Outcross Signing Opens International Options For Coolmore

More than ever, in the commercially unforgiving world of bloodstock, getting off to a fast start is crucial. Wootton Bassett (GB) did that twice, both as a racehorse and as a stallion. And in a particularly noteworthy year for his runners, the 12-year-old arrived in Ireland on Sunday to start the second phase of his stud career, having been bought by Coolmore from the farm that started him off so successfully, Haras d'Etreham.

The standard-bearer for the first crop of his popular sire Iffraaj (GB), Wootton Bassett sailed unbeaten through his first season of racing, collecting four wins before plunging straight into the deep waters of Group 1 company. In winning the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere for Richard Fahey and his owners Frank Brady & The Cosmic Cases, he had subsequent Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Tin Horse (Ire) (Sakhee) behind him in second, while the favourite, George Strawbridge's future six-time Group 1 winner Moonlight Cloud (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), was fourth. In short, it was a classy renewal of France's premier juvenile contest and his victory gave Wootton Bassett the title of champion 2-year-old in France.

His follow-up performance when fifth, less than four lengths behind Tin Horse in the French version of the 2000 Guineas, was the best Wootton Bassett could muster in a four-start 3-year-old campaign. He retired to stud in 2012 in the country where he had shone brightest.

Standing at Haras d'Etreham for the reasonable opening fee of €6,000, Wootton Bassett was not afforded the level of support from breeders he might have enjoyed had he retired straight after his Lagardere win, and that is an unfortunate—some might say ludicrous—aspect of the modern-day breeding industry which continues to compel owners not to 'gamble' on a Classic season for a colt lest he be found wanting.

For all that Wootton Bassett was unable to capitalise on his blockbusting 2-year-old season and was overlooked by breeders in his early years at stud, he quickly had heads turning when his runners took to the track. This was no mean feat considering his first two crops numbered just 23 then 18 foals. But one of that debut bunch, bred by Wootton Bassett's home team at Etreham, was Almanzor (Fr), who went on to be crowned European champion 3-year-old and is now himself in the stallion yard at the farm where he was born.

A decent stakes-winning juvenile who was beaten only once in 2015 when finishing down the field on very soft ground in the G1 Criterium International, Almanzor took France, Britain and Ireland by storm the following season, winning the Prix du Jockey Club, and an Irish Champion S. for the ages, before signing off in the Champion S. at Ascot. With a Timeform rating of 133, he is some way clear of Wootton Bassett's other runners to date but he is by no means alone as a Pattern winner for a stallion whose fee has steadily climbed from a low of €4,000 in 2014 and 2015 to his current figure of €40,000.

The listed winner and Group 3-placed Do Re Mi Fa Sol (Fr), owned by Wootton Bassett's breeders Colin and Melba Bryce, was the second stakes winner from his small first crop, while Almanzor's full-sister Troarn (Fr) was his sole black-type earner in his even smaller second crop of 18, which has nevertheless provided 11 winners. Then from the third crop came Patascoy (Fr), who was runner-up to Study Of Man (Ire) in the Prix du Jockey Club, and G3 Prix de Fontainebleau winner, Wootton (Fr), a private in-training purchase by Godolphin.

Hand in hand has come increased demand from breeders, and Wootton Bassett's largest crop of racing age is his current crop of 3-year-olds which numbers 92 in total. Among them there are already 13 stakes horses, eight of which are stakes winners, with three going frustratingly close in Classics. Another Prix de Fountainebleau winner, The Summit (Fr), filled the runner-up slot in both the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club, while fillies Speak Of The Devil (Fr) and Mageva (GB) took second and third in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches. Meanwhile his juvenile crop includes the five-length winner Midlife Crisis (Fr), who earned a TDN Rising Star for his debut effort and has his young Chantilly-based trainer Hiroo Shimizu dreaming of the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on Arc weekend.

Even though support has grown—to a crop of 95 foals in 2019—we can expect to see Wootton Bassett's future books double in size.

“We only announced him at about 4pm on Friday and the what's apps, emails and calls were buzzing for a few hours afterwards,” says Coolmore's director of sales David O'Loughlin.

