Arrowfield Stud's Bloodstock Manager, Jon Freyer, has been in the game long enough to know there’s not much room for sentiment in racing and breeding, but he admits the team at the leading Hunter Valley-based nursery is feeling a great sense of pride ahead of this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. And that’s because Dundeel (NZ) – a horse they raced with great success – has two exciting young stallions – Castelvecchio and Super Seth - making their sales debut.

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Dundeel, an Arrowfield Stud resident, won in excess of $5.3 million on the track, thanks largely to six Group 1 victories. He has established himself as a top-class sire, with 19 individual stakes winners and five elite-level scorers.

Freyer and Co. hope Castelvecchio, who also stands at Arrowfield Stud and was a two-time Group 1 victor, can follow in his old man’s footsteps, while Waikato Stud has high hopes for the Arrowfield Stud-bred Super Seth, who is the first Caulfield Guineas winner to stand in New Zealand in three decades.

“Yeah, it is a little bit special to have a horse like that,” Freyer told TDN AusNZ.

“We bred Castelvecchio and sold him as a yearling, so he’s a bit like Danzero and Flying Spur… ones that have returned to stand at stud.

“It is exciting, it’s always something new, it’s always interesting to see what other people’s view of them is. We’ve been really pleased with the feedback that we’ve got at the pre-sale parades, it’s been really positive.”

Chittick - Waikato Stud’s principal – admitted acquiring Super Seth – the 2019 Caulfield Guineas hero - to then have his first crop present for sale, has been a huge undertaking.

“Stallions of any quality, but certainly Caulfield Guineas winners like that, it’s a bloody big job, it’s a huge job. We feel we’ve given him every opportunity over the first few years, certainly in that first year,” Chittick said when talking to TDN AusNZ.

“We had good foals born and they’re now yearlings that we’re very proud to be getting to the sales.”

From his first crop of 95 live foals, Castelvecchio will have 18 yearlings at Bundall in January, with eight of those (four colts, four fillies) to be offered by Arrowfield Stud.

Freyer said their octet are very much in the mould of their father, who won the G1 Champagne S. (1600 metres) as a 2-year-old, before triumphing in the G1 Rosehill Guineas (2000 metres) and running second in the G1 Cox Plate (2040 metres) at three. He is certain the Castelvecchio yearlings will prove popular.

“They’re great-moving horses, they’ve got a lot of depth and plenty of muscle and substance to them. Particularly the draft we’ve selected to take to Magics, they look genuine Magic Millions types,” he said.

“He’s stamping his stock very much, they’re very much of a type. They’re a lot like him.

“He’s out of a Group 1-placed mare by Dehere and you see a bit of the Dehere in them; that muscle and big hip.

“People are happy with the types that he’s leaving and we’re excited to bring a nice draft to the sale.”

Freyer expects Castelvecchio’s progeny to have precocity and make their mark in their juvenile season and then train on.

“He was quite an early horse, he won a race around this time as a 2-year-old, then he won the Inglis Millennium and then he was a Golden Slipper hopeful, before winning the Champagne Stakes. So, he was a very precocious horse himself and he’s leaving that type of physical,” Freyer commented.

“He was a top 2-year-old. If the Inglis Millennium was a race that had counted for prizemoney for the Golden Slipper, he probably runs in the Golden Slipper and he might have won it. So, I see his progeny running a bit like him, I think they’ll be 2-year-olds, a bit like him, and there he was a Cox Plate 3-year-old. It’s what everyone wants, they want a 2-year-old that will train on and be a high-class 3-year-old and maybe stretch a bit in distance, as well.

“Versatility is what you like to see in horses. The horses that are really popular, like Anamoe, he’s got a similar profile. Anamoe has raced on an extra season. They’re the sorts of horses that people really like.”

According to Freyer, the Castelvecchio yearlings are not only great physicals, they have a wonderful temperament.

Freyer said: “They’re great, they’ve been terrific; they haven’t put a foot out of line so far and that’s a big thing with horses; an underestimated characteristic of a racehorse and a stallion and even when you’re buying a yearling… often how they handle the yearling sale is a little bit how they will handle a raceday and stable life. If they cope well and handle all the rigours of being pulled in and out of boxes hundreds of times, often they’ll cope with training well, and we’re seeing the Castelvecchios are very easy to manage, just like he was.”

Super Seth will have seven yearlings from his first crop of 110 live foals go through the ring at Bundall, with three of them (two colts and a filly) to be offered by Sledmere Stud (as agent for Waikato Stud).

