ENGLISH TEXTS
French highlights was the victory of Quisisana( Le Havre) in the Sumbe Prix Jean Romanet( Gr. 1), securing her qualification for the Qatar Prix de l’ Arc de Triomphe. Her stablemate Woodshauna( Wooded) had already captured the Prix Jean Prat( Gr. 1) in July with great authority, while Sajir( Make Believe) offered Chantilly’ s master trainer André Fabre his first Prix Maurice de Gheest( Gr. 1) after an extraordinary 47- year career. While French thoroughbreds reigned supreme in Normandy, the standout stallion of the Deauville summer was Frankel. Standing at £ 350,000 for the 2026 breeding season, Juddmonte’ s legendary sire produced four Stakes winners across the 16 race days, including Diego Velasquez, crowned Deauville’ s best four-year-old after his triumph in the Aga Khan Studs Prix Jacques Le Marois( Gr. 1). Among professionals, André Fabre was crowned leading trainer of the meeting. With 13 victories, including seven in Stakes races, the Chantilly master topped Francis-Henri Graffard and Yann Barberot. Among jockeys, Maxime Guyon claimed the Jockeys’ Championship title, with Christophe Soumillon and Cristian Demuro completing the podium.
10
BY LOÏC STECHER CHOCRON
BACK TO ARTICLE
A RECORD-BREAK- ING YEAR FOR YEARLINGS ON THE SALES CIRCUIT
2025 has been dizzying, and the major sales companies experienced no headwinds— quite the opposite. The major sales of the second half of 2025 began in the United States( Fasig-Tipton) with the yearlings, including a colt by Into Mischief who sold for $ 4.1 million to Coolmore and White Birch Farm. After two exceptional days of trade, turnover exceeded $ 100 million for the first time in the history of the event. The momentum continued in Deauville with another record-breaking edition. A new, unprecedented top price: € 3 million for a Night Of Thunder filly consigned by Écurie des Monceaux and purchased by Amo Racing.“ She is truly priceless!” said Alex Elliott.“ To build a dynasty, you need to buy horses like her. She is a magnificent filly, and her dam has produced exceptionally well. We are more than delighted.” The filly is now a sister to three Group 1 winners( Diamond Necklace, Magic Wand and Chicquita). But as often, the year’ s highest-priced yearling was to be found at Tattersalls: 3.7 million Guineas( over € 4.4 million) for a Sea The Stars colt bought by the powerhouse Godolphin. Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum made the trip specially to secure him. In total, 1,444 lots out of 1,703 were sold, amounting to nearly € 245 million. Another record. Huge sums were also seen across the Atlantic, where the Keeneland September Yearling Sale concluded with 3,078 horses sold for a total of nearly € 460 million. Yet another record.
BACK TO ARTICLE
11
BY LOÏC STECHER CHOCRON
WOOTTON BASSETT HAS PASSED AWAY
The news still resonates like a shock throughout the racing and breeding world. The death of Wootton Bassett fell like a hammer blow, announced by Coolmore Australia, where he was shuttling for the southern hemisphere season, last September. The 17-year-old stallion died of pneumonia. Wootton Bassett owes his reputation to his extraordinary capacity for upgrading mares. One number summarises him? Eight, the number of individual Group 1 winners in 2025 alone produced from his progeny, including the two-year-old Puerto Rico and the Classic winners Henri Matisse and Camille Pissarro. Eight, two more than Frankel and Dubawi( at the time of writing). A son of Iffraaj, winner of five of his nine starts including the Prix Jean- Luc Lagardère( Gr. 1), Wootton Bassett was purchased by Haras d’ Etreham in 2012 to begin his stallion career. Not particularly“ sexy” on paper, he covered 47 mares that year at a stallion fee of € 5,000. Then the magic happened. His progeny began to make their mark both in the sales rings and on the racecourse. Almanzor, from his first crop, was crowned Europe’ s best threeyear-old in 2016 after winning the Group 1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club, Irish Champion Stakes and Qipco Champion Stakes; from that moment on, Wootton Bassett became increasingly
157 # 15