Swettenham Stud’s Sangster pulls off Wooded coup
Son of Wootton Bassett and Group 1-winning sprinter to shuttle to Victoria after deal with Al Shaqab
Group 1-winning European sprinter Wooded, a son of the region’s stallion powerhouse Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), will shuttle to Swettenham Stud in Victoria last this year, a deal principal Adam Sangster declared as a coup for the state’s thoroughbred breeding industry.
By a stallion whose presence and sireline is well known in the southern hemisphere, Wooded will stand at an introductory fee of $22,000 (all fees inc GST) this spring after the horse’s owner Al Shaqab agreed to shuttle him to Swettenham alongside Toronado (High Chaparral), who is also owned by the French-based racing and breeding operation.
Wootton Bassett’s fellow sire son, Cambridge Stud shuttler Alamanzor, has made an encouraging start with his first crop of southern hemisphere-bred juveniles, winning the Karaka Million (RL, 1200m) with Dynastic and siring four other two-year-old winners in Australia and New Zealand this season.
A high-profile and hugely expensive purchase by Coolmore, who acquired Wootton Bassett in 2020 from Haras d’Etreham in France, the star sire shuttled to its Australian farm last year where he commanded a fee of $71,500 and he is expected to do so again this year. Wooded will be Wootton Bassett’s first sire son to stand in Australia.
Sangster and his offsider Sam Matthews have been on the hunt for a new stallion, making plays for a number of Australian-performed prospects, but the opportunity to shuttle the Al Shaqab-owned Wooded proved too enticing to pass up.
During his recent visit to France, Sangster also shored up the long-term future of fellow Al Shaqab shuttler Toronado, whose southern hemisphere fee is certain to rise this year, and in the process fended off any potential overtures for the sire of Group 1-winning Australian sprinters Masked Crusader and Shelby Sixtysix to relocate interstate.
“It’s ironic really, I was actually in France last month to negotiate Toronado’s permanent move to Swettenham,” Sangster said.
“Toronado has been kicking goals all over the shop with horses like Group 1-winning sprinters Masked Crusader and Shelby Sixtysix and he covered a full book in each of the past five seasons.
“Toronado has been shuttling, courtesy of Al Shaqab, from Haras de Bouquetot in France and while I was discussing Toronado with stud manager Benoit Jeffroy he insisted I have a look at Toronado’s barnmate Wooded, and particularly his first foals.”
A multiple Group performer at two in France, the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Wooded won the prestigious Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp (Gr 1, 1000m), a rarity for a three-year-old colt, carrying 62 kilograms in 2020 to underline his immense speed and talent before the decision was made to retire him to stud.
In just nine starts, Wooded also won the Prix de Tour (1400m) In Deauville at just his second start at two, as well as finishing runner-up in the Prix La Rochette (Gr 3, 1400m) and third in the Prix Thomas Byron (Gr 3, 1400m) to round out his juvenile campaign.
At three, a season which culminated in his Group 1 success, he returned to win the Prix Texanita (Gr 3, 1200m) while also running second in the Prix du Petit Couvert (Gr 3, 1000m) and he finished fourth behind three-time Group 1 winner Pinatubo (Shamardal) in the Prix Jean Prat (Gr 1, 1400m).
“Obviously I was familiar with what Wooded had done on the track – apart from being an outstanding two-year-old, he won the Abbaye carrying a big weight and on a surface that didn’t suit. But frankly, I was just blown away by the quality of his foals and I simply had to get him for our farm,” Sangster enthused.
“A good example is the Sadler’s Wells mare Changing Skies, she’s a multiple Group winner and a full or half to seven stakes winners, three of them champions.
“As you can imagine she’s been to the very best stallions in Europe but only thrown, to date, some fairly ordinary types. Yet Benoit tells me that her Wooded foal is by far the best yet.”
Wooded was heavily supported in his first season at stud by European breeders, providing him with a book of mares of which 88 per cent were either stakes-performed or producers of black type earners.
Haras de Bouquetot stud manager Jeffroy was taken by Wooded’s presence from the time he was a yearling when Al Shaqab paid €90,000 for him at the 2018 Arqana October Yearling Sale in Deauville.
The stallion is a brother to the stakes-placed European Beat Le Bon and is a son of Elusive City (Elusive Quality) mare Frida La Blonde, a sister to the stakes-winning Fred Lalloupet and a half-sister to the Listed-winning sprinter Mon Pote Le Gitan (Thunder Gulch).
“Wooded was very impressive physically as a yearling, he had an imposing frame, athletic and a great mover,” Jeffroy said.
“As a racehorse he had so many qualities; class, courage, great temperament and so much speed. His first foals this year are well stamped, consistently showing strength and depth as well as being good sized foals, proving quite similar to Wootton Bassett’s progeny.
“We are delighted with Wooded’s start at stud, as well as the European breeders who have supported him again this year.”
Sangster is confident that Wooded will suit the Australian market, just as his grandsire Iffraaj (Zafonic) had an impact in Australasia.
“The ‘line’ clearly works in this part of the world. Wootton Bassett is firing on all cylinders and stood at $71,500 in Australia last season (€150,000 in Ireland),” he said.
“It’s little wonder that Almanzor is going great guns in New Zealand as well when you consider Wootton Bassett’s sire, Iffraaj, produced Jon Snow, Gingernuts, Turn Me Loose, Wyndspelle and Western Empire when standing across the ditch, while Irish sprinter, Jungle Cat, won the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes here in Australia.
“It’s worth keeping in mind that Wootton Bassett’s current five-year-old crop, conceived at a fee of just €6,000, has produced 12 stakes winners so I’m anticipating plenty of interest in Wooded right out of the gate.”
Leading French trainer Graffard also predicted that Wooded would be a success as a stallion Down Under with the profile he possesses.
“(Wooded) is a Group-placed two-year-old sprinter with tremendous conformation and very sound, which should be perfect for Australia,” Graffard said.
“His ability to quicken was amazing and he had a high cruising speed with lots of power. I made a mistake early in his career by running him over seven furlongs and when we dropped him back to six furlongs at three he came out and won a Group race first-up.
“Wooded would have got over further as he progressed and I was very disappointed, due to Covid, that we couldn’t run him at Royal Ascot where I think he would have done very well.
“His preferred surface was firm tracks but we took the risk (on the heavy surface) in the Abbaye and he proved once and for all that he was a Group 1 horse.”
Toronado, Highland Reel (Galileo), I Am Immortal (I Am Invincible), Puissance de Lune (Shamardal) and Rubick (Encosta De Lago) will also stand at Swettenham Stud in 2022 with their fees to be confirmed in the near future.