WHO emerged best of the breeding countries at this year’s Cheltenham Festival meeting? With a single win each for British and German-breds, it basically came down to a head-to-head between Ireland and France.

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” This is often attributed to Mark Twain, who in his writings suggests they were the words of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, though scholars note it is not to be found in the politician’s writings. The saying highlights how statistics can be manipulated to mislead, distort the truth, or even support weak arguments.

For this exercise, I am reminded of another saying, this from Ronald Coase, a British-born economist who was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize, and he said: “If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.”

Ireland will rightly claim that with 15 of the week’s 28 winners carrying the IRE suffix, we won the title of leading breeders. France recorded 11 wins, with a moral claim of sorts to Gaelic Warrior. That said, the rule is that the country of birth determines where it was bred – though there is a certain amount of fuzziness too about this at time. One must proceed in certain cases with caution.

The 11 winners sporting the FR suffix are heavily weighted towards quality, and seven of these won the best races of the week, Grade 1 contests. In alphabetical order, the seven comprised Apolon De Charnie, Heart Wood, Il Etait Temps, Kargese, King Rasko Grey. Lossiemouth, and Wodhooh. All three Grade 1-winning mares were French-bred. One-third of the Irish-bred winners over the four days won Grade 1s; Home By The Lee, Johnny’s Jury, Kitzbuhel, Old Park Star and The Mourne Rambler.

There was strength in depth among the French-breds, and with 13 Grade 1 races staged, offering 39 opportunities to finish in the first three, the Gallic challengers took the lion’s share of the spoils, with 20. Ireland had 13, while Britain and Germany filled the other spots with four and two.

Commended

As mentioned elsewhere this week, Jukebox Jury (2006 Montjeu) and Westerner (1999 Danehill), both of whom died in 2025, each sired three winners. Were we to have a table recording gold, silver and bronze medals awarded, it would show a tie at the top between these two. Jukebox Jury has to be commended for siring two Grade 1 winners among his trio, Il Etait Temps and Johnny’s Jury.

Four sires, two each from Ireland and France, had a brace of winners during the week. Doctor Dino (2002 Muhtathir; 2026 fee €26,000) would be listed on top, having had three runners-up, but the best of his winners was Dinoblue in the Grade 2 mares’ chase. Two true veterans are next, Well Chosen (1999 Sadler’s Wells; 2026 fee private) and Great Pretender (1999 King’s Theatre; 2026 fee €10,000), and with both his coming in Grade 1 races, Old Park Star and The Mourne Rambler, Well Chosen has a short head advantage over Great Pretender.

Meanwhile, with Final Orders and Saratoga both visiting the winners enclosure, Camelot (2009 Montjeu; 2026 fee €60,000), completes the quartet of sires with a pair of winners.

Single winner

This leaves us with 14 sires who each had a single winner at the Festival, and eight of these sired a Grade 1 winner. Six stood in France at the time of conception, one in Ireland and one in Germany. Maxios (2008 Monsun; 2026 fee €6,000) moved to Castlehyde in 2020 from Germany, and Jeu St Eloi (2011 Saint Des Saints; 2026 fee private) left France to stand at Glenview Stud (Rathbarry) for the 2024 season. They sired Gaelic Warrior and Kargese.

The only sire of a Grade 1 winner among those in the latter group who stood in Ireland was Fame And Glory (2006 Montjeu) whose death at the age of 11 came at the start of what would have been just his fifth covering season.

The remaining sires of Grade 1 winners are Chanducoq (2013 Voix Du Nord; 2026 fee €6,000), Choeur Du Nord (2012 Voix Du Nord; 2026 fee €8,500), Cokoriko (2009 Robin Des Champs; 2026 fee €15,000), Galiway (2011 Galileo; 2026 fee €30,000) and Le Havre (2006 Noverre). The latter died in 2022.

Single wins were recorded by six other sires, all but one of whom stood in Ireland when their winners were conceived. The odd one out is Martaline (1999 Linamix) whose last year at stud was in 2019. Two of the others left Ireland to move and stand in Britain, Ask (2003 Sadler’s Wells) who died two years ago, and Kingston Hill (2011 Mastercraftsman; 2026 fee £4,000). Califet (1998 Freedom Cry) died in 2021, Snow Sky (2011 Nayef; 2026 fee private) and Watar (2005 Marju) who was last recorded as standing at stud in 2021, complete the list.

A mention has to be made of the sire who had most runners finishing in the first three, and yet failed to have a winner this year. Champion Walk In The Park (2002 Montjeu; 2026 fee private) had six placed runners, four in Grade 1 races, with Final Demand and Jonbon coming nearest to winning at that level.