By Loïc Stecher Chocron
In a breeder’s life, one broodmare can change everything. Such is the case with Soignée (Dashing Blade), purchased as a yearling in Germany by Jean-Pierre Dubois and his partner. She would go on to become the dam and granddam of two Prix de Diane winners, Stacelita and Sparkling Plenty, and the ancestress of Sauterne, another Group 1-winning filly.
“She was the most beautiful filly in the sale.” So says Jean-Pierre Dubois. The auction in question dates back to 2003, at the BBAG yearling sale in Baden-Baden, Germany. Bred by Baron Georg von Ullmann and consigned by Gestüt Schlenderhan, the daughter of Dashing Blade was purchased for €150,000 by Jean-Pierre Dubois and Rainer Engelke. The latter is also well known in the trotting world for breeding champions like Face Time Bourbon (Prix d’Amérique 2020–2021), Mara Bourbon and Qualita Bourbon. It was under his silks, Haras Saint-Martin, that Soignée began her racing career. Trained by Andreas Wöhler, she won her debut at Mülheim over 1,300 meters in August of her two-year-old season. Three weeks later, she remained unbeaten, winning a Listed race during Baden-Baden’s “Big Week,” this time over 1,500 meters.
Her next notable effort was a runner-up finish in the Group 3 Prix des Réservoirs at Deauville, followed by a Listed placing at three. That was the extent of her racing career. Her broodmare career, however, would go on to be truly explosive.
The breakthrough
Jean-Pierre Dubois bought back his partner’s share and returned the filly, now retired from training, to Schlenderhan to be covered by a certain Monsun. The stallion’s fame would skyrocket in the years to come. The result of this mating? Stacelita. Under the care of Jean-Claude Rouget, she captured multiple Group 1s: the Montjeu Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary, Prix de Diane Longines, Qatar Prix Vermeille and the Darley Prix Jean Romanet. Her American owner, Martin Schwartz, later sent her to the U.S., where she won two more Group 1 races. As a broodmare for Teruya Yoshida, Stacelita produced Soul Stirring, by the mighty Frankel, winner of the Japanese Oaks, and became the granddam of Stars On Earth, a Duramente filly who completed the Japanese 1,000 guineas–Oaks double.
Lightning never strikes twice? Not for Jean-Pierre Dubois. In total, Soignée produced six fillies by various stallions: Footstepsinthesand, Shamardal, Aragorn, Monsun, and Frankel. Remarkably, she was included in the highly selective first book of Juddmonte’s undefeated champion Frankel. The result, in 2014, was Speralita. Unraced, she went on to match her dam’s legacy by producing a Prix de Diane Longines winner: Sparkling Plenty. That day in 2024, Jean-Pierre Dubois, her breeder, also celebrated as her owner.
A fulfilled man
After a first appearance at the Goffs London Sale, the filly was ultimately purchased for €5 million by Coolmore partners at ARQANA last December, a record! Notably, Speralita also produced Noble Truth, winner of the Group 3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot and runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère.
The confirmation
From the Soignée family, let’s also mention Sauterne. A daughter of Kingman, like Sparkling Plenty, she had a highly active 2023, running ten times, including five Group 1 races. After a third-place finish in the Emirates Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and two placings in Deauville’s summer Group 1s, Sauterne finally claimed her well-deserved Group 1 victory in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. Nineteen years after Ask For The Moon’s victory, her breeder-owner Jean-Pierre Dubois chose to send Sauterne to the Fasig-Tipton ring in the U.S., where she was sold for $4.2 million to Japan’s Grand Stud, after having been RNA’d (reserve not attained) for £1.2 million at the Goffs London Sale. The legacy of Soignée may well continue at stud. This summer, it will be possible to join this exceptional family. The “Chef” will offer several of Soignée’s descendants at the AUCTAV private sale, along with a granddaughter by Zarak (lot 263) a few days later at ARQANA.
A Grand Cru that’s winning over Japan
The JHRA Select Sale held in mid-July recorded exceptional trade, featuring the first foals by champion Equinox. Several yearlings came from European bloodlines, notably a colt by Frankel and the first foal out of Sauterne (Kingman), who was among the top lots of the sale, fetching 300 million yen (approx. €1.72 million) from Danox Company.
Feu Follet: A spark from Pilarski, signed Dubois
“I heard there was a lot for sale... Well, Jean-Pierre is always a seller, he’s a businessman as much as a competitor, and thankfully so, because otherwise I never would have had Feu Follet, I wouldn’t have had Making Moovies, I wouldn’t have had Bold Eagle. All of that is the Dubois breeding, father and son, plural. But before that, a few weeks earlier, I had bought a small share of a jumping horse that was for sale and going to Guillaume Macaire. Then I decided to go a little further with that lot at Jean-Pierre Dubois’ place, and I asked Guillaume Macaire to take a look at the lot, and he told me: it’s very good.” Feu Follet marked Pierre Pilarski’s turn toward NH racing, the man behind the legendary Bold Eagle found similarities between trotting and National-Hunt, both in training and education of the horses, and also in the emotions involved. He described this encounter to Stella Bandinu in May 2022 in a lovely interview for Equidia: “It always bothered me, when watching Equidia, to skip every other race. So I told myself I’d try to give it a shot. And jumping always seemed more accessible to me; not just financially, but in terms of understanding. So I bought half of a lot from Jean-Pierre Dubois, whom I had crossed paths with in trotting, and in that lot were Feu Follet, Fiumicino, Fandango, and two AQPS horses who were later sold on to England at the end of 2018.” The story is just as beautiful on the track. Although raced under the banner of “Écurie D”, the star over jumps is unmistakably a product of Jean-Pierre Dubois’ breeding. A son of the stellar Kapgarde and Folle de Toi, Feu Follet hails from the family of Lointaine, an American mare bought by Jean-Pierre Dubois in the 1990s who once carried the silks of none other than... Daniel Wildenstein! Feu Follet ran 35 races, winning 14 and placing in 15, an impressive strike rate. Trained by maestro Guillaume Macaire, with later Hector de Lageneste, Feu Follet carried the silks of another trotting heavyweight: Pilarski. Victorious on his debut over hurdles at Clairefontaine, he run under the colors of Hugo & Pierre Pilarski to immediately join the elite. Winner of the Prix d’Indy (Gr.3) in his first attempt at top level, he followed up with successes in the Prix Amadou (Gr.2) and Prix Alain du Breil (Gr.1). Feu Follet returned to the top level with wins in the Prix Robert de Clermont Tonnerre (Gr.3), Prix des Drags (Gr.2) and Prix Ingré (Gr.3). He bowed out in style with one last victory in the temple of NH racing and total earnings of €1,065,353.