ALTHOUGH he was a Group/Grade 1 sire on the flat and over jumps, Sulamani’s enduring legacy will likely be the fact that he sired the 2016 Aintree Grand National winner Rule The World. That race has Grade 3 status, and Rule The World was also a Grade 2 winner over hurdles in his younger days.

The term globetrotter could well have been invented for the son of Hernando (Niniski). Sulamani won at the highest level six times, doing so in five different countries, stood in England and France and was enjoying life as a jumps stallion when he had to be put down at Yorton Farm Stud in Wales in early 2017.

Bred by the Niarchos Family, Sulamani raced in their colours initially when trained by Pascal Bary. The highlight of his three-year-old career for Bary was his victory in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby, in 2002. Unraced as a juvenile, he was beaten on his debut before racking up four straight wins, and then finishing second to Godolphin’s Marienbard in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Obviously impressed, he was then purchased by Godolphin and earned more than £2.5 million for them in two seasons, winning five of his 11 starts on their colours and being unplaced just once. Sulamani won the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic in his first start for trainer Saeed bin Suroor and travelled to America to add the Grade 1 Arlington Million and Grade 1 Turf Classic Invitational at four.

In his final year racing as a five-year-old he won the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York and the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine. Sulamani retired to Dalham Hall Stud where he spent his first three years covering at £7,000 before transferring to Sheikh Mohammed’s Haras du Logis in France for a further three years. After he moved to Yorton Farm Stud he had his career focused on the National Hunt sector and was owned in partnership by the Futters and the Cashman’s Rathbarry Stud. He completed seven seasons at Yorton.

His first crop included Mastery and he won the Group 1 St Leger for Godolphin before adding the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase at four. During his time shuttling to Brazil Sulamani was responsible for four Group 1 winners over distances from 10 furlongs to a mile and a half. His Grade 1 winners over jumps are Cash And Go in Ireland and Dar Said in Italy.

Perhaps there could be another Grade 1 winner by Sulamani in the offing. Bred by Dr Geoffrey Guy at The Glanvilles Stud in Sherborne, Dorset, Honeysuckle is a five-year-old mare who came to Ireland to be sold as a store at Tattersalls Ireland. Catalogued in part two of the Derby Sale in 2017, she sold for €9,500 to Mark O’Hare and won her only start in a point-to-point at Dromahane last April, with O’Hare in the saddle.

That victory was a week before the Goffs Punchestown Sale, but such was the favourable impression she made that Peter Molony of Rathmore Stud had to pay €110,000 to secure her from Jerry Cosgrave’s Shanrod Stables and she was the best priced mare or filly at the sale. In six weeks she has extended her unbeaten run to four, adding three hurdle successes. Last weekend she followed up her win in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Boreen Belle Mares Novice Hurdle at Thurles with a victory in the Grade 3 BetVictor Solerina Mares Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse.

First Royal (Lando) is the dam of Honeysuckle and her first four foals have run. The Henry de Bromhead-trained Honeysuckle is her only winner on the track, though Colorado Doc (Dr Massini) and Dunraven Royal (Black Sam Bellamy) have won nine point-to-points between them. Her only other runner, Roc Royal (Shirocco), was placed a few times over jumps in France, while her fifth offspring is Last Royal (Sulamani), an unraced four-year-old own-brother to Honeysuckle. As his name suggests, he was his dam’s final produce.

First Royal was bought as a five-year-old at Arqana for €10,000. She won at three in Germany but her two placings over jumps were in listed hurdle races at Baden-Baden. She was the sole produce of her unraced dam First Neba (Nebos). She in turn was out of the listed German winner First Smile (Surumu).

At stud First Smile had 12 foals, and First Neba was the only one to never face the starter. All but one of the other 11 won, though just one of these got some blacktype when third in a listed race at Hamburg. Another of the winners was Calima Mon Amour (Shirocco) and she is keeping the family very much alive as her daughter Mascha (Le Havre) was sold in 2017 at the Arqana May Breeze Up Sale for €170,000 and last year won a listed race in Germany.