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G2 Greffulhe victory for Kesampour
Kesampour, a three-year-old son of King’s Best, maintained his unbeaten record and became his sire’s 25th individual Group winner on 5 May, landing the G2 Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud.
Having led all the way in his previous starts, HH The Aga Khan’s homebred this time tracked his pacemaker and kept on well close to home to win the ten-furlong contest and extend his unbeaten run to four.
The Mikael Delzangles-trained colt was last seen running out the impressive winner of the Listed Prix Francois Mathet, having won both his starts as a juvenile. He is now around 14-1 for the Epsom Derby, where he will aim to emulate last year’s winner Pour Moi in winning the Greffulhe en route to victory in the Blue Riband.
Owned and bred by HH The Aga Khan, Kesampour is out of the winning Hernando mare Kasatana, a half-sister to two Group winners in Kassani and Kassana. They are from the family of Kayhasi.
- CRACKING CREACHADOIR FOALS!
The good news is that Creachadoirs first foals are receiving the thumbs-up from all who inspect them. Creachadoir comes from one of the best Ballymacoll Stud families (his second dam Anima is a half-sister to the mighty Pilsudski a multiple G1 winner for the late Lord Weinstock) and that makes it easy to understand why his dam Sadima has proved such a great producer. Sadima, a daughter of Sadler's Wells, is responsible not only for Creachadoir but also for three-time Arc runner-up Youmzain. Like Youmzain, Creachadoir was tough enough to thrive on his racing posting his best victory in the Lockinge Stakes in his third season in training -- but he was also precocious enough to be one of the best of his generation in the spring of his Classic season. After winning the G3 Two Thousand Guineas Trial at Leopardstown, Creachadoir put in excellent performances in the Guineas in both France (where he finished second to Astronomer Royal) and Ireland (where he finished second to Cockney Rebel). Furthermore, his toughness shone through as he retained his great form right up to the end of the year, being placed in both the Champion Stakes and the Hong Kong Mile (beating the likes of Darjina, Excellent Art and Able One). Creachadoir has understandably proved very popular at Haras du Logis. His foals seem consistently to attract favourable comment with many breeders who have already used him booking their mares back to him for the forthcoming season. John Horgan, breeder of a Creachadoir colt from Dynamic Dream, reports his foal to be 'a very good foal with size and strength who walks well probably the best the mare has had.'
Thiery de la Heronier of Haras d'Ellon has a filly out Napata, a first foal from the family of Miesque and Kingmambo who he describes as 'a great quality filly with balance and presence, and looks very much like her sire.' Bernard Wenger of the Haras du Taillis has a first foal out of Taking Heaven who he describes as 'a strong well-balanced very correct foal who moves well'. Similar praise has come from Bernard Le Roux, who describes his colt out of Greenway as 'well-built, balanced, moves well: a very good foal' and from Paul Arnold, who describes his Creachadoir colt out of his mare Allumette as 'outstanding -- the best she has ever had!' - SLICKLY IS CHAMPION SIRE
Slickly toped the French sire's table of 2011, over a half a million euros ahead of his nearest rival. His offspring also won more races than any other sire in France. His star runner of 2011 was G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Meandre., while his two year olds showed plenty of promise: watch out for multiple Stakes winner Mobaco in the 2012 classics. - THE BEST AT SIRING THE BEST
Who is the best sire in France by percentage of Stakes winners to runners in 2011? The answer --on an impressive 4.8% --is King's Best. Of all stallions with more than 150 European runners, he's in ninth place (Danehill Dancer is just ahead of him on 4.9%). He leads all other French stallions (Country Reel is third on 4.4%, highly commendable considering his low fee) and is ahead of some of the biggest names in breeding: Selkirk, Pivotal, Elusive Quality, Acclamation, Dalakhani, Singspiel, Medicean and High Chaparral are all behind him.
