Haras d'Etreham

Saturday's flurry of TDN Rising Stars continued when Carlos and Yann Lerner trainee Evita (Persian King) made every yard of the running in Chantilly's Prix de Toutevoie to become the first Rising Star for her sire. Persian King, himself a Rising Star, joined the ranks at this venue in 2018. "For a long time we thought that this is a quality filly," revealed Yann Lerner. "Looking at the first race it seemed that making up ground was difficult, so I told Christophe [Soumillon] not to hesitate because she is very...

Fabrice Chappet trainee Safia (Sottsass), a debut scorer at ParisLongchamp in October, opened this year with a TDN Rising Star performance at Saint-Cloud in March and bounced back off a fifth in a hot renewal of April's G3 Prix de la Grotte to secure a career high in Sunday's Listed Prix Melisande at ParisLongchamp. Employing waiting tactics in fifth until turning for home, she careered forward to seize control with 300 metres remaining and was ridden out in the closing stages to defeat Ilda Rosa (Lope De Vega) and La...

Aidan O'Brien trainee Mount Kilimanjaro (Siyouni) needed every yard of Thursday's Listed Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes and continued the Ballydoyle maestro's dominance of this year's Chester Cup meeting with a seventh win in eight renewals, and a record-breaking 12th overall, in the extended 10-furlong contest. Last year's Criterium d'Automne winner and G1 Criterium International runner-up broke well and settled in fifth passing the judge first time, but slipped to sixth at halfway. Coming under pressure with a quarter-mile remaining, the even-money favourite was under a full Ryan Moore pump thereafter...

Haras d'Etreham resident Victor Ludorum (GB) (Shamardal) became Europe's latest first-crop sire to get off the mark when his Adam West-trained daughter Viva La Skids (Fr) pounced late in the Thursday's six-furlong Prix Royal Hampton at Saint-Cloud to defeat 11 rivals on debut. Occupying a position off the tempo towards the rear for the most part, the 77-2 outsider made relentless headway under pressure out wide inside the final quarter-mile and inched ahead in the dying strides to defeat Kalkara (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}) by a neck. Viva La Skids, kin...

Christopher Head-trained 'TDN Rising Star' Maranoa Charlie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) raced on turbo boost until running out of fuel in last term's G1 Criterium International, but bounced back in style with a pillar-to-post victory in Tuesday's G3 Prix Djebel at Deauville. The G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains entry backed up wide-margin victories here and at Saint-Cloud with an eighth-length tally back at the latter venue's G3 Prix Thomas Bryon in his penultimate start. In command and comfortable on the front end for the most of this straight seven-furlong test,...

Sottsass (Fr) had two deeply promising fillies in Saint-Cloud's Prix Kizil Kourgan on Tuesday and despite his Ultrafragola (Ire) starting favourite it was the other daughter Safia (Fr) who emerged best to earn TDN Rising Star status. Carrying the colours of racing and breeding's rising force David Layani, the Fabrice Chappet-trained descendant of Sophisticat (Storm Cat) and Serena's Song (Rahy) travelled easily throughout the mile Classic pointer under Cristian Demuro and readily held White Birch Farm's TDN Rising Star Ultrafragola by two lengths. Chappet was pointing to the May 11...

Metropolitan (Fr), who began his stallion career at Haras d'Etreham earlier this year, has his first mares in foal, the stud announced on Tuesday. The G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero has successfully covered Sand Rose (Fr) (Aussie Rules), the dam of the multiple group-placed Royal Dubai (Fr) (Seahenge), as well as Oubliette (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), a sister to two group performers including G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches scorer Tie Black (Ire) (Machiavellian). Another mare in foal to the son of Zarak (Fr) is Nao Victoria (GB) (The Gurkha {Ire}),...

Group 1 winner Onesto (Ire) has sired his first reported foals, according to a release from Haras d'Etreham on Friday. Haras de Saint-Julien, Haras de Bourgeauville and Coulonces Sales welcomed the first arrivals of the 2022 G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner. Said Anna Sundstrom of Coulonces, "She is a high-quality filly, very correct, with plenty of size and a pretty and expressive head. She is easy to handle and I am delighted with her, as are her owners who will certainly keep her." Added Louis Baudron, "We are very...

Where to start on the first morning of the Route des Etalons? It was a decision which would have been easy to rush into, what with so many enticing options to choose from, all of them immaculately presented, ready and waiting to welcome the first guests of the day. 'Pace yourself,' I reminded myself. 'There's always tomorrow for anything you don't get to today.' Anyway, that's enough about the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Suitably fueled with a pile of crepes, cakes and pastries that would have made my dentist...

The catalogue is now available for the Arqana January Online Sale, which is scheduled to take place between the hours of 3pm and 5pm (local time) on Monday, January 20. A potential highlight of the sale is the Monsun (Ger) mare North Sun (Ger), who will be offered by Gestüt Schlenderhan in foal to Torquator Tasso (Ger). The 12-year-old is the dam of three winners from four runners to date, including the G2 Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft hero Northern Ruler (Ger) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}). North Sun, in...

Like any vibrant metropolis, Haras d'Etreham is somewhere that embraces the diversity of its inhabitants. At one time the roster featured everything from a dual Group 1-winning sprinter in Hello Youmzain (Fr), now one of the most expensive Flat stallions in France, to the leading National Hunt sire Saint des Saints (Fr), who in October this year was pensioned from stud duties. "We just need as many options as possible," says Etreham's Nicolas de Chambure, speaking more generally about the evolving stallion scene domestically which, in his words, had a...

A 1/50th share in the Aga Khan Studs stallion Zarak (Fr) took top billing in the Arqana December Online Sale when going the way of Alex Elliott for €800,000. Of the 13 stallion shares and breeding rights offered, nine sold for a total of €1,323,000. A four-time winner when trained by Alain de Royer-Dupré, notably landing the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Zarak boasts an exceptional pedigree as a son of Dubawi (Ire) and the unbeaten G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar). Zarak stood his first...