VICTOR Ludorum is by the sire of a leading international stallion and from the immediate family of two top international sires, attributes that give this classic-winning miler and juvenile Group 1-star obvious potential to make an impact in his new career.

However there is an unusual and intriguing aspect to his pedigree that could make him an outstanding prospect, a potential classic producer and future French champion sire candidate.

He is one of 27 Group 1-winners among 158 stakes winners by the late dual classic victor Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway) and while some of that horse’s best sons are in early stages of their stud careers – Blue Point (foals made up to 300,000gns in 2021), Earthlight (foals in 2022), Pinatubo (foals) – Lope De Vega is the standout from his early ones.

That horse won the same two French classics as his sire, already has 13 Group 1-scorers on his roll of honour and looks sure to hit the 100-stakes winners mark in 2022.

Victor Ludorum is a half-brother to the sadly ill-fated classic-placed stakes winner Mary Tudor (Dawn Approach) and out of a pattern-placed daughter of Historian (Pennekamp), a stakes-winning half-sister to Street Cry (Machiavellian) and Helsinki (Machiavellian).

Street Cry won the Group 1 Dubai World Cup and Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap before going on to become champion sire both in America and Australia and while he will forever be remembered as the sire of the great fillies Winx and Zenyatta, they are among 24 top-level winners in a list of 133 blacktype scorers, as is Kentucky Derby hero Street Sense (sire of 11 Grade 1 winners).

Helsinki was stakes-placed in France but became the dam of Shamardal, so Victor Ludorum, who is inbred 3x3 to the Group 1 Irish Oaks winner Helen Street (Troy), is interestingly from the family of his own elite sire.

For bonus points, he is also related to Territories (Invincible Spirit), the classic-placed Group 1-winning great-grandson of Historian’s half-sister Grecian Slipper (Sadler’s Wells) whose first-crop daughter Rougir landed the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera in 2021.

Pedigree is only part of the equation of course, and Victor Ludorum has an excellent CV to back that up.

The André Fabre-trained Godolphin homebred easily won at ParisLongchamp and Chantilly before beating Alson while adding the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere a few weeks later. He lost his unbeaten record when third to The Summit in the Group 3 Prix de Fontainebleau on his seasonal reappearance but got his revenge when beating that same colt in style to win the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas at Deauville three weeks later.

Victor Ludorum went on to be placed behind Mishriff in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby and Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano, easily won the Group 3 Prix Messidor at four, and finished third to Baaeed and Order Of Australia in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin on his penultimate start.

In addition to inevitable juvenile winners, Victor Ludorum looks likely to get his best in the seven-to-12-furlong range.

VICTOR LUDORUM (GB), Bay 2017. Won five races, £670,930, over 1 mile, at 2 to 4 years including, Poule d’Essai des Poulains, Deauville, Gr.1, Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, Parislongchamp, Gr.1, Prix Messidor, Chantilly, Gr.3, also placed third in Prix du Jockey Club, Chantilly, Gr.1, Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, ParisLongchamp, Gr.1, Prix Guillaume d’Ornano, Deauville, Gr.2, Prix du Muguet, Saint-Cloud, Gr.2, Prix de Fontainebleau, Longchamp, Gr.3.

Retires to Stud in 2022.

Stands at: Haras du Logis, 61160 Louvieres en Auge, France

Contact: Sam Bullard, Julian Ince (manager), Antonin Pelsy (nominations)

Telephone: +33 (0)2 33 36 21 20

Email: enquiries@godolphin.com

Web: www.darleystallions.com

Fee: €15,000