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NH stallions en Francais
Martin Stevens casts his eye over the major NH sires at stud in France Read in full at: www.martinstevensbloodstock.com
ONLY FOUR FRENCH-BREDS struck at the meeting this year — the lowest number since 2013. The dearth of winners carrying the FR suffix seemed really odd, as there had been a double-figure tally of them in each of the past three years, hitting a high of 14 as recently as 2019.
French breeders still had cause for cheer, though, as this year’s festival haul did include one of the most impressive winners of the week — Allaho, who delivered a command performance in the Ryanair Chase — and another Grade 1 scorer in Vanillier, who took the Albert Bartlett by 11 lengths.
French-breds also finished second and third in the Champion Hurdle (Sharjah and Epatante) and Gold Cup (A Plus Tard and Al Boum Photo), as well as second in the Stayers’ Hurdle (Sire Du Berlais). The likes of Concertista, Fusil Raffles and Petit Mouchoir also put up commendable placed efforts.
And it isn’t all about Cheltenham, of course. It should be remembered that French-breds Abacadabras, Bravemansgame, Chacun Pour Soi, Envoi Allen, Franco De Port, Frodon, Gaillard Du Mesnil, Kemboy and Min had all landed Grade 1 races in Britain or Ireland this season before falling or being beaten at the festival.
The evergreen Bristol De Mai and exciting Energumene missed the meeting altogether.
All things considered, that underwhelming total of four French-bred winners at Cheltenham 2021 looks a little anomalous. There should be no reason for breeders, traders and stallion masters across the Channel to panic.
So which French sires should breeders and traders be looking out for? This year’s Festival winners are a good place to start our search, in particular the awesome Allaho.
Allaho a fine example
He is by Haras de Montaigu resident No Risk At All, a 14-year-old son of My Risk and half-brother to high-class chaser Nickname, who was a dual Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed in the Prix d’Ishapan.
The chestnut stallion is hot property, having also sired Champion Hurdle heroine Epatante, Grade 1-winning novice chaser Esprit Du Large and a number of domestic stars — not to mention big-priced Irish point-to-point graduates Keskonsisk and Papa Tango Charly.
Breeders will need to act fast to get into No Risk At All as he is limited to 130 mares each season and has been booked out well in advance of February for the last few years. His €10,000 covering fee has not put many off using him, which is hardly surprising when he has come up with Allaho, Epatante, Esprit Du Large and others from his first crop alone.
Interestingly, the French stallion ranks offer a less expensive and more readily available alternative to gaining access to No Risk At All’s distaff pedigree.
Sadly, Nickname died aged only 12 at Haras de Victot, leaving behind three crops that contained Cyrname, Frodon, Yala Enki and more, but the son of Lost World’s fullbrother Nom De D’La, a Grade 3-winning chaser, stands at Haras de la Baie.
Nom De D’La’s first crop numbers only four six-year-olds, but has yielded two winners, one at Auteuil. His second output of 17 five-year-olds and third generation of 14 four-year-olds each contain an Auteuil Listed hurdle scorer, in Irresistibles and Chichi De La Vega respectively.
He has 11 three-year-olds, 14 two-yearolds and 33 yearlings, and covered 31 mares last year. With his pedigree, it wouldn’t take many good representatives in Britain or Ireland for him to come into the crosshairs of more breeders.
Martaline’s marvellous legacy
Vanillier, meanwhile, is by Haras de Montaigu’s late powerhouse dual-purpose sire Martaline, who gave British and Irish trainers further Grade 1 winners Disko, Dynaste, Terrefort, Very Wood and We Have A Dream.
Martaline passed away in 2019, and the sire’s devotees will have to console themselves with using his stallion sons. There are plenty of them in France, where connections often allow jumps colts to keep their reproductive organs, headed by his Grade 1-winning sons Beaumec De Houelle and Nirvana Du Berlais who are available at €6,000 and €6,500.
Beaumec De Houelle, winner of the prestigious Prix Cambaceres at Auteuil for three-year-old hurdlers, is out of a Listedplaced daughter of Trempolino. He has stood at Montaigu since 2019 and has 67 first-crop yearlings on the ground, with a book of 144 mares covered last year.
Nirvana Du Berlais, another winner of the Prix Cambaceres, is a half-brother to Aubusson, a Grade 3-winning hurdler in Britain, out of a Listed-placed Mansonnien half-sister to the likeable chasing mare Ma Filleule. The well-bred stallion received 125 mares in his first season at Haras de la Hetraie last year.
