SONS of the great German stallion Monsun (by Konigsstuhl) have done well at stud and in addition to Group 1 winners on the flat, there has also been a plethora of major winners for the line under National Hunt rules.
Champion Hurdle heroine Annie Power (by Shirocco) and the great and hugely popular Sprinter Sacre (by Network) are dazzling examples, and with so many other good winners on the roll of honour it is no wonder that Monsun’s sons are among the busiest of all sires.
Ocovango has covered large books, his first foals made up to €23,000 in 2016, and it is probably odds-on that he will have notched-up his first blacktype winners with his first runners in the next five or six years.
As a racehorse The Beeches Stud resident was trained in France by Andre Fabre and he was among the market leaders when finishing fifth to Ruler Of The World in the Epsom Derby, beaten by just two and a quarter lengths. He was an odds-on winner of the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe on his previous start and only beaten by two and a half lengths when third to subsequent US champion Flintshire in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris just six weeks after Epsom.
Ocovango is a grandson of the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile heroine and Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas runner-up Crystal Music (by Nureyev) and that mare is a half-sister to three pattern winners, one of whom is an ancestor of two star performers of last year. The Group 3 John Porter Stakes winner Dubai Success (by Sadler’s Wells) was also Group 2-placed, while Solar Crystal (by Alzao) won the Group 3 May Hill Stakes and took third in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac.
The other sibling is State Crystal (by High Estate). She won the Group 3 Lancashire Oaks, was runner-up in the Group 2 Sun Chariot Stakes and third in both the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks and Group 1 Prix Vermeille, and last year her grandson Libran (by Lawman) was a Group 1-placed Group 2 scorer in Australia, while great-grandson Zelzal (by Sea The Stars) won the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat and stays in training.
Crystal Music is also a half-sister to Tchaikovsky (by Sadler’s Wells) who, although not a stakes winner, was third to Montjeu and Daliapour in the Group 1 Irish Derby of 1999.
Ocovango is by a hotly sought-after sire of stallions, he was a Group 1-placed pattern winner, and he comes from a prolific blacktype family that looks sure to have plenty more big updates on its page in the coming years.
Won three races, £209,315, from 1 mile to 1 mile 2½ furlongs, at 2 and 3 years including, Prix Greffulhe, Saint-Cloud, Gr.2, Prix Francois Mathet, Saint-Cloud, L, also placed third in Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris, Longchamp, Gr.1, Qatar Prix Niel, Longchamp, Gr.2, La Coupe, Longchamp, Gr.3.
Retired to stud in 2015, first crop now yearlings.
Stands at: The Beeches Stud, Lismore, Co Waterford, Ireland
Contact: Robert McCarthy, Bobby McCarthy, or Peter Kenneally
Telephone: +353 (0)58 56254
Email: info@grangestud.com
Web: www.coolmore.com
Fee: €3,500