From Claimers To Classics For Aumonerie

While it was the multi-million Euro mares who stole the limelight at Arqana's December Breeding Stock Sale two weeks ago, there were successes to be celebrated beneath those top prices. Among the most remarkable of those has to be Haras de l'Aumonerie's Starspangledbanner (Aus) colt (lot 145), who was bought by Yeomanstown Stud for €170,000.

The colt, already named Captain Star (Fr), had plenty going for him on both sides of his pedigree, being by a popular sire and a brother to two stakes horses, including none other than this year's G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches victress Coeursamba (Fr) (The Wow Signal {Ire}). Captain Star and Coeursamba are out of the 15-year-old Marechale (Fr) (Anabaa), whose five foals thus far were all bred by Julie Mestrallet at her Haras de l'Aumonerie just outside Deauville.

With the recent high-end breeding stock sales still fresh in the memory, it is easy to become desensitized to mares commanding millions. But we are likewise reminded at every sale that there are diamonds in the rough, and Marechale certainly represents the latter scenario, having been bought by Mestrallet out of the claiming ranks for €2,500, having failed to win in 16 starts.

The path from claimer to breeding Guineas winners is not the most well-trodden one, but Mestrallet has done things her own way since taking over her mother, Francine Mestrallet's, Aumonerie 10 years ago and converting it from a reputable nursery for showjumpers and ponies into a Classic-producing Thoroughbred operation. An accomplished showjumper herself who also worked as a groom for Olympic-level riders, Julie Mestrallet then shifted her sights to the veterinary field, taking a job at a clinic. One of the clinic's clients was Haras du Quesnay, and it was through visits to the Head family's historic stud that Mestrallet got to know the accomplished sires Anabaa and Bering. With her interest in racing suitably piqued, Mestrallet went to work for trainer Jennifer Bidgood, and it was during a trip to the small racecourse Niort in the West of France on June 13, 2010, that Mestrallet laid eyes on Marechale for the first time.

“I found Marechale in a claiming race, and even though she had no performances, I was interested in her because she is by Anabaa out of a Bering mare and bred by Quesnay,” Mestrallet said. “I'm a huge fan of the Quesnay pedigrees and Alec Head.”

Marechale, a full-sister to the multiple listed winner Maxwell (Fr), had been raced by the Head family through her first 10 starts, after which she joined trainer Philippe Le Gal. She was upped in trip by her new trainer, but that did little to turn Marechale's fortunes around, and she finished fifth at Niort that day for a €5,000 claiming tag.

Mestrallet recalled, “I went to see the trainer on the day and asked him how much the mare would cost. He said he wanted to continue to run her in claiming races, but I gave him my phone number and said, 'the day you want to get rid of her, call me.'”

Just a month later, Mestrallet's phone rang.

“He said, 'I don't want her anymore,'” Mestrallet said. “He said he was going to race her one last time, and then he would let me buy her for €2,500.”

The reasoning behind Marechale's first mating was relatively straightforward: Mestrallet held a free nomination to Alexandros (GB), won through the French TBA's stallion seasons draw. The result was a filly, later named Comme Une Grande (Fr), that Mestrallet sold for €26,000 to Yohann Gourraud at Arqana's October Yearling Sale in 2014-not a bad return on an initial €2,500 investment. Meanwhile, Mestrallet's luck at the French TBA's stallion seasons draw had continued; she won a nomination to Mr. Sidney and sold the resulting filly out of Marechale, Lady Sidney (Fr), as a foal in 2014 for €8,500 to Fresnay Agricole.

In addition to turning a few tidy profits for Mestrallet in the sales ring, Marechale soon proved a hardy producer. Comme Une Grand was a winner who ran 35 times, while Lady Sidney, all told, would run 56 times for seven wins, including a third in ParisLongchamp's Listed Prix Zarkava. After Lady Sidney, Marechale foaled the winning La Grande Zame (Fr) (Zambezi Sun {GB}), sold for €8,000 as a foal. The following season, Mestrallet once again returned victorious from the stallion seasons draw, securing a covering for Marechale to Sinndar (Ire), and that resulted in the ultimately unraced filly Twelveoclock (Fr), sold for €5,000 as a yearling in 2017. By that time, Marechale was in foal to G1 Prix Morny and G2 Coventry S. winner The Wow Signal, a decision based not on a free draw, but on Mestrallet's intuition.

