By Sue Finley
Every weekend this winter in Normandy has been a beautiful one, they tell us here…that is, until this one, when three TDN staffers descended upon the countryside to take part in the annual Route Des Etalons.
Hundreds of people make the trek each year, but perhaps none have come as far as the TDN's International V.P., Gary King, and myself, who hopped on a flight from Newark International Airport in New Jersey Thursday night to see the best that France had to offer.
Throwing back the drapes from my Deauville hotel window Saturday morning, I found that a beautiful, warm Friday had turned rainy and windy. Taking a page from Daithi Harvey's book on the Irish Stallion Trail last week, we picked one of the farthest-flung stud farms, hoping for better weather there, and set off, with a plan to circle our way back to Deauville by day's end.
Haras d'Etreham is in my favorite part of the country, just a few kilometers from the D-Day beaches and amid some of the most historical and revered land in the world for what transpired there. The tiny village of Etreham, one of the first villages liberated from German occupation in France after heavy bombing on June 8, 1944, offered no clues as to the location of the stud farm, but a kindly motorist led the way and we soon found ourselves among 250 hectares of the most beautiful farmlands in France.
A longtime leader at the nearby Arqana sale, including the sales topper at Arqana December, the €900,000 Embellishment (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Etreham is home to five stallions, around 90 mares and, come this spring, their foals and about 70 yearlings. Longtime sales director Franck Champion and Nicolas de Chambure, who took over the reins at the family farm 4 1/2 years ago (see July 21, 2015 feature here), displayed the farm's five stallions for the morning visitors. They included France's leading National Hunt sire in 2015, Poliglote (GB), fellow top jumps stallion Saints des Saints (Fr), and Masked Marvel (GB), the English Champion stayer at three whose first foals debut this year.
Etreham is also home to Elusive City, France's leading sire of winners in 2015, and the Group 1 winner and undefeated 2-year-old Wootton Bassett (GB), whose first crop included the listed winner Almanzor (Fr). Trainer Jean-Claude Rouget is said to have Classic aspirations for the colt. With 7% stakes winners from his first crop, Wootton Bassett has proven more popular each year, and will cover around 100 mares in 2016, said de Chambure. The farm clearly has high hopes for him.
From Etreham, we headed south to Darley's foothold in France, Haras du Logis, where owner Julian Ince played host to a dozen or so international visitors. Logis's seven stallions, including Montjeu (Ire)'s Derby-winning son, Authorized (Ire), sire of 13 group or stakes winners in 2015, were paraded in the stallion complex under a more persistent rain than we found at Etreham. I'm only somewhat ashamed to admit that we watched much of the parade from inside the warm and welcoming visitor's center, where we discussed with Ince the outstanding French premiums that are giving new life to France's stallion ranks. Settling on a cheese puff or two–vegetarian options have proven a rarity both at Kentucky's open houses two weeks ago and here in France–we declined a glass of wine out of fear of the narrow and windy roads we would travel next on the way to Haras de Montaigu.
Located just outside Nonant-Le-Pin, also home to the former French National Stud, Haras du Pin, we easily found our way to Montaigu, thanks to the aid of the FRBC's very helpful Cecile Adonias and some fantastic signage from Montaigu's marketing genius Sybille Gibson. Two-time Group 1 winner Prince Gibraltar (Fr) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire})–a Bill Oppenheim “Value Sire” at €5,000 for his first year at stud in 2016–was the star of the show, with his admirers on hand including his breeder, Jean-Francois Gribomont, a textile industry executive who raced Prince Gibraltar in partnership and purchased him in his entirety the evening before last year's Arc for €1.35 million at Arqana's Arc Sale. He returned him to Montaigu, where he was born, to stand. The farm is also home to top National Hunt stallion Martaline (GB), Literato (Fr), Archange d'Or (Ire), the brother to champion Esoterique (Ire) and No Risk at All (Fr), who is already booked full to 150 mares in 2016. Click here for a feature on the farm in the TDN this past December.
Circling back to Deauville through some stunning French countryside–a mix of agricultural beauty and small villages with 11th and 12th century churches–we made our final call at the Aga Khan Studs Haras de Bonneval, where the rain cleared just in time for the last stallion show of the day. Manager Georges Rimaud and Marketing Manager Aline Giraud said that the farm had played host to around 500 visitors throughout the day, and there were at least 40 on hand to watch Charm Spirit (Ire), Dalakhani (Ire), Makfi (GB) and the star of the show, leading second-crop sire Siyouni (Fr), parade overlooking the farm's beautiful 120 hectares of land.
Up Sunday: Quesnay, Colleville, La Cauviniere and Bouquetot…and hopefully, some sunny skies.
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