A rare son of Sholokhov
Other Martaline sons standing in France include 2021 newcomers Gary Du Chenet (Haras du Lion, €2,200), King Edward (Haras de la Courlais, €2,000) and Moises Has (Hamel Stud, €4,500), as well as Kitkou (Elevage du Fruitier, €1,500), a full-brother to Grade 1-winning chaser Kotkikova who has 80 offspring in his first four crops aged between yearlings and four-year-olds.
Montaigu scores a tangential win again as it stands another rare stallion son of Sholokhov — on the mark himself at the Festival with the superstar novices Bob Olinger and Shishkin — in Night Wish.
A Group 3 winner over 1m2f and twice Group 1-placed over two furlongs further in his native Germany, Night Wish is a fullbrother to that country’s Horse of the Year Night Magic. He has 35 first-crop threeyear-olds, 23 two-year-olds and 24 yearlings, while he covered another 40 mares in 2020.
With a decent race record, a strong German pedigree and the fact that Montaigu and its clients have made successes out of so many of the stud’s earlier NH sires, I’d have thought he deserved a little more support.
Saints go marching in
For the second year in a row, Saint Des Saints did not put quite manage to put a winner on the board at Cheltenham but he did supply three runners-up — Fusil Raffles in the Marsh, Gaillard Du Mesnil in the Ballymore and Saint Sam in the Boodles — and a third-place finisher, in Haut En Couleurs in the Triumph.
That was a remarkably similar outcome to the Festival in 2020, when he also had three seconds — Lord Du Mesnil (National Hunt Chase), Saint Calvados (Ryanair Trophy) and Dolcita (Daylesford Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle) — and two thirds in Elfile (Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle) and Saint D’Oroux (Boodles).
Saint Des Saints, also damsire of Cheltenham champions Appreciate It, Douvan and Envoi Allen, is still in service at Haras d’Etreham at the age of 23, although breeders have to stump up €15,000 for his services. Considering he is such a conduit for class, and his progeny are so versatile, that shouldn’t deter any breeder from using him.
Goliath Du Berlais is the most glamorous of those. He is out of King’s Daughter, an Auteuil Grade 3 winner by King’s Theatre and half-sister to RSA Chase runner-up Lyreen Legend (also by Saint Des Saints) who has also produced high-class hurdler James Du Berlais.
The 11-year-old won the Prix Ferdinand Dufaure, a Grade 1 chase at Auteuil, by 14l. That result, taken with his persuasive pedigree, has ensured he has been in strong demand at Haras de la Tuilerie. He covered 144 mares at a fee of €7,500 in his first season last year.
Other sons of Saint Des Saints on offer include Castle Du Berlais, a Listed-winning chaser at Enghien and half-brother to Sire Du Berlais, who is standing his fourth season at Haras du Lion at a fee of €2,500; and Jeu St Eloi, a non-winner but half-brother to dual Auteuil Grade 1 chase scorer Oculi and close relation to Balko whose first crop comprises 47 four-year-olds.
Jeu St Eloi already has five winners to his name, and some of his progeny are in training with kingmakers such as Emmanuel Clayeux, Isabelle Gallorini and Francois Nicolle.
It would be no surprise to see some of his better runners make it to Britain and Ireland, so this year might be the right time to send a mare to him in order to capitalise on that potential rise in profile.
Kapgarde the king
Saint Des Saints is not the only elder statesman of the French NH stallion ranks still available to breeders. Kapgarde, on the mark at Cheltenham with brave Gold Cup runner-up A Plus Tard and Ryanair Chase second Fakir D’Oudairies, is also commanding a fee of €15,000, in his case at Haras de la Hetraie.
The 22-year-old has also delivered dual King George winner Clan Des Obeaux www.internationalthoroughbred.net 85
and other classy exports such as Alisier D’Irlande, As De Mee, Dolos, Edgardo Sol, Garde La Victoire, Hammersly Lake, Ubak and Ultragold, as well as numerous stars in France led by champion Milord Thomas.
Kapgarde has no sons at stud in France yet, which is a shame as not only is he such a fine conduit of jumping talent, but he also has a true connoisseur’s pedigree — by one great sire in Garde Royale and out of a winning daughter of another, Cadoudal. He is also a half-brother to Grade 1-winning hurdler Geos.
In 2019 he covered 106 mares and in 2020 he received 77.
Boum stallion
A younger stallion still in his prime who made his influence felt at The Festival once again was Buck’s Boum. His standout son Al Boum Photo failed to make it three Cheltenham Gold Cups in a row, but lost little caste in defeat in third.
