Great Pretender

Great Pretender will stand for €10,000 in 2026, Haras de la Hetraie announced via press release on Tuesday. Successful with his progeny on either side of the English Channel, the stallion will likely be standing his final season in 2026, according to the farm. All posted fees exclude VAT. Grade 1 stallion Nirvana Du Berlais will stand for €7,500 and already has a pair of Grade 1 winner in Lulamba and Leader Sport from his first crop of four-year-olds. Bathyrhon's fee remains unchanged at €6,000. He is among the top...

Ian Kellit, the joint-breeder of Lossiemouth (Fr), a short-priced Triumph Hurdle favourite who is expected to extend her unbeaten record to four for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend at the Dublin Racing Festival on Saturday, has revealed that he was totally unaware that a jumps filly could be so valuable before the gorgeous grey came along.  Lossiemouth bolted up in the Prix Geographie Hurdle at Auteuil for Yannick Fouin on debut, at which time she was part-owned by Kellit, the Scottish native who has resided in France for over 30...

Is it just me or should France be known as the bloodstock land of opportunity? This is the country that saw Wootton Bassett (GB) and Walk In The Park (Ire) pull themselves up by the bootstraps after entering the stud book at relatively modest sums. There are few serious racing nations that provide as much of a chance for a stallion to flourish than France does. Take Kauto Star (Fr), the greatest staying chaser of the modern era, as an example. He hailed from the largely unheralded Village Star (Fr)...