Wootton bassett

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Wedding Mood beneath the Twin Spires on May 10. Wedding Mood Rings The Bell At Churchill Downs Epic Horses, LLC's Wedding Mood (Wootton Bassett) ran out a 1 1/2-length winner over the Churchill turf on May 10 (video). Trained by Brian Lynch, the filly was bred by Coolmore in Ireland. Sold privately for €240,000 by Baroda Stud at the Arqana August Yearling Sale...

"The greatest gift a breeder could have." That was how the late HH Aga Khan IV described his unbeaten masterpiece Zarkava. How fitting then, that months after the retirement of the 20-year-old daughter of Zamindar and the sad passing of her owner-breeder, Zarkava's granddaughter Zarigana, herself out of the Listed winner Zarkamiya (Frankel) and by the Aga Khan Studs' homebred French champion sire Siyouni, should pick up the baton.  In giving her breeder a seventh victory in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, Zarigana continues this line of extraordinary success for...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-bred horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Saturday's Observations features a half-brother to multiple Group 1 winner Vandeek. 2.35 Naas, Mdn, €18,000, 2yo, 5f 205yT Besides Ballydoyle buzz horse Albert Einstein (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Aidan O'Brien will also saddle GSTAAD (GB) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), a 450,000gns Tattersalls December purchase who is a half-brother to the G1...

Wootton Bassett has surpassed Redoute's Choice and Extreme Choice as the most expensive stallion to ever stand in Australia, after Coolmore announced on Thursday that his 2025 fee has been set at A$385,000 (inc GST). A published fee of A$330,000 (inc GST) was the previous record, first set by Redoute's Choice when he stood at Arrowfield Stud in 2007 and 2008. Earlier this year, Newgate Farm announced that Extreme Choice would match that fee in 2025, a significant increase on the A$275,000 (inc GST) he stood for in 2024. Wootton...

DONCASTER, UK--The clock doesn't lie, nor do the results on the track. Goffs has come good on its promise to send owners and trainers to the hallowed ground that is the winner's enclosure at Royal Ascot with 10 graduates managing such an achievement in the last nine years.  Few sales companies can boast a similar roll of honour. Put simply, anyone with designs on rocking up to Royal Ascot in June will not have to think long and hard about speculating at Doncaster this week. Past performances are a barometer...

There can be no bad time for a sale company to produce a Group 1 winner but, star graduate Believing (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) bagging a much-deserved breakthrough success at the highest level in the Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan last week provided Tattersalls with something extra to shout about on the eve of the much-anticipated Craven Breeze-Up Sale.  The George Boughey-trained speedster became the fifth Group 1 scorer to emerge from the Craven in the past three years alone, joining genuine top-notchers like 1,000 Guineas winner Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}),...

It's going to get a little confusing this year with all these painters coming to the fore. Even more confusingly, Henri Matisse (Ire) and Camille Pissarro (Ire) are both by Wootton Bassett (GB) out of mares by Pivotal (GB), and, unsuprisingly, they are no ordinary mares.  Immortal Verse (Ire), the dual Group 1 winner bought for 4.7 million gns as a five-year-old, had already produced the Group 1 and Group 2 winners Tenebrism (Caravaggio) and Statuette (Justify) before Henri Matisse came along and, from a hard-working and high-scoring juvenile campaign...

The breeding game's loss could be the racetrack's gain after Amo Racing revealed on Tuesday that Group 1-winning sprinter Bucanero Fuerte (GB) has made a return to training with Adrian Murray following an unsuccessful stint at stud. Big things had been expected from Bucanero Fuerte at Tally-Ho Stud, where he had been advertised at an opening fee of €12,500. However, after failing to get a single mare in foal, he is back in full training and connections are quietly hopeful that the hugely-talented son of Wootton Bassett (GB) can make...

The catalogue for the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, which takes place between 8 and 10 May, has been released and features the progeny of world-class stallions Justify, Wootton Bassett (GB), Lope De Vega (Ire), Sea The Stars (Ire), Dubawi (Ire) and more. A total of 192 two-year-olds feature in the sale that was headed last year by recent UAE 2,000 Guineas hero Ruling Court (Justify), who was sold by Norman Williamson's Oak Tree Farm to Godolphin for €2.3 million. There are seven horses by Justify in this year's sale that features...

Colin and Melba Bryce's Laundry Cottage Stud is home to 15 broodmares and, though the Hertfordshire operation could certainly be described as boutique, its paddocks have witnessed the formative years of two of the most talked-about horses of recent times. Wootton Bassett (GB) was born there in 2008 and the Group 1-winning juvenile-turned-supersire now commands a stud fee of €300,000. A decade later came Via Sistina (Ire), a 5,000-guinea yearling who became a multi-millionaire on the track and was the top-rated mare in the world last year. While Melba, who...

It's time to revisit our annual series to assess the sires of 2025 with the aim of working out where the value lies. We'll reissue the usual caveat that value means different things to different people. For the benefit of this series, we are using the euro as our currency for bracketing, and will deal with stallions in the following four tiers: €50,000 and up €20,000 to €49,999 €10,000 to €19,999 Under €10,000. Only one of the new additions to the European stallion ranks for 2025 makes it into the...

River Tiber (Ire) becomes the latest son of Wootton Bassett (GB) to join the stallion ranks and will stand in France at Haras de la Huderie in the Pays d'Auge having been bought by a collection of French breeders. His fee in his first year at stud will be €5,500. The group consists of Sebastien Desmontils, David Salabi, Guillaume and Camille Vitse, and Jean-Pierre and Guillaume Garcon, all of whom have had successful associations with the offspring of Wootton Bassett in the past in some shape or form.  "River Tiber's...