Flat, NH Breeding Poles Apart

For those outside Europe, it goes without saying that Flat racing is much bigger business than jumping. For Europeans, though, this is less obvious. In Britain and Ireland, the leading jumps jockeys would ride as many winners as the leading riders on the Flat, and there is scope both in the British Isles and in France for the best jumpers to earn seven-figure sums.

Jumps breeding, however, remains very much the poor relation. There could be no better illustration of this than that provided last week by Arqana. Included among the lots at its December Sale in Deauville was arguably the best jumps stallion in France, while a share in arguably the best Flat stallion in the country featured in a special online auction.

Among the younger generation of Flat stallions in France, three stand out as having made a huge impression in recent seasons: Le Havre (Ire) (Noverre), Siyouni (Fr) (Pivotal {GB}), and Kendarget (Fr) (Kendor {Fr}). Their 2016 fees of €35,000, €30,000 and €18,000 mark them out among the elite in a country where, by international standards, stud fees are generally fairly conservatively priced. A further illustration of their success is given by the fact that they have progressed to this level after starting out at €5,000, €7,000 and €500, respectively.

None of trio was among the 15 stallions who walked through Arqana's sale ring last week, but Siyouni still featured in Arqana's business during the week–or, at least, a 2% share in him did, put up for sale in a special online auction. This share was bought by Merriebelle Farm of Ireland for €355,000, the same sum that another 2% share had fetched in another online auction when bought by Hesmonds Studs a month ago.

Siyouni's burgeoning reputation rests principally on the exploits of his four group-winning sons and daughters, who are headed by his first-crop daughter Ervedya (Fr), winner as a 3-year-old in 2015 of three Group 1 races. Ervedya is clearly a top-class filly–but she has some way to go before she can be ranked as highly among Flat racers as Sprinter Sacre (Fr) (Network {Ger}) is among steeplechasers. A dark-brown 9-year-old gelding, Sprinter Sacre is arguably the most talented steeplechaser in Europe. When he was at his peak two years ago, his rating of 188 placed him clearly at the head of the rankings of National Hunt horses worldwide and, although he subsequently lost his form as a result of suffering from heart problems at Kempton on Boxing Day 2013, his ultra-impressive first-up victory at in a Grade 2 steeplechase at Cheltenham in November suggests that he could be on the way back to his brilliant best.

Two days before the online auction for the Siyouni share was complete, Sprinter Sacre's sire Network (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) showed up at Arqana's Deauville sale ring, where he fetched €290,000, bought by David Powell of Ecurie de Chene. Even allowing for the fact that Siyouni is still only aged eight while Network is an 18-year-old, the fact that 2% of the former is worth more than 100% of the latter is remarkable.

Lest one suspect that Sprinter Sacre is a freak, it is worth pointing out that, while he does indeed possess freakish ability, he is far from freakish in being a high-class son of Network. The stallion, the winner as a 3-year-old in 2000 in Germany of a Group 2 race over 2200 meter as a prelude to finishing ninth of 20 in the German Derby, started out covering only small books of mares at the French National Studs, and he has come up with plenty of good horses from very limited opportunities. Network's 2006 crop numbered only 26 foals, but in addition to Sprinter Sacre it also contained Saint Are (Fr), a Grade 1 winner at Aintree as a novice hurdler, and Net Lovely (Fr), winner of three graded steeplechases at Auteuil and runner-up in 2012 in arguably France's most prestigious steeplechase, the Grade 1 Prix la Haye Jousselin.

Network's previous crop had contained the Grade 1 steeplechase winners Rubi Light (Fr) and Rubi Ball (Fr), and he has subsequently come up with the Grade 1-winning hurdler Adrianna Des Mottes (Fr).

Not only is Network 10 years older than Siyouni and thus likely to have a shorter breeding life ahead of him, but he is also likely to have fewer foals per crop. For much of his career the size of his books was not an issue because he was unfashionable, but since Sprinter Sacre made him popular a couple of years ago he has been restricted to 95 mares, not because he has fertility problems but because he is a shy breeder who often takes a long time to cover his mares.

But, even so, the fact that Siyouni could be worth more than 61 times the value of Network is as good an illustration as one could ever find that, while jumps racing's popularity and prize money compares very favorably with the Flat in Europe, the values of the breeding industries remain poles apart. The main reason for this disparity, of course, is that the jumps sire is largely breeding horses who will be useful only for racing, while the Flat stallion will, one hopes, sire a good proportion of horses who will still have a significant value as breeding stock once their racing days are over.