Chittick echoed Freyer’s thoughts regarding Castelvecchio’s offspring, saying Super Seth’s progeny are cracking types and beautiful movers.

“We had (prominent bloodstock agent) Dean Hawthorne here the other day and his comment was, 'Super Seth’s specialty was that he was such a good mover as a yearling, he was such a good walker, and he’s certainly passed that on to them',” Chittick explained.

“They’re athletic and strong, they’re bloody strong, and we’re pretty confident with what people will see if they’re wanting to buy a yearling with a view to turning it into a racehorse.

“Hopefully they have that dazzling turn of foot he possessed as a 2-year-old right through until his Caulfield Guineas win.”

Chittick said the Super Seths have good brains, adding: “They’re fantastic to work with, they have been all the way through.”

Arrowfield Stud’s Castelvecchio yearlings

Freyer revealed it was difficult to highlight a standout yearling from their eight Castelvelcchios on the Gold Coast and he believes that isn’t a bad thing.

“They’re quite an even bunch. If someone asked, ‘Which one will be top our draft?’, you could have five picks and still get it wrong. I think that’s a good thing, I think people are looking at them thinking, ‘Gosh, they’re peas in a pod’. They like to see that a sire stamps his stock and we’re certainly seeing that with the him,” said Freyer.

“There’s some very nice horses there.”

Lot 198 is a filly from the Group 3 victress Ocean Challenger (Rubiton), making her a half-sister to the Listed winner Super Maxi (Redoute’s Choice) and the 10-time winner Salty (Bel Esprit).

Gallery: Some of Arrowfield Stud's Castelvecchio yearlings to be offered at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, images courtesy of Magic Millions

The filly’s fourth dam is the Listed winner Civette (Fr) (Mincio {Fr}).

“She’s a lovely filly from a Group-winning mare, who has thrown a quality sprinter in Super Maxi,” Freyer said.

Lot 423 is the sixth foal out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Statuette, who has produced the stakes performers Providenceprovides (Real Impact {Jpn}) and Deserved (Dundeel {NZ}).

The colt’s grandam is the Group 3 winner Estatuilla (Arg) (Southern Halo {USA}).

“The Statuette colt is from a good producer. She’s thrown a nice filly in New Zealand called Providenceprovides, who is knocking on the door to win a Group race,” said Freyer.

“He’s a very good colt.”

Lot 640 – a colt – is from Ballet Blanc (Redoute’s Choice), who is an unraced sister to the Group 2 placegetter Tchaikovsky and a three-quarter sister to the stakes performers Little Doutes (Redoute’s Choice) and Smirnova (Snitzel).

“This colt is from the family of The Heavyweight and the dam’s brother, Tchaikovsky, was a yearling topper at Magic Millions a few seasons back and showed a lot of promise, he placed in a Slipper lead-up race,” Freyer remarked.

Waikato Stud’s Super Seth yearlings

Chittick was also sitting on the fence when asked which of his trio was the pick of the bunch.

“They’re a pretty even bunch and when you’re trying to get these stallions off the ground, you’re giving them every opportunity. You want as many to race as possible in the best jurisdiction in the world, so when you get them over there there’s every chance they stay there and race there; that’s pretty important when you’re trying to make these stallions,” Chittick commented.

“Hopefully those ones in Australia will catch their eye and they’ll want to come over to New Zealand and buy more at Karaka.”

Lot 194 is a colt from the winning O’Reilly (NZ) mare O’Dianne (NZ), making him a half-brother to last year’s G1 Queensland Derby runner-up Paternal (NZ) (Savabeel).

His third dam is the Group 2 victress Zephyr Magic (NZ) (Zephyr Bay), who has thrown the Group 3 winner Breezy (NZ) (Pins) and the Group 1 winner Dahlia’s Best (NZ) (Dahar {USA}).

Lot 680 is a colt out of the Savabeel mare Boulevard (NZ), who is a sister to the Group 2 winner Acting (NZ) and a three-quarter sister to the Group 2 victor Forgot You (NZ).

Gallery: Waikato Stud's Super Seth yearlings to be offered at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, images courtesy of Magic Millions

The two-time Group 1 heroine Glamour Puss (NZ) (Tale Of The Cat {USA}), who was the third-top filly on the 2005/06 Australasian 4YO+ Classification, is the colt’s third dam.

