He was one of the best four-year-olds in Europe in 2002, when he was rated on 126 in Timeform’s Racehorses annual, after group victories at Saint-Cloud and Longchamp were followed by a close fourth in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Starting his stud career in France, he has sired a group winner on the flat and six blacktype winners over hurdles and fences.

It has not taken long for Califet’s success as a sire of top jumpers in France to be recognised in Ireland and in England. This season Willie Mullins has trained the top-rated filly Analifet to win a juvenile hurdle at Punchestown and then to score in the Grade 3 Bar-One Racing Juvenile Hurdle at Fairyhouse in December. Calipto, a son of Califet, won at Newbury on his English debut last November, having already been second in the Listed Prix Finot Hurdle in France. Another smart hurdler in Ireland by Califet is Gordon Elliott’s Clarcam, who besides winning at Thurles has been second in a Grade 2 hurdle at Leopardstown and third to Analifet in the Grade 3 Fairyhouse race.

Although Califet has sired a high-class winner on the flat in France with Sormiou, successful in the Group 3 Prix Paul de Moussac at Chantilly and the Listed Prix du Pont-Neuf at Longchamp, he has done better still with his jumpers there. Sway was the leading three-year-old filly of her year and has clocked up eight wins over hurdles and fences, including three listed races at Auteuil.

Temple Lord was a listed-placed winner as a two-year-old, but also went on to win three Auteuil listed events. Other listed scorers for Califet include Surfing, who beat Sanctuaire by 12 lengths in the Prix Finot, as well as Dolcetto and Kriss William, both with listed chases to their credit.

Califet improved steadily with age, starting in the French provinces, where he won a seven-furlong maiden as a two-year-old, then was listed placed at Nantes before another win at Maisons-Laffitte. He scored four more times at three years, including the Listed Prix du Grand Camp at Lyon, and was listed placed at Deauville. He made so much progress as a four-year-old that Timeform assessed him on 126, after victories by three lengths in both the Group 3 Prix d’Hedouville at Longchamp in April and then the Group 2 Prix Jean de Chaudenay at Saint-Cloud in May, with Group 1 star Ange Gabriel well behind him each time.

Later that season he was placed three times in Group 1 races, notably the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, in which he was a close fourth of the 16 runners, only a length and three-quarters behind the winner Marienbard, with High Chaparral a mere half length ahead of him in third place, while Islington was fifth.

Freedom Cry, the sire of Califet, was a son of Soviet Star and was the best older horse in France in 1995, when he won two group races and was second in the Arc and the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Califet’s dam Sally’s Room is a daughter of Kendor, whose sire Kenmare is the maternal grandsire of Hurricane Fly. She won three races at around a mile in France and is out of the American-bred Square Room, a half-sister to the dam of Escaline, winner of the Group 1 Prix de Diane in 1983.

CALIFET (FR)

Race record: Winner of nine races, £222,457, from 2 to 4 years, 7-13 furlongs, in France, inc Prix Jean de Chaudenay, Saint-Cloud, Gr.2, Prix d’Hedouville, Longchamp, Gr.3, and Prix du Grand Camp, Lyon, L; 4th in Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Longchamp, Gr.1, Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Gr.1, Grosser Preis von Baden, Gr.1, and Grand Prix de Chantilly, Gr.2.

Stud record: Retired to stud in France in 2005 and in Ireland in 2014. A top 10 NH sire in France in 2013. Sire of many winners, inc. Analifet (Juvenile Hurdle, Fairyhouse, Gr.3), Sway (leading 3yo filly in France, Prix d’Iena, Auteuil, L, Prix de Nouveau, Auteuil, L, Prix Magna, Auteuil, L), Sormiou (Prix Paul de Moussac, Chantilly, Gr.3, Prix du Pont-Neuf, Longchamp, L), Temple Lord (Prix Stanley, Auteuil, L, Prix Aguado, Auteuil, L, Prix Robert Lejeune, Auteuil, L), Dolcetto (Prix Lutteur III Chase, Auteuil, L), Ysawa (Prix Guillaume de Pracomtal, Auteuil, L), Calipto (won Newbury hurdle, second Prix Finot, Auteuil, L), Clarcam (won Thurles hurdle, second Juvenile Hurdle, Leopardstown, Gr.2), etc.

Stands at: Boardsmill Stud, Trim, Co Meath

Contact: William Flood on 046 9431305 or 087 2380583

Website: www.boardsmillstud.com.

Fee: €3,000 (October 1st).

BOARDSMILL STUD

Founded in 1935 by the late Jack Flood, the father of the present owner William Flood, Boardsmill Stud covers 125 acres and has 45 boxes, four miles west of Trim in Co Meath, and is situated on the banks of the River Boyne. The Irish Grand National hero Niche Market is one of the many fine jumpers bred here.

Several successful National Hunt stallions have stood here over the years, including Furry Glen (maternal grandsire of Grand National hero Comply Or Die) and Orchestra in fairly recent years. Since 2004 it has been the home of Court Cave, a son of Sadler’s Wells who is the sire of Champion Court, and he was joined for the 2008 season by the triple Group 1 hero Kalanisi, the sire of Champion Hurdle star Katchit.

An exciting new arrival is the French-bred Califet, who was a top-class flat racer and fourth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, before becoming one of the leading sires of jumpers in France.