Wootton bassett

If having the winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe counted as a breakthrough moment for Siyouni (Fr) in 2020, his reputation climbed higher still as his son St Mark's Basilica (Fr) romped through his Classic year, winning the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, Prix du Jockey Club, Eclipse S. and Irish Champion S. on his way to becoming the top-rated horse in the world in 2021. Both he and Sottsass are now residents of the Coolmore stallion barn, where they will be given plenty of opportunities to attempt to...

Speak Of The Devil (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}-Moranda {Fr}, by Indian Rocket {GB}) will be offered at Arqana's December Breeding Stock Sale on Dec. 4. The winner of her lone 2-year-old start in 2019 for owner Rashit Shaykhutdinov and trainer Fabrice Chappet, Speak Of The Devil was second, beaten a nose by Dream And Do (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches of 2020. Fourth in the G1 Prix Rothschild two months later, Speak Of The Devil earned a first black-type win in ParisLongchamp's Listed Prix de...

Andre Fabre has long considered Newmarket to be a happy hunting ground and it is significant that the master of Chantilly is at the old "Headquarters" on Thursday for the G3 Tattersalls S. Thirty years ago, Tertian (Danzig) came for this specific race and duly landed the odds and this time it is Trident (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) who is lined up for the seven-furlong prize representing Messrs Smith, Magnier, Tabor and Westerberg. Runner-up in the G1 Prix Morny at Deauville Aug. 22, the bay can only improve over this...

Since Wootton Bassett's sale to Coolmore was announced just over a year ago, the son of Iffraaj has continued to go from strength to strength. This Wednesday will mark another milestone for the former French champion 2-year-old when his first yearling at a North American sale goes through the ring at Keeneland September. Conceived in France and shipped in utero to Kentucky by breeder Bonne Chance Farm, hip 688 was foaled last February at his owner's farm in Versailles. He is the third foal out of Eldacar (Ire) (Verglas {Ire}),...

The opening hour of last week's Yorkshire Oaks card was about as good as it gets for a sales firm just days out from its flagship stand. Thirty-five minutes before Goffs UK was firmly in the spotlight with the running of its time-honoured Premier Yearling S., Premier Yearling Sale graduate Zain Claudette (Ire) (No Nay Never) provided a welcome introduction with victory in the G2 Lowther S. Bought for what now feels like a staggering bargain (£20,000) last summer, Zain Claudette has won three of her first four starts including...

Having become the first European auction to be staged entirely online in 2020, the Osarus Breeze-up Sale returned to its more usual format this year, selling live at La Teste de Buch racecourse and setting a new record top price of €200,000 in the process. The sale-topper had not originally been intended for this sale but, following the relocation of the Arqana Breeze-up Sale from Deauville to Doncaster, French-based consignor Philippe Prevost Baratte opted to keep his Wootton Bassett (GB) colt at home, sending him to Osarus as lot 45A,...

Osarus has added eight 2-year-olds and seven horses-in-training to its Breeze-Up and Horses-In-Training Sale on May 4. The juveniles include lot 45A, a colt by Wootton Bassett (GB) who is the first foal out of a winning daughter of Excelebration (Ire); lot 41A, a Kodiac (GB) colt out of a half-sister to Sageburg (Ire) and from the family of Sagamix (Fr), Sagacity (Fr), Japan (GB) and Mogul (GB); as well as colts by first-season sires Recorder (GB) and Birchwood (Ire). The additions to the horses-in-training section include lot 72, Rue...

It is only a decade since the most expensive stallion at stud in France was Elusive City at €15,000. Yet to have runners at that stage were Le Havre (Ire) and Kendargent (Fr), who entered stud in 2010, followed by Siyouni (Fr) in 2011 and then Wootton Bassett (GB) the next year. Those are the four names who dominated the French sires' championship in 2020 and can take a large part of the credit for an increasingly dynamic stallion scene in France. Siyouni, who now commands a fee of €140,000...

It has been a year of change at Haras d'Etreham. In August it was announced that the farm's flagship stallion Wootton Bassett (GB) had been sold to Coolmore. The dominant Irish operation was wise to catch a rising tide but it is Etreham, and in particular Nicolas de Chambure, who must be credited with establishing the increasingly popular stallion.  If we accept the conservative estimate that only one in ten stallions really make it, then it is clear that finding Wootton Bassett's replacement will be no easy task. Perhaps Etreham...

Foals were to the fore during the second session of the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale and Blandford Bloodstock made the early running when bidding €160,000 for a filly by the increasingly popular Wootton Bassett (GB). The weanling (lot 251) hails from a George Strawbridge family which includes the Group 1-winning siblings Call The Wind (GB), We Are (Ire) and With You (GB), and is the first foal of the unraced Ayelet (GB) (Hat Trick {Jpn}). The mare's listed-winning dam Dream Clover (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) is a half-sister to the...

Wootton Bassett (GB), one of four new sires on the Coolmore roster for 2021, will stand for €100,000 off a glittering season on the track that saw him sire two new Group 1 winners and 10 stakes winners. Coolmore announced its purchase of Wootton Bassett in June from Haras d'Etreham, where the son of Iffraaj had stood since retiring to stud in 2012. After standing for as low as €4,000 in his third season, Wootton Bassett had been priced at €40,000 the past two seasons. Just a week after the...

The start of the racing season, and in fact the yearling sales season itself, may have been badly impeded by the coronavirus pandemic, but that didn't stop Goffs UK's Premier Yearling Sale graduates from getting off to a flying start once things finally did get underway. One of the fastest from the gate was The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}), whose debut victory three days after racing's resumption on June 3 led to a private deal with Qatar Racing and a subsequent victory in the G2 Norfolk S....