fact, the first through the ring, lot 31, Perle d'Auge (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), figures to be one of the stars of the dispersal. She is a half-sister to the 2022 G3 Prix Minerve winner Eternal Pearl (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Her third dam Pearly Shells (GB) was the G1 Prix Vermeille winner, who produced the dam of G1 Matron S. Winner Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). Her 2022 filly by Intello (Ger) is also being offered as lot 329.

“Three years ago, we bought Perle d'Auge as a maiden in Arqana and we got her in foal to Intello (Ger) and she gave us a beautiful filly that we would sell. And the pedigree has moved a lot since we bought this mare with Eternal Pearl and with Pearls Galore.”

An emotional sale figures to come with the last foal from Trevise (Fr), the dam of two-time G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Treve (Fr), who died during this foaling. The filly by the late Le Havre sells as lot 166 on Saturday.

“Of course, we have Treve's family,” said Rimaud. “We have the sister to Treve by Le Havre and she's a very nice filly. She's a good mix of Le Havre and her dam. The mare died this year, giving birth to this filly, so she was raised under a nurse mare, and of course, Le Havre died also. So, it's a bit of a sad story, but there's also very beautiful potential there as a broodmare and hopefully a nice race mare before that.”

Treve's half-sister Toride (Fr), who has already produced the black-type runners Lady Day (Fr) and Maximus (Fr), is offered on Saturday as lot 197 in foal to Zarak (Fr), Europe's leading second-crop sire, who stood this year at Haras de Bonneval for €60,000.

“We have Toride, which is a sister that has already produced two black-type horses and she's in foal to Zarak, and it is the right time to be in foal to that stallion to go to the sales. She's a nice mare. And we are also taking down her fifth foal, which is a Persian King (Ire) colt, a very nice colt, and we've been very fortunate with this family.”

The exact future of Quesnay remains unclear; part of the land has been sold off to create the new Haras de Beaumont across the road from the main section of Quesnay, and Rimaud says that there will still be Thoroughbreds raised on the remaining land. But after 20 years of working for the Head family, he admits there will be more than a bit of sadness when the hammer falls on the final lot through the ring on Tuesday.

“There are plenty of people working here and some of them have been working here for a very long time,” he said. “And I think that we will have two different feelings. If they sell well, if they go with nice breeders into good hands, we will be happy about the job done. And I guess at the end of Tuesday night, when we sell the last number, we will feel a bit sad, of course. That will happen. All of these horses that are going to the sales, they were born here in those foaling stables over there,” he says, waving his hand across the iconic Quesnay yard. “And I was there for most of them.”

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Along with Litt, buyers from Britain, China, Ireland, France, Italy, Dubai, Hong Kong, the Czech Republic, and of course Germany underlined a diverse and vibrant market which led to gains of 24% for both aggregate and average. Of the 204 horses offered through the one-day sale, 157 (77%) found a buyer, with the clearance rate dropping just slightly from 80% last year, but the average up to €53,258 with the overall turnover at €8,361,500.

Fahrhof to the Fore

It has been quite the week for the partnership of Gestut Fahrhof and Kingman, with the stallion reaching a new high of 50 stakes winners and 30 group winners courtesy of the stud's homebred Habana (Ger), a 'TDN Rising Star' who went on the land the G3 Zukunfts-Rennen at Baden-Baden on Wednesday.

In the sale ring two days later, Kingman's son (lot 62) from the family of this year's G1 Deutsches Derby winner Sammarco (Ire) was the draft's leading light when topping the sale, selected by a first-time visitor to the auction.

“I'm really happy right now,” said American agent Jason Litt. “We got the one we wanted. We came here trying to buy what we thought was the best horse in the sale, and we thought he was the best horse in the sale.

“He's likely to stay in Europe but it is all to be determined. He has a great attitude and great balance.”

Litt added with a laugh, “He checked all the boxes, as everyone hates to hear.”

