Circle Of Fire
Amid the huge buzz about shuttle sensation Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) – his mega purchase by Coolmore, his northern hemisphere Group 1 winners, his first-season yearling prices in Australia, and more – there’s a very close direct link who’s been more quietly but assuredly building his own impressive CV down here for years.
And Saturday’s Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) showed exactly why Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) is emphatically proving his worth, as far more than just being a chip off the old Bassett.
Cambridge Stud’s imposing stallion, who shuttles to New Zealand from France’s Haras d’Etreham, didn’t just sire the winner, although given what a winner he was, being the dad of Circle Of Fire would have been quite enough. No, Almanzor gilded his second Group 1 title by siring the second horse as well, in Athabascan.
What’s more, Circle Of Fire sat three wide without cover up near the pace for the trip to win by more than two lengths, giving notice of a formidable spring ahead. And Athabascan sat behind him, if you don’t mind, as the only other horse not in the two rows beside the rail.
Meanwhile, across the Tasman, Almanzor sired another stakes winner in Nucleozor, and he’s a two-year-old who won a Listed event over 1000 metres, following victories in his other two starts over 1000 metres and 820 metres.
All of which adds to an increasingly rich and diverse legacy Almanzor has built through just three southern crops running, matching his three in the north.
It’s not often you’ll see a ten-year-old standing in a region where his sire is counted as a first-season stallion, but that’s the case with Almanzor and, in terms of the recent yearling sales, Wootton Bassett, given the quirks in the latter’s burgeoning story.
Having served for a whole nine seasons – also at Haras d’Etreham – before Coolmore’s mega-bucks purchase took him to Ireland in 2020, that stud’s desire to recoup their outlay led to him shuttling to Australia from 2021.
The northern laurels have continued to flow. The 15-year-old has 40 stakes-winners globally from 475 runners, at 8.4 per cent, amid 275 winners at 58 percent. The often-difficult fifth crop has for him been statistically his finest, with 45 winners from 78 runners, again at 58 percent, but with 13 of them stakes-winners, at a phenomenal 16.6 percent.
He now stands at Coolmore Ireland for €200,000, around AUD$328,000. That would equate to the highest fee in Australia by some way, outstripping the $302,500 (inc GST) of I Am Invincible last year.
Down here, Wootton Bassett’s fee rose from $71,500 (inc GST) to $93,500 (inc GST) last year on the back of zero southern-born runners, a reflection of the excitement that also made him leading first season by far at this year’s sales. His Gold Coast average of $465,000, and his Easter mark of $391,000, helped him to a hefty 2024 first season average of $381,666.
Wootton Bassett was France’s champion two-year-old colt of 2010, by virtue of his sole top-tier title, Longchamp’s Prix Jean-Luc Legardere (Gr 1, 1400m). But his first crop out of Haras d’Etreham realised just 23 foals, for 20 runners.
And out of all 475 runners borne of Wootton Bassett so far, at the very top sits one of those original 20 – none other than Almanzor.
Among his sire’s nine Group 1 winners, Almanzor ranks number one thanks to his three top-level victories, in three countries, in his three-year-old year: Chantilly’s Prix du Jockey Club (Gr 1, 2100m), Leopardstown’s Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), and Ascot’s Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).
All of this made him the champion three-year-old colt in Europe – and in France and Ireland – in 2016, which after a career of eight wins in 11 starts, confirmed his swift passage to stud, and immediate shuttling to New Zealand.
With just three crops running, Almanzor has now reached seventh on the New Zealand general sires’ table. He’s sixth by winners, with 29 from 74 runners, and only the mighty Savabeel (Zabeel) and Tavistock (Montjeu) have more than his four stakes-winners, with seven and five respectively.
On the New Zealand three-year-old sires’ table, Almanzor ranks first by winners, third by earnings, and equal second by stakes-winners.
While Almanzor’s second Group 1 winner was imported from the UK by trainer Ciaron Maher, his first hailed from these parts, in 2022 VRC Derby victor Manzoice.
And finally, his 15 stakes winners worldwide, from 361 runners so far, have ranged from 1000 metres to 3200 metres, and while ten have been male and five female, he’s also the sire of last year’s New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) runner-up Mehzebeen, and in that race this year his fillies ran second, third and fourth – in Positivity, Qali Al Farrasha, and Moonlight Magic.
Positivity and Qali Al Farrasha appear destined for Morphettville’s Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) on April 27 to fly the flag for Almanzor, who’s also had five other G1 placegetters in Australia and New Zealand.
“To get the Sydney Cup win was fantastic, but to have the first two across the line was just an awesome result,” Cambridge Stud’s head of sales and nominations Scott Calder told It’s In The Blood.
“I wouldn’t quite say we knew it was around the corner, but the expectation was that he was going to have a day like this, because he’s had so many placegetters in Group 1s.
