Wootton Bassett – a tale of rags to riches

The sport was rocked last month with the news that Coolmore’s leading sire Wootton Bassett had died in Australia. In a statement released on ‘X’,  Coolmore wrote: “Wootton Bassett, one of the world’s great sires has sadly passed away at Coolmore Australia having suffered from choke and subsequently developing an acute pneumonia which deteriorated rapidly. Despite round-the-clock care from a dedicated team of vets, overseen by Dr Nathan Slovis from Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Kentucky, he was unable to be saved.”

Therein ended one of the most remarkable rags-to-riches tales of the modern era, one than encompassed a money-spinning spell on the track before an illustrious stud career that took root despite an initial almost offensive lack of interest.

By the time this season rolled around, the 17-year-old commanded €300,000 to place him only behind Dubawi and Frankel among the most expensive stallions in Europe. As such, it goes without saying that his death leaves a massive void, whether in terms of the Coolmore roster, which is now headed by No Nay Never, the European breeding scene or globally.

In a measure of just how important the son of Iffraaj has become to the current sire scene, he heads the leading European sires’ list, both in terms of prize-money (approximately £9.5 million) and stakes winners (26).

He leaves behind 73 stakes winners, 52 of which are Group or Graded stakes scorers

The list includes a number of the year’s star performers, among them Henri Matisse, winner of the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, Camille Pissarro, winner of the Prix du Jockey Club, Whirl, winner of the Pretty Polly and Nassau Stakes and runner-up in the Oaks, Al Riffa, winner of the Irish St Leger, and Sahlan, winner of the Prix du Moulin.

Group-winning two-year-olds such as Albert Einstein, Composing, Dorset, Hawk Mountain, Puerto Rico, Beautify and Nighttime have also contributed further to the momentum, making him the year’s leader among the European juvenile sires.

The bulk of those stars are trained in Ballydoyle on behalf of the Coolmore partners, who have thrown their weight behind the stallion since his purchase out of France in the summer of 2020. That first pair of Coolmore-sired crops contain 19 stakes winners between them and given ten are out of Galileo line mares, he was well on the way to fulfilling the brief of catering for Coolmore’s elite broodmare band, plenty of which contain Galileo blood.

In all, he leaves behind 73 stakes winners, 52 of which are Group or Graded stakes scorers including 18 who have struck at the top level. More chapters will undoubtedly be written given the  volume of well-bred stock in the pipeline while he has a number of young sons now at stud, including several who are new to Ireland for 2026. However, there is a sadness in a horse lost at the
height of his powers at 17, one who granted a favourable run of luck could have been in service for another few seasons.

A different background

As Wootton Bassett attracted wider attention, it stood him in particularly good stead that he possessed a background that deviated away from various mainstream influences, notably Sadler’s Wells and Danehill.

From the first crop of Iffraaj, and therefore a great-grandson of Mr Prospector, he was bred by Colin and Melba Bryce’s Laundry Cottage Stud Farm out of Balladonia, a Listed-placed daughter of Primo Dominie. Balladonia descended directly from the influential Princequillo mare Key Bridge, the dam of Paul Mellon’s American champions Fort Bridge and Key To The Mint, via the branch also responsible for St Leger winner Silver Patriarch.

Her sire, the fast two-year-old Primo Dominie, was one of the mainstays of Cheveley Park Stud’s early stallion roster and as a son of Dominion, offered a route into the tough Dante sire line that was once an important part of the British scene. Today’s commercial breeders would have little reason to remember either Dominion or Primo Dominie but their place so close up in Wootton Bassett’s pedigree meant that the stallion offered something a bit different – and in the case of Primo Dominie, via a respected speed influence of his time. At the very least, the absence of Sadler’s Wells and Danehill made Wootton Bassett easy to use.

Colin Bryce takes up the story.

“Balladonia was my pick from the Tattersalls catalogue in July 2003,” he recalls. “I was away in Majorca and I asked Eamonn Reilly, my bloodstock agent at the time, if he would buy her and to pay up to 70,000gns. She was barren to Observatory and had an Alhaarth colt at foot, who was tiny. And she’d had a Dr Fong filly before that who was also tiny. And so even though she had some black-type herself, a lovely family behind her and was by Primo Dominie, who we loved, she only made 27,000gns.”

Bred by Mrs C F van Straubenzee, Balladonia won a Goodwood maiden for Lady Herries and came close to winning black-type when a head second to Tarfshi in the Listed Hoppings Stakes at  Newcastle.

“She was a good race filly over a mile to 10f,” says Brycye. “She had a lovely temperament – I think what she handed to Wootton Bassett was her mind. She had ten winners and all ran to a Racing Post Rating of 80 or over.”