The colt's relative Sammarco, who is now a dual Group 1 winner, returns to the track on Sunday to take on Torquator Tasso (Ger) in the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden, and plenty of other members of the close family have won stakes races in Britain, Ireland, France, and Australia. His dam Sarandia (Ger) (Dansili {GB}) was herself narrowly denied a Classic win when second in the G1 Preis der Diana, and three of her five wins came in listed races.

The Fahrhof draft was also represented among the top lots by a Frankel (GB) half-brother to Group 1 winner Potemkin (Ger) (New Approach {GB}), who will race in Germany for Eckhard Sauren, the President of the Cologne Race Club who bought lot 58 for €210,000. The colt's dam Praia (Ger) (Big Shuffle) was herself a winner and listed-placed and is a half-sister to Paita (GB) (Intikhab), a former champion 2-year-old filly in Germany.

An international bidding skirmish was in play later in the day for another Fahrhof consignee, the first foal of Listed Diana Trial winner Realeza (Ger) (Maxios {GB}) by Darley's Night Of Thunder (Ire). Anthony Stroud was involved for a while, but it was Andreas Suborics who had the last word at €325,000, with Michael Donohoe the unlucky underbidder from outside the ring. Suborics confirmed that he will train the chestnut colt (lot 156) for owner Jurgen Sartori.

The mixing of Dubawi and Monsun bloodlines has worked well in this family already, with Realeza's three-parts sister Rumh (Ger), a listed-winning daughter of Monsun, having produced the multiple Group 1 winners Yibir (GB) and Wild Illusion (GB), both of whom are by Dubawi.

Gestut Fahrhof, which has also consigned yearlings at the Tattersalls October Sale in the past, offered all its yearlings for sale at BBAG this year, and was the sale's leading vendor with 12 sold for €1,420,000 at an average price of €118,333.

Reflecting on a good day for his team, Fahrhof's owner Andreas Jacobs said, “It is a fantastic sale, a boutique sale at a wonderful location. It's wonderful because of great food, great restaurants, great hotels, but also a great sales crowd. This year we had some good genuine prices, so expectations from the vendors were reasonable, and I think the catalogue was better than last year.”

He continued, “On the Farhrhof side we had better horses in the sale because we didn't send any to Tattersalls, so that helped our sale. I'm very proud to have sold the most expensive Kingman. I've loved Kingman since he was a racehorse and I think he was one of those that has everything you want to have–good character, a good scope, and he improved with the work every minute.

“The Night Of Thunder we sold was equally smart and everyone was on him which was why he generated an exceptional price. We're very happy with the day's results, and also with the Baden-Baden race results. To have a Kingman filly; there's nothing better than to have a 2-year-old group-winning filly. I'm very excited about her and very proud.”

Prize Fillies for Owner-Breeders

Out of luck with bidding on Fahrhof's Night Of Thunder colt, Michael Donohoe was successful only a short while later when buying the only Frankel filly in the catalogue for €250,000 for Yuesheng Zhang of Yulong Investments. Lot 161, who was offered by Ronald Rauscher, is the third foal of the Acclamation (GB) mare Vagabonde (Ire), a dual winner in France and a half-sister to a pair of Group 3 winners in Kalahara (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Sasparella (Fr) (Shamardal).

“Mr. Zhang has had plenty of luck with the sire and I thought she was lovely,” said Dononhoe. The Yulong Investements silks have been carried to Group 1 glory in Australia by a homebred daughter of Frankel in the Chris Waller-trained Hungry Heart (Aus), winner of the Australian Oaks and Vinery Stud S.

He continued, “There's a nice bit of Acclamation about her and she looks like she might be quite a forward Frankel. We loved the pedigree and thought she represented good value. I was underbidder for different clients on the Kingman and the Night Of Thunder. It's a really strong market.”

A bidding tussle between Tina Rau and Ronald Rauscher saw the latter come out on top for Haras de l'Hotellerie's filly by Sea The Stars (Ire) out of the listed winner Imagery (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) (lot 44) at €250,000.

A pedigree with roots in Gestut Schlenderhan, which includes three black-type half-siblings for the yearling, and another four of the same for her dam, was enough to persuade Rauscher's client, one of Germany's leading breeders, to purchase the filly with her future broodmare career in mind.

