Siyouni | Horse Racing Free Tips

Injury Flare-Up For St Mark’s Basilica

Trainer Aidan O'Brien has “backed off” five-time Group 1 winner St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) after the 3-year-old once again exhibited soreness in the area of a minor injury he sustained this summer.

St Mark's Basilica missed the G1 Juddmonte International at York last month after a cut on a hind leg caused by a thrown shoe became infected, and although the dual French Classic and G1 Eclipse S. winner returned to win the G1 Irish Champion S. 10 days ago, he has since been sore in the area of the old wound.

Of St Mark's Basilica's future, O'Brien said, “There's no decision yet–he's not back in full work yet. He did start back with some canters, but he was a little bit sore on that wound that he had. Because of that, we've just backed off him again and we haven't made any decisions. That's where we are at the moment.”

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Siyouni: From Syndication To Stardom

Just as the illustrious Pivotal (GB) was retiring from stud duties at the age of 28, Siyouni (Fr), who can certainly now be regarded as his most significant sire son, was reaching the peak of his powers with his first French championship. He finished last season by adding a Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner to his burgeoning CV, and this year Siyouni is currently responsible for the joint-top-rated horse in the world in the dual French Classic and Eclipse S. winner St Mark's Basilica (Fr).

At the age of 14, Siyouni is riding the crest of a wave. For at least the last four seasons he has been the most expensive stallion in France by a wide margin, his 2021 fee rising to an all-time high of €140,000. And his popularity at the sales is undiminished–15 of his yearlings passed through the recent Arqana August Sale for an average price in excess of €300,000. Bahrain's KHK Racing bought the most expensive of these at €1.5 million and Coolmore, doubtless emboldened by their previous success with the stallion, gave €650,000 for a filly from Ecurie des Monceaux, birthplace of their young Arc-winning stallion Sottsass (Fr).

How much of a permanent mark Siyouni will make on the breed remains to be seen, but already he is the sire of not just an Arc winner but five individual Classic winners with 17 Group 1 victories to their credit, as well as the GI E P Taylor S. heroine Etoile (Fr). Things, however, could have been so different, with the horse's story reduced perhaps to a footnote in Thoroughbred history as the winner of the 2009 G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

“It's not to our credit, but Siyouni wasn't very far from getting castrated and sent to Hong Kong,” says Georges Rimaud, manager of the Aga Khan Studs in France.

“He was certainly a very good racehorse, and at two in particular, but then at three, he unfortunately did not manage to win a race. He placed in several races, and was second in the Prix Jean Prat. But we were left wondering what we were going to do with him. Was it enough to stand him? Was he the type that people be looking for?”

It turns out that Siyouni was indeed the type that breeders were happy to take a chance on, though his appeal was broadened, and the risk shared, by the Aga Khan Studs taking the decision to syndicate him–a move not made by the operation since Darshaan (GB) retired to stud in 1985. A good omen, if one were needed.

“We syndicated him to bring in a bit of money for one thing, and then also I always feel that if you get more participants around something, whether it's a horse or something else, you dilute the risk a little bit. If you are successful you are going to probably dilute the revenue as well, but I thought it was worth the shot with that horse. So we agreed–all our team and His Highness–agreed to syndicate him at a small price of €28,000, and he would stand at €7,000 for the standard syndication.”

The gamble worked, at least in the initial sense of encouraging breeders to use the stallion. “He very quickly covered 150 mares or more,” Rimaud recalls. “He was always quite busy. We ended up with quite a few foals that looked very nice. And you know when you have good foals out there because people come back. We had the same demand the following year, and the following year.”

After that, it was up to Siyouni himself, or indeed his runners. With 14 first-crop winners in 2014, he was France's leading first-season sire and leading sire of 2-year-olds. That group included the G3 Prix de Cabourg winner Ervedya (Fr), who would reward the Aga Khan and Siyouni's former trainer Alain de Royer Dupre by becoming her sire's first Classic winner in the following year's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches before travelling to Ascot to win the G1 Coronation S.