A great grandson of the globally recognised Gone West, Wootton Bassett is already a name mentioned with increasing admiration by breeders across Europe, and he has the titans Mr Prospector and Northern Dancer far enough back, in the fourth generation of his pedigree, for him to be of easy appeal genetically. His grandam Susquehanna Days (Chief's Crown) was bred and raced by Paul Mellon and is a half-sister to Early Rising (Grey Dawn), the dam of St Leger winner and Derby runner-up Silver Patriarch (Ire) (Saddler's Hall {Ire}). But it is the speedier influences of his sire Iffraaj and damsire Primo Dominie (GB) which remained to the fore in Wootton Bassett.

“A lot of people recognised him because he got a very good horse in Almanzor, who won Group 1s in France, Ireland and England. He won the English Champion Stakes and the Irish Champion Stakes, beating Found (Ire) in both,” O'Loughlin says.

“And he works with a lot of different lines. Almanzor is out of a Maria's Mon mare—he's another good horse out of a Maria's Mon mare and there wouldn't be many of them in Europe. He's working with the Sadler's Wells line, the Nijinsky line, the Danehill line, back into his own line, the Mr Prospector line he's done very well with, then he seems to work well with stamina influences like Winged Love and Acatenango, Kahyasi, et cetera.”

Both Iffraaj and his sire Zafonic shuttled to the southern hemisphere, as has Almanzor, who returned last week to New Zealand's Cambridge Stud. With Coolmore's significant presence in Australia, it seems likely that Wootton Bassett will also be on the shuttle heading south in years to come.

“He would suit Australia because he is very much a speed horse, but the interesting thing is he gets everything,” notes O'Loughlin. “He gets 2-year-olds, he gets sprinters, milers, middle-distance horses, like all the good sires. When we had Danehill, who was very much a fast horse, when he got the better mares, the Classic mares, he could get everything: Arc winners, champion 2-year-olds, champion sprinters. So they are the horses that excite the racing operations of people breeding to race, people trying to breed Classic winners.”

As Wootton Bassett's stud profile has risen, so has the quality of mare being sent his way by some notable names. For this, O'Loughlin is quick to praise Nicolas de Chambure, who took over at the helm of his family's Haras d'Etreham in 2011, the year in which Wootton Bassett retired from racing.

“I believe Wootton Bassett was the first stallion Nicolas de Chambure took on when he took over the farm. He went out on a limb to buy him and syndicate him and I don't think it's a secret that it wasn't easy to get it done at the time. But he has brought him to this pitch where nearly all the top breeders used him this year—the Aga Khan, Al Shahania, Al Shaqab, Monceaux, the Wertheimers, George Strawbridge, SF Bloodstock, Lady O'Reilly. So Nicolas has done a superb job with the horse. He bought him as a €4,000 stallion and he has multiplied his fee by ten since then and he had another big book covered this year, so that's a real tribute to Nicolas.”

Undoubtedly the major breeders will continue that support, and then of course Wootton Bassett will find some stellar names on his own doorstep, including a high number of daughters of the champion sire.

“Galileo is an influence for stamina, so it's great to have a horse with speed who we can breed his mares to, who gives us a chance of getting the Derby horses,” O'Loughlin says.

“We haven't started planning matings for the mares yet but we're going to get behind him. Just this year alone, this coming season, mares that will be considered for him will be Magical (Ire), Magic Wand (Ire), Fancy Blue (Ire), Love (Ire), Peaceful (Ire), and we've a lot of other nice mares that will be considered. He is going to get a very good book of mares here.”

As an outcross who has already made his mark, and with some better-bred French crops waiting in the wings, it seems fair to assume that Wootton Bassett will be given a warm welcome in Ireland, but it is his potential beyond those shores that made him a particularly interesting prospect for Coolmore.

“He's very much an international horse,” O'Loughlin. “His line is one that people are interested in in Australia and New Zealand, he has progeny running in America, he's had French people, Irish people, English people using him. The most marketable animal now has to have international appeal.”