“She's been bought for my main partner, Christoph Berglar,” Rauscher confirmed. “He loves Sea The Stars and he loves that Schlenderhan family, and there's Monsun in there. She's very nice, I liked her a lot.”

Guillaume Garcon of Haras de l'Hotellerie offered the filly on behalf of her breeder Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals of Yeguada Centurion, who bought Imagery at Tattersalls four years ago for 95,000gns. The mare also has a colt foal by Sea The Stars.

A good day continued for the Hotellerie team when the Bated Breath (GB) half-sister to Group 3 winner Noble Heidi (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) sold for €130,000 to Stall Salzburg. Extra black type has been provided for their dam Noble Pensee (Fr) (Orpen) by her 3-year-old listed-placed daughter Noble Star (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}), while Noble Heidi, now four, added the Listed Baden-Baden Cup to her tally of victories on Wednesday. The granddam of lot 151, Turning Leaf (Ire) (Last Tycoon) was placed in the G2 German 1,000 Guineas.

Franco-Irish Alliance for Le Havre Filly

One of the 'talking horses' of the sale was the sole yearling by the late Le Havre (Ire), who, catalogued as lot 61, was offered by Stauffenberg Bloodstock on behalf of her breeder Gestut Honyhof. The flashy chestnut is a granddaughter of the G1 Preis der Diana winner Salve Regina (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), who was also runner up in the Deutsches Derby, a race also won by her full-brothers Samum (Ger) and Schiaparelli (Ger). More recently, the family has been boosted by the yearling's Group 3-winning half-brother Sea Of Sands (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who triumphed in the Derby-Trial and is one of five winners for their dam Salve Haya (Ire) (Peintre Celebre).

The well-established partnership of Ireland's Ballylinch Stud and France's Ecurie des Charmes had the final say for the filly at €205,000, with Ghislain Bozo signing the docket in the company of John O'Connor.

“She was a really nice filly, we think Le Havre is a plus as well and it's a very nice staying family, a very strong German family,” Bozo said. “She's a lovely mover and well-balanced, the type of physique we like, and should be a lovely broodmare in the future. She may go to Ballylinch first, they have a really lovely pre-training facility.”

Bozo had earlier signed for Gestut Hof Ittlingen's colt by the late Lord Of England (Ger) at €180,000. Bought for an undisclosed client, lot 47 is a half-brother to Loft (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}), winner of the GII Belmont Gold Cup S. in America as well as the G2 Oleander-Rennen is his home country. The pair emanate from Hof Ittlingen's signature family of the homebred champion Lando (Ger), whose seven Group 1 wins included the Japan Cup, and who is a brother to the colt's granddam Laurella (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}).

Waldgeist Filly to Wohler

Gestut Ammerland's half-sister to Blue De Vega (Ger) (Lope De Vega {Ger}) from the first crop of Arc winner Waldgeist (GB) (lot 79) is to be trained by Andreas Wohler for a “well-established French owner-breeder” after being signed for at €160,000 by Alexandra Saint Martin of ASM Bloodstock.

Unable to divulge the name of her client, the agent added, “She is a lovely filly with a great page and she has been bought as a broodmare prospect. She will be trained in Germany.”

The filly was the most expensive yearling of the day by Waldgeist, who was well represented at BBAG with eight of his yearlings sold for an average of €63,750.

Another of this year's freshman sires, Darley's Too Darn Hot (GB), featured just once in the catalogue but his yearling colt, who is a half-brother to the German champion 3-year-old sprinter Namos (GB) (Medicean {GB}), found favour with breeze-up pinhooker Tom Whitehead of Powerstown Stud.

“He's a good, racy colt and I like the sire. I think he has a good chance,” said Whitehead, who has done well buying breezers from this sale in the past and paid €150,000 for lot 54 from breeder Gestut Brummerhof.

