A new dawn

NH SPECIAL 2022

James Thomas chats to Sybille Gibson at Haras de Montaigu about the farm’s exciting roster of young NH sires headed by its star stallion No Risk At All (the Flat guys get a mention, too)

HARAS DE MONTAIGU has a rich history of standing influential stallions, with the likes of Nikos, Kendor and Martaline having plied their trade at the picturesque Normandy farm. There is now a new generation in situ, who are ensuring the operation has a bright future to go with its storied past.

Three new recruits for 2022 has seen the roster reach six resident stallions, with the sextet headed by No Risk At All. The Montaigu team finds itself in an enviable position with the son of My Risk – he is already proven as one of the best jumps sires around but, at the age of 15 and with his debut crop only eight, his best days surely still lay ahead.

No Risk At All was bred by Sylvia Wildenstein and trained by Jean-Paul Gallorini, for whom he won five races from 13 starts. His record includes Listed successes at two, three and four before he rounded out his racing days with back-toback Group 3 victories in the La Coupe and the Grand Prix De Vichy-Auvergne.

Moreover, he is a half-brother to six black-type performers, including the late Nickname, the star-crossed sire of high-performing jumpers Cyrname, Frodon and Yala Enki. “Jean-Paul Gallorini contacted us after No Risk At All’s racing career as he was looking for a stud to retire his horse,” explains Sybille Gibson, the fifth generation of her family to take the reins at Montaigu.

“Jean-Paul’s wife Alexandrine had been a trainee at our farm before she created her own breeding operation and Jean-Paul had a good relationship with [Montaigu owner] Gilles Forien. “Haras de Montaigu had proven in the past its good results with stallions such as Nikos, Kendor, Martaline, etc and we felt that with this fantastic pedigree – his dam Newness produced six black-type horses like N’Avoue Jamais, Nom D’Une Pipe, Nickname, Nom De D’La – the horse would do well at the stud.”

That inkling has been borne out many times over with No Risk At All’s burgeoning stud record headed by a whole host of Grade 1 talents, such as dual runaway Ryanair Chase hero Allaho, the Champion Hurdle scorer and runner-up Epatante and the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase victor Esprit Du Large.

While he is advertised at a fee of €12,000, the “fully booked” sign went up on No Risk At All’s stable door long ago, which is unquestionably a privileged position for Montaigu to be in, albeit one that comes with its own pressures. “The horse was syndicated very quickly and important breeders came on board with high-quality mares,” says Gibson. “No Risk At All has been fully booked each year since year one and he is now a leading NH sire in France.

“The quality of his books has improved year after year and it’s great to see that he now only covers the crème de la creme mares. He has a fantastic character that he transmits to his progeny. He also gives his speed and turn of foot to his progeny, qualities that the NH breeders especially look for.”

No Risk At All’s emergence came at a time when Montaigu was searching for a successor to the mighty Martaline, who’d developed into one of the most accomplished and in-demand sires during his 15-year stint on duty. The son of Linamix, who was pensioned in early 2019, was responsible for the likes of Agrapart Dynaste, Disko, Kotkikova, Terrefort, Vanillier, Very Wood and We Have A Dream, to name but a few.

Montaigu’s Aliette Forien described standing Martaline as a “fairytale” and Gibson, Forien’s daughter, was no less effusive in her praise when discussing Martaline, No Risk At All and the breeders who’ve helped make the two star stallions. “Having these two top sires is a bit like a dream come true,” she says. “But those two champion sires wouldn’t have done so well without the support of our faithful clients bringing some of their best mares to Martaline and No Risk At All year after year.”

Although Martaline died aged 20 in November 2019, his influence is still being felt on the Montaigu roster through his son Beaumec De Houelle, who is standing his fourth season in 2022 at a fee of €6,000. A remarkably similar model to his instantly recognisable sire, Beaumec De Houelle won five of his six starts, including the Grade 1 Prix Cambaceres at three.

Although it is still very early days for Beaumec De Houelle, with his debut crop only two, he has already captured the imagination of jumps breeders and buyers, as evidenced by supplying the most expensive NH-bred yearling filly of 2021 when Midland Equine gave €72,000 for the daughter of the dam Best Exit at the Arqana Autumn Sale.

Gibson notes there are plenty of similarities between Beaumec De Houelle and Martaline, saying: “Beaumec De Houelle is a copy of his sire; we found an old pic of Martaline as a yearling and one cannot say which is which! They’re very similar; both have fantastic characters and are extremely good looking.

“We feel extremely privileged to also have Beaumec De Houelle after Martaline, and we’re very excited for next year with his first three-year-olds on the track.”

New to Montaigu for 2022 is Dschingis Secret, who transferred from Haras de Saint Arnoult, where he spent the first three seasons of his stallion career. The son of Soldier Hollow was crowned champion older horse in German in 2017 after a campaign capped by victory over Hawkbill in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, while he also won four Group 2s and a Group 3 contest during a racing career characterised by class and consistency.

“Dschingis Secret moved from Saint Arnoult a few months ago and we’re delighted to have him at Montaigu,” says Gibson. “Dschingis Secret was Horse of the Year in Germany in 2017 and he was extremely talented and tough, like German horses can be.

“He’s the best son of Soldier Hollow at stud and his dam, Divya, has only been covered by Soldier Hollow. She has only produced black-type horses such as Dschingis Secret’s sister Deia, who was Group 3 placed and sold for €600,000 [to Westerberg] at Arqana in December.

“Dschingis Secret is also a full-brother to Destino [Group 3 winner and second in the Group 1 Deutsches Derby], Diana Storm [Group 2 placed] and Dschingis First [Group 3 placed].”

