RATHBARRY Stud has secured a Group 1-winning son of Wootton Bassett for stud duties in 2026.

Unquestionable won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf for trainer Aidan O’Brien in 2023 and finished second the same season in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere, a race his late sire also won.

A €340,000 yearling from the Juddmonte family of Cityscape and Bated Breath, Unquestionable is from the final crop of Wootton Bassett bred in France. Wootton Bassett is already established as a sire of sires through Almanzor and Wooded, both of whom were also bred in France and have sired Group 1 winners.

Racing in the colours of Al Shaqab, Unquestionable was never out of the first four in eight starts for O’Brien. After winning his maiden at the Curragh he finished second in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes and then went on to Paris on Arc day where he was a close second to the future classic winner Rosallion in a track record time.

Unquestionable ended his season when running out a comfortable winner at the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Santa Anita. O’Brien said afterwards: “He’s a very tough horse who we’ve always had a lot of faith in.”

Ryan Moore added: “This fella ran well in the Lagadere. If things worked out better on the day, I think he could have won.”

His official end-of-season juvenile rating of 114 put him in Europe’s top 10, alongside Group 1 winner Ramatuelle and 2lb ahead of Coventry Stakes winner River Tiber, both also by Wootton Bassett.

After suffering a training setback in the spring of his three-year-old career, the colt only ran twice in 2024, finishing fourth in the Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes. Al Shaqab subsequently moved the horse to Richard Hannon, for whom he raced once this year before being retired.

Unquestionable is out of Strawberry Lace, a mare by Sea The Stars out of listed winner Crying Lightening. Sea The Stars is damsire of the top class racehorses Big Rock, Onesto, Eldar Eldarov, El Cordobes and Wimbledon Hawkeye.

This is the family of Best In Show, which produced Redoute’s Choice and El Gran Senor.

Paul Cashman of Rathbarry Stud said: “We are delighted to add Group 1 winner Unquestionable to our roster. A very good-looking horse, he was a precocious two-year-old who held his form throughout his successful juvenile campaign.

“He’s supported by one of the best families in the stud book and we are confident that he will add to the legacy of his much-missed sire Wootton Bassett. We look forward to supporting him strongly.”

Unquestionable’s covering fee will be published at a later date.