New Bay an Old Friend for Elliott

Alex Elliott is another regular visitor to BBAG and secured two six-figure lots on Friday, the first being lot 53, bought for the Chelsea Thoroughbreds syndicate  at €120,000.

The colt by New Bay (GB) is to be trained by Ralph Beckett, a stallion with whom Elliott and Beckett have enjoyed previous success courtesy of his first-crop son New Mandate (Ire), winner of the G2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge S. as well as a pair of listed races.

There was plenty to recommend the Ronald Rauscher- consigned colt beyond his sire, however, as he is out of Nightlight Angel (Manduro {Ger}), a winning three-parts-sister to Dr. Christoph Berglar's champion colt Novellist (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}), a Group 1 winner in three different countries who is now at stud in Japan. The family has been given another major boost this season by the Irish Oaks victory of Novellist's half-sister Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Elliott also went to €165,000 for Haras de Grandcamp's Wootton Bassett (GB) half-brother to G3 Prix des Chenes winner Evasive's First (Fr) (Evasive), who was appropriately, consigned as lot 165.

Holger Faust of the HFTB Agency was the sale's busiest buyer, signing for 11 yearlings for a total of €568,000. The group included Intisar (Ger) (Isfahan {Ger}), who will race in the same Darius Racing colours as her sister, the G1 Preis der Diana runner-up Isfahani (Ger), and was bought from Gestut Karlshof for €120,000.

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They certainly would not be disabused of that notion by BBAG's managing director Klaus Eulenberger, who could barely walk 20 yards on Thursday without greeting someone or being greeted. Between frequent phone calls he had a few moments in his busy day to assess the scene ahead of his company's biggest day of the year.

“All the usual, local faces are here but there are also many new faces, and international faces, and we are really happy about that, and with the catalogue,” he said. “And it is great for the racecourse that we will have Torquator Tasso here for what will probably be the last time [in Germany] on Sunday.”

While that catalogue is liberally sprinkled with some of the best female families in Germany, there is a broad international range to the stallions represented. Over the last three years, the sale has been topped twice by a Sea The Stars (Ire) yearling at the record price of €820,000, while last year the top lot was by Britain and Ireland's champion sire Frankel (GB).

Eulenberger continued, “Over the last few years we have been happy to see two or three yearlings by Sea The Stars, but now we have seven in the sale and two nice Frankels, Wootton Bassetts, a Kingman, a lovely Dubawi filly, four colts from the second-last crop of Adlerflug, lots of nice Soldier Hollows and a really nice Le Havre filly.”

That shopping list of some of Europe's elite sires has no doubt been a source of encouragement for some of the first-time visitors to Baden-Baden this week, which include Jason Litt, Ahmad Al Shaikh, Paul Nolan, Tom Clover, and Billy Jackson-Stops.

Mick Donohoe of BBA Ireland is not a newcomer to the sale but is in Baden-Baden for the first time in eight years. He said, “The catalogue is really good and now I have had a chance to look at the horses there are some really nice yearlings here. Klaus and his team have done a terrific job and it's a very easy sale to work.”

International consignor Philipp Stauffenberg has brought a select draft of four yearlings to BBAG which includes a trio that represents a departure for established breeders Gestut Honyhof, the owners of the 2002 German Oaks winner Salve Regina (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), a full-sister to the German Derby winners Samum (Ger) and Schiaparelli (Ger). The late mare's purchase as a yearling not only led to Classic success on the track but has helped the farm to establish a significant dynasty. Two of Salve Regina's daughters, Salve Aurora (Ger) (King's Best) and Salve Haya (Ire) (Peintre Celebre), appear as the dams of two yearlings on offer on Friday. Salve Aurora's strapping son of Lope De Vega (Ire) is in the book as lot 158 and is a half-brother to two listed winners as well as a Group 3-placed winning 2-year-old, while Salve Haya's daughter (lot 61) is the only yearling by the late Le Havre (Ire) in the catalogue and is a half-sister to G3 Derby Trial winner Sea Of Sands (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

Gestut Honyhof manager Simon Minch explained, “This is the first time we've ever sent horses to the sales. It's all part of the process, the owners aren't getting any younger, and this should put us on a solid foundation for the future. We're known as breeders, but we're not known as sellers, so it takes time to get established in the market and we're very pleased to offer three very decent yearlings to start it off.”

