English & French Classics

Lambourn came into Aidan O’Brien/Coolmore team the winter ante While, however, his stable- companions never made their way into contention, Lambourn made virtually all the running to power home unchallenged to score by 3¾ lengths from Lazy Griff (Protectionist) and Tennessee Stud (Wootton Bassett). Winner of a maiden and a French listed sh & F Classic e English Derby (Gr1) as the nar behind the favoured Delacroix (D post favourite The Lion In Winte race at two, Lambourn had run twice this year prior to the Derby, going down by 2¼ lengths to Delacroix (winner of the Eclipse Stakes (Gr1) since the Derby), then beating Lazy Griff in the Chester Vase (Gr3).

Subsequently, Lambourn followed up with a gritty effort to take the Irish Derby (Gr1) by ¾ lengths over another Wootton Bassett colt with Lazy Griff and ow second choice of the ubawi) and slightly preferred to (Sea The Stars).

Tennessee Stud in third and fourth. Lambourn follows his sire, Australia, as an English/Irish Derby winner. Winner, also, of the Juddmonte International (Gr1), Australia, by Galileo out of the great mare Ouija Board, has been a solid, but not outstanding sire. He’s been responsible for 48 stakes winners, 25 group/graded, headed

Minnie Hauk

by Broome, winner of the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Gr1) and six other group events; the St. Leger (Gr1) victor Galileo Chrome; Mare Australis, who took the Prix Ganay (Gr1); the Gamely Stakes (Gr1) scorer Ocean Road; and the Breeders’ Cup Mile (Gr1) captor, Order of Australia. Lambourn’s dam is the U.S.-bred, Gossamer Wings, a daughter of Scat Daddy (who via Justify, was also grandsire of last year’s English Derby winner, City of Troy). Gossamer Wings was a speedy and precocious individual winning at two, and taking second in the Queen Mary Stakes (Gr3) at Royal Ascot, and third in the Flying Childers Stakes (Gr2) at that age.

Gossamer Wings was a different type to her full-sister, Lavender Chrissie, who took the Zia Park Oaks over 1800m. She is also half-sister to the graded stakes winning U.S. dirt sprinter, Baby J, and to Laureate Conductor, a black-type winner over 1800m on turf, and third in the Secretariat Stakes (Gr1). She’s also half-sister to Childhood, dam in Australia of the ATC Sapphire Stakes (Gr2) heroine, Infancy. The second dam, Lavender Baby, a daughter of Champion U.S.

Sprinter Rubiano, won eight of 20 races, and is out of a half-sister to graded winner Hot Brush and stakes winner Blazing Hot, the granddam of Super Derby (Gr2) captor, Going Ballistic. Going back to the sixth dam, L’Amour Toujours, she is a daughter of Never Say Die, winner of the Derby - ridden by a youthful Lester Piggott - and St. Leger in 1954. She’s ancestress of more than 90 stakes winners, also including other grade one scorers Spinning Round, Dream, Dream Supreme, Majestic Warrior, Kung Fu Mambo and Sweet Sorrel.

Coincidentally, she’s also in the tail female line of Lazy Griff, who chased Lambourn home in the pair’s last three starts. Lambourn is the second stakes winner by Australia out of a Scat Daddy line mare, as he also has Wemighttakedlongway, a group winner who took fourth in this year’s English Oaks (Gr1), and who is out of a mare by Scat Daddy’s son, No Nay Never. We can note six other stakes winners on a broader Galileo/ Johannesburg (sire of Scat Daddy) cross, including a pair of Irish Oaks (Gr1) winners in Seventh Heaven and Savethelastdance (out of a Scat Daddy mare, and also runner-up in the English Oaks).

The reverse cross of Scat Daddy’s son, Justify, over a Galileo mare, provided last year’s Derby winner City of Troy. Looking at the pedigree pattern we can observe that Galileo and Scat Daddy are both Northern Dancer/ Mr. Prospector crosses, as is Gossamer Wings, the dam of Lambourn.