“And Saturday was quite a remarkable double, with Nucleozor, who looks really exciting, winning a two-year-old stakes race over 1000 metres, and two horses running the quinella in the Sydney Cup over 3200 metres. I can’t imagine that’s something that too many stallions have done on the same day.”
Ironically, Wootton Bassett has gone from being something of a drawback for Almanzor to a major selling point. New Zealand and Australian breeders had been largely unfamiliar with the sire, and more attuned to grandsire Iffraaj (Zafonic), from his 12 years of shuttling to Haunui Farm.
“It’s funny how things go. When Almanzor first came down in 2018, Wootton Bassett was the question mark,” Calder said. “Obviously people knew the Iffraaj line, but a lot of people here weren’t familiar with Wootton Bassett.
“In the subsequent years, Wootton Bassett has gone from strength to strength, certainly in the time since Coolmore bought him. That’s really raised Almanzor’s profile, as has the subsequent decision to shuttle Wootton Bassett to Australia, and the fact his yearlings have been incredibly well received. It all relates back to Almanzor, and at the end of the day, Almanzor is still Wootton Bassett’s best performer on the track.”
While Circle Of Fire and Athabascan are northern bred, Maher showed his faith in Almanzor – six months after importing Circle of Fire – by buying his equal-fourth top lot at the Karaka Yearling Sale in January, a $250,000 colt from Carlaw Park’s draft out of the unraced Lady Faustina (Frankel), a daughter of dual NZ Champion, and four-time G1 winner, Silent Achiever (O’Reilly).
Circle Of Fire was a northern three-year-old with a win and three placings from six starts when last year he came under the eye of Maher and his bloodstock maven Will Bourne, who bought him from an Englishman named King George III.
Third wasn’t as much of a racing fan as his mother had been, which may have helped grease the wheels of the transaction, but Bourne concedes the horse didn’t come cheap.
The purchase was supported by a tightly-woven nest of three-year-old staying form, mostly centring around last year’s Queen’s Vase (Gr 2, 2800m) at Royal Ascot.
Circle Of Fire ran fourth behind Gregory (Golden Horn), with Saint George (Roaring Lion) second. Saint George then went to Newmarket in July and ran third in the Bahrain Trophy (Gr 3, 2600m) to another son of Almanzor in Castle Way, who’d beaten Circle Of Fire into second in May’s Newmarket Stakes (Listed, 2000m) – giving Almanzor another quinella in that particular stakes race.
For good measure, Maher also bought Saint George on that trip, so look out for him this spring too.
Both young stayers, among seven buys Maher and Bourne secured on that trip, fitted into the category where Australian buyers can make hay in the UK: northern three-year-olds who aren’t yet Group 1 winners – for those aren’t usually for sale – who can be bought before they become so.
“That three-year-old staying form in Europe looks pretty elite, and we’ve tried to capitalise as much as we can,” Bourne says.
“If you can get them at three when they’re lightly raced, have a low enough rating and have less miles on the clock, that’s the target.
“Mind you, you are paying for them. They’re not going cheap. We bought Circle Of Fire from the King, and Saint George from [Qatar Racing’s] Sheikh Fahad. They’re not people who necessarily need the money, but if you can make it attractive to them and make it good business, you can transact from time to time.”
Circle Of Fire’s pedigree has that factor about it that’s starting to scream “no brainer” – he’s out of a mare by Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) – Britain’s champion broodmare sire of the past four seasons, and second the three years before that.
Fiery Sunset was a maiden winner over 2400m at Lingfield, who before Circle Of Fire – her fourth foal – had thrown Evening Sun (Muhaarar), who also left his home country to win three of four in the US, capped by a 1600-metre Grade 3 at Golden Gate Park.
Fiery Sunset was the fifth foal of Five Fields (Chester House). A winning mare, she left a Listed winner, though only in Macau, but her G3-placed dam Diese (Diesis) had three black type winners from her first four foals, capped by Senure (Nureyev), a dual top-tier victor in the US in 2001, at Monmouth over 2200 metres and Santa Anita over 2000 metres.
Fourth dam Monroe (Sir Ivor) was a Group 3 winner who was Group 1 placed at two over 1000 metres, and became the dam – among an extraordinary 18 named foals – of dual G1 victor Xaar (Zafonic).
And Circle Of Fire’s fifth dam has another of those names you love seeing anywhere in a pedigree, but particularly in this direct spot – the great American blue hen Best In Show (Traffic Judge).
There’s only one duplication in Circle Of Fire’s first five columns but it’s a good one in good places, the gender-balance doubling of Diesis (Sharpen Up) via Almanzor’s second damsire Halling, and the aforementioned Diese.
Deeper in, American super mare Special (Forli) is at 6m x 5f through Iffraaj’s female side and as Sadler’s Wells’ second dam, while Mr Prospector (Raise A Native) is tripled at 6m x 5m, 4m through three sons – Almanzor’s fourth sire Gone West, Galileo’s damsire Miswaki, and Five Fields’ grandsire Chester House.