Espousing the eventual broodmare appeal of the Le Havre filly, he added, “I think nowadays we are maybe running into a little bit of problem with inbreeding and it is important to offer something that might be a bit of an outcross for breeders. She's a half-sister to a Group 3 winner and the dam has a lovely filly foal by Sottsass this year. It's a family of producers and it's a female line that rarely comes on the market.

“Salve Haya and Salve Aurora are both daughters of the Group 1 winner Salve Regina. She only had eight foals and they were all fillies. We have the full-sister to the Le Havre filly [Salve Le Meer] and she has been retained and was a winner this year at three.”

Completing the trio is a colt from the first crop of Ten Sovereigns (Ire) (lot 209) and again the sole representative of his sire in the sale.

Minch said of the dark-brown colt out of the dual winner and listed-placed Westfalica (Ger) (Areion {Ger}), “The family is a bit of a pet project of mine. It's the family of Jet Ski Lady but it had gone a bit quiet. I've put things like One Cool Cat and Areion, going back to the Vaguely Noble speedy side of things, and it has paid off. The second dam only ever had three foals and two of them were black type, so it is a fun family to play around with.”

Of Gestut Honyhof's association with Stauffenberg Bloodstock, he added, “I've known Philipp for many years and if you want to get the best you have to work with the best. That's why we are working with Philipp and we are very lucky to have him involved with our operation going forward.”

Undoubtedly plenty of focus will fall on the first foal Gestut Brummerhof's German Oaks winner Diamanta (Ger) (Maxios {GB}), who also happens to be the only Dubawi (Ire) yearling catalogued this year in Germany (lot 178). The dark-brown filly certainly didn't fluff her lines as she paraded serenely for plenty of interested parties on Friday and her breeders Gregor and Julia Baum, who proudly boast the tagline 'The Home of Danedream' on their sales branding, are no strangers to success at BBAG. Brummerhof broke the record yearling price when topping the sale in 2019 with a daughter of Sea The Stars sold to Godolphin. Can they do it again on Friday? Time will tell, but it appears that they could well have strong competition.

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“For us it is all about selection, of the matings, of culling, and trying to introduce new blood. When I read the interview with Mark Johnston that was music to my ears because that's very much our approach. The form of the dam is so important,” says Putsch, who at Arqana will be selling seven of the eight yearlings born on his sumptuous Normandy-based Haras de Saint Pair last year. 

Indeed, Putsch had outlined this strategy when interviewed in these pages five years ago. At the time he said of his early days in the breeding business, “I was breeding to sell. I tried to buy mares with good pedigrees who didn't have such good racing records. Some of their offspring sold well, so commercially it was a success, but what bothered me was that there weren't enough good results on the racecourse with those horses. Then I read Joe Estes's book which compared mares' performances and I studied all the dams of the good stallions. I decided that the way to go was to buy performance over pedigree–it's very difficult to afford both.” 

Certainly that shift in direction, which has been incorporated into the broader perspective at Haras de Saint Pair, has reaped dividends on the track, both with the graduates of the farm who race in Putsch's own colours, such as the multiple group winner Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), and with those bought by other owners. 

It is no surprise that Saint Pair, just outside Cambremer, is capable of producing top-class racehorses as the farm has a rich history rolling, like its paddocks, back to 1883. Four Arc winners have been born there, and in the 15 years in which it has been under the ownership of Putsch, the Group 1 winner Vadamos (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) has been born and raised there among some other notable group winners, including Glycon (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), Waldbiene (Fr) (Intello {Ger}), Lucky Lycra (Fr) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) and Guildsman (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). 

Siblings to two of those mentioned can be found in the septet which forms the Haras de Saint Pair Arqana August draft. The Kingman (GB) colt out of Dardiza (Ire) (Street Cry {Ire}), lot 249, is a half-brother to the American Grade III winner Guildsman, who was also third in the G2 Coventry S. when trained by Archie Watson. It is a family with roots in the Aga Khan Studs and also features the Classic winners Almanzor (Fr) and Darjina (Fr).