He was always very good-looking

Balladonia left behind just two daughters but both are stakes producers; her Dr Fong filly Bratislava foaled Listed winner Katla and the Group 3-placed Rapid Reaction, whose two-year-old colt Rapid Force topped this year’s Goffs Breeze-Up Sale at £1 million, while her Kyllachy daughter Pretty Primo is the dam of German Group 3 winner Kitty Marion.

Balladonia’s other foals included Mister Hardy, a Listed-placed seven-time winner for Richard Fahey. Foaled three years before Wootton Bassett, it was his early promise that enticed the Musley  Bank trainer to take a look at the horse when he came under the hammer at the 2009 DBS St Leger Sale in Doncaster.

“He was from the first crop of Iffraaj and we went to him because she’d had a small Dr Fong and a small Alhaarth,” says Bryce.

“Balladonia herself was also quite small so we thought we’d try and get some of that Zafonic size.

“He was foaled at Brook Stud in Newmarket and raised with us at Laundry Cottage, and he was always very easy.

“He was always very good-looking – a number of what I would classify as good judges who came to the farm would point him out. He was a chilled character but when you got him up to do some work, he’d get up and do it. And then he’d lie back down again and chill. He had that will to please and will to win.

“So we knew he was nice and we were a little disappointed that we only got £46,000 at Doncaster.”

Lurking around the ring that day was agent Bobby O’Ryan, an integral part of the buying team for Richard Fahey. Taken by the near-black colt, he was sent in by Fahey to do battle and duly trotted back out clutching a yellow docket.

“I remember Bobby was mad about him at the sales,” said Fahey. “I’d trained two of his brothers including Mister Hardy, who had won the Brocklesby for us, and I sent Bobby in to buy him at  Doncaster. And we got him for £46,000.”

The colt passed into the hands of Frank Brady and The Cosmic Cases, the latter of whom also owned Mister Hardy. However, it wasn’t long until the Fahey team realised they were dealing with a completely different kettle of fish.

“We always knew he was good,” recalled Fahey. “The Lagardere was the plan a long way out, we always knew that was his Group 1, but we took two sales races in the process. At the time those sales races were worth fortunes, colossal, and he was winning them well. Then he arrived at the Lagardere unbeaten and won that well too. It was a plan that came together well and it was great.”

Wootton Bassett won his debut at Ayr in June of his juvenile year and having followed up in novice company at Doncaster, proceeded to land both the DBS Premier Yearling Sale Stakes and  Weatherbys Insurance £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes, banking nearly £350,000 in the process. At the end of the year, he lined up in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp and made light of his first foray into Group company with an easy win over Maiguri.

For one reason or another, Wootton Bassett never ran up to the same form at three, failing to trouble the judge in four starts.

Etreham strikes

In the autumn of 2011, it was announced that Wootton Bassett had been bought to stand at Haras d’Etreham in Normandy. Nicolas de Chambure had taken up the reins at the stud from his uncle  Marc de Chambure and the immediate addition of a Group 1-winning two-year-old to the stallion was indicative of an operation burning with ambition.

However, it wasn’t that straightforward.

“It was my first year being in charge of Etreham and I was keen to get a new stallion,” recalls Nicolas de Chambure. “We had to look at what we could afford. There were a few prospects out there  but what I liked about Wootton Bassett was the fact he was unbeaten at two and had won the Lagaardere. At the time France lacked a proven two-year-old influence among its stallions.

“The fact that he didn’t do so well at three allowed me to afford him. So with the help of Ed Sackville, we went to Richard’s yard to see him and then when I saw him in the flesh, that’s what really convinced me – his walk, his attitude. Yes, he was a little bit light of bone and not perfect in front, but he had this wonderful athleticism – there was something about him that hooked me the first time I saw him.

“Seemingly there was interest from some studs in Ireland and France but we managed to get the deal done. The plan was to syndicate him, which we failed to do. The only person we got on board was Colin Bryce and he was a really good support from day one – he used the horse, he bought some foals by him and then some yearlings. He was a really good partner.”

“His owners went for the money when he was a two-year-old,” says Bryce, “and as a three-year-old, he wasn’t ready to be produced early after his hard race in the Lagardere, which I think set him back. But he always tried. Glenalmond [his 107-rated full-brother] was the same.

The horse was installed at just €6,000 yet failed to capture the imagination of breeders

“When Nicolas bought him, he called me up and asked would I like to take part of him. I was very busy working in the city and travelling all over the place at the time – I thought I wouldn’t have time to sell 40 nominations so I said no thanks very much!”

The horse was installed at just €6,000 yet for one reason or another failed to capture the imagination of breeders. Support was not forthcoming and it was left to Etreham to breed his first major runner, champion Almanzor, out of a first crop of 23. Almanzor was one of the stars of the 2016 season, winning the Prix du Jockey Club and Qipco British and Irish Champion Stakes for Jean-Claude Rouget.

