Mathieu Le Forestier

For most farms it is enough just to be introducing one new stallion to the market in a season. For Nurlan Bizakov's Sumbe, that task is multiplied by three as the Normandy-based operation launches homebred Belbek (Fr) and Angel Bleu (Fr) at the same time as relaunching Mishriff (Ire) after a false start. It is unlikely that anyone has forgotten Mishriff but the stallion business is a fickle game. A misplaced kick to the wall of his stable at Haras de Montfort & Préaux at the beginning of the year...

In the stallion yard at Sumbe's Haras de Montfort, the reputation of the late Le Havre (Ire) casts a long, figurative shadow. He was of course not the only stallion on the roster, but he was the first, back in the days when the farm was launched under its original guise of Haras de la Cauviniere, and he became one of France's most important stallions, given plenty of respect from breeders father afield in Europe and Japan. Le Havre is hard to replace, but in the season after his death,...