And Lot 818 is a filly from Eleanor Rigby (NZ) (Savabeel) – a sister to the Group 2 winner Coldplay (NZ) and a three-quarter sister to the Listed victress Savacool (NZ) (Savabeel).

Cover image courtesy of Macedon Lodge

When Macedon Lodge emerged on the market in February last year, speculation was rife about the facility’s industry future. However, upon its purchase by business tycoon Bruce Dixon, a deal sealed in July, there was promise that the property, so excellently developed by Lloyd Williams, would remain a training facility.

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That was confirmed on Wednesday with the announcement that Macedon Lodge, under Dixon’s ownership, will become a commercial, full-service training operation from March 1.

It will house trainer Liam Howley, who has already spent a decade on the property with the Williams family, and it will also house a satellite stable for Kiwi trainer Andrew Forsman.

Howley and Forsman will be the first two commercial trainers to join Macedon Lodge. In the future, there could be more. The new operation has recruited Matt Tillett as its general manager and Mark Player as its chairman.

Tillett has significant experience in the racing and breeding industry. He has a Bachelor of Commerce, and has worked for Magic Millions, Darley Australia and Woodside Park. He was racing manager at the McEvoy-Mitchell yard and, as recently as last year, he held the same role under trainer Mathew Ellerton.

For Player, the chairmanship position at Macedon Lodge comes amid a long, successful career in the industry. Player is a former CEO of New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing (NZTM) and former director for equine business development at Racing Victoria.

He’s held positions with the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) and is the Australasian agent for Goffs, and his bloodstock consultancy firm, International Thoroughbred Solutions (ITS), is well-respected worldwide. Player is a member of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents Australia (FBAA), but he still found time for the next phase of Macedon Lodge.

“It really is a new chapter in the life of possibly one of the world’s best training facilities,” Player said, speaking to TDN AusNZ. “It’s a facility that’s very dear to a lot of people, and it’s a facility that has a very bright future. So I think a lot of people are going to be excited about this news and look forward to having horses trained there, and people will be genuinely excited to see this property used in a new way.”

Macedon Lodge sits in very pretty country at the foot of Mount Macedon, Victoria. It’s only 45km from downtown Melbourne, making it prime real estate for a lot of things.

After 17 years of owning Macedon Lodge and more than $30 million spent in developing it, Williams admitted early in 2022 he’d found it too high-maintenance to keep.

The property had been good to him, producing such horses as Efficient (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), Green Moon (Ire) and Almandin (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), all Cup winners, along with the likes of Zipping (Danehill {USA}) and Fawkner (Reset), but Lloyd was pushing 80 years old.

Gallery: Some of the Group 1 winners produced on Macedon Lodge, images courtesy of Sportpix

“There was certainly a chance that it could have sold to anyone,” Player said. “The property was for sale and while the Williams team, I’m sure, wanted it to remain in racing, they had to take a commercial approach to selling it.

“It could have ended up a convention centre or an equestrian facility, so we’re fortunate as an industry that Bruce saw the property and loved it enough to buy it. He’s got a vision now for what can be done with it and how it can be taken forward, and it’s a fantastic result all round for the industry.”

Something different

Dixon’s purchase of Macedon Lodge was reported last July in the Australian Financial Review. It is speculated that the price-tag was around $20 million, significantly more than the $5.1 million Williams paid for the property in 2005 when buying it from Kurt Stern.

Dixon is a well-known business tycoon. He is a former executive of Healthscope and Spotless, and his company, the Melbourne-based Dixon Hospitality Group, owned pubs and venues across the country, from Melbourne to Sydney’s newst enclave, Barangaroo.

In 2017, Dixon sold a majority share of his hospitality company to KKR, which operates Australian Venue Co., and as recently as 2021, he bought into a state-of-the-art equestrian facility on the Bellarine Peninsula. Turnberry Equestrian Centre was relisted for sale in September, presumably because of Dixon’s purchase of Macedon Lodge.

“Upon purchasing the property (Macedon Lodge), the Williams family proposed to lease back the facility for several months,” Dixon said in a statement on Wednesday. “This gave me time to develop a model to fully utilise the incredible horse facilities and make it the ideal place to work or own a horse.

“I’ve brought in two respected racing industry people to help me develop the new model, Matt Tillett and Mark Player.”

Player first visited Macedon Lodge three years ago when the Williamses first listed the property commercially. Mid-last year, he met Dixon after the transaction and they had a chat about its future.

