Wootton Bassett’s southern hemisphere star set to rise
Big things expected as the Coolmore shuttler’s first crop of runners to hit the track
Wootton Bassett is a stallion going places fast. In Europe he has charted a remarkable route from unheralded bargain option to bona fide blue-chip operator. This year will see the Coolmore resident break new ground when his highly anticipated debut southern hemisphere-bred crop reaches the track.
But to understand why Wootton Bassett’s emergence in Australia is so significant, it helps to understand where his journey began.
There were times during Wootton Bassett’s racing career that his potential looked limitless. He was among the best two-year-olds of his generation, and capped his five-race juvenile campaign with an authoritative victory in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (Gr 1, 1400m). That effort saw the Richard Fahey-trained colt crowned champion two-year-old in France for 2010.
But he had the misfortune of being around in the same crop as a certain Frankel (Galileo) and the multiple Group 1-winning juvenile Dream Ahead (Diktat), all of which meant the scale of his two-year-old talent perhaps went underappreciated in Britain and Ireland.
Matters were compounded when Wootton Bassett failed to replicate his high-class form in four starts at three. When time was called on his racing days, he retired to Haras d’Etreham in Normandy, where he covered a debut book at a fee of just €6,000. It would be fair to say he was not especially warmly received by French breeders.
A first crop of just 23 foals meant Wootton Bassett faced a monumental task to gain a foothold. However, he defied all the odds in spectacular fashion when that debut crop yielded a true champion in Almanzor, who swept through a hat-trick of Group 1 victories in three different countries, landing the Prix du Jockey Club (Gr 1, 2100m), Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) and Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) of 2016.
Almanzor’s exploits helped lift his sire’s fee out of bargain basement territory, rising to €20,000 in his sixth season at Etreham. By then breeders had latched on Wootton Bassett’s abundant promise, and he covered three-figure books each year from 2016 to 2020.
Despite his second, third and fourth crops also being modest in number, the runners from those generations continued to show Wootton Bassett to be a precious upgrader of modest mares. Notable talents like Beat Le Bon, Mamba Noire, Patascoy and Wootton Bassett proved that Almanzor was no fluke.
Then, in August 2020, shortly after serving what was at the time a career-high book of mares, came the news that Coolmore had pulled off an almighty coup in securing Wootton Bassett for their all-conquering Irish stallion roster. The transfer won’t have come cheap, but it did prove particularly well timed.
In the months following the announcement, Wootton Bassett’s roll of honour gained two new elite-level winners as Audarya stepped up from handicap company to claim the Prix Jean Romanet (Gr 1, 2000m) and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Gr 1, 8.5f), while Wooded ended his career with victory in the Prix de l’Abbaye (Gr 1, 1000m). There has been no let up in momentum since.
The move to Coolmore saw a surge in Wootton Bassett’s profile. He was introduced to Irish breeders at €100,000 and duly covered a book befitting his six-figure status. Further star-studded books have followed as his covering fee has continued to climb. He stood 2022 and 2023 at €150,000, and spent the most recent northern hemisphere season at a career high of €200,000 – 50 times the €4,000 he was available at in his third and fourth seasons in France.
His first three seasons at Coolmore in Ireland have seen Wootton Bassett serve a combined 700 mares. Just over half of those are black type performers, giving him a base of hitherto unimaginable quality and quantity. And, with his first Irish-bred crop conceived in 2021, we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of what Wootton Bassett can achieve with such backing.
Turf history is littered with examples of stallions who showed potential on the back of matings with cheaper more commercial mares, but failed to deliver on that promise once they were granted access to more highly bred Classic types. But, on all available evidence, Wootton Bassett’s upward trajectory is not just being maintained, it is accelerating.
Wootton Bassett’s stud record features 80 stakes performers. From that number, 31 of his sons and daughters have won in Group/Graded company, including nine at the highest level. These statistics have been underpinned by his prowess at siring high-performing two-year-olds.