A colt and a filly by Kingman's stud-mate Frankel (GB) also feature, with the son of G2 Rockfel S. winner Spain Burg (Fr) (Sageburg {Fr}) being the third horse set to sell on Sunday evening (lot 148). With the remainder of the draft being concentrated on Monday, the Frankel filly appears as lot 284 and is one of three members of the same illustrious family to pass through the ring within four lots. Bred on a cross which has been successfully advertised by Group 1 winners Nashwa (GB), Cracksman (GB) and Hungry Heart (Aus), the filly is out of the Pivotal (GB) mare Girl Friday (Fr), who was a winner at two and is a half-sister to the aforementioned G2 Grand Prix de Deauville winner Glycon. Their dam Glorious Sight (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) was talented herself, as a Listed winner who was placed in both the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and G1 Prix de Diane. Furthermore, she is a half-sister to another talented Pivotal mare, Beauty Is Truth (Ire), a Group 2 winner who has produced the Group 1 winners Hermosa (Ire), (Hydrangea (Ire) and The United States (Ire) from her repeated matings with Galileo (Ire).

The Frankel filly will be followed through by a daughter of Wootton Bassett (lot 285), whose young winning dam Glad Eye (Fr) is by Dansili out of Glorious Sight, while the third filly from the family (287), and perhaps the draft's pièce de resistance is the full-sister to Glycon, whose sire Le Havre died earlier this year. With Glorious Sight being a Kilfrush Stud-bred descendant of the great matriarch Mill Princess (Ire) (Mill Reef), the family has been given a further boost in recent seasons by the exploits of dual Group 1 winner Tenebrism (Caravaggio) and her sister Statuette (Justify).

“The full-sister to Glycon, certainly, is a superstar,” says her proud breeder. “She will be very popular. And if you look at the pedigree update, at the mares that Coolmore have, Hydrangea has a Deep Impact and two Dubawis, and Hermosa has a No Nay Never and two Dubawis. [Their Dansili half-sister] Fire Lily has two Galileos. There aren't many families that have that sort of support. As Coolmore aren't selling, it's really almost an exclusive entry into the family.”

Putsch adds, “We have a very consistent draft, I would say. The horses are where they should be. The two colts are also very popular, they are very strong, very racy, very well developed. I'm very happy with them. They're all ready to go.”

Only one of the crop of 2021 has been retained this year at Haras de Saint Pair, for practical reasons as well as perhaps a sentimental one, for the Siyouni (Fr) filly is the final foal of another successful Singspiel mare for the stud, Via Milano (Fr), the dam of the black-type trio of Via Ravenna (Ire) (Raven's Pass), Via Medici (Ire) (Medicean {GB}) and Via Manzoni (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}). The G3 Prix Lieurey winner Via Medici has subsequently been exported to Japan, where she produced the dual Group 1 winner and young Shadai stallion Admire Mars (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}).

“We have to keep the filly, because Via Milano is now retired in the paddocks. But we really bring our 'A game' to the August Sale,” Putsch says. “Because we don't know, as the buyers don't know, which ones are going to be the ones who race successfully. If I'd have known that Sicilian Defense was as good as she is, I wouldn't have sold her for, what, €30,000.

“If you look back at the figures, Saint Pair does produce a high percentage of stakes winners year after year, but obviously we don't know which ones are going to be the 20/25% of the stakes winners–and over the last four years, with four or five crops, that's what we've been producing, from small crops of on average 11 foals.”

He continues, “I think if you look at all these operations that are successful, they have a very good ratio of land to horses, and that's the key on our land. We have a strict policy of a minimum of two hectares per horse, and that allows us to rest the paddocks. All our paddocks have a minimum of six months of rest every year, and we see very few horses. We see lots of cows during the season, and empty paddocks. And I think that, in terms of management and especially parasite management, is absolutely key. I couldn't do it any other way.”

