BY the time you read this, the first dozen or so yearlings by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) will have gone under the hammer at Arqana’s yearling sale in Deauville.

This year’s yearling crop is a very significant one for the Coolmore sire, as they are from the first tranche of mares sent to the juvenile Group 1 winner after his purchase and transfer to Ireland. When he was in France, his fee ranged in price from €4,000 to €40,000, but his early success, earned on the back of what would be considered small crops these times, saw it leap to €100,000.

Even at that he proved to be value, and the breeders of his current yearlings were the only ones to be able to avail of him for that amount. Last year and this he stood for €150,000.

The pedigrees of his yearlings on offer this weekend in Deauville show that the quality of mares he has covered since relocating to Tipperary has risen in line with his fee. There are siblings to Group 1 winner Sioux Nation, Group 2 winner Mohawk, Group 3 winners Lancaster House, Faith In Humanity and the classic-placed Concert Hall, as well as stakes winners Saqr, Peking Opera, Lady Galore and Look Around. In addition there are offspring of a quartet of Group 3 winners, Snow, Happen, To Eternity and Marbre Rose.

On Saturday at the Curragh, Bucanero Fuerte (named after a Cuban beer), a yearling graduate at Arqana and a member of his sire’s ninth crop of racing age, credited Wootton Bassett with his seventh Group 1 winner, while 24 hours later it was the turn of another member of that same juvenile crop, Grey Man, to record a victory in the Group 3 Prix Francois Boutin. Two of the last three winners of that race have gone on to win at the highest level.

It is highly significant that Wootton Bassett’s success has been built on relatively small crops, and to date he has had just over 400 runners in total, and a strike rate of not far off 60% winners to runners. He struck gold with his first crop as it included Almanzor, and that Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby winner went on to capture the Champion Stakes in Ireland and England. Not only that, but he too has become a Group 1 sire.

Brilliant

We had to wait a few crops for the next Group 1 winner, and those born in 2016 were headed by the brilliant Audarya, successful in the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet before her win in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Each crop since then has included a Group 1 winner, Wooded in the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp, Incarville in the Prix Saint-Alary, Zellie in the Prix Marcel Boussac, Al Riffa in last year’s National Stakes at the Curragh, and now Bucanero Fuerte.

As if to emphasise what a loss Wootton Bassett has been to the French stallion ranks, his final crop conceived there also includes the unbeaten Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner River Tiber, listed winner Balsam, the Group 2 runner-up Unquestionable who finished fourth behind Bucanero Fuerte on Saturday, and a pair of stakes-placed horses.

Sourced by Robson Aguiar for Amo Racing, Bucanero Fuerte cost just €165,000, which in hindsight looks value, not just because he has become a pattern winner, but he is a full-brother to a Group 1 winner in Wooded (Wootton Bassett). The latter sire is represented this year by his first crop of yearlings, some on sale this weekend.

Visiting Dubawi

Bred by Gestut Zur Kuste Ag and foaled in England, thanks to his dam visiting Dubawi (Dubai Millennium), Bucanero Fuerte is the fourth winner out of Frida La Blonde (Elusive City), and three of these are sons of Wootton Bassett. In addition to the pair of Group 1 winners, she also produced Beat Le Bon (Wootton Bassett), a four-time winner in England where he was group-placed, and two of those wins were in valuable Goodwood handicaps which boosted his earning in England to some £250,000.

This evening, after racing in Deauville, Arqana will offer what is sure to be one of the highlights of this year’s sale, that aforementioned Dubawi yearling half-sister to Wooded and Bucanero Fuerte. Intriguingly, the sale catalogue only credits Frida La Blonde with breeding three winners, having overlooked her daughter Cask Secret (Ajaya) who was twice sold by the company, most recently as a winning three-year-old in 2021 for €150,000.

If Frida La Blonde keeps up her strike rate, she will surely match the achievements of her own dam, Firm Friend (Affirmed). A listed winner in France, second in the Group 2 Premio Regina Elena-Italian 1000 Guineas, and a stakes-placed winner in the USA, she bred seven winners from a dozen foals, and her placed runners included Frida La Blonde. Two of her winners were listed winners in France, both were group-placed, and one of them, Fred Lalloupet (Elusive City), was a full-brother to Frida La Blonde.

Sold already

Given the time constraints placed on writing this and the time you read it, by now you will be able to check out what Lot 100 sold for yesterday at the Arqana Yearling Sale. If the individual matches the pedigree, the price should have been well into six-figures.

The lot is from Haras de la Louviere and is a daughter of Le Havre (Noverre), well-known and regarded as a sire of fillies and as a broodmare sire.

The February-born filly is a half-sister to the Group 3 juvenile winner Grey Man, who has won three of his four starts and been second once. It is hard to believe that he twice visited the Deauville sale ring, and was twice led out unsold, at €39,000 as a foal and €60,000 last year.

In addition to being a son of Wootton Bassett, Grey Man is a half-brother to the dual Group 3 winner Lesstalk In Paris (Cape Cross), and she was runner-up at two in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and the following year in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes, on both occasions denied by less than a length. Getting even closer to a Group 1 win was their sibling Dastarhon (Dansili), who was beaten a neck by Style Vendome when he was second in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas.

No slouch

It is no real surprise that three high-class siblings should appear, all by different sires, as their dam was certainly no slouch. Top Moss, a daughter of Linamix (Mendez), won four times in France, twice at Group 3 level and also in a listed race. Grey Man was bred by Chryss O’Reilly’s Skymarc Farms, as was Top Moss and her grandam Tossup (Gone West).

The latter mare was trained for Lady O’Reilly by James Burns, and though she only won once in nine starts, and been placed six times, she was a smart racemare and her sole victory was gained in the Listed Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial Stakes at Leopardstown in 1996. At stud, seven of Tossup’s 11 foals were winners.

This is a prolific winner-producing female line, and Tossup was herself one of seven winners, again from 11 foals, produced by the US three-time winner Tovalop (Northern Dancer). The best of the others was an own-brother to Tossup, Torrey Canyon (Gone West), and in a seven-race career he won the Listed Heron Stakes at Kempton and two other contests, and was placed in a few listed races also.