“I loved The Wow Signal's head, the way he walked, everything about the physical of the horse,” she said.

Despite a very successful start to life, The Wow Signal's second career proved star-crossed; he was subfertile, and after getting a very small number of mares in foal during two seasons, died as a result of complications from laminitis. Among his second crop was Coeursamba, who was born at Aumonerie on Mar. 25, 2018. Like Marechale's latest Starspangledbanner colt, Captain Star, Mestrallet soon had a name picked out for the filly.

“She was something special from the day she was born,” Mestrallet said. “I had named her, 'Wow She's Great,' but the people that bought her changed the name. When we saw Coeursamba, we liked her so much that we decided to breed the mare to Starspangledbanner immediately, because we were so happy with the filly that we thought the mare deserved to go to a good stallion.”

Coeursamba sold to Marc Antoine Berghgracht on behalf of Jose Delmotte's Haras d'Haspel for €24,000 at Arqana's December Sale of 2018, and was pinhooked to Jean-Claude Rouget for €40,000 at Arqana August the following summer, four months before Marechale's Olympic Glory (Ire) colt Senza Malocchio (Fr) sold for €14,000 to Marco Bozzi at the December Sale. Senza Malocchio is raced by Mike Pietrangelo and John D'Amato, who were also co-owners of Olympic Glory's best progeny, Grand Glory (GB). Grand Glory sold for €2.5-million at Arqana on the same night that Captain Star went through the ring.

A winner in her second start at two for owner Jean Louis Tepper, Coeursamba was twice Group 3-placed at two and fifth in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, the evening prior to which she had changed hands for €400,000 at Arqana's Arc Sale, bought by Abdullah bin Fahad Al Attiyah. Third in the Listed Prix du Louvre going a mile at ParisLongchamp in April, she shocked the G1 1000 Guineas winner Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) when winning the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches at 38-1, and was later purchased privately by Katsumi Yoshida.

Coeursamba's Classic win provided the perfect springboard for her Starspangledbanner three-quarter-brother to be one of the top-priced foals at Arqana, and he is set to return to the ring next year as a Yeomanstown pinhook prospect. Marechale is currently in foal to another Group 1-winning sprinter, Haras d'Etreham's Hello Youmzain (Fr), and her foal's arrival will be keenly anticipated by not only Mestrallet but also her three young children; Mestrallet's daughter, Agathe, and twins sons Henri and Baptiste, born this past March. Agathe has been listed as co-breeder along with her mother and grandmother on Coeursamba, Senza Malocchio and Captain Star, but she will have to share Marechale's future progeny with her brothers.

“It was to pay for her car when she turns 18,” Mestrallet laughed. “I had twin boys this year, and they'll all be marked down as breeders in the future: the boys will get the colts, and Agathe will get the fillies.”

Today, Aumonerie is home to some 30 mares, the majority of which are boarders. Among Mestrallet's own mares are the 10-year-old Caramanta (Fr) (Zamindar), who Mestrallet bought for €7,500 from the Aga Khan Studs at the 2014 Arqana December Sale. Caramanta's third foal is Caracal (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}), who was bought by Al Shaqab Racing for €25,000 at Arqana October last year. Caracal won a pair of races at Bordeaux Le Bouscat for trainer Jean-Claude Rouget this autumn and is reportedly highly regarded by the trainer. Mestrallet has also repatriated two of Marechale's daughters, Comme Une Grand and Twelveoclock, to Aumonerie, such is her belief in her foundation mare. Comme Une Grand had a colt by Seahenge this year, while Twelveoclock was purchased at this year's Arqana July Sale in foal to Recoletos (Ire). Mestrallet also has O'Keefe (Fr) (Peintre Celebre), a Wertheimer-bred mare that she purchased for €19,000 in 2012. Using her tried and true system of French TBA draw nominations, Mestrallet bred O'Keefe to Jukebox Jury (Ire) for her first mating, and the result was the G3 St Leger Italiano winner O'Juke (Fr).

And of course there is Marechale, the €2,500 former claimer turned Classic producer. Asked if she has considered cashing in on the mare's success and selling Marechale, Mestrallet was resolute in response.

“I have had offers for Marechale, but I am keeping her,” she said. “She has given everything to my farm.”