Taking speed horses from Europe to the Southern Hemisphere may seem the ultimate example of coals to Newcastle but Harry Angel and Hello Youmzain respectively represent two of the pre-eminent speed influences in British and Irish breeding via their sires Dark Angel (Ire) and Kodiac (GB), each of whom has been steadily building a strong male line at stud.
As a Danehill (USA) half-brother to Invincible Spirit (Ire), Kodiac’s appeal needs little explanation to breeders in either hemisphere. Sons of the mighty G1 Prix de Diane winner Rafha (GB) (Eljazzi {GB}), the brothers each started at a relatively humble level in their stud careers, with Kodiac’s opening fee of €5,000 (AU$8076) in 2007 steadily climbing in the intervening years to his current €65,000 (AU$105,022). It is entirely justified at that level, for not only does he sire plenty of fast and early winners, but Kodiac retains a strong level of popularity at the sales while the reputations of some other stallions wax and wane.
Hello Youmzain (Fr) | Standing at Cambridge Stud
Royal Ascot winner
Hello Youmzain was bred from his 2015 fee of €25,000 (AU$40,393) and throughout his racing career, he managed to combine his precocity and speed with the most important of attributes: durability. The winner of two of three starts at two, including the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte in his native France, Hello Youmzain progressed to take the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup the following year then, kept in training at four, he rewarded his sporting owners with another Group 1 at the most coveted venue of all: Royal Ascot.
His introduction at Haras d’Etreham in Normandy for the 2021 stud season saw him well-supported by some of France’s leading breeders, including HH The Aga Khan, Ecurie des Monceaux and Guy Pariente, as well as those from farther afield such as Ireland’s Tally-Ho Stud and Jaber Abdullah. His first European foals, from a full debut book which was limited to 140 mares, will begin to arrive from next January.
One of the major investors in the stallion is SF Bloodstock, which has also been involved in the successful dual-hemisphere stallion Lope De Vega (Ire) and, with Etreham’s Nicolas de Chambure in the promising Almanzor (Fr).
“We are always delighted to get a call from Nicolas de Chambure,” said Kentucky-based Tom Ryan of SF Bloodstock, who confirmed that the operation has five mares in foal to Hello Youmzain, including the dam of Group 3 winner and dual Group 1 runner-up Lope Y Fernandez (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).
“There’s lots of momentum behind Etreham now and Nicolas has such a world view of how to manage and try to develop these stallions. This is a colt that is the entire package. He was a good 2-year-old, he was a good 3-year-old, he beat older horses as a 3-year-old, and he stayed in training as a 4-year-old, so you get that mental and physical soundness with that natural speed and appetite to race. He had that tenacity and grit to belly down and find the line, and they are the horses who make good stallions in my opinion.”
He added, “One thing we have learned from developing these racing syndicates and investing in a number of horses every year is that you can have a fast horse and if he doesn’t have a good mind it’s no good, and you can have a fast horse and if they are not sound, it’s no good, but this horse was fast, he was precocious, and he was also mentally and physically sound on top of that.”
Tom Ryan | Image courtesy of Keeneland
Kodiac’s branch of the Danehill (USA) sireline has expanded rapidly in recent years, and he is currently responsible for the leading freshman sire in Britain, Ardad (Ire), who by mid-season has already been represented by 14 individual winners, including the G2 Norfolk S. winner Perfect Power (Ire).
Fast Harry
Similar comments apply to Dark Angel, who represents the proven sprint line of Acclamation (GB) and Royal Applause (GB). His son Harry Angel was also a Group 2-winning juvenile who stayed in training through his 4-year-old season. His Group 1 victories came in the Darley July Cup and Haydock Sprint Cup and he was twice narrowly touched off at Ascot when second in the G1 Commonwealth Cup and G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint.
Retiring to Sheikh Mohammed’s Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket in 2019, Harry Angel has his first yearlings at the forthcoming European sales, which get underway this month.
Harry Angel (Ire) | Standing at Darley
Among the breeders who were keen to use Harry Angel from the start was Fiona Denniff, whose small Nottinghamshire stud has been responsible for producing the Group winners Beat The Bank (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}), Chil Chil (GB) (Exceed And Excel) and Kachy (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}).
