The English page - German stallions 2021 (part 2)

Last week we looked at the major stallions currently standing in Germany. We shall now continue as well as looking at some German stallions standing abroad. Two stallions which were not mentioned last week are Protectionist (Monsun) and Reliable Man (Dalakhani), both at Gestüt Röttgen and both of whose fees for 2021 has been set at 6,500 euros. Protectionist, surprisingly the only son of the great Monsun standing in Germany, has his first two-year-olds running this year and they were very encouraging; it can be assumed that his runners will improve for age, especially when running over longer distances. That Reliable Man has returned to Germany is good news for German breeders. He will be shuttling, as before, from Westbury Stud in New Zealand where he has had great success; his daughter Inspirational Girl is a recent Group One winner and is hot favourite for another Group One this weekend. His previous stint in Germany, also based at Röttgen, did very well, and his fee has actually been slightly reduced; in New Zealand he costs 15,000 NZ$ and at Haras d'Annebault, where he has spent the last couple of N. Hemisphere seasons, his fee was 7,000 euros.

Three imported stallions who will be having their first German crop two-year-olds running in 2021 and all priced at 5,000 euros are Brametot (Rajsaman) at Gestüt Ebbesloh and Counterattack (Redoute's Choice) at Gestüt Karlshof and Helmet (Exceed and Excel) at Gestüt Fährhof. The latter pair are both Australian-bred, and while Counterattack and Brametot have both started their stud careers here, Helmet is already well established as a leading stallion down under with numerous black type successes and is also sire of dual Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow. It will certainly interesting to see how the first German-bred runners of this trio fare next year.

German-bred stallions standing abroad have also done really well. Pride of place here clearly goes to the Fährhof-bred Silvano (Lomitas), who stood for almost his entire stud career at Maine Chance Farm in South Africa (also owned by the Jacobs family, as is Newsells Park in England). Trained by Andreas Wöhler, Silvano won two Group Two races in Germany but really blossomed went sent on his travels, winning top races all over the world, including the Singapore Cup, the Audemars Piquet Cup (Hong Kong) and the Arlington Million, all Group One races, in 2001. The original plan was to shuttle him between South Africa and Germany, but that was frustrated by the outbreak of African horse sickness, which meant that he was only able to cover mares in Germany in 2002, 2003 and 2009; however he was still able to sire some top performers here, including classic winners Mi Emma and Lucky Speed. But his real successes came in South Africa, where he was champion sire five times before being retired from active duty this year. He has sired almost 100 stakes winners and six South African Equus Champions and his current star is the unbeaten filly Summer Pudding.

Arguably the most successful German sire still active abroad is the Görlsdorf-bred Sea The Moon (Sea The Stars), trained by Markus Klug to win the 2014 German Derby by no less than 11 lengths. At that time he was officially rated the best 3yo in Europe and would probably have started favourite for the Arc, had not injury put an early end to his tracing career. He has stood his entire stallion career at Kirsten Rausing's Lanwades Stud in Newmarket; he was the first son of Sea The Stars – unquestionably one of the successful stallions in the world – to retire to stud and has been a success from the word go. Many German breeders have sent him mares as well as some of Europe´s top breeders and her had his first Group One winner when his daughter Alpine Star won at Royal Ascot in June this year. She is a Niarchos homebred and the fact that such breeders are patronising him is a compliment in itself. His fee has been raised for 2021 by 50% to 22,500 GBP, but he is still likely to be fully booked as his progeny have been fetching big prices at the sales.

Sea The Moon was out of a Monsun mare  who was also the dam of Germany Derby winners Samum and Schiaparelli, both successful sires and Monsun, probably the best German stallion of all time, id now celebrated as an important broodmare sire and also as a sire of sires. There was a period when his sons  were regarded with some suspicion, but this writer never went along with that. They have proven themselves as sires of top performers on the flat as well as over jumps. Shirocco for example has German Derby winner Windstoß as well as champion hurdler Annie Power in his record. It is clear that to produce  top class N.H. horses not only stamina is required but also soundness and toughness, and most Monsun sons have delivered these qualities in spades.

Network, the Wittekindshof homebred who won the Union-Rennen in 2000, stood for most of his stallion career in France; his son Sprinter Sacre is generally regarded as the best N.H.performer in Britain and Ireland since the days of Arkle. His spectacular winning run, coupled with Annie Power's shortly afterwards, lefd to a real run on Monsun sons as N.H. sires, especially in Ireland, where the breeding of N.H. horses is big business.

Market leaders Coolmore have certainly been to the forefront of this trend. They currently stand three sons of Monsun: the extremely popular Getaway, Maxios and Ocovango. Maxios of course is not strictly speaking German-bred, but he started his career at Fährhof before being acquired by Coolmore; ironically, after being written off in many quarters as a sire of flat performers, his daughter Diamanta then won the Preis der Diana. But he is also excelling in his new sphere; his son Aramax won at Cheltenham this year and another son Quixilios is favourite for the 2021 Triumph Hurdle. Aramax' three parts brotherAramon, from Monsun's final crop, was one of the favourites for the Champion Hurdle following a brilliant victory at Galway. It is not surprising that Maxios is now one of the stallions most in demand by N.H. breeders, as he seems to tick all the boxes. He was the most active stallion in Europe this year, covering 298 mares and we can expect plenty more winners in the years to come.

Another recent arrival in Ireland is Karlshof-bred Kamsin (Samum), the 2008 German Derby winner, who has had a lot of success in France, including siring the winner of the Grand Steeple at Auteuil, who has recently been acquired by a syndicate of Irish breeders. Yorton Farm, on the Welsh border, is one of the biggest N.H. operations in the U.K., and they also have two sons of Monsun standing there, Gentlewave and Masterstroke. It is clear that the influence of Monsun, both in flat and N.H. racing, is going to be with for a long time yet.

David Conolly-Smith