CONSTITUTION River was beaten a short head on his debut, in a Newmarket maiden at the July meeting last year. It is his only defeat, and the winner was Distant Storm. He subsequently won a Group 3 at the same course, and has placed three times at the highest level, in the Dewhurst Stakes, 2000 Guineas and the Irish 2000 Guineas.

The French-bred Constitution River (Wootton Bassett) has since gone on to win five times, notably the seven-furlong Group 2 Futurity Stakes at two, and this year he has captured the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby and the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes. He has earned the sort of plaudits that his connections only use for the very best in Ballydoyle, and both his future as a racehorse and later on as a stallion are to be eagerly anticipated.

Connections have already cleared more than €1 million on the €400,000 M.V. Magnier spent on the colt as a yearling, and one could only imagine what he would be worth if he was sold now. He has an outstanding pedigree to go to stud with, Northern Dancer (Nearctic) appearing three times in his fifth remove. I will deal with Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) shortly, but the dual Group 1 winner is out of a twice-raced daughter of Le Havre (Noverre), and is a third winner at this level for one of that sire’s daughters. Le Havre died after being pensioned at the age of just 16 years.

Following his victory in the French classic, I wrote about the importance that race has when it comes to making stallions. Its history in the past couple of decades in that regard far outstrips the impact the Derby at Epsom has had. This year’s Prix du Jockey Club, at least initially, had something to prove, given that just over six lengths covered the first dozen finishers. That is not to detract from the winner who was victorious from an almost impossible draw.

Wootton Bassett

Constitution River confirmed his French form with the Eclipse Stakes runner-up A Boy Named Susie, and the Prix du Jockey Club second Hawk Mountain, also a son of Wootton Bassett. They and others are a constant reminder of the gravity of the stallion’s loss last year. We can be grateful that there are a number of crops yet to race, his final foals having been born this spring.

With the death of his sire, Constitution River is another leading heir apparent. Wootton Bassett’s first Group 1 winner was Almanzor, himself a Group 1 sire. Coolmore stand Henri Matisse and Camille Pissarro, and what an amazing record Wootton Bassett has compiled in a stud career that saw him spend two seasons at a fee of €4,000. John Magnier’s decision to buy him was a remarkable one.

Wootton Bassett’s twelfth European crop are this year’s two-year-olds, and he has sired 21 Group or Grade 1 winners. Constitution River was bred at, and sold through, Haras du Cadran, Pierre Talvard’s renowned farm, and bought at Arqana. He was bred by LG Bloodstock, a trading name used by Gérard Laboureau.

Wonderful Tonight

Constitution River is the first foal out of Chuppy (Le Havre). She raced twice at three for Laboureau, finishing fifth each time and with two different trainers. A €30,000 foal and €80,000 yearling, Chuppy failed to sell in 2024 when bidding halted at €320,000. Between those latter sale appearances, her full-sister Wonderful Tonight (Le Havre) won two Group 1 races, the British Champions Fillies/Mares Stakes and the Prix de Royallieu, as well as the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Chuppy’s second produce is a two-year-old filly Sensational Filly (Mehmas) with Paddy Twomey, and she cost the trainer €300,000 last year at Deauville. With an impressive name to live up to, she holds an entry for the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. Chuppy’s yearling filly is by Kodiac (Danehill), and she is Lot 287 in the Arqana August Yearling Sale.

In addition to being the dam of Wonderful Tonight, three-time winner Salvation (Montjeu) had five other successful offspring, some by less than top-notch sires. Salvation’s Grade 3-winning half-sister Hostess (Iffraaj) sold for 725,000gns as a three-year-old. Her first two foals, who grossed more than a million guineas as yearlings, are winners.

The emergence of both Wonderful Tonight and Constitution River means that this is the more successful branch of the family that descends from the Eclipse Stakes winner’s unraced fourth dam Fade (Persepolis). That honour until this year fell to Fade’s stakes-winning daughter Fickle (Danehill) who is the grandam of Camelot (Montjeu).

IT WAS not a real surprise when Stall Bergholz spent €10,000 on a son of Soldier Hollow (In The Wings) at the BBAG Yearling Sale in 2024. They also owned his year-older half-brother Delgardo (Best Solution), and perhaps had an inkling about how useful he was.

The following year, Delgardo won the Listed Derby Trial at Dusseldorf but was down the field in the Group 1 Deutsches (German) Derby. He was only beaten a head into third place in a Group 3 a few days before this year’s Derby.

The latter race was won by that €10,000 yearling, Dardanos, and this was the colt’s second win in six starts. He had been runner-up in a Dortmund Derby trial. Both colts are trained by Andreas Wohler, and in fact he has handled the racing careers of all four winners from Delegation (Mount Nelson).

The quartet were bred by Barbara Holubova, and she raced Delegation who won four races up to the age of six. The mare has the distinction now of breeding three stakes winners, the third being De La Soul (Sea The Moon). Wohler will not handle the racing career of Delegation’s fifth foal, the two-year-old Dancing Dunes, a son of the Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Adlerflug). He sold to Alex Elliott as a yearling for €115,000 and is with Ralph Beckett.

Huge attention

It is highly probable that Dancing Dunes’s yearling full-brother will be offered for sale at BBAG this September, and he would attract huge attention. This would be in contrast to the German Derby winner’s half-sister De La Luna (Best Solution), a full-sibling to Delgardo, who was purchased by Jurgen Albrecht last October for a mere €11,000. This is the family of champion stayer and Group 1 Melbourne Cup winner Delta Blues (Dance In The Dark).

Soldier Hollow died two years ago. He won two Group 1 races, the Premio Roma and the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis Bayerisches Zuchtrennan, but his Group 1 tally is four as he was successful in each of them on two occasions. He is the sire of Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes winner Tamfana, while Dardanos is his third German Derby winner. He has sired a couple of outstanding sons, including Pastorius who was also successful in the Group 1 Prix Ganay.

Another son Ivanhowe was a dual Group 1 winner in Germany and repeated that feat in Australia when landing the Doomben Cup and Ranvet Stakes. Many will recognise Soldier Hollow as a Grade 1 National Hunt sire, his two best-known winners being Arctic Fire and Saldier.