“Every beginner was winning,” says Rimaud. “So we felt pretty good about it. And then we produced our first Group 1 winner by him, and then you don't have anything else to do. I mean, it all happens. The rest is, as some people say, it's history. But I am not sure the history is finished: it's ongoing. He has produced probably around 150 foals every year.”

There is no hiding the pleasure that Siyouni's success has brought the operation as Rimaud recounts his career to date. It is of course not the first time the Aga Khan Studs has retired a homebred to stand at one of its farms–far from it–but perhaps the somewhat unexpected nature of the steep upward rise, from a relatively lowly stud fee, echoing that of his own celebrated sire in England, makes it all the more satisfying.

“We're thrilled with it,” he says. “This is the horse who was born and raised on our farm. We bred the mare. Everything was homemade. He was born at Saint-Crespin and he was broken in at our breaking farm. From there, he was sent to Alain de Royer Dupre, who found him quite precocious. You know, this is not a trademark for us, to have precocious horses.”

Rimaud continues, “You don't expect to go from sort of low grade to elite. That was the way it went, starting at €7,000. I don't want to insult anyone who used him in the early years, but at €7,000, he improved the quality of the foals of those mares considerably. As we say in French, he's an améliorateur [enhancer], and he really does that.”

The motto of the Aga Khan Studs has long been 'success breeds success' and in this instance it has been doubly true for the breeders who not only sent their mares but also took a share in the young stallion at the outset. Rimaud is quick to acknowledge those who have helped to establish Siyouni at Haras de Bonneval.

He says, “The thing was that the Aga Khan Studs had not syndicated horses for a long time, so this was almost a new thing. People adhered to that syndication, and were very pleased to come in and do something with us.

“They've invested, they believed in the horse, they put their mares in. And some of them had to leave because of the pressure of selling their shares at higher prices and then not necessarily being able to go back to the horse, which is also a frustrating situation where you have people that have helped Siyouni make it with lower stud fees.”

In May it was announced that Siyouni, who is out of the Danehill mare Sichilla (Ire), whose offspring also include Group/Grade 1 winner Siyouma (Ire) (Medicean {GB}), would be available to cover to Southern Hemisphere time at a fee of €100,000. He has had scant representation in Australia thus far, but among his six runners there are four black-type performers, including the listed-winning juvenile See You In Spring (Aus). Her Darley-bred dam Spring Colours (GB) (Shamardal), who is out of a half-sister to the champion miler Goldikova (Ire), was exported to Australia in 2017.

“We were tempted to shuttle him several times,” Rimaud says. “When he was just about to make it and we felt that maybe it was the time to take that opportunity, we had some offers in Western Australia and different places, from Anthony Mithen. When we did the deal with the horse originally it wasn't even considered, but then we had real interest when he started to do well.”

Ultimately it was decided not to take the risk, and Siyouni has hardly been short of suitors in France in the intervening years. Indeed, he can be credited with playing a key role in the resurgence of the French bloodstock scene over the last decade, along with his fellow Normandy-based sires Le Havre (Ire) and Kendargent (Fr), who retired to stud the year before him and are both now recognised as internationally important stallions. At the time of Siyouni's retirement, the most expensive stallion in the country was Elusive City at €15,000.

“His success has undoubtedly helped us and it has helped the stallion stations around France,” says Rimaud. “It gave them confidence that it was possible to have a stallion of that calibre and sell the nominations and make it work. They have done a good job with Le Havre as well, and the stallion operations in France have all benefited from this. I don't think it's solely due to Siyouni, but it certainly reinforced the view that it is possible. France has actually become a sort of a platform where international investors can come in easily.”

