ENGLISH VERSION
RACING
In France and on the international stage alike, from Flat racing to Jump racing, from breeding to the sport’ s major fixtures, whether horses or people are concerned, the spotlight has fallen on these recent achievements.
FLAT
BOW ECHO … ECHOING THE FOR- MIDABLE ZOMARA- DAH
BY LOÏC STECHER CHOCRON
He represents the quintessence of the breeding operation of the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum. He is Bow Echo. The winner of the 2026 Newmarket 2,000 Guineas descends from the formidable mare Zomaradah on both his dam’ s and sire’ s sides, being inbred 3x3 to Dubawi’ s dam. A family so dear to the cousin of Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, who passed away last December. And to think that in 1997, Zomaradah and High-Rise, his two parents, were both entered in sales.
What would Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum have thought of Bow Echo’ s Classic victory? No one will ever know. The breeder-owner passed away last year at the age of 74. Perhaps he would have reacted as the perfect gentleman he was, as when his other protégé, High-Rise, reached the Grail in the 1998 Epsom Derby? There, in the winner’ s enclosure, the breeder-owner was humble and overjoyed.“ For me, having a runner in the Derby is a dream. To win it with a horse I bred is fantastic. I would like to thank the whole Maktoum family, in particular Sheikh Maktoum, Sheikh Hamdan and Sheikh Mohammed, for their support and for allowing me to have my own horses in England.” To enter this family, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid had to make an investment of 420,000gns in 1983. The coveted lot was a yearling filly by High Line out of Sun Bittern, who would be named High Tern— Bow Echo’ s fifth dam. Her price was explained by the fact that High Tern was a sister to High Hawk, one of the first good fillies to carry Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum’ s maroon silks. Trained by John Dunlop, she won the Ribblesdale Stakes, the Park Hill Stakes, the Prix de Royallieu and the Premio Roma, before becoming the dam of the crack In The Wings, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf / Coronation Cup double and a very good stallion at Kildangan Stud in Ireland. Sunbittern, the dam of High Tern and High Hawk, also showed quality on the track at two. She won three races and finished fourth in the Cheveley Park Stakes, before things went wrong at three.
After temperament issues, she ended up a non-runner behind the starting stalls. Let us return to High Tern, winner of a maiden at Warwick and a handicap at Thirsk. In 1996, she went through the ring and flew to Saudi Arabia for 6,500gns. She left behind seven foals for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid. Her latest foal, born in 1995, would be High-Rise, who went on to win the Epsom Derby under Olivier Peslier. Jawaher should not be forgotten either. Born in 1989, by Dancing Brave, she may never have passed the post in front, but she distinguished herself through her progeny— and above all through her filly. Thus Zomaradah was born in 1995, a daughter of Deploy. More than 20 years later, she is known as the dam of the legendary champion Dubawi. But at the time, she had above all made an impression through her performances on the racecourse: successive victories in the Oaks d’ Italia, the E. P. Taylor Stakes, the Premio Lydia Tesio and the Royal Whip Stakes. But what on earth possessed Sheikh Mohammed Obaid to enter High-Rise and Zomaradah in the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale at the end of 1997? Racing history would have been different had these two unraced two-year-olds ultimately been sold. Like every breeder-owner, the Sheikh had to sell part of his production. That is how he entered these two future Classic winners in the sale. But when they were
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