As already outlined in Saturday's TDN by Arqana's Freddy Powell, there will be no shortage of international buyers prowling the sales grounds in Deauville. Like many in the business, Putsch can see both sides of the coin when it comes to the increasing globalisation of the racing and breeding industry.

He says, “I welcome it and I am concerned. First of all, I'm not the emperor of racing and breeding so I cannot change the reality. And it's the reality of things right now that Europe has become huge. Look at it historically, I think right now in terms of quality of stock you have Europe and Japan that are leading the world. Japan has different reasons, but why Europe is so good is historically that amazing competition between Coolmore and Darley, and also Juddmonte playing this phenomenal role.”

He continues, “This gives us the stallions, on which we feast. And only because we can feast on these amazing stallions, we have superior breeding. I think really the power, in history, has always been led by stallion power. Where the top stallions are, you have the best breeding. I strongly believe in that.”

Of the sires responsible for the yearlings in the Saint Pair draft, the champion sires of France and Britain and Ireland, Siyouni and Frankel, are represented, along with the proven names of Le Havre, Kingman, and Wootton Bassett. Only one is yet to prove himself, and that is the Darley freshman Blue Point (Ire), whose filly within this consignment (lot 311) features late in the sale and is the second foal of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches runner-up and Listed winner Irish Rookie (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}).

Putsch explains, “I only use first-season sires when I really was impressed with them as a racehorse. Obviously Blue Point winning twice in the one week at Ascot, very few horses can do that. It takes a top horse to do it. And that convinced me to use Blue Point in his first season, but usually I prefer to go with proven sires.”

Returning to the theme of Europe's current glut of classy sires, he adds, “We have this situation in Europe where we breed top stock because of top stallions. But that is not a given that it will last forever, and now we have these very important breeders disappearing for age, slowly, and it's a whole new game. We also have ridiculous prize-money, and I include France in that, all over Europe. If you compare it to America, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, our prize-money is a joke. And that is the big problem, because we're becoming right now a nursery for stock for international racing. I have to look at international markets to market my horses. I've got no choice. And long term that can hurt.”

With a Group/Grade 1 winner in Japan and Hong Kong advertising the strength of the merits of the Saint Pair broodmare band in no less a stallion farm than the Yoshida family's Shadai operation, Putsch can also see the benefits of this global mingling of bloodlines. 

 “It is positive as well,” he says. “We really try to get our horses in as many jurisdictions as possible. As small as we are, I very much believe in this international market, and also international racing, and again prize-money. If you look at all our races, apart from the Classics that really are for breeding, but once the Classic season is over, the best horses automatically go to the races where the most money is. I think the Japanese showed us that, they're much more progressive than we are, but Europe is catching up, America is catching up. And the championship races today are the big races internationally that have the most prize-money.”

He adds, “So it's important for me, as a breeder, to be represented at the big meetings. Everything that is outside these meetings is just lesser racing, in general, and that is an important development. If you want to be in the limelight as a breeder you have to make sure your horses compete in this kind of company.”

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In a statement released on Saturday, Sumbe manager Mathieu Alex said, “Due to health issues which occurred at the end of last year, the decision was made to end his stallion career. We owe him so much and our priority is his wellbeing. Le Havre is a true champion. Winner of a magnificent Prix du Jockey Club, he was a leading stallion from his debut at stud.”

He added, “The sire of 50 Stakes winners, including two dual winners of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and the Prix de Diane, Le Havre is a source of French pride. We know how rare these horses are. He gave us the most beautiful emotions. We have lived with him for more than 10 years and are enjoying every moment.”

Bred by the Sundstrom family under their Team Hogdala banner, Le Havre was the first foal of his dam Marie Rheinberg (Ger) (Surako {Ger}), a half-sister to the Group 1-winning sprinter Polar Falcon (Nureyev), whose later accolades include being the sire of Pivotal (GB). 

