Sumbe

DEAUVILLE, France--Nurlan Bizakov has made no secret of his intention to make a lasting mark on the French Thoroughbred industry, the Kazakhstani businessman having over the past two years purchased two of the best-known studs in the country: Haras de Montfort et Preaux and Haras du Mezeray. Those, along with Bizakov's Hesmonds Stud in the UK, have been united under one name, Sumbe, which will this weekend present its first sales consignment at Arqana's December Breeding Stock Sale. And Sumbe-named for the famed Kazakhstan horse and agricultural region where Bizakov...

Nurlan's Bizakov's Sumbe operation has announced its stallion fees for 2022, with flagship sire Le Havre (Ire) remaining at €40,000 and Golden Horde (Ire), who covered his first book of mares this year, being reduced to €8,000 from €10,000. "Le Havre, the sire of 45 stakes winners, had another stellar year in 2021 and we feel very fortunate to stand such a high-class stallion," said Sumbe's Mathieu Alex, who indicated that Bizakov has supported Golden Horde, a Group 1-winning son of Lethal Force (Ire), with 20 of his best mares....

DEAUVILLE, Newmarket--By the end of the second session of the Arqana October Sale, turnover had already passed the 2020 total for all five days, and trade continued to bowl along in a similarly upbeat fashion on Wednesday with another €4,744,000 added to the overall tally which has just passed the €25-million mark. To put that in context, the current aggregate has been achieved from the sale of 424 yearlings so far this week. Last year, €18,617,000 was paid for 578 horses, and from a significantly smaller sale in 2019, €17,456,500...

The Route des Etalons was established in 2010 in an attempt to stimulate a flagging French stallion scene. A little over a decade on, it could be said that it's 'job done'. That doesn't mean that the annual open weekend of Normandy studs has been shelved. Its popularity has grown year on year for breeders and bloodstock pilgrims alike, and it is only a global pandemic that has stopped it run in 2021. It will, however, be staged online across this weekend, with videos of the 108 stallions involved shown...

Nurlan Bizakov will unite his British and French studs, Hesmonds Stud and Montfort et Preaux, under the same name: Sumbe, for his birthplace in Kazakhstan. Bizakov said, "To understand this decision, you have to go back in time. I was born in Kazakhstan in the city of Sumbe. Nestling at the foot of the country's highest mountain, it's a region famed for its agricultural produce and the quality of its horse breeding. I think that these 'country' roots--embedded in an environment where the horse was very present--naturally influenced my decision...