Muhaarar moves

HARAS des Faunes near Bordeaux will welcome Muhaarar to its stallion ranks for the 2022 season. The news comes soon after the Shadwell stallion sired the first two home in the recent Group 1 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes, Eshaada and Albaflora.

Based at The Nunnery Stud since he went to stud in 2016, the son of Oasis Dream (Green Desert) has seen his fee fall from an initial £30,000 to £10,000 this season. Winner of seven of his 11 starts, he won the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at two and was third in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes. In his second season he was the best three-year-old sprinter in Europe, landing four Group 1 races.

Muhaarar beat Twilight Son in the British Champions Sprint Stakes, ending a brilliant season that saw him collect the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, the July Cup at Newmarket and the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville. He is sire of six stakes winners and the Group 1-placed juvenile Baradar.

Welcome Walzertakt

ALREADY home to Trueshan’s sire Planteur (Danehill Dancer), and with the addition of Bangkok (Galileo) to the roster in 2022, now comes news of a further important new stallion for next year at Chapel Stud.

Walzertakt (Montjeu) has been acquired to stand there as a new National Hunt sire in 2022. A high-class stayer in France, he won the Group 2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil and the Group 3 Qatar Prix Gladiateur at Longchamp. He is a half-brother to the Group 1 Deutsches Derby and Rheinland-Pokal winner Wiener Walzer (Dynaformer), and to Port Douglas (Galileo) who won the Group 2 Juddmonte Beresford Stakes as a two-year-old.

As well as a prolific producer of group horses, his dam Walzerkoenigin (Kingmambo) was a dual Group 2 winner, finished second in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes and was champion older mare in Germany. Montjeu is a leading sire of National Hunt stallions such as Walk In The Park, Scorpion and Jukebox Jury.

In a deal brokered by Richard Venn, Walzertakt has relocated from France where his first four-year-olds are set to run in 2022.

Big, strong

Chapel Stud director Roisin Close said: “Walzertakt is a big, strong, good-looking horse, a very typical stamp of his sire Montjeu. His pedigree is rapidly turning into a German masterclass of breeding, full of champions and Group 1 winners of the highest and toughest calibre. For stamina and quality, you really don’t need to look any further. We really do have a stallion to suit every mare!”

The stallion’s owner Simon Davies said: “I am extremely excited to have secured Walzertakt. He also complements my other stallions; Planteur, who has winners most days led by the incredible Trueshan, and Bangkok, an extremely well-bred son of Australia and tremendously tough racehorse. This gives British breeders great quality and choice for their mares without wading through the issues that Brexit has thrown up.”

Richard Venn added: “Walzertakt is bred on exactly the same cross as Camelot. Added to that, he hails from a strong blacktype family with a German connection, and his half-brother Wiener Walzer is the sire of Grade 1 winner Adagio.”