By Kelsey Riley
On Tuesday at Maisons-Laffitte, Sedary (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}) became the first winner for the first sire to stand at Sheikh Joaan's Haras de Bouquetot. For good measure, the filly's dam, La Marisma (Fr) (Sinndar {Ire}), was also the first mare covered by the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner in his inaugural season in 2014.
“Style Vendome and Planteur were the two very first stallions we stood,” explained Benoit Jeffroy, stud manager at Bouquetot. “We've been there for a long time now so it's very good to see them running and winning.”
The win by Sedary was also a victory on a personal level for Jeffroy, who bred the horse in partnership with his Bouquetot colleague, Nominations and Marketing Manager Audrey Leyval, as well as Nicolas de Watrigant of Mandore International agency. The seed was planted for Sheikh Joaan's Al Shaqab to buy the filly by its resident sire after Al Shaqab General Manager Khalifa Al Attiya inspected her last summer on Jeffroy's brother's farm in Brittany, where she was raised.
“Khalifa spends two to three weeks in Bouquetot every summer, and last year we all went together to see the filly and he really liked her, so he decided to buy her for Al Shaqab,” Jeffroy explained.
That happened at last year's Arqana August sale, where Al Shaqab was able to secure her for €30,000 from Charles Briere's Fairway Consignment. Put into training with Henri-Francois Devin, Sedary finished third at first asking going five furlongs at Chantilly three weeks ago, and came good at the same trip on Tuesday. Jeffroy said the team would take some time to enjoy the victory before putting any future plans in place.
“Everything is open for her,” he noted. “She showed improvement from her last start so we don't know where she might stop.”
“She might like a bit more distance,” he added. “The dam is a Sinndar half-sister to [G1 Champion S. winner] Literato, so that's a mile-and-a-half, mile-and-a-quarter family, so she might like six or seven furlongs in the summer.”
The future is looking bright for Style Vendome as well. The former Al Shaqab silkbearer has had three starters, all of which have finished on the board.
“He had two runners in the same race in March, and since then one of them was second and the other third, and this one was third first time out and has now won, so they're all placed,” Jeffroy said, adding that Style Vendome right now has about 100 mares on his book.
“Being in his fourth season that's very good,” he said. “There's been a lot of chat with the trainers and the pre-trainers. Everyone has really pushed the breeders to use him because he's great value at €5,000 this year. He covered great books of mares in his first two years, so the horse has a really good chance. Now they've shown some ability so that's probably why he's so popular this year. His book this year is bigger than last year and the year before.”
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