MAKFI was born in 2007, in the first crop sired by Dubawi (Dubai Millennium). A champion at three, he stormed to victory in the Group 1 2000 Guineas and thus became his sire’s first winner at the highest level, and the first French-trained winner of the classic for 15 years.

He added another Group 1 win when he defeated superstar mare Goldikova in the Prix Jacques Le Marois.

Makfi went to stud at Tweenhills Farm in 2011 and moved to Japan for the 2017 season. Yet, his first crop son Make Believe won the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas in France. Makfi’s first crop in New Zealand, where he shuttled, featured the Group 1 Australian Oaks winner Sofia Rosa, and the Group 1 Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Marky Mark.

Another of Makfi’s daughters, Bonneval, won the Australian Oaks the year after Sofia Rosa. Not only did Bonneval win that Australian classic, she was also successful in the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks, and later added the Group 1 Underwood Stakes.

Her performances earned her the New Zealand Horse of the Year title twice, and at the end of her racing career she was purchased by Waikato Stud.

Makfi’s final European crop included Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Mkfancy, and to date Makfi has sired 17 group winners, while his first Japanese crop are just three-year-olds. Last year he ranked third, behind Duramente and Maurice, on the list of stallions having their first two-year-olds racing in Japan. That crop has produced 23 individual winners.

Given his record in Europe and in the southern hemisphere, and the good start he has made at stud in Japan, it is somewhat surprising that Makfi covered just 55 mares in 2020. That was some way down from the 142 he serviced in 2017, and in the intervening years he had coverings of more than 100 each time.

Highest calibre

Makfi had the race record and the pedigree to be a top-class stallion. His dam was a Green Desert (Danzig) half-sister to the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes winner Alhaarth (Unfuwain), while that colt’s dam was an Irish River (Riverman) half-sister to the champion racehorse and sire Green Dancer (Nijinsky). This is a Group 1 and sire-producing female line of the highest calibre.

Make Believe had a similar racing profile to his sire, unbeaten at two before developing into a miler of excellence at three. He beat his now stud-mate New Bay to land the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas, and had the high-class Limato and Toormore in arrears when winning the seven-furlong Group 1 Prix de la Foret.

As a full-brother to the dual Grade 1 winner Dubawi Heights (Dubawi), and out of a winning half-sister to the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup winner Tante Rose (Barathea), Make Believe had all the right credentials for stud, facts not lost on John O’Connor at Ballylinch.

First Group 1

Continuing the theme of getting a Group 1 in their first crop (Dubai Millennium-Dubawi-Makfi-Make Believe), the Ballylinch stallion did it in 2020 when his son Mishriff captured the Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby. A listed winner in England and a Group 2 winner when he slammed the French Derby runner-up in the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano, the John Gosden-trained Mishriff showed that he has more to offer when winning the world’s richest race at the weekend, the Saudi Cup.

Bred by Prince Faisal and racing in his silks, Mishriff is carrying the same colours that his sire sported when he was racing. Prince Faisal retained a significant interest in Make Believe at stud and this latest victory will no doubt have given him much pleasure. Not only did he race Make Believe, an 180,000gns foal purchase, but Mishriff descends from Prince Faisal’s great producer, the Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks heroine Rafha (Kris).

Invincible Spirit

Rafha is the dam of 11 winners, eight of which earned blacktype of some kind. Outstanding among them is the Irish National Stud flagbearer Invincible Spirit (Green Desert), the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup winner and sire of 20 Group 1 winners. His half-brother Kodiac (Danehill) won four races, was runner-up in a Group 3, and from humble beginnings is now standing at €65,000 and already has five Group 1 winning sons and daughters.

Kodiac was also to the fore at the weekend when, in the UAE, his seven-year-old son Medahim won the Listed HH The President Cup. The Paul McEnery-bred was finally winning a stakes race, one which his early career exploits would have suggested he might.

Sold as a foal for €130,000 (from a €7,500 covering fee), he reappeared the following year in the McCartan’s Ballyphilip Stud draft in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale and left a tidy profit. He sold this time for 360,000gns to Al Shaqab Racing and Peter and Ross Doyle Bloodstock, and joined Richard Hannon. He won three times before being snapped up for 35,000gns by Kilbride Equine.

Medahim appears to like Abu Dhabi and had, prior to his win at the weekend, been second in the Listed National Day Cup there.

The Dubawi sire line had a good few days. Makfi’s son Noor Al Hawa brought his tally of wins to 15 when, in Qatar, he won the HH The Amir Trophy. He is no stranger to big race success at the track and in 2016 he won the Qatar Derby there when trained by Andreas Wohler. This was his fifth attempt to win the HH The Amir Trophy at Doha.

Noor Al Hawa, bred by Rabbah Bloodstock, was a group winner in France and Germany, placed in the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens Rennen-German 2000 Guineas, and this latest success boosted his earnings to an astounding £1.6 million.

Dubawi win

Not to be overlooked, the richly-endowed card at Riyadh on Saturday included the Turf Sprint and it went to a son of Dubawi. The race carried a winners’ purse of $600,000 and was won by the Godolphin homebred Space Blues, trained by Charlie Appleby.

The five-year-old is now an eight-time winner, his career highlight coming last year when he won the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, having run third in the race in 2019. That year he also chased home Too Darn Hot, also by Dubawi, in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat. Space Blues is one of 44 Group 1 winners for the Dalham Hall superstar.

Whatever this season brings, there is surely a place at stud for Space Blues in time. Like Medahim, mentioned earlier, he is out of a mare by Noverre (Rahy). In this case it is the Group 2 winner Miss Lucifer. She is also dam of a Group 2 winner in Shuruq (Elusive Quality), while she, in turn, bred the 2020 stakes winner and Grade 1 Belmont Oaks runner-up Antoinette (Hard Spun).