“We bought some mares for him and one of them was Darkova, the dam of Almanzor, from the Aga Khan,” says de Chambure. “I remember that first summer when his foals were on the ground. Obviously we had struggled to attract mares in both his first seasons. The French breeders mainly didn’t like his front leg and at the sort of level he was operating at, you need a breeder to like the horse physically.

“But he had this really good group of first foals and I thought this was something that we needed to show breeders. So I took five or six foals to the Arqana December Sale and there were a couple of others there from different breeders, and overall they were a really good group – all dark bay with a really good walk. That really helped, people started to see something in him, and then he covered around 50 mares in his third season – not a huge number but from where we had been, it was a great result.”

Laundry Cottage was a key collaborator in those early days, supporting the stallion where they could.

“Nicolas managed him extremely well,” says Bryce. “We had shares in the horse, sent mares to him regularly and bought his first foal at Arqana [for €75,000]. We supported him as much as we feasibly could.”

Fahey also did his best to support his old ally – but such was the early commercial response that he surprisingly came away light.

“We haven’t had a lot of progeny because to be honest the ones we’ve liked we haven’t been able to afford!” he says. “Even early on, they were nice horses. I remember going to France and I was  definitely going to buy one, this was when he was covering at €5,000, and they were still making plenty. So even though he struggled to get mares early on, people were liking what they saw at the sales even then.”

No one-hit wonder

Given the lack of numbers during those early days, it might have been tempting to think that Almanzor was a one-hit wonder. But nothing could have been further from the truth.

Wootton Bassett came close to siring a second Prix du Jockey Club in three years when Patascoy ran second in the 2018 edition to Study Of Man. That third crop also included the Prix de  Fontainebleau winner Wootton while his fourth contained the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Audarya. The latter was produced when he stood for just €4,000 while the 2017 crop, which was headed by the Group 1-winning sprinter Wooded and Classic-placed miler Speak Of The Devil, was bred off just €6,000.

By 2017, the secret was out and Wootton Bassett received a deserved fee increase to €20,000. That was doubled two years later to €40,000, the level at which he sat when he attracted the attention of Coolmore.

In what was reportedly a multi-million euro deal, Coolmore swooped for the horse in the summer of 2020 and installed him as one of their leading lights of the 2021 roster at €100,000. Starting with that 2021 season, Wootton Bassett’s books since then have read like a who’s-who of Coolmore’s broodmare band, many of them high-performing daughters of Galileo.

To further underline its belief in the stallion, the Coolmore partners acquired a number of Etreham-conceived representatives at auction. The group came to include two of Aidan O’Brien’s best two-year-olds of 2023 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Unquestionable and Coventry Stakes winner River Tiber. Both locked horns that season with another high-flying Wootton Bassett two-year-old in Bucanero Fuerte, the runaway winner of the Phoenix Stakes for Amo Racing. Kia Jooracbchian’s operation also campaigned King Of Steel, successful in that year’s Champion Stakes at Ascot.

Ballydoyle has sent out a conveyor belt of top-class stock by the stallion

Since then, Ballydoyle has sent out a conveyor belt of top-class stock by the stallion. Expensive yearling purchase Camille Pissarro emulated Wootton Bassett by winning the Prix Jean-Luc  Lagardere and trained on to win this year’s Prix du Jockey Club. Henri Matisse followed Unquestionable to make it back-to-back wins in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf for the stallion and  returned to take this year’s Poule d’Essai des Poulains. Whirl had a highly productive summer as winner of the Pretty Polly and Nassau Stakes while Tennessee Stud ran second in the Derby.

Among the two-year-olds, Puerto Rico stepped up to win the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere last month to head a list of nine current juvenile stakes winners that also includes the Ballydoyle inmates  Albert Einstein, Beautify, Composing, Dorset and Hawk Mountain.

Nor was Puerto Rico the only Group 1 winner for his sire during Arc weekend as the Christopher Head-trained Maranoa Charlie made all to take the Prix de la Foret in the colours of Bond  Thoroughbred Limited. Al Shaqab Racing has also enjoyed Group 1 success with the stallion this autumn thanks to homebred Sahlan, winner of the Prix du Moulin.

So what makes Wootton Bassett so good?

“He was an outcross for so many bloodlines,” says Coolmore’s Mark Byrne. “Nearly all types of mares could go to him and that was a big advantage.

“He put some amount of class and speed  into them and their minds are brilliant. He could get you a good two-year-old or sprinter but also a middle-distance staying type as well. His versatility over different distances was incredible and that was probably because they have such good minds – they could relax and travel.”

