Mr. Sidney May Find New Home in America
by Sue Finley
After four years standing at stud in France, American Grade I-winning miler Mr. Sidney may be headed back home to America, according to Alec Head, who stands the stallion at his Normandy stud, Haras du Quesnay.
“Don’t you think he’s a lovely horse?” said Head last week, looking on as a stable lad led Mr. Sidney out of his stall in the stallion complex Le Quesnay. “I absolutely love him.”
At just over 16 hands, the striking dappled bay is, indeed, as Head says, lovely. Since his importation to France for stud in 2010, however, and for reasons Head has struggled to understand, his compatriots in France have not responded with the same enthusiasm to what Head felt was a winning idea: What if he took a horse with impeccable (if American) breeding and a Grade I-winning record at a mile, and brought that pedigree to France?
Of the decision, Head said, “I thought his pedigree was so good that it would appeal anywhere.”
And for good reason.
A $3.9 million yearling by Storm Cat out of the multiple GI stakes winner Tomisue’s Delight (A.P. Indy), herself a full-sister to Mineshaft, he is, said Head, “a horse with the best pedigree in the world.”
In 2009, Mr. Sidney put together a year which would have seen him off to a comfortable retirement at stud in America. After winning the GI Makers Mark Mile at Keeneland, and the GII Firecracker at Churchill, also a mile on the turf, he was third in the GI Shadwell Turf Mile.
He caught Head’s eye, and, at the end of his racing career, Haras du Quesnay got the colt from Lee Einsidler, a friend, and brought him to France, where despite that pedigree and performance, he has struggled to get mares and has as a consequence had a very limited opportunity to prove himself.
“He didn’t get many mares, and certainly not enough the first year, when I think he got 25, and then fewer and fewer. I’m a bit disgusted by it,” said Head. “He’s a lovely, lovely horse, but he’s bred 15 mares here this year. If people don’t want him, what’s the good?” Head said that Mr. Sidney’s trainer, Bill Mott, thought so much of him that he bought a mare to send to him (Trading {Fr}) by Anabaa, from the family of Numbered Account.)
His oldest runners are now 3, and Head has sent two of his own horses by Mr. Sidney to America, where Divinite broke her maiden at second asking and Trophee was third in a maiden special weight at Saratoga earlier this month. Head is looking, he said, to prove to Americans that his runners can compete back home.
“I brought him here because I thought he’d be popular, but here, Storm Cat, they don’t know Storm Cat. He’s a fabulously bred horse. There’s not a better bred horse than this horse. His mother won two Group 1 races, and his grandmother (Terlingua) won a Group 1. He’s from the same family as Mineshaft, and he’s got everything going for him.”
Everything, he said, except the chance to prove it.
Despite Mr. Sidney’s own career on the turf, Head said, “I suppose people think he’s better on dirt than grass. But I’ve bred some of my best mares to him, and I have some very nice two-year-olds by him with (daughter) Criquette.”
“These two fillies that I sent to the States, they’re two nice fillies. I sent them really to show that he can get winners. The horse is going to go back to the States. It’s not decided yet where he’s going, but I’ll definitely send him this year. I’ve talked to people who are interested, but nothing is definite yet. We are open to any discussion. I thought he’d be a good horse to go to New York.”
With a two-year-old half-brother to the 2010 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp winner and French Derby runner up Fuisse (Fr) (Green Tune) in Criquette Head’s yard, and two-year-olds out of some of Head’s best mares, he is anticipating a winning fall for Mr. Sidney, but said his fate is sealed. “I’ve given it time up to now, and I’ve got to the point I’m fed up. I’m hoping to send him back for the next breeding season.”