Minnie Hauk

A son of Galileo also supplied the English Oaks (Gr1) winner, Minnie Hauk, who is by Frankel. A maiden winner in two starts at two, Minnie Hauk won the Cheshire Oaks on her debut this year. The Aidan O’Brien trained filly prevailed by a neck over her stable-companion, Whirl (a daughter of Wootton Bassett, subsequently successful in the Pretty Polly Stakes (Gr1)) with the 1,000 Guineas (Gr1) heroine, Desert Flower, back in third.

Minnie Hauk is yet another major winner for Frankel, the undefeated son of Galileo who is broadly accepted to be the best horse ever to race in Europe. He’s been very nearly as good a sire as he was a racehorse, and he’s already responsible for 161 stakes winners, 37 of them group/grade one. Minnie Hauk follows Annapurna and Soul Sister as his third English Oaks (Gr1) winner, and he’s also been represented by Australian Oaks (Gr1) victress Hungry Heart, as well as Adayar, Lake Victoria, Chaldean and Hurricane Lane - all classic winners in England, Ireland and France - dual European Champion Cracksman, and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr1) heroine, Alpinista.

A 1,850,000 Euros yearling purchase by M V Magnier, Minnie Hauk, is half-sister to Tilsit, winner of the Summer Mile (Gr2) and Goodwood Thoroughbred Stakes (Gr3), and runner-up in the Prix d’Ispahan (Gr1). Her dam, Multilingual, a Juddmonte bred daughter of Dansili, was sold to Oliver Sangster for $525,000 in foal to Frankel’s brother Decipher, at the 2019 Keeneland November Sales. Multilingual started only once, but she is a sister to the group three winner Remote, and more significantly, a half- sister to Kingman, European Horse of the Year, and now an outstanding sire.

The second dam, Zamindar’s daughter, Zenda, captured the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches - French 1,000 Guineas (Gr1). Zenda is half-sister to another top class runner and sire in European Champion Two Year-Old and Sprinter, Oasis Dream. The fourth dam, Bahamian (by Mill Reef), won the Lingfield Oaks Trial and was  group placed, and is dam of Irish Oaks (Gr1) victress Wemyss Bight (herself dam of Beat Hollow, a four time group/grade one winner in Europe and the U.S.) and ancestress of several other major winners including Prix du Jockey-Club - French Derby (Gr1) winner New Bay, who is out of three-quarters sister to Zenda.

Minnie Hauk is one of seven stakes winners from 21 starters for Frankel out of Dansili mares, the others including 2023 English Oaks (Gr1) winner Soul Sister. Frankel is out of a Danehill mare, and Dansili is a son of Danehill, and overall Frankel has 13 stakes winners from 78 starters from mares by sons of Danehill, a pattern which gives that horse 3x3. We can also note that Galileo and Multilingual are both Northern Dancer/Mr.

Prospector crosses.

Camille Pissarro

The Poule d’Essai des Poulains -French 2,000 Guineas (Gr1) saw Henri Matisse claim the day, with his stable-mate and fellow Wootton Bassett son, Camille Pissarro in third. Three weeks later, Camille Pissarro returned to France to find his way out of close quarters and captured the 2100m Prix du Jockey-Club - French Derby (Gr1) by a ½ lengths from Cualificar (Lope de Vega) and Detain (Wootton Bassett). We discussed Camille Pissarro’s sire, Wootton Bassett, with regard to Henri Matisse in last month’s issue.

Briefly, however, he was Champion Two Year- Old in France, but lost form at three, and retired to stud relatively cheaply in France. In his first crop of just 23 he came up with European Champion Almanzor, winner of the Champion Stakes (Gr1), Irish Champion Stakes (Gr1) and Prix du Jockey Club French Derby (Gr1). He continued to do well and to date his French conceived crops have yielded 414 starters, and 46 stakes winners, among them additional group and grade one winners Audarya, Al Riffa, Royal Patronage, Bucanero Fuerte, King of Steel, Wooded, Zellie, Unquestionable and Incarville.

