ENGLISH TEXTS
lions including Shamardal( 2005), Lope De Vega( 2010) and their own St Mark’ s Basilica( 2021). The victory of Henri Matisse is particularly notable, though- named after a French artist, from a French maternal line with top-class French form. Firstly, the name. All Ballydoyle juveniles are given a rating and allocated a name dependant on their anticipated performance on the track- a ranking decided by pedigree and early promise shown. Famous figures have always been used by the team and the 2022 crop was no different, with Shackleton, Roosevelt and Isambard Brunel all featuring alongside Henri Matisse. Secondly, the pedigree. In 2020, Coolmore made the unusual move to purchase a proven twelve-year-old stallion to join their roster – Haras d’ Etreham’ s Wootton Bassett. Trained by Richard Fahey, the son of Ifraaj was successful in the Prix Jean- Luc Lagardere( Gr. 1) and outperformed all expectations when retiring to stud for an opening fee of 6,000 euros, producing European Champion Three-Year-Old Almanzor in his first crop. Since moving to Coolmore and attracting significantly improved books, the stallion has gone from strength to strength and stands for a 2025 fee of 300,000 euros. The 2025 Poule d’ Essai des Poulains field was an accurate reflection of the stallion’ s rise to power – he was represented by six of the six-
teen runners. A top-class stallion requires a good broodmare and Immortal Verse was a worthy match. Racing in the famous green-and-white striped silks of Richard Strauss and trained by Robert Collet in France, the filly recorded back-to-back Group 1 victories in the Coronation Stakes( Gr. 1) and the Prix Jacques le Marois( Gr. 1) before selling for a record 4.7 million Guineas at the 2013 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. She made a slow transition to stud, but soon hit new heights with 2019 foal Tenebrism, winner of the Cheveley Park Stud Stakes( Gr. 1) as a juvenile. Hopes around a Wootton Bassett and Immortal Verse pairing must have been high, and Henri Matisse was an immediate success on the track. Winner of his first three races, including the Railway Stakes( Gr. 2) and the Futurity Stakes( Gr. 2), the colt bounced back from two late season defeats to take a memorable neck victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf( Gr. 1) at Del Mar. Now a three-year-old, all that remained was an important European Group 1. He delivered, in emphatic style, in the Poule d’ Essai des Poulains( Gr. 1) – a nod to the French heritage for the Irish-trained colt.
BACK TO THE ARTICLE �
� PAGE 84
GLOBAL ECONOMY
IGOR DE MAACKS CHRONICLE
ROUGH RIDERS
This name – Rough Riders – was given to the first volunteer cavalry battalion in the United States after the Civil War, one of whose illustrious commanders was none other than future President Theodore Roosevelt. It primarily evokes the Spanish-American War of 1898, but today it could just as well represent Donald Trump’ s ultra-aggressive stance in the tariff war launched on Liberation Day( April 2). Every country and economic zone has been affected by this American chaos in the tariff ring. After this real thunderclap that shook global stock markets as well as currency and interest rate markets, calm and reason have returned among investors. Financial markets have priced in the uncertainty ahead, even if it will still take a few quarters before the macroeconomic and microeconomic damage becomes clear. The first quarterly earnings releases are and should remain solid, since the first quarter of 2025 will not yet be impacted by the U. S. tariff hikes. Although there are indeed non-reciprocal trade imbal-
# 9 150