Of those 80 stakes performers, 47 (59 per cent) gained black type at two, while four of his nine Group 1 winners scored at the highest level during their juvenile season. That quartet are: Al Riffa, winner of the National Stakes (Gr 1, 7f); Bucanero Fuerte, who struck in the Phoenix Stakes (Gr 1, 6f); Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (Gr 1, 8f) hero Unquestionable; and Prix Marcel Boussac (Gr 1, 1600m) scorer Zellie.
His first Irish-bred crop already contains 22 juvenile winners this season, which have come at a clip of 41 per cent. Only record-breaking two-year-old sire Kodiac (Danehill), who is on 28 winners, and Mehmas (Acclamation), who is poised to claim the record from his studmate with a haul of 48 winners and counting, have had more juvenile success than Wootton Bassett has in Europe this year.
Moreover, no stallion in Europe has sired more two-year-old Group winners this season than Wootton Bassett has. Nine of his European juveniles have achieved black type, giving the crop an impressive stakes performers-to-runners strike rate of 17 per cent. Among that number are the Group winners Angeal, who is three from three and was last seen taking out the Prix Six Perfections (Gr 3, 1400m); the unbeaten Futurity Stakes (Gr 2, 7f) scorer Henri Matisse; the exciting Round Tower Stakes (Gr 3, 6f) winner Ides Of March; and on Sunday Houquetot registered his third win of the campaign with a gritty effort in the Prix La Rochette (Gr 3, 1400m) at Longchamp.
These up-and-comers could well join the list of Wootton Bassett’s Group 1-winning offspring later this season, as Henri Matisse is pencilled in for the Curragh’s National Stakes and his Ballydoyle stablemate Ides Of March is being prepared for a tilt at the Middle Park (Gr 1, 6f) at Newmarket, while Christopher Head is gearing Angeal’s campaign towards the Prix Marcel Boussac (Gr 1, 1600m).
These three will have the chance to join the list of Wootton Bassett’s Group 1-winning offspring later this season, with Henri Matisse pencilled in for the Curragh’s National Stakes and his Ballydoyle stablemate Ides Of March being prepared for a tilt at the Middle Park (Gr 1, 6f) at Newmarket, while Christopher Head is gearing Angeal’s campaign towards the Prix Marcel Boussac (Gr 1, 1600m).
But, as striking as Wootton Bassett’s juvenile results are, it would be doing his talents a disservice to focus solely on his two-year-olds accomplishments.
The aforementioned Almanzor and Audarya showed what his three- and four-year-olds are capable of, as has the sizeable King Of Steel, who was second to Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact) in the English Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) before winning the Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), in which he defeated subsequent dual Australian Group 1 winner Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock).
The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m)-bound Al Riffa too has advertised the progress Wootton Bassett’s progeny are capable of, landing the National Stakes at two and regaining the Group 1-winning thread in the Grosser Preis von Berlin (Gr 1, 2400m) at four. Similarly Incarville went from smart juvenile to Group 1-winning three-year-old with victory in the Prix Saint-Alary (Gr 1, 2000m). Wooded, as previously mentioned, signed off with a win in the Prix de l’Abbaye (Gr 1, 1000m).
Now, the million dollar question is will Wootton Bassett replicate this success in the southern hemisphere? Of course we will only really find out how his southern hemisphere-bred runners fare when they reach the racecourse. But his effectiveness at siring talented two-year-olds is not the only thing to recommend him as his southern hemisphere career begins in earnest.
He is from a sireline that has already performed with distinction in both hemispheres, being a son of Iffraaj (Zafonic), who enjoyed a successful 12-year shuttle stint between Darley’s European roster and Haunui Farm. Iffraaj is responsible for 100 stakes winners, 30 of which have come in New Zealand and 11 in Australia. The most recent of those arrived on Saturday when Grail Seeker gave his sire a 13th top-flight winner with a surprise victory in the Tarzino Trophy (Gr 1, 1400m) at Hastings.
