WINNER most recently of the Arqana -sponsored Critérium d’Automne, Master Man (Goken) was something of a David versus Goliath as he lined up for the Group 1 Critérium International at Saint-Cloud, one of a pair of weekend juvenile contests at the highest level.

The race attracted a strong overseas challenge, and many felt it would provide Aidan O’Brien with another Group 1 win in his attempt to break his own record for top-level wins in a calendar year. As it happened, his runners finished second and third but could not deny a fairytale win of sorts for Master Man, one of just two French-trained runners, the other being Francis Graffard’s Group 3 winner Zakkan.

This is a race that has more often been for export than retained in France, and the last home-trained winner was Ectot in 2013. Sent into an immediate lead. Master Man held off all challengers to win well from Group 3 winner Capability Brown, his stablemate Aix La Chapelle, and Group 3 winner Alfred Wallace. Victory was a first in a Group 1 for both the trainer Richard Chotard and jockey Anthony Crastus.

Master Man was bred by Charles Barel and consigned by Haras du Cadran at the Arqana v.2 Yearling Sale where he sold for €25,000 to Chotard. There is another first in the story, as Master Man is the first Group 1 winner, in the seventh crop, for the Haras de Colleville stallion Goken (Kendargent). From humble beginnings, Goken went from being a €3,000 sire to €15,000 in one fell swoop, but he has come down for the last two years to €10,000.

Stakes winners

Despite siring 16 stakes winners, and more who have been stakes-placed, this was a first piece of Group 1 form earned by a son or daughter of Goken. A dual Group 3 winner in France, his best performance came after he moved to Kevin Ryan, and he belied his odds when placing third in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes behind Profitable and Cotai Glory.

Master Man is the better of two winners out of the unraced Levitha (Mastercraftsman), and his four-year-old full-sister has won twice. Levitha’s first foal was never named, while her yearling colt by Sealiway (Galiway) sold at this year’s Arqana v.2 for €62,000. She has a filly foal drom the first crop sired by Group 1 winner Puchkine (Starspangledbanner).

Whatever about the sale of Master Man being a possibility, his winning full-sister and his dam Levitha are set to be sold at the Arqana December Sale. The news came yesterday, and they will be offered from Haras d’Ombreville and Haras du Cadran respectively. Also set to sell is Levitha’s filly foal by Puchkine. Levitha has an early covering by Zelzal (Sea The Stars).

Levitha has five winning siblings, two of which claim attention. Godspeed (Hello Youmzain) won the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham, while the three-year-old filly The Last Dance (Iffraaj) is set to be one of the stars of the Arqana December Sale. She has only run three times, won twice, and on her third start was runner-up to Diamond Necklace in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas.

The Last Dance and Godspeed are out of the French listed winner Mary’s Precedent (Storming Home), and she is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Lovemedo (Zafeen). That mare is dam of the Group 3 winner and Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary third Crown Princesse (Zarak). The family’s fourth remove is full of high-class performers, the names of Sistercharlie (Myboycharlie), Sottsass (Siyouni) and Shin Emperor (Siyouni) among them.

Bargain buy

Master Man could just as easily be bargain of the week, as he now has €430,000 in the bank, quite a return for his €25,000 sale price. He was listed-placed before the weekend, but won two richly endowed sales races, Arqana’s Critérium d’Ete and Critérium de la Vente d’Octobre. The winner carries the colours of a prominent owners’ representative on France Galop, Serge Tardy, but is owned by a group of eight.

BALLYDOYLE maestro Aidan O’Brien’s Drumbeat (Wootton Bassett) joined Queenstown and others in a strong travelling team to France at the weekend, and that pair took the trainer’s count of Group or Grace 1 wins in 2026 to 25, three behind his own record. With opportunities still to come in the USA, Bahrain, Japan, and Hong Kong, O’Brien will surely give it a fair shout before the year end.

Bred by David and Diane Nagle at their Barronstown Stud, who are also breeders of smart juveniles Great Barrier Reef and Noble Exhibit this year, Drumbeat sold as a foal to Glenvale Stud’s Ciaran Conroy for 200,000gns, but was not reoffered as a yearling. He went into the race on Sunday as winner of the Group 3 Zetland Stakes at Newmarket, and O’Brien is talking about him as a Guineas horse, with options in England, Ireland, or France.

Surprisingly, Drumbeat’s dam Cloth Of Cloud (Captain Al) sold in foal to a southern hemisphere covering by Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) in on online sale held by Tattersalls in December 2024, and she was carrying a colt. Hubie de Burgh paid 180,000gns for her, a price that now looks very smart. Her first foal was not named, while two of her three others of racing age are winners.

Diane Nagle, along with Linda Shanahan and others, raced the South African-born Cloth Of Clous. She won three of her four career starts, was rated the champion filly at two after she beat the colts in the Group 1 South African Nursery at Turffontein. She had won on her debut by six lengths, added the Group 3 Pretty Polly Stakes, and was trained by Sean Tarry. She was the sole filly in the field when she had her biggest win.

In addition to being crowned champion at two, Cloth Of Cloud’s win, along with that of her year-older sibling Silver Mountain (Silvano) in the Group 1 Cape Filly Guineas at Kenilworth, earned their dam Our Table Mountain (Fusaichi Pegasus) the title broodmare of the year. She had been sold as a yearling in the USA for $250,000 and sent to South Africa where she was a stakes winner.

Highlands Farm

Graham Beck at Highlands Farm Stud had a strategy to buy fillies abroad, bring them to South Africa and then add them to his broodmare band. Out Table Mountain was a case in point. She produced nine winners, three of them at stakes level, while another two placed in Group 1 races. Out Table Mountain’s dam Hidden Light (Majestic Light) and grandam Tallahto (Nantallah) were Grade 1 winners in the USA.

Our Table Mountain was born two years after her half-brother Artie Schiller (El Prado). That Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner became a successful sire and is best-known for his speedy son Flying Artie.

Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) now has 23 Group 1 winners, and Drumbeat joins other 2026 winners Comanche Brave, Constitution River, and Talk Of New York in that cohort, as well as Queensland Derby winner Providence in Australia. Three sons from his final crop will sell at Goffs in November, followed by eight colts and fillies in Newmarket.