Gibson says that both Flat and NH breeders have lent their support to Dschingis Secret and the nine-year-old duly has a split fee, breeders with a Flat mare pay €4,000, while a jumps cover costs €2,500.

She adds: “His owner [Company Avatara] is offering an interesting bonus for all foals conceived in 2022 with €10,000 to the breeder of a Group 1 winner and €5,000 to the breeder of a Group 2 or Group 3 winner.” Dschingis Secret was Horse of the Year in Germany in 2017 and he was extremely talented and tough, like German horses can be

Dschingis Secret has moved to stand at Montaigu from Saint Arnoult, he has been supported by NH and Flat breeders and will have two-year-olds on the track this summer. There is a bonus available for breeders of 2022-conceived foals if those offspring can win a Group 1, Group 2 or Group 3 race in 2019, Dschingis Secret’s first juveniles will hit the racecourse later this year and Gibson says that trainers such as Francis Graffard, Mathieu Brasme and Yann Barbetot have all offered positive early reports on his progeny.

Also joining the line-up for 2022 is Technician, the strapping son of Mastercraftsman whose five wins for Martyn Meade include a ready success in the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak in 2019.

Unusually for a horse trained in the UK at Manton, Technician boasts an unbeaten record at Longchamp, having also won the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay and the Listed Prix Ridgway.

“Richard Venn kindly proposed the horse to us in the autumn and we liked him physically,” Gibson says of the new recruit, who has been introduced at a fee of €3,000.

“We liked Techician’s racing performances as he’s a Group 1 winner and is unbeaten in three outings in Paris Longchamp. Also, like Turgeon, he won the rare double of the Prix Chaudenay and the Prix Royal Oak.”

Gibson adds that both sides of Technician’s pedigree enhanced his appeal, saying: “He’s by Mastercraftsman, sire of the champions Alpha Centauri, Amazing Maria, The Grey Gatsby, Kingston Hill, A Raving Beauty and the sire of five NH Graded winners, including Grade 1 winner Metier.

“Danehill Dancer [Mastercraftsman’s sire] is the sire of Jeremy, who sired eight NH Grade 1 winners.

“His dam is from the same Sadler’s Wells-Darshaan cross as Great Pretender, plus he’s an outcross for Cadoudal, Linamix and Garde Royale bloodlines, making him easy to mate. “Technician has been well received by top breeders. The horse is under syndication, but his trainer kept 50 per cent of the horse and will support him. We will support him too and we are very excited about this newcomer.”

THERE IS NO MISTAKING that the Montaigu team appears to have hit upon a winning formula when it comes to turning promising credentials into proven performance, which augurs well for the stud’s young names like Beaumec De Houelle, Dschingis Secret and Technician.

“Our jump sires were successful Flat runners, which we think is important for NH as many breeders try to add speed into their matings for their jump mares,” says Gibson. “Sires like Nikos, Martaline and No Risk At All were tough, consistent and all have been well received by breeders and covered their best jump mares year after year.

“Syndication has helped a lot, too, as those sires have covered a good number of good mares each year, supplied by top and faithful breeders who regularly invest in the sires we propose.”

Given its past glory and diverse 2022 roster, Haras de Montaigu rates an important pillar of the thriving French jumps breeding industry. The country is home to other high-class stallions such as Cocoriko, Doctor Dino and Saint Des Saints, while French imports continue to succeed on the biggest stages in Britain and Ireland.

“Jumps breeding in France is top class,” says Gibson. “We have very good and very strong bloodlines that have been established by breeders year after year, generation after generation.

“France also has top-class sires and the French breeders do a very good job breeding tough horses who are good jumpers, sound and able to finish races with good attitudes.

“The English and Irish invest a lot of money in our French-breds and there are so many French-bred winners among the racing results.

“The French-breds are precocious and we have excellent trainers here in France who do a very good job in educating and teaching the young horses, who are ready to show their ability sooner than in England or Ireland. They stay sound and are able to run for a very long time at a high level, which is the reason they are so popular in Britain and Ireland.” Of course, it is not only jumps stallions that can be found behind the gates of Haras de Montaigu as the six-strong roster also includes two interesting Flat sires. New for 2022 is Flintshire, who stands at €6,500 and arrives from Hill ‘N Dale Farms in the US, where he has stood since 2017.

THE FIVE-TIME Grade/Group 1 winner, who scooped top-level prizes in three different jurisdictions, namely France, Hong Kong and the US, has already sired Group/Grade 3 winners Verbal and Cheshire Academy on opposite sides of the Atlantic, with the former claiming the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes and the latter scoring in the Prix Noailles.

Gibson says the blue-blooded Juddmontebred son of Dansili is proving popular now that he is back in the country in which his racing career began with André Fabre. “The champion Flintshire arrived at Montaigu in December for his sixth year at stud and his book already contains 80 mares so far,” she says. “We think Flintshire is a very important and exciting addition to the French stallion roster. He has one of the best pedigrees on earth and he’s the only winner of five Groups 1 to stand in France.”

The Montaigu Flat ranks are completed by Jimmy Two Times, whose first two-year-olds hit the racecourse this year. As a son of Kendargent, Jimmy Two Times hails from the lineage of a Montaigu great in Kendor.

“Jimmy Two Times is the best son of Kendargent at stud according to the ratings,” says Gibson. “This talented horse was trained by Andre Fabre and won the Group 2 Prix du Muguet and Group 3 Prix Edmond Blanc. He was pure speed and precocity, and from two to five he won or was placed 12 times in stakes races over distances of six and a half furlongs to a mile.

“He’s from the fabulous bloodline of Kenmare, Kendor and Kendargent. We expect a lot from him and think we’ll have the same success that we had with his great grandfather, the great Kendor.”