His stock’s easy-going attitude is also a key attribute in the eyes of both Colin Bryce and Richard Fahey.

“To me, his success is undoubtedly due to his temperament,” says Bryce. “He was able to compartmentalise sleeping with work and racing. He wanted to please all the time.”

Fahey is in agreement.

“His stock have very good temperaments – because he did,” he says. “What the outside world doesn’t know is that these horses are friends. Wootton Bassett was a gent, he would listen to you and do everything bar talk to you.

“We’ll all miss him. I was speaking to John Murphy, who used to ride him out, and he was upset. I’d say anybody who was closely involved with him would have felt the news.”

As highlighted by Byrne, one major key to Wootton Bassett was his versatility. All grounds seem to come alike to his progeny and while they can come to hand early at two, there is little fear of them not training on. And for every one that holds its own over sprint distances, there is another that is effective over further than a mile – look no further than this year’s Irish St Leger winner Al Riffa.

“When they’re so strong mentally, I suppose it’s easier for them to adapt to different situations,” says de Chambure.

“They’re always very kind, easy horses to deal with. They try. And once you have them in training, they do well physically with work. The only little piece of advice that I had for MV when we were in discussion about him was to not overdo them at two because he was so generous as a two-year-old himself and some of them are like that as well.

“It’s very sad but it doesn’t take away what a great journey it’s been for us from the difficult times of his early years at stud to now. He helped a lot of small breeders in the beginning. It was  wonderful to follow his rise and watch the reputation he built, all the while remembering where we came from with him to now where everyone is talking so highly of him.

“These stallions are really, really rare, and for the breed and the industry, it would have been very important to have had him for a few more seasons.”

 

“An absolute reincarnation of his father”

The hope now is for Wootton Bassett’s legacy to take root via the various sons at stud.

Almanzor stood at Etreham with a huge weight of expectation, something that can be as much of a hinderance as a help. He’s had his moments at stud, notably as the sire of this year’s Prix Saint-Alary heroine Gezora, but he’s been more effective to date in New Zealand, where he now resides on a permanent basis. Another early son, Haras de Bouquetot’s Wooded, is the sire of this year’s Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Woodshauna out of his first crop.

It’s a promising start and one that bodes well for the number of sons that breeders will have access to next year.

For starters, more sons are slated to retire to stud in Ireland.

They are led by Camille Pissarro (right), who bears a striking  resemblance to his sire, not only in looks but race record as well.

“Camille Pissarro is an absolute reincarnation of his father,” says Mark Byrne of Coolmore. “He looks frighteningly like him. I’d just got back from Newmarket and I looked over the door at him in the stallion yard and I thought he was his father – he’s in his father’s box too which is very fitting.

“It’s not the looks he has – obviously he cost 1,250,000gns as a yearling – but he was also a very good two-year-old, a TDN Rising Star in the month of April who ran every month of the season then on as two-year-old and finished up winning the Lagardere like his father. And then he had the class to carry that speed through to win the Prix du Jockey Club at three, and that takes no  introduction as a sire-making race.

“He just looks like a real exciting prospect because he has his father’s race record, his father’s looks and a very good pedigree packed full of Group 1 class and speed.”

Coolmore will also  stand fellow Classic winner Henri Matisse.

“He was a brilliant two-year-old winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and then won the Poule d’Essai des Poulains at three,” says Byrne. “He’s got a massive pedigree, being out of a champion [Immortal Verse] and a half-brother to a two-year-old champion [Tenebrism].”

He adds: “We’re very lucky at Coolmore that the Magnier family have concentrated on bringing in the best blood for many years. When we retire horses, they often have a very good female family – they’re the types of pedigrees that will take you places.

“Obviously we’re very sad at the loss of Wootton Bassett but I suppose there’s a lot to be positive about with the great horses by him waiting in the wings, and we’re confident that one will step up and take the chance.”

Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf winner Unquestionable, meanwhile, joins the roster at Rathbarry Stud. A tough, hardy two-year-old, he belongs to the famous Best In Show family responsible for champion sire Redoute’s Choice via the branch that yielded Bated Breath.

Of the older options, Champion Stakes winner and Derby runner-up King Of Steel was popular in his first season at Tally-Ho Stud, covering over 150 mares at a fee of €20,000. He will likely  benefit from the strong support of his owner Amo Racing.

Tally-Ho also houses the Prix de la Foret winner Maranoa Charlie in conjunction with owner Charlie Bond. His first-year fee has been set at €20,000.

There was also an enthusiastic reception to Coventry Stakes winner River Tiber in his first season at Haras de la Huderie which resulted in a book of 134 mares.

Poule d’Essai des Poulains runner-up Texas switches to the newly launched Castillon Stallions for 2025. Previously at Haras du Hoguenet, he has his first two-year-olds next year.