Wootton Bassett Fee Doubled

Haras d'Etreham has released its fees for its four-strong stallion roster in 2019, with Wootton Bassett (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) leading the way at €40,000, double what he has stood for the last two seasons. Wootton Bassett's best son, Almanzor (GB), stands his second season at an unchanged fee of €35,000, while Australian reverse shuttler Scissor Kick (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}) drops to €6,000 and Elusive City (Elusive Quality) will command €5,000.

The fee hike for Wootton Bassett comes off the back of another prosperous year both on the racetrack and in the sales ring. He has five new stakes horses and two new Group 1 horses: Patascoy (Fr), second in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club, and Wootton (Fr), third in the G1 St James's Palace S. Wootton Bassett's current 2-year-old crop, his last small crop at 43, is headed by the G3 Prix de la Rochette winner The Black Album (Fr). The sire's 2018 yearlings, his last crop bred at €6,000, averaged €84,000 with 12 selling for over €100,000, with a top price of 425,000gns. Wootton Bassett's current yearling crop numbers around 80.

“With Wootton Bassett, two years ago he was at €20,000 and last year we thought, 'should we go up to €25,000, €30,000?'” Explained Haras d'Etreham's Nicolas de Chambure. “But we thought, 'let's give the breeders one more year to get to him at €20,000.' This year he has proven on the racetrack and in the sales ring that he was worth going to the next level, so we decided to take him up to €40,000.”

Almanzor, Europe's champion 3-year-old colt of 2016, heads into his second season at stud riding the momentum of a full book of 140 mares last year.

“We were lucky to syndicate him and he's been very well supported by all his shareholders from England, Ireland, France, Germany and the U.S.,” de Chambure said. “He was very well received and we did a deal with Cambridge Stud so he's been in New Zealand the last few months, and he'll be back around Christmas. He's a beautiful horse and he's going to throw some very good-looking foals.”

De Chambure said the deal with Cambridge Stud involves each entity supporting the horse in the other hemisphere.

“We agreed that we would buy a couple of yearling fillies in the south with Cambridge to support the horse, and they'd do the same in the north,” he explained. “It's a real partnership with them and we're really working together to make the stallion and make it work for both of us.”

Etreham, in turn, reverse-shuttles Arrowfield's Scissor Kick. Buyers will get the chance to lay their eyes on his first Northern Hemisphere foals at this year's breeding stock sales.

“The breeders that have used him the first year, a lot of them came back and he's going to have his first group of foals at the sales this year in Deauville,” de Chambure said. “It will be good to see his foals exposed to the market, and to more breeders and agents. I think when people see them they'll become more aware of the horse and his pedigree, being a son of Redoute's Choice, who is doing so well in Australia. With the quality of his foals, I expect him to cover a nicer and bigger book of mares next year.”

De Chambure pointed out that Wootton Bassett is limited to 130 mares and Almanzor to 140, and he said this is an important policy for Etreham.

“You're protecting your horse–the health of your horse and their ability to cover in the long term, especially if they're shuttling; that's not the case for Wootton Bassett, but still you're thinking about their health in the long term.”

“And, you're creating a bit of royalty for your shareholders, and the breeders using the horse,” he said. “You're not flooding the market with foals; you're creating a bit of value. We saw it this year with Wootton Bassett. He had a bigger crop of yearlings but still within our limits, which is 130, and they've been really well received. I think more and more people, when they make their bookings and talk to you about the stallion, they enjoy the fact that you're limiting the stallion. They feel the product is going to be something different, a bit special.”

“The other reason is that we have a great risk of overproduction in our business the last few years. I think it's our responsibility as stallion owners to limit them. It's helping the stallion, it's helping the market and it's helping the industry as a whole.”

De Chambure has been in Kentucky this week attending the Breeders' Cup and the sales at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland. Haras d'Etreham signed for one mare-the 3-year-old Smashing Serena (Violence), a half-sister to multiple graded winner Doubles Partner (Rock Hard Ten) from the family of Serena's Song-in partnership with Meridian International and Runnymede Farm, and de Chambure said he sees the investment in American mares as an avenue to spread risk and access American-based stallions.

“I think there are stallions here that are very good and worth taking back to Europe,” he said. “We'll keep a few mares here and breed them to either turf or dirt stallions, and we can either sell them or keep them, raise them here or raise them in Europe. This mare will be bred to Into Mischief, I think, and we'll probably sell the progeny in America.”