The generally accepted rule is that only one in ten stallions retiring to stud really makes it. A grand racing career and the bluest of bloodlines offer no guaranteed path to success. Siyouni of course did not emanate from humble origins, but equally he was not initially afforded the calibre of mares of some of the other stallions he now tussles with in the tables.

Rimaud himself gives a nod to the hand fate plays in such developments. He says, “It's incredible really, that's exactly what it is. And you can't predict these things. It just happens.”

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€1.5-Million For Son Of Siyouni

French champion sire Siyouni (Fr) provided the second millionaire of the Arqana August Yearling Sale when Ecurie des Monceaux's colt out of Cercle de la Vie (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (lot 152) fetched €1.5-million to the bid of Oliver St Lawrence on behalf of Fawzi Nass. Cercle de la Vie is a full-sister to Group 1 winners Highland Reel (Ire) and Cape Of Good Hope (Ire), and her current 2-year-old, who was a private purchase at €120,000 by Jamie McCalmont in Deauville last summer, is Angel Bleu (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), who won last month's G2 Vintage S. for owner Marc Chan and trainer Ralph Beckett.

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The Weekly Wrap: Coming Of Age

In February, the inevitable announcement came that Pivotal (GB) was to be pensioned at Cheveley Park Stud at the age of 28. David and Patricia Thompson's homebred son of Polar Falcon has been one of the great British breeding stories of the last few decades and the sturdy chestnut has been a great friend to small and major breeders alike through his magnificent stud innings.

As he continues his retirement, so does his legacy gain momentum. A few months before Pivotal was retired, his son Siyouni (Fr) had been crowned champion sire in his native France for the first time. The Aga Khan Studs stallion had only missed out on earning that title in the two previous seasons to Galileo (Ire) and Nathaniel (Ire), respectively the sires of the high-earning Arc winners Waldgeist (GB) and Enable (GB) in those two years. Then Siyouni got his own Arc winner, Sottsass (Fr), augmenting a profile which already had a properly classy look to it.

In each of the last four seasons, Siyouni has been responsible for a French Classic winner. His first-crop daughter Ervedya (Fr) had actually got the ball rolling in 2015, winning the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches for her and her sire's breeder the Aga Khan. A little gap ensued, but Le Brivido (Fr) was soon knocking on the door, and was only a short-head away from claiming the Poule d'Essai des Poulains two years later when being so narrowly beaten by Brametot (Ire).

Then came Laurens (Fr) to claim the Prix de Diane as one of her six Group 1 victories in France, Britain and Ireland, starting a Classic run which was continued by Sottsass in the Prix du Jockey Club of 2019, Dream And Do (Fr) in last year's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches before the 2020 European champion 2-year-old St Mark's Basilica (Fr) made good on his juvenile promise to land the Poulains for Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore team.

Of course Siyouni can't take all the credit here, as St Mark's Basilica's Group 3-winning dam Cabaret (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has already shown herself to be a producer par excellence for Australian breeder Bob Scarborough via her son Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), winner of the 2000 Guineas in 2019. This repeats the cross seen to good effect in Sottsass, who is out of arguably the most celebrated active broodmare in France, Starlet's Sister (Ire).

Doubling up on Danzig has done no harm in the case of Laurens and Dream And Do, while Siyouni's other top-level winner, the GI EP Taylor S. victrix Etoile (Fr), is out of a mare by Authorized (Ire) and is, like Laurens, inbred 4×4 to Danzig. A similar cross to this is found in the Siyouni 2-year-old Kaltham (Fr), a daughter of dual Arc winner Treve (Fr), who is by another Derby-winning son of Montjeu (Ire) in Motivator (GB).

Like Pivotal before him, Siyouni started out at stud standing for a relatively small fee of €7,000, which has gradually climbed to €140,000, making him the most expensive stallion in France, just as his own sire was in Britain when Pivotal's covering price climbed to £85,000 in 2007 and 2008. In both cases, lofty reputations look to be well earned.