“I have a half-brother to Kachy who is heading to Book 2 (of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale) who quite honestly looks like you could put a saddle on him now and ride him away. He’s an absolute bull of a horse. To me he looks like he should be speedy, he’s got bone, he’s got everything I really like,” said Denniff who has three youngsters by Harry Angel.
“I used him because I like speedy stallions. In the main, I have tended to put speed back into the mares that I have got and it hasn’t worked too badly.”
Too darn good
The speed brigade has been joined on the shuttle by another pair of stallions with more classic credentials. Harry Angel’s barn-mate at Dalham Hall is the regally bred Too Darn Hot (GB), a son of Dubawi (Ire) and the treble Group 1 winner Dar Re Mi (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) from Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber’s Watership Down Stud.
An unbeaten Champion juvenile, Too Darn Hot added another two Group 1 successes to his tally at three, as well as finishing runner-up in the Irish 2000 Guineas. His sire Dubawi has long been one of the leading stallions in Britain with a burgeoning reputation as a sire of sires, not least through his champion freshman son Night Of Thunder (Ire).
Unsurprisingly, Too Darn Hot’s first crop of foals on the ground at the moment are scattered across some of the leading farms in Europe and they include a three-parts-sister to the G1 Juddmonte International S. winner Arabian Queen (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) at Jeff Smith’s Littleton Stud, while Godolphin has welcomed a half-sister to G1 Doncaster Mile winner Cascadian (GB) (New Approach {Ire}).
Too Darn Hot (GB) | Standing at Darley
Among the mares to have visited Too Darn Hot in his first year in Newmarket are Bastet (Ire) (Giant’s Causeway {USA}), the dam of G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Beauty Parlour (GB) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), as well as Godolphin’s dual Classic victrix Blue Bunting (USA) (Dynaformer {USA}).
Watership Down Stud supported their homebred stallion with four mares, including Gale Force (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}), the dam of this season’s G1 Irish Derby and G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}).
Car Colston Hall Stud, best known as the breeder of multiple German champion sire Soldier Hollow (GB) and of top-class juvenile Reckless Abandon (GB), was also among the group of illustrious European breeders to have patronised Too Darn Hot in his first season.
“We were very keen to use him (Too Darn Hot). We saw him at Dalham Hall after he retired and were very impressed." - Jonathon Smithers
Stud manager Jonathon Smithers said, “We were very keen to use him. We saw him at Dalham Hall after he retired and were very impressed. He’s got plenty of quality and we thought he would suit some of our mares. The resulting foal is all class. She has great bone, is athletic and oozes quality – an excellent stamp of her sire. He is a very exciting young stallion.”
'Allez Les Bleus'
Ahead of all these three stallions in his stud career is the aforementioned Haras d’Etreham shuttler, the European Champion 3-year-old Almanzor, whose sire Wootton Bassett (GB) was recently purchased by Coolmore and has just completed his first season in Ireland after a number of successful years in France.
Oliver St Lawrence | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Almanzor stands alongside Hello Youmzain at Cambridge Stud and has first-crop runners in Europe this season, including the Francis Graffard-trained Faro De San Juan (Ire), a winner on debut at Chantilly who holds an entry for the Prix de Cabourg at Deauville on August 3.
Bloodstock agent Oliver St Lawrence bought two Almanzor yearlings at last year’s Arqana Select Sale in Deauville for €260,000 (AU$420,114) and €250,000 (AU$403,956) respectively. The stallion’s average for his 18 yearlings sold was €122,722 (AU$198,302), or almost four times his opening fee. Like Hello Youmzain, his book is limited to 140 mares.
"I will certainly be looking at Almanzor’s yearlings again this autumn.” - Oliver Lawrence
“I thought they were lovely stamps of horses – mile, mile and a quarter horses,” he said. “Of the two I bought last year, the filly is in Newmarket with Sir Mark Prescott and has been going quite well and will have a run towards the back end of the season, but it is much more about the 3-year-old career for her. The colt is with Ger Lyons in Ireland and he seems very pleased with him. Again, he is going to have one or two runs at the back end. I will certainly be looking at Almanzor’s yearlings again this autumn.”