Such a consistent level of performance drew the attention of Coolmore and Wootton Bassett moved there for the 2021 breeding season. That first Coolmore conceived crop has already produced 17 stakes winners, in addition to Henri Matisse and Camille Pissarro, and other group one winners Tennessee Stud (also third in the English Derby (Gr1), Whirl, who took second in the English Oaks (Gr1) and then defeated older mares in the Pretty Polly Stakes (Gr1) and Twain; as well as a further nine group winners.

Placed here to show a results table inside a feature — the European Group 1s from this issue.

His second crop, now two, has already produced 17 winners, four stakes winners, including group winners Beautify and Albert Einstein. Camille Pissarro’s dam, Entreat, a half- sister to group winner Producer, won a 9½ furlong maiden race at Folkestone in eight starts. In 2016, when she had four foals on the ground, three of which had started, and one of which had won, Entreat, was sold for 14,000 gns. at the Newmarket July Sales. The foal she had on the ground at the time, the Dutch Art filly Exhort, was to earn black type with a win in the Pipalong Stakes.

Even better, the Lethal Force colt she was carrying at the time turned out to be Golden Horde, by far the best runner to represent his sire, and winner of the Commonwealth Cup (Gr1) and Richmond Stakes (Gr2). The next year, came the Mehmas gelding Line of Departure, successful in the Cathedral Stakes at Salisbury. The two foals following Line of Departure winer only minor winners, but then came Camille Pissarro. A 1,250,000 gns Tattersalls October yearling, Camille Pissarro had a busy seven race juvenile season, and one that saw him campaigned for much of the year as if he was expected to be a speedster in the mold of Golden Horde, rather than a classic middle distance horse.

In action as early as April, he debuted with a stylish six furlong maiden win at Navan. Beaten a head in the Marble Hill Stakes (Gr3), he faded to eleventh in a 22 horse field for the Coventry Stakes (Gr2) at Royal Ascot, after showing early speed from an unfavorable draw. Second in the Angelsey Stakes (Gr3) over 6½ furlongs , Camille Pissarro was never able to get involved in Gimcrack Stakes (Gr2) over half a furlong shorter, finishing sixth of ten.

Beaten just a nose in a valuable 6½ furlong sales at Doncaster, Camille Pissaro ended the year with a first black type triumph, taking the Prix Jean-

3×3 pedigree

Lambourn 2022

Grid to be rebuilt from Arion

Luc Lagardere (Gr1), by a neck over his Coventry stakes conqueror Rashabar, with Henri Matisse back in fifth. He opened his 2025 campaign with a running on second, beaten a ½ lengths by the older horse, Big Gossey, in the Gladness Stakes, before going on to the French classics. Camille Pissarro’s granddam, the Irish River mare, River Saint, is half-sister to a real celebrity in the form of Serena’s Song Champion Three Year-old Filly in 1995, and subsequently dam of group one winner Sophisticat, and group winners Harlington, Grand Reward, and Schramsberg.

Imagining, the dam of River Saint and Serena’s Song, appears in the female line of a total of 42 stakes winners, including Champion Irish Two Year-Old Filly Rizeena (by Wootton Bassett’s sire, Iffraaj) and other group/ grade one winners Field of Gold, an impressive winner of this year’s Irish 2,000 Guineas; Honor Code, the Champion Older Horse of 2015; and Zabeel Prince. Camille Pissarro and Henri Matisse are two of ten starters for Wootton Bassett out of mares by Pivotal, a mating that gives a 4x4 duplication of Pivotal’s grandsire, Nureyev, a factor that could make them an interesting cross for the legion of Galileo (by Nureyev’s three- quarters brother Sadler’s Wells) which will await if they retire to Coolmore, Wootton Bassett having already sired eight group/graded winners out of Galileo mares.

This is all the more so in the case of Camille Pissarro, whose dam is a Northern Dancer/Never Bend cross, a combination that has similarities to the cross of Northern Dancer over a mare by Never Bend’s half-brother, Bold Reason, that produced Sadler’s Wells.

