WHAT an admirable horse Tribalist is, and how we all wish we had one or two like him.

A five-year-old entire son of Farhh (Pivotal), few would begrudge the André Fabre-trained, Godolphin-owned Tribalist his victory at the weekend in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, just the fourth time in his 21-race career that he has tackled a Group 1 contest.

Two years ago, he was beaten two lengths by another Godolphin runner, Modern Games, in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas.

All of his nine career victories have been gained at either seven furlongs or a mile, and eight of his wins have been at listed level or better. Notable among these successes have been the fact that he won both the Group 2 Prix du Muguet and Group 3 Prix Edmund Blanc on two occasions, and he clearly has a special liking for Saint-Cloud. Sourced as a yearling in Book 3 of the Tattersalls October Sale four years ago by Anthony Stroud for 130,000gns, Tribalist has now earned some £635,000.

Tribalist was one of four yearlings in Book 3 that year to realise the top price of 130,000gns, and all have raced. Two others won, one of them on three occasions, and the remaining horse managed a single placed effort. Tribalist stands head and shoulders above the rest, and he will likely head to the Group 1 Prix de la Foret on Arc weekend, before a possible tilt at the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

King Of Change

When he was catalogued for sale, Tribalist was from the fifth crop by Farhh, and it would be days after the sale concluded that the Darley stallion sired his first Group 1 winner, when King Of Change landed the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. It would be another two years before Fonteyn doubled that tally with her victory in the Sun Chariot Stakes, while Tribalist has now brought up a third Group 1 triumph for the Dalham Hall-based stallion.

Interestingly, it was at the age of five that Farhh himself had his most rewarding season. He was the unbeaten champion older miler in Europe in 2013 when he won both the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes and the Group 1 Champion Stakes. He was never out of the first three in 10 starts.

Carrying Godolphin’s colours, Farhh ran only once as a two-year-old, coming home six lengths clear in a maiden race at Newmarket in July. An injury kept him off the course for 15 months, but he made a winning return late in his second season at Newmarket, easily beating 19 rivals.

Farhh completed an unusual hat-trick by winning the Thirsk Hunt Cup by six lengths first time out at four years, then in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot he was third to So You Think and Carlton House. After a half-length defeat by Nathaniel [the dam sire of Tribalist] in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes, Farhh was second to Frankel in both the Group 1 Sussex Stakes and the Group 1 Juddmonte International. He ended that season with a second to Moonlight Cloud in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin.

Reduced fertility

Even better at five, Farhh again won first time out, taking the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury by four lengths, then adding the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot, defeating French champion Cirrus Des Aigles and Derby hero Ruler Of The World.

Reduced fertility means that Farhh’s opportunities as a sire have been curtailed, but he has made his mark, with 14 stakes winners, and 29 stakes performers on the track among his winners. Two of his sons, Far Above and King Of Change, are off the mark this year with their first runners.

Tribalist is the first foal out of the unraced Fair Daughter, and the second Group 1 winner out of a mare by Nathaniel (Galileo). The Prix Marcel Boussac winner Zellie was the first, while Silver Knott must have every chance of being the next. Tribalist was bred at Car Colston Hall Stud, owned by the Forman Hardy family, and represents just the latest chapter in an ongoing story of success.

While Tribalist was building up to his biggest success, his three-year-old full-sister Fair Point (Farhh) was winning for the second time in seven starts, and she was placed on every other occasion. A tilt at some blacktype must now be her target. The fourth offspring of Fair Daughter is the unraced two-year-old Blue Sky (Make Believe), and this year she was covered by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj).

Three decades

The family’s interest in horseracing started exactly 30 years ago, in 1994, and the following year Nicholas and Jane Forman Hardy travelled to Keeneland and bought the stud’s foundation mare Wiener Wald (Woodman). The ensuing family has become one of the most influential of recent years, thanks in no small measure to the advice of Alex Scrope. It is hard to believe that a filly, who showed little on the track at two and three, could eventually establish such a great dynasty.

The latest tally of flat stakes performers descending from Wiener Wald stands at 33, six of whom are now Group 1 winners.

Wiener Wald’s own produce record shows that all but two of her 17 foals raced, and nine of them won. That list was led by the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy winner Crowded House.

However, it would be Wiener Wald’s placed daughter Argent Du Bois (Silver Hawk) who has wielded most influence, being the dam of the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Brando (Pivotal), and the leading US runner Ticker Tape (Royal Applause), twice successful at Grade 1 level. In addition, Argent Du Bois is the grandam of the champion two-year-old Reckless Abandon (Exchange Rate), and he won the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, Group 1 Prix Morny and Group 2 Norfolk Stakes in a stellar juvenile season.

Five other daughters of Wiener Wald, including Tribalist’s dam, have produced stakes winners. The stakes-placed Forest Crown (Royal Applause) is the dam of two stakes winners, including the Group 3 Winter Derby hero Forest Of Dean (Iffraaj).

Forest Crown’s stakes-placed full-sister Riotous Applause (Royal Applause) bred the listed winner Invincible Warrior (Invincible Spirit). Placed twice, Vienna Affair (Red Ransom) is another to breed two stakes winners, her Grade 2 Saratoga winner Daring Dancer (Empire Maker) being the best. Finally, the unraced Woodland Scene (Act One) is responsible for the Group 3 juvenile winner Nazanin (Declaration Of War).

Let us not forget too that Bering Island (Bering), a daughter of Wiener Wald, travelled to New Zealand to win a couple of races, and she is the grandam of the Group 1 Champions Mile winner in Hong Kong, Beauty Eternal (Starspangledbanner).

Wiener Wald’s reach is truly an international one, and her stakes-winning descendants have enjoyed success in Europe, North America, Hong Kong and Japan. Wiener Wald is a daughter of the Grade 2 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed Chapel Of Dreams (Northern Dancer), and a granddaughter of the great Terlingua (Secretariat). She and her daughter Chapel Of Dreams shared the distinction of each winning seven times in the USA, being successful up to Grade 2 level, and placing at the highest level.

Both mother and daughter bred six winners each, but while none of Chapel Of Dreams’ offspring won a stakes race, Terlingua’s mark on breeding was secured when she bred the Grade 1 two-year-old winner, and champion sire, Storm Cat (Storm Bird).