“We spoke about what could be done with the property and the best way to use it,” Player said. “Bruce and I quickly came onto the same page, and Matt Tillett was in those conversations as well. We looked at how we could have a bit of a paradigm shift in terms of what training meant.

“Could we set it up so that trainers could have a better work-life balance? Do they really have to start at 4am in the morning? Could they start when it’s daylight and could that be better for trainers and better for staff? What impacts would that have as we went forward?”

Dixon was onboard with all of these conversations. He wanted to do something exciting but also something different, “possibly industry-leading” according to Player.

“We’ve spent many months modelling how it can work and what it can do,” he said. “Then we approached some young trainers who would buy into the process and buy into what we were trying to achieve, and really benefit from being involved with one of the great training properties of the world.”

At this point, Liam Howley and Andrew Forsman’s satellite yard will be the only outfits in residence, but that could change.

“We’ll start with two and then everything depends on how we grow the facility, particularly in terms of stabling,” Player said. “It could get to three or four over time, but it’s early days yet. We go into the property on March 1 so we’ll see how we go from there.”

Howley, Forsman move in

In a statement released on Wednesday, Howley said he was delighted to be ‘returning home’ after a decade spent at Macedon Lodge under the Williamses.

“It’s really exciting for me to be taking my business back to Macedon Lodge,” he said. “Having all my horses at the one location, with all of the best facilities and all of my staff catered for, that’s really important to me. I’m especially looking forward to getting a young team of horses onto the facility.”

Howley said that while Macedon Lodge is renowned for the Cup horses it has conditioned so well, it was also the base for Bel Esprit when that horse, later a successful sire, won the G1 Blue Diamond S. for trainer-in-residence John Symons.

“A Blue Diamond winner has been trained from the property and I believe the facilities are as well-suited to training speed horses as they are stayers,” Howley said.

For Forsman, who has a different agenda as a New Zealand-based trainer, Macedon Lodge is perfect by way of location and opportunity.

“It’s ideal for me with the proximity to the airport and all major Victorian racetracks,” he said. “I went for an inspection with Bruce and the team in December, and the facility is really incredible. I think the structure at Macedon Lodge will suit for me to efficiently run my satellite stable and I look forward to spending time at the property.”

Forsman has had an enviable run in Australia of late, making it perfectly logical for the Cambridge trainer to set up stumps on this side of the Tasman.

He had seven winners during the spring carnival alone, including She’s Licketysplit (NZ) (Turn Me Loose {NZ}) in the G2 Edward Manifold S. and Mr Maestro (NZ) (Savabeel) in the G3 Caulfield Classic.

For Player, the opportunity is there for both Howley and Forsman to tailor their operations around Macedon Lodge’s unique offering.

“Andrew Forsman will be a satellite stable, so he’ll start off with only a small number of horses,” Player said. “For Liam, it’s a bit different because his whole team will be there. But he’s a very progressive guy. He’s got that great background of having done the Flying Start and having completed placements with different trainers around the world, and also having worked at the facility before.

“He brings a whole range of enthusiasm into it and I think he’s really looking forward to getting back into it, and back to where he trained the last two Group 1 winners for the property.”

Watch: Macedon Lodge - A New Chapter

Macedon Lodge will begin humming again on March 1. It’s a relief for the industry that it has been retained as a centre of training excellence and, in the words of Matt Tillett, with a healthy nod to its past.

“We want to respect the history of the property as Australia’s most successful private training centre,” he said. “We want to apply a new strategy that will welcome participation from the wider racing community.”

The General Sires' table of Great Britain and Ireland in 2022 saw the established stars hold their position so well that the first five in the 2021 table are the first five in the 2022 table, albeit in a different order. The most notable change in the order is one which many observers will applaud: Dubawi (Ire) has gained his deserved reward for years of consistent excellence by finally claiming the crown after many honourable near misses.

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As one would expect, Dubawi's fee has been a reflection of his success. In 2011 he was offered at £55,000 (AU$97,300) before his fee rose to £75,000 (AU$132,700) the following year. By 2014 it was in six figures. It crossed the £200,000 (AU$353,700) mark in 2016, hit £250,000 (AU$442,200) in 2017 and, on the back of his first sires' championship, will be £350,000 (AU$619,000) in 2023.

He will be full at that price, although in fairness one should point out that it is likely that only a relatively small number of nominations will be bought because so many are retained for use on the Darley/Godolphin broodmare band.

