WOOTTON Bassett, one of 11 top-level scorers among 92 stakes winners for Iffraaj (Zafonic), was an undefeated Group 1 winner and champion in France at two.

He made an immediate impact with his first crop, his juvenile stakes-winning son Almanzor becoming a middle-distance champion at three. That Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby, Irish Champion Stakes and Champion Stakes standout, was bred by Haras d’Etreham, stands there, shuttles to the southern hemisphere, and is already sire of his first Group 1 winner in Manzoice.

Joseph O’Brien’s Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes winner and classic prospect Al Riffa was the sixth Group 1 winner for Wootton Bassett, and the fifth since he was purchased by Coolmore in the summer of 2020. These were conceived at fees as low as €4,000. Last year Wootton Basset had 77 yearlings sell for up to €750,000 at an average of over €192,000, nearly five times the fee at which they were conceived.

The best is yet to come, given the quality of mares he has been covering since moving to Ireland.

Wootton Bassett’s other top-level stakes winners, among 29 stakes winners include Wooded who ended his career with victory in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp; he now stands at Haras de Bouquetot and has his first yearlings on the ground. That same day, Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet heroine Audarya finished third to Tarnawa in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera. Then she landed the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Another daughter, Incarville, won the 2021 Group 1 Saxon Warrior Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary, and then Zellie placed herself among the elite juveniles of that year when she captured the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac.

Were it not for a couple of lengths, Wootton Bassett’s progeny could easily have doubled the number of Group/Grade 1 winners he has sired. Speak Of The Devil was runner-up in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas, Tamahere ran second in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland, and The Summit was second in both the Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby and Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas,

Meanwhile. Wootton finished runner-up in the Group 1 Emirates Airline Jebel Hatta, Texas was classic-placed when second in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas, Trident ran second in the Prix Morny, while Patascoy was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby.

There will be plenty more Group 1 winners to come now that Wootton Bassett has easy access to the powerful Coolmore broodmare band. He is bred 5x4x5 to Northern Dancer, via The Minstrel, Nureyev and Danzig, but has no Sadler’s Wells, Galileo or Danehill in his pedigree. His sire got the top-level winners Chriselliam and Turn Me Loose out of Danehill (Danzig) mares and Group 1 scorer Wyndspelle out of a High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) one.

Balladonia (Primo Dominie), Wootton Bassett’s stakes-placed dam, comes from the family of the Group 1 victors Silver Patriarch (Saddlers’ Hall) and Papineau (Singspiel).

RACE RECORD

WOOTTON BASSETT (GB), Bay 2008. Jt 3rd top rated 2yr old in Europe in 2010. Champion 2yr old colt in France in 2010. Won five races, £541,704, from 6 furlongs to 7 furlongs, at 2 years including, Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere-Grand Criterium, Longchamp, Gr.1.

AT STUD

Retired to Stud in 2012, and sire of the winners of 467 races, and £15,870,976 and sire of the winners of 9 races, and £295,539 under N.H. Rules, including AL RIFFA (FR), INCARVILLE (FR), ZELLIE (FR), AUDARYA (FR), WOODED (IRE), ALMANZOR (FR), CHINDIT (IRE), SPEAK OF THE DEVIL (FR), ATOMIC JONES (FR), ROYAL PATRONAGE (FR), TAMAHERE (FR), AMILCAR (IRE), ILARAAB (IRE), TOPGEAR (FR), WOOTTON ASSET (FR), GUILDSMAN (FR), THE SUMMIT (FR), THE BLACK ALBUM (FR), WOOTTON (FR), WOOTTON CITY (FR), ATTAGIRL (GB), TEXAS (FR), VICTORIA PLACA (FR), DREAM WORKS (FR), HELLENISTIQUE (FR), WALTHAM (FR), HELTER SKELTER (FR), WOOTTON’S COLT (FR), and DO RE MI FA SOL (FR)

INFORMATION

Stands at: Coolmore Stud, Fethard, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, E91 XK26, Ireland

Contact: Christy Grassick, Maurice Moloney, Gerry Aherne, Jason Walsh, Mark Byrne, Neil Magee and Tom Harris

Telephone: +353 52 6131298

Email: sales@coolmore.ie

Web: www.coolmore.com

Fee: €150,000