Le Havre was bought by his trainer Jean-Claude Rouget for €100,000 at Arqana's August Sale and became the first major flag-bearer in Thoroughbred racing for his prolific owner. He won his first two starts as a juvenile and was clearly held in high regard by Rouget, who then ran him in the G1 Critérium International, in which he was seventh, beaten less than three lengths.

The trainer's confidence was well founded. Le Havre won the Listed Prix Djebel on his 3-year-old debut, beating the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère winner Naaqoos (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) into second. The pair finished in the same order on their next start in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, but this time it was in second and third behind Silver Frost (Ire) (Verglas {Ire}). Le Havre had his revenge a month later, however, when delivering a commanding performance to win the Prix du Jockey Club in its fifth year at the reduced distance of 2,100 metres.

His retirement to what was then known as Haras de la Cauvinière in 2009 prompted a significant foray into the breeding world by Augustin-Normand, who through his former racing manager and bloodstock advisor Sylvain Vidal bought a decent array of mares to support his exciting young stallion. Le Havre's arrival on the French scene came at a time when the country's stallion ranks had been quite seriously depleted with the deaths or retirement of some significant names such as Anabaa, Highest Honor and Linamix (Fr). Around the same time, Kendargent (Fr) and Siyouni (Fr) also retired to Normandy studs, and the trio has made a significant contribution to the resurgence of France's breeding industry over the last decade. 

Vidal's judgement in those broodmare purchases for their new stallion, who was the first to stand at the farm he ran with his former wife Elisabeth, soon became apparent and Le Havre was arguably the first of the three to make an impact. A well-named filly from his first crop, Avenir Certain (Fr), bred by Elisabeth Vidal, became Le Havre's first Classic winner in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and swiftly followed up in the Prix de Diane. Two years later the Augustin-Normand-bred La Cressonniere (Fr) completed the same Classic double, with both fillies having been campaigned by Augustin-Normand and Antonio Caro and trained by Rouget. 

Augustin-Normand told TDN on Saturday, “Le Havre has been the most important horse of my life. He was the beginning and it's very emotional for me. I wouldn't have been in the breeding business if he had not been there. Everything began with Le Havre and I wouldn't have started breeding horses without him.”

He continued, “When he went to stud I wanted to give him the best chances, everything he needed to succeed. I was so grateful to him for what he had given me, and that has not stopped. To have won two Poules and the Prix de Diane twice [with his daughters] is incredible.”

Paying tribute to the team that contributed to Le Havre's success on the racecourse and at stud, Augustin-Normand added, “I am very grateful to Jean-Claude Rouget, I think it was his first win in the Jockey Club, and it was a wonderful year for us. I am also very grateful to Christophe Lemaire, Sylvain Vidal, Mathieu Vidal and all the team. I must also say a word for Anna Sundstrom, the breeder of Le Havre. His story was the beginning for her also, and it will not be the end. Anna is a wonderful woman and is very important to me.”

Le Havre's first crop also included Suedois (Fr), who became his first colt to win at the top level in the GI Shadwell Turf Mile, while Villa Marina won the G1 Prix de l'Opera, and Wonderful Tonight (Fr), bred by Sylvain Vidal and Mathieu Alex, won the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. and the G1 Prix de Royallieu among her five stakes wins for David Menuisier and Chris Wright. 

To date, Le Havre is the sire of 20 group winners and 30 listed winners, and features as the broodmare sire of G1 Coronation Cup winner Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}). A number of his daughters have been exported to Japan, including both his French Classic winners. Avenir Certain's first of two foals before her untimely death, Des Ailes (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), won last year's G2 Hanshin Himba S., and has struck early in 2022 with victory in the G3 Aichi Hai. Le Havre's daughter Sea Front (Fr) is now the dam of the Grade 2-winning juvenile Serifos (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}). 

Le Havre will remain at Haras de Montfort et Préaux in retirement. Of his decision to bring the curtain down on the horse's stud career, Augustin-Normand said, “It has not been easy but it is the right thing to do. We love him so much and he has given us the biggest emotions. I went to Montfort last week to see him and it was really emotional. I hope he will stay with us as long as possible.”

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