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For Basque-born jockey Ioritz Mendizabal, the Covid-19 pandemic has been both a blessing and a curse. Last July, when travel restrictions meant that neither David Egan nor Frankie Dettori could make the trip to Chantilly, he won his first Classic aboard Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club for Britain's champion trainer John Gosden.

Mendizabal's good season continued when he rode Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) to victory in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet for James Fanshawe, but he was then prevented from travelling to Keeneland to ride her in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf after testing positive for Covid. The now-suspended Pierre-Charles Boudot picked up the winning ride on Audarya in America, but fortune swung back in Mendizabal's favour when Ireland's champion Aidan O'Brien came calling on Friday for him to take the ride on St Mark's Basilica.

“Winning the Guineas is fantastic,” the jockey told Jour de Galop. “But you cannot know the emotion of even having your name in the same line in the race card as Aidan O'Brien. He is the best trainer in the world. I knew I was going to ride St Mark's Basilica on Friday at 2pm and it was extremely satisfying that Aidan O'Brien called on me.”

Wow Takes A Bow

In his short racing career, The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), an early star of the now-defunct Ascot Breeze-up Sale, went from winning an Ayr maiden to success in the G2 Coventry S. and G1 Darley Prix Morny, to finishing last in the G1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and then out.

His stud career was similarly short-lived. From covering 40 mares at Haras de Bouquetot in 2017 and 12 the following season, The Wow Signal's poor fertility meant that he had only 15 registered foals in France before he died from laminitis in the spring of 2018.

From a family which includes Shadwell's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Ta Rib (Mr Prospector), The Wow Signal now has his own posthumous winner of that same race despite his seriously limited opportunities. Coeursamba (Fr) was bred by three members of the Mestrallet family, including Julie Mestrallet, who consigns at the French sales under the name of her Haras de l'Aumonerie. She owns only two broodmares, with the Quesnay-bred Marechale (Fr) (Anabaa), the dam of Coeursamba, being the first bought by Mestrallet from a claiming race in the French provinces.

When The Wow Signal won the Coventry he was following something of a Royal Ascot tradition for his sireline. His sire Starspangledbanner won the G1 Golden Jubilee S. on his second start for Aidan O'Brien after moving from the Australian stable of Leon Corstens, and in turn his father Choisir (Aus) had been the poster boy that opened the floodgates for Australian sprinters heading to the Royal meeting, having won both the King's Stand and the Golden Jubilee back in 2003.

Starspangledbanner was also famously subfertile in his early years at stud but a combination of patience and good management has seen him continue his stallion career while remaining popular with commercial breeders.

He too was represented among the stakes winners over the weekend when the Fozzy Stack-trained juvenile Hermana Estrella (Ire) landed the G3 Coolmore Stud Irish EBF Fillies' Sprint S. on debut, with the horses in behind her including favourite Contarelli Chapel (Ire) (Caravaggio), who had earned a TDN Rising Star for her own impressive debut success three weeks earlier.

Bred by Mark and Aisling Gittins at Castlefarm Stud from The Last Sister (Ire), a daughter of the Gittins family's G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Lord Shanakill, Hermana Estrella had been sold as a foal for just 2,500gns. She transpired to be a profitable pinhook for Timmy Hillman of Castledillon Stud, who resold her as a yearling for £42,000 to her trainer and Hubie de Burgh at last year's relocated Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.

The family has worked well with that sireline in the past as The Last Sister's half-sister Lady Springbank (Ire) is a dual Group 3-winning daughter of Choisir. Hermana Estrella may now be given her own chance at Royal Ascot in the G3 Albany S.

