Book 1 Debut For Haras d'Ombreville

It is not an easy year to be making a Book 1 debut but it is an occasion that Matthieu and Solenn Gouesnard of Haras d'Ombreville have been looking forward to, despite the extra complications of the coronavirus situation.

The couple launched their farm in the Pays d'Auge region of France in 2012 after Mathieu had completed stints in Ireland with Ballylinch Stud and as manager of Haras de Meautry. The following year saw their first draft at Arqana and it wasn't long before Ombreville was associated with a top-class name as, in 2014, they sold subsequent Hong Kong dual Group 1 winner Pakistan Star (Ger) (Shamardal) to the Hong Kong Jockey Club for €180,000 at the August Sale.

“We have been thinking about coming to Newmarket for a couple of years and this year we had a really good crop of yearlings bred on the farm,” says Matthieu Gouesnard. “Regarding the Covid situation, I felt it was important to split the drafts, so we had some in Arqana September, we have some here in Book 1 and Book 2, and we have kept a few nice yearlings for Part I in October at Arqana.”

He adds, “We are going to Book 1 with four yearlings who are well bred and by proven sires—we have one Sea The Stars (Ire) filly, a Lope De Vega (Ire) colt and two Siyouni (Fr) fillies.”

The prowess of Siyouni was given an extra boost on Sunday in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe by his high-flying son Sottsass (Fr), while Siyouni's top daughters include the Classic winners Laurens (Fr) and Ervedya (Fr).

The first of the Ombreville draft to be offered on Tuesday is lot 140, bred by Raschit Shaykhutdinov, the Siyouni filly from the deep German family of Elle Danzig (Ger)

“She's out of one of the best German families,” says Gouesnard. “Elle Danzig was a brilliant racehorse first but she became a really good producer and 12 of her foals are winners and seven of those have black type, including the dam of this filly, Elle Same (GB). I know this family well because Elle Danzig was bred by Gestut Wittekindshof and we have had a few of her daughters at the stud. German clients make up about 70-80% of our client list.”

The Newmarket consigning venture follows on from Ombreville testing the water for the first time last year in Baden-Baden, a move which was a natural step in order to cater for the high number of German breeders on their books.

“We opened the farm in 2012 and since the beginning we had very few French clients. We focused on German breeders who were keen to breed in France for the premiums and it really started with Gestut Wittenkindshof. The former manager Karl Jorg gave us support from when we first opened the doors and we sold Pakistan Star for them in Arqana. Karl is well respected by other German breeders and we got some clients because they knew Karl was working with us. So he was a fantastic advert for us in Germany and afterwards we were sent mares by Ammerland, Fahrhof, Schlenderhan, Brummerhof—most of the big German breeders.”

Ombreville's second Siyouni filly, offered on behalf of the same breeder, comes up early on the second day of Book 1 (lot 181) and also has German roots. Her listed-placed dam Global Magic (Ger) is a daughter of the Japan Cup winner Lando (Ger) and is a half-sister to seven black-type performers from a family which includes multiple Group 1 winners Fame And Glory (GB) and Farhh (GB).

Following her as lot 252 is the Sea The Stars filly out of the listed winner Komische (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) from the family of Classic winners Brian Boru (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) and Workforce (GB) (King's Best), and completing the draft is the sole colt, lot 301, who is the first foal of listed winner Megera (Fr) (Motivator {GB}).

Next week, Ombreville will also offer two fillies at Book 2, including a first for Tattersalls—a yearling by Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist (lot 745).

Gouesnard says, “The mare was in America and our client decided to bring her back to Europe so she came back in foal to Nyquist. We thought this would be the perfect place to sell her in Tattersalls.”