Duc Des Genievres, who became another early star for the sire when he won the Arkle in 2019, has not hit those same heights since, but did run a fair seventh in the Grand Annual.
With his oldest crop aged nine, Buck’s Boum has also come up with Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices’ Chase winner Dynamite Dollars and useful British/Irish imports such as Coup De Pinceau, Enrilo and Favorito Buck’s, while in France he has been represented by the smart Lou Buck’s — all from limited representation.
Having covered as few as 20 mares in 2017, Buck’s Boum was sent 111 in 2018, 102 in 2019 and 57 last year. His fee has risen to a high of €7,000 for 2020 and 2021.
The future looks bright for the full-brother to legendary staying hurdler Big Buck’s, who found only fellow Cadoudal son Long Run too good in the Prix Cambaceres in his racecourse pomp, even if he may experience a few leaner years in the shorter term due to those earlier smaller books.
Cadoudal clues
Sire of Saint Des Saints and Buck’s Boum, damsire of Kapgarde: what a wonderful influence for staying and jumping Cadoudal was. His name provides quite the hallmark of quality in a stallion’s pedigree, and another in France who bears that stamp is the popular Cokoriko.
Conqueror of Milord Thomas in an Auteuil four-year-old hurdle during his brief racing career, Cokoriko is a Robin Des Champs half-brother to top French hurdler Ceasar’s Palace out of a smart Nikos mare who boasted Cadoudal as damsire.
He has been strongly supported since his retirement to Haras de Cercy in 2014, and has 91 first-crop six-year-olds, 66 five-yearolds, 69 four-year-olds and 70 three-yearolds. After Cokoriko’s debut runners fared well, his numbers soared again and he has 143 two-year-olds and 138 yearlings.
Cokoriko’s French-bred runners in Britain and Ireland include the Grade 2-winning novice chaser Coko Beach, the Grade 3-winning novice hurdler Fakiera and the Betfair Hurdle runner-up Fifty Ball, while François Nicolle has sent out sons Polirico and Flyingstart And Co to big-race success at home.
With so many youngsters set to come through the French jumps academies, it seems unthinkable that many more won’t graduate to the top stables on this side of the Channel. All the same, he is punchily priced at €8,000 considering he has achieved what he has without doing it the hard way, as Buck’s Boum did.
The buzz surrounding Cokoriko in France has seen Chanducoq, his Listed-placed halfbrother by Voix Du Nord, retired to Haras de Barbottiere in 2019 and Choeur Du Nord, a half-brother to those siblings’ dam also by Voix Du Nord, join the roster at Elevage Lassaussaye Guillaume in 2016.
Both have been quite popular, thanks in to breeders also being keen to use sons of Voix Du Nord, who supplied numerous topnotchers — Defi Du Seuil, Espoir D’Allen, Kemboy, Taquin Du Seuil, Vaniteux, Voix Du Nord, Vroum Vroum Mag and so on — from the eight crops he delivered before his untimely death aged only 12.
Chanducoq, who stands at €1,400 this year, covered 50 and 40 mares in his first two seasons, while Choeur Du Nord, priced at €4,000, has 48 four-year-olds (including Auteuil Listed winner Baladin De Mesc), 50 three-year-olds, 74 two-year-olds and 74 yearlings. Both sires rank as intriguing prospects at the lower end of the price scale.
The Grade 2-winning hurdler is by Network, famed as the sire of Sprinter Sacre and only a short-head away from a winner at this year’s festival with Entoucas having run second in the Grand Annual, and is a halfbrother to smart hurdlers Atuvuedenuo and Biendenuo. His dam Paresca is a daughter of the Cadoudal stallion Maresca Sorrento, source of Felix Desjy, Pineau De Re and the narrowly beaten National Hunt Chase third Escaria Ten.
Among Voiladenuo’s oldest crop of 48 four-year-olds, all of them AQPS-breds, are four winners including Holly, who has scored in a pair of Grade 3 bumpers in the French provinces and has since been sold to JP McManus, and Heros, a wide-margin winner at Fontainebleau in February.
Voiladenuo has 43 three-year-olds, 47 two-year-olds and 35 yearlings. Rather encouragingly, he covered his largest book of 102 mares last year to suggest breeders were pleased with what they had seen of his early stock once they had reached maturity.
He stands at Elevage Denuault at just €2,500. A striking dark bay on video evidence, he had a son sell to the shrewd Monbeg Stables for €32,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale last year.