Until 2021, in all the seasons in which Dubawi was what one might term a 'minor placegetter' in the sires' championship the crown was held by Galileo (Ire). To date, Galileo (who died in July 2021 at the age of 23) has been Champion Sire 12 times, which means that he is currently one short of the total of titles achieved by his father Sadler's Wells (USA). There is still time for him to equal, or even surpass, that total, but doing so will clearly be far easier said than done.

Dubawi, of course, also enjoyed significant international success again in 2022. The highlight of his spring came when he was responsible (with three different colts) for the winners of the G1 2000 Guineas and its equivalent in both Ireland and France.

In the autumn, he couldn't quite match his previous record (achieved in 2021) of three Breeders' Cup winners but still had two, courtesy of that G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Modern Games (Ire) in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile and Rebel's Romance (Ire) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. The latter had already scored twice in Group 1 company in Germany earlier in the season.

Aside from Dubawi, Frankel (GB) and Galileo, the other two horses to feature in the top five on the sires' table are Sea The Stars (Ire) (third) and Dark Angel (Ire) (fifth). These two are also proven to be thoroughly dependable, with the strengths of each clearly defined. Sea The Stars has put himself firmly in line to take up the mantle of his half-brother Galileo as the most reliable source of high-class stamina in Europe; while Dark Angel has proved himself a master at siring tough, fast horses who can come to hand quickly and also continue to progress over a number of seasons.

Gallery: Some of the sires to feature within the top five of the sires' table of 2022

There must be a strong chance that Dubawi and Frankel will again 'fill the quinella' in the 2023 sires' table, not least because many onlookers regard Frankel's son Chaldean (GB) as Europe's most impressive 2-year-old of 2022. Furthermore, one can expand that observation to say that if the past is a good guide to the future, all five of the principals from the standings of both 2021 and 2022 are likely to enjoy yet another good season in the year ahead. All have reached the stage of seeming to be part of the furniture of the top tier of the leaderboard, which makes the sixth-place finish of Dubawi's young Ballylinch-based son New Bay (GB) all the more credible.

Winner of the 2015 G1 Prix du Jockey-Club, New Bay retired to stud in 2017 so he has reached this eminent position with his eldest offspring still aged only four. In an era in which the established stallions dominate the standings, it is encouraging to see so young a sire so prominent, particularly as his winners-to-runners ratio (49 per cent) is second only to the figure recorded by his father Dubawi (51 per cent).

New Bay's excellent season, highlighted by the Group 1 double on Champions Day at Ascot of his first-crop son Bay Bridge (GB) and his second-crop son Bayside Boy (Ire), marks him firmly down as potentially a leading sire in the seasons ahead.

Havana Grey crowned Champion First Season Sire

Not only did Havana Grey (GB) record more individual winners and total wins than any of his first-season sire rivals in Great Britain and Ireland, but he also broke the £1-million (AU$1,774,000) marker for total earnings, which is why he deservedly wears the champion freshman stallion crown.

Those earnings were propped up by big sales race winners Shouldvebeenaring (GB) and Eddie's Boy (GB), with the latter going on to bag a Group 3 before selling for 320,000gns (AU$596,000) at the Tattersalls Horses in Training Sale in October.

Havana Grey had 36 winners for 76 runners this year and his progeny recorded total earnings of £1,074,697 (AU$1,906,500), which was almost £420,000 (AU$745,100) more than his nearest rival Sioux Nation (USA) could manage in what was a pulsating race for first-season sire bragging rights.

But with four stakes winners and 57 total wins achieved in 2022, Whitsbury Manor Stud's emerging force confirmed himself the undisputed top dog of the young sire brigade, and earned himself a fee rise from £6000 (AU$10,600) to £18,500 (AU$32,800) in the process.

Havana Grey was kept honest all year by Coolmore's Sioux Nation, who had an excellent campaign in his own right. By Scat Daddy (USA), Sioux Nation ended the year with 29 individual winners from 65 runners and his progeny amassed £657,000 (AU$1,165,500) worth of total earnings in Britain and Ireland.

Little separated Darley shuttler Harry Angel (Ire) and Kessaar (Ire) in third and fourth, respectively. The Dalham Hall Stud-based Harry Angel had 21 individual winners from 45 runners and recorded £433,814 (AU$433,800) in earnings while Tally-Ho Stud's Kessaar made a similarly respectable start with 20 individual winners from three fewer runners and amassed £351,906 (AU$624,300) in prizemoney.

The GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf success of Victoria Road (Ire) obviously doesn't contribute towards the leading freshman sire championship in Britain and Ireland, but it's worth bearing in mind with a view to the results of dual-hemisphere stallion Saxon Warrior (Jpn).

Coolmore's G1 2000 Guineas-winning son of Deep Impact (Jpn) went from strength to strength this year, building to that almighty crescendo in Keeneland with Victoria Road, but he also enjoyed some major triumphs domestically to finish fifth in the British and Irish first-season sire standings.

Despite being based in Ashford Stud in Kentucky, Coolmore's Justify (USA) enjoyed a notably good first season with runners in Britain and Ireland.

The unbeaten Statuette (USA), successful in the G2 Airlie Stud S., and Group 3 scorer Aspen Grove (USA) put the US Triple Crown winner in lights in Ireland this year.

Meanwhile, it was just two weeks ago when the Willie Browne-trained Diamondsareforever (Ire) posted a taking debut victory at Dundalk, further solidifying the notion that Justify is a coming force on the international stage. Five winners from just 11 individual runners in Britain and Ireland including £146,963 (AU$260,700) in prizemoney represented a strong start for Justify.

Frankel's Tour de Force brings French Champion honours

Having provided the winners of this year's G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, G1 Prix de Diane, G1 Prix Jacques le Marois, G1 Grand Prix de Paris and G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Frankel, unsurprisingly, has been named the Champion Sire of France in 2022. He ceded his position as champion in Britain and Ireland to Dubawi, whom he finished in front of when it comes to overall European earnings.

Of the winners of the above-named Group 1 races – Alpinista (GB), Nashwa (GB), Inspiral (GB) and Onesto (Ire) – all bar Alpinista remain in training in 2023 giving Frankel an impressive battalion of older horses, which should also include 2021 Derby hero Adayar (Ire) and Irish Derby winner Westover (GB). Then of course in the Classic division for next season there's Chaldean, who is in the running to be named European Champion 2-Year-Old when the 2022 international classifications are announced in January.

Leaving aside this interloper in French territory, the Aga Khan Studs resident Siyouni (Fr), who was champion in his home country in 2021, again finished best of his compatriots and second in the table overall.

Siyouni was more than €3 million (AU$4,694,700) behind Frankel in prizemoney and he now owns a truly international reputation, with Group 1 superstar Amelia's Jewel showcasing his talents in Australia. In Europe, his star of 2022 was Tahiyra (Ire), who earned her Group 1 laurels in Ireland on just her second start in the Moyglare Stud S. The Aga Khan-bred half-sister to Tarnawa (Ire) must be considered one of the leading female Classic contenders for next season.

Lope De Vega (Ire) of course plied his own trade in France during his racing days and was, like his sire Shamardal (USA), a dual Classic winner there. In 2022, he sired his highest number of stakes winners (24), with three of his four Group 1 winners triumphing in France. They were led by Dreamloper (Ire), whose two top-level victories came at Longchamp, in the G1 Prix d'Ispahan and the G1 Prix du Moulin. Sweet Lady (Fr) landed the G1 Prix Vermeille and Place Du Carrousel (Ire) broke the hearts of Nashwa fans in the G1 Prix de l'Opera.

Coolmore shuttler Churchill (Ire), whose first-crop runners were 3-year-olds in 2022, had only 26 representatives in France through the year. However, exactly 50 per cent of them won, and they included both of the Coolmore sire's Group 1 winners to date. Of those, Vadeni (Fr) backed up his victory in the stallion-making G1 Prix du Jockey Club by taking on his elders when travelling to England to win the G1 Eclipse S.

He is a highly exciting individual to follow next year when considering he wasn't beaten far when third to Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in the Irish Champion S. and was subsequently only 0.5l behind Alpinista when trying 12 furlongs for the first time in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Then from Churchill's second crop came Blue Rose Cen (Ire), who was asked lots of questions during her debut season by her young trainer Christopher Head, and generally answered them with ease, winning four of her six starts, including the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and G3 Prix d'Aumale.

Churchill was the fourth-leading sire in France in 2022 and managed a top-10 finish overall in Europe when leading his intake in ninth place overall, splitting Kingman (GB) and Siyouni, which is no mean feat for a second-season sire. His haul of seven stakes winners included the Group 2 scorers The Foxes (Ire) and Ladies Church (GB).