Quesnay Ranks Further Reinforced By Recoletos

VAUVILLE, France—Nowhere in Europe is the stallion business expanding more quickly than in France and for 2019, just as for this year, there will be more than 30 stallions retiring to stud across the country.

Among the best credentialed of the new intake is Haras du Quesnay's Recoletos (Fr) (Whipper), who retires on the back of a season in which he won the G1 Prix Moulin de Longchamp and G1 Prix d'Ispahan as well as finishing runner-up to Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois.

Quesnay is currently enjoying a dream opening run to the stallion career of Anodin (Ire), the leading first-season sire in France for 2018. The Wertheimer-bred brother to Goldikova (Ire) has strong ties to the stud, not just through his trainer Freddy Head but also his late sire Anabaa, and the links run deep with Recoletos, too. His dam, Highphar (Fr), an unraced daughter of another Quesnay stalwart Highest Honor, was born and raised at the Normandy farm for Spanish breeder Dario Hinojosa.

“It's really exciting to see the blood of Highest Honor coming back on the farm, like the blood of Anabaa coming back with Anodin,” says Vincent Rimaud, manager of Haras du Quesnay. “These things have worked before and we should all keep in mind that it's long-term work, that these lines should not be abandoned, and that they are going to be, I think, very useful with all the bloodlines we have around.”

A tall, elegant horse with scope, Recoletos demonstrated enough pace to appeal to the desires of an increasingly commercial marketplace, developing into a top-class miler at four having done most of his winning over farther as a 3-year-old. His one brief appearance at the back end of his juvenile season was enough to give him the racecourse experience to burst onto the scene the following spring. Winning his maiden first time out that year in March over 1m3f, he landed his hat-trick of victories when winning the G2 Prix Greffulhe by two and a half lengths from the subsequent dual Group 1 winner Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). The pair would meet again on their next start when running second and third behind Brametot (Ire) (Rajsaman {Fr}) in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club.

Rimaud continues, “Recoletos is a very exciting new prospect for us. It's really great to stand a double Group 1 winner this year in France. He's also placed in the Le Marois, second to the great Alpha Centauri, and he was third in the Jockey Club. He won some races that are, to me, but I think also to many people, the races to make stallions. The Moulin at Longchamp over a mile is a great race to win, and the Jacques Le Marois, even being second. Anodin was second in that race at four years old also, and he's doing very well for us.”

He adds, “Pedigree-wise, he's by what I think is an extraordinary stallion, Whipper, who won Group 1s at two, and three, and four, all in Deauville, and his lines are very interesting. The blood he's carrying, with Mr Prospector, and Kenmare on the mother's side, I think, is going to suit many, many mares around, and not only in France. Everyone from Europe should come and see this horse.”

With the Arqana Breeding Stock Sale still in full swing in Deauville just a few minutes' drive from Quesnay, Rimaud is hopeful that international breeders in town for the sale will take the chance to see Recoletos in the flesh.

“Hopefully he will attract both sides of the market; commercial breeders and breeders that want to race,” he says. “I think the important thing is that he would suit some mares that are commercial, and the breeders should really pay attention to this. I'm really looking forward to seeing, at the end of this week, who is really interested in the horse.”

For owner-breeder Dario Hinojosa, Recoletos may have been the highlight but he was only one of two Group winners for his dam last year. His 3-year-old half-sister Castellar (Fr) (American Post {GB}), also trained by Spanish ex-pat Carlos Laffon-Parias, won three races, including the G3 Prix Cleopatre and G2 Prix de la Nonette. And for next season, it will be worth following the progress of Recoletos's unraced full-sister Villalar (Fr).

“I'm not going to say the best is yet to come because you never know, but Carlos is very happy with the 2-year old,” Rimaud says. “So we're going to hear a lot, hopefully, in the future with the progeny [of this family].”