The Prix de Diane - French Oaks (Gr1) fell to Gezora by Almanzor, who stayed on strongly to score by a length from Bedtime Story (Frankel) and Cankoura (Persian King). Gezora had already firmly established her merit, winning the Prix des Reservoirs (Gr3) on the last of four outings at two, and prepping for the French Oaks with a victory in the Prix Saint-Alary (Gr2), the premier trial for that classic. Gezora is a daughter of Almanzor, who has already earned a mention here as the first horse to draw attention to the merits of Wootton Bassett as a stallion.

Although he began his stud career in France, Almanzor also shuttled to Cambridge Stud, New Zealand, and he’s now a permanent resident of the famed Waikato nursery. He was Leading Sire of Two Year-Olds and Leading Freshman Sire in New Zealand for 2021-2022, and he has 13 stakes winners, eight graded from his first three Southern Hemisphere crops, including VRC Victoria Derby (Gr1) captor Manzoice.

Gezora was foaled when her dam, Germance was 19 years-old, is her dam’s eleventh foal, and her first stakes winner. Those previous ten foals were sired by such high class runners and sires as El Prado, Bernardini, Elusive Quality, Sea The Stars and Wootton Bassett, and although seven of these won races, the only one to earn black-type in any form was the Garance, a 2014 daughter of Teofilo, who finished second in a pair of French listed races, the Prix Casimir Delamarre and Prix La Sorellina.

That said, Germance certainly began her stud career with all the credentials to become a significant producer. She came close to preceding her daughter as a Prix de Diane heroine, missing by 1½ lengths in the 2006 edition, this being her sole defeat in her first six starts, outings that also saw her capture the Prix Saint-Alary (Gr1), Prix de la Nonette (Gr3) and Prix Penelope (Gr3). A daughter of the very successful sire, Silver Hawk by Roberto, Germance is out of the Caerleon mare, Gaily Tiara, a six furlong winner in Japan, who also produced two time French listed scorer Gaily Game.

Gaily Tiara’s half-sister, Aiglonne - another by Silver Hawk and so three-quarters sister to Germance - wasn’t as good a runner as her close relative, although she did take the Prix Fille de l’Air (Gr3), but was a more successful broodmare, appearing as dam of the Prix d’Ispahan (Gr1) and Prix Hocquart (Gr2) scorer Mekhtaal; Democrate, winner of the Prix Hocquart (Gr2); Prix Thomas Bryon (Gr3) victor Normandy Bridge; and Aigue Marine, who took the Long Island Handicap (Gr3) and Robert G.

Dick Memorial (Gr3), and herself dam of French listed winner Fenelon. Majestic Role, the dam of Gaily Tiara and Aiglonne, was an untypically precocious daughter of Theatrical, winning the Tyros Stakes and running second n the Prix de la Salamandre (Gr1) at two. She is half- sister to four other black type scorers, including Fair of The Furze, winner of the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Gr2), dam of three stakes winners, including the Italian Derby (Gr1) winner White Muzzle, and granddam of Almutawakel, who defeated U.S. trained stars Silver Charm, Victory Gallop and Malek, and European classic winners High-Rise and Daylami in the 1999 Dubai World Cup (Gr1).

The sixth dam of Gezora is Broodmare of the Year Lea Lark, dam of Champion Two Year-Old Filly Leallah ancestress of more than 50 group and grade one winners among them European Champion Two Year-Old and Breeders’ Cup Turf (Gr1) winer St. Nicholas Abbey (who shares a fifth dam with Gezora); Champion U.S. Two Year-Old Filly Echo Zulu; Lacovia, who took the Prix de Diane in 1986; Mastery; Blue Prize; Echo Town; A Shin Hikari; Speed Boat Beach; Far Bridge; Champagne Room; and Miswaki.

The cross that Gezora represents, that of Iffraaj and sons and grandsons over mares by Roberto and sons and grandsons, have had limited opportunities, but has produced four other stakes winners from 73 starters, including the New Zealand grade one scorer, Lickety Split.BB