Snowfall On The Knavesmire

We usually expect to see something special at York in the spring and indeed both formal Classic trials threw up decent winners. Galileo was the broodmare sire of yet another European Classic winner at ParisLongchamp on Sunday and he could yet chalk up further success in this realm in the coming weeks with Snowfall (Jpn), who was highly impressive in winning the G3 Tattersalls Musidora S. Like Saxon Warrior (Jpn) before her, she is bred on the Deep Impact (Jpn)-Galileo cross. Her mother fell somewhat short of her lofty name of Best In The World (Ire), and in fact she herself finished last in the Musidora in 2016. She did, however, later collect the G3 Give Thanks S. As a full-sister to Arc winner Found (Ire) and a daughter of Group 1 winner Red Evie (Ire) (Intikhab), Best In The World of course had plenty to recommend her, and her first foal is now second-favourite behind stablemate Santa Barbara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) for the Cazoo Oaks.

The Dante meeting also proved to be a highly successful one for trainer Ed Walker, who has a crack sprinter on his hands in Starman (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}). The 4-year-old is still lightly raced and has been beaten just once in his five starts for owner/breeder David Ward, who bought his dam Northern Star (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) at the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale for €50,000 through Ed Sackville. She won just once but has already produced two stakes performers with her first two foals. Sadly, the mare died after producing a Kingman (GB) filly, named Lodestar (GB), in 2018.

Northern Star's first foal, Sunday Star (GB) (Kodiac {GB}), is a dual winner with multiple stakes placings, including finishing third in the G3 Summer Fillies' S. at York last season. Starman is smarter still and now has two Group 1 sprint entries at Royal Ascot.

Sackville also did Ward a favour when selecting Primo Bacio (Ire) at Tattersalls October Book 1 two years ago from her breeder Kildaragh Stud. A winner last December on her fourth start for Walker, the daughter of Awtaad (Ire) has taken major strides forward in her 3-year-old season and, following a first-up fourth in the G3 Fred Darling S., she now has bold black type thanks to her three-length win in the Oaks Farm Stables Fillies' S., which is run in memory of the late racing journalist Michael Seely.

Primo Bacio's victory not only completed a double for Walker and Ward, but also initiated a stakes double last week for her Derrinstown Stud-based sire Awtaad. Both she and the Sir Edmund Loder homebred Bellosa (Ire), who won the listed Betway King Charles S. at Newmarket on Saturday, are members of the Irish 2000 Guineas winner's first crop, as is last season's Leopardstown winner Ebeko (Ire). The latter was subsequently exported to California, where she won the listed Zuma Beach S. for trainer Peter Miller.

Rising Stars Of The Stud Ranks

There has been plenty of activity in the European first-season sires' table over the last week. Overbury Stud's Ardad (Ire) doubled his tally of winners to eight, with Beautiful Sunshine (GB) and Superior Force (GB) among those to have added to the impressive run for the partnership of trainer George Boughey with Amo Racing and breeze-up consignor/pre-trainer Robson Aguiar.

The National Stud duo of Aclaim (Ire) and Time Test (GB) both got off the mark on Saturday, with Aclaim's first winner, Cachet (Ire), another breeze-up graduate trained by Boughey, being awarded a TDN Rising Star for her Rowley Mile debut.

Galileo Gold's first winner, Ebro River (Ire), struck at Doncaster on Saturday and, appropriately, the colt is trained by Galileo Gold's former trainer Hugo Palmer in the colours of his former owner Al Shaqab Racing, and was bred by Tally-Ho Stud, where the 2000 Guineas winner now stands.

Ribchester (Ire) was another freshman to be represented by a TDN Rising Star in the last week in the form of Gisburn (Ire), the facile winner of a Newbury maiden on Friday for Richard Hannon and owners Michael Kerr-Dineen and Martin Hughes. He is likely to head next to the Coventry S.

Meanwhile at the head of the table presently on progeny earnings is Ribchester's fellow Darley sire Profitable (Ire). His four winners include the Gavin Cromwell-trained Quick Suzy (Ire), who was runner-up to the aforementioned Hermana Estrella in the Group 3 at Naas on Sunday. Events at Royal Ascot will surely bring further clues as to the prowess of the latest crop of young stallions.

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