The exploits of Wootton Bassett’s son Almanzor can also be seen as a positive for his sire’s prospects. Largely disappointing in Europe, the Cambridge Stud resident was champion two-year-old sire and champion first-season sire in New Zealand in 2021/22. His 19 stakes winners include 13 in the southern hemisphere, most notably the Group 1 scorers Circle Of Fire and Manzoice.
Wootton Bassett’s own haul of three Australian black type performers may not sound the most inspiring on the surface. But, rather than being a reason for scepticism, that record can be taken as a further source of optimism when you consider that the trio are among just ten runners the sire has fielded down under.
The most recent of those successes came on Saturday when Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott’s Royal Patronage, a 300,000gns horses-in-training import with Johnny McKeever, got the better of Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni) to land the Tramway Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Randwick in taking style.
Prior to that William Haggas saddled the Australian Bloodstock-owned Protagonist to score in the Sky High Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) last year, while The Summit, a Group 3 winner and dual Group 1-placed during his time in France, finished second in a Listed contest at Caulfield on his most recent outing at the age of seven.
It has been some time since a horse arrived in Australia as thoroughly proven as Wootton Bassett was when he began shuttling. When he touched down at Jerry’s Plains breeders plainly held him in high regard, as he covered 490 mares in his first three southern hemisphere seasons. His debut Australian-bred crop comes from a book that was covered at a fee of $71,500 (inc GST) and numbers 190 mares.
His 2024 fee has been set at an increased $192,500 (inc GST), thanks in no small part to the reception his yearlings received at this year’s sales.
His 75 sold lots generated an average price of $368,095 and a median of $260,000. Seventeen of those 75 cost $500,000 or more, while three fetched a seven-figure sum. Hunger for Wootton Bassett’s progeny peaked at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale, where 32 sold lots generated an average of $465,625. The group was headlined by the first foal out of New Zealand champion Avantage (Fastnet Rock), who topped the sale at a cool $2,100,000.
That figure, paid by Te Akau’s David Ellis, made the filly the most expensive yearling sold in Australia by a European shuttle stallion.
No one can accuse Coolmore of not putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to Wootton Bassett. The firm paid an online record price of NZ$4.1 million when Avantage was offered by Te Akau through Gavelhouse Plus in 2021. And earlier this year the operation went to $3.5 million for Platinum Jubilee (Zoustar) at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, with the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m)-winning half-sister to Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon) in contention to visit Wootton Bassett this covering season.
As well as throwing their support behind Wootton Bassett at stud, they have also stood foursquare behind their stallion in the sales ring. At the sale that was topped by the Avantage filly, Tom Magnier spent $1.6 million on a colt out of Fiera Vista (Exceed And Excel) bred by John Camilleri’s Fairway Thoroughbreds, and also gave $900,000 for a half-brother to dual Group 1 scorer Think About It (So You Think) offered by Grenville Stud.
After signing for the $1.6 million Wootton Bassett colt, Magnier commented: “The best trainers, the best trainers’ agents, breeders, they’re all linked into this stallion. The horse has every chance and we have every faith in him. We’ll need a bit of luck, but in fairness to the stallion he’s kicking amazing goals and the market seems to have the confidence that he’s going to do the same in the south [southern hemisphere].”
And those seven-figure results are not the only sales ring millionaires Wootton Bassett has supplied in 2024. During the early stages of the European sales season John Stewart’s Resolute Bloodstock went to €1.4 million (approx. AU$2,328,300) for a well-related colt at the Arqana’s boutique August Sale in Deauville.
Having started his stud career at the blue collar end of the spectrum, Wootton Bassett has already come an awfully long way. But, with incredibly strong support behind him in both hemispheres, both at stud and in the sales ring, there is every reason to believe his best days are still to come.