Wednesday 8 November 2023
EREVANN: €8,000 Haras de Bonneval, France
SEA THE STARS: €200,000 Gilltown Stud, Ireland
SIYOUNI: €200,000 Haras de Bonneval, France
VADENI: €18,000 Haras de Bonneval, France
ZARAK: €60,000 Haras de Bonneval, France
Both SIYOUNI and SEA THE STARS have proven once again this year to be the leading sires based in their respective countries.
SIYOUNI has maintained his position all season as the second leading sire in Europe by prize money. He began with a sensational Classic double, with Paddington and Tahiyra winning the Irish 2000 and Irish 1000 Guineas respectively – and both three-year-olds continued to light up the flat season, taking an additional five Group 1 victories between them. Meanwhile in France, Mqse De Sévigné won two Group 1 races during the summer in Deauville, and in Australia, Amelia’s Jewel continued to blitz an extraordinary trail of Group race success. SIYOUNI also continues to be one of the most in-demand sires in the sales ring, with yearlings in 2023 fetching up to €2.2 million.
SEA THE STARS was represented by four Group 1 winners in 2023, among them Hukum, among the highest rated horses this year. With over 110 Stakes winners and 21 Group 1 winners to his name, and 12% lifetime Stakes winners to runners, SEA THE STARS is a reliable source of star performers - and also a notable broodmare sire, with five Group 1 winners to his name including recent Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Unquestionable. With his two-year-olds this season including Gr.1 Fillies’ Mile third See The Fire as well as fellow blacktype performers Aventure, Macduff and Sosie, there is also much to look forward to for 2024.
ZARAK has supplied Stakes winners at an extraordinary strike-rate since his first crop, conceived at €12,000, hit the track in 2021. His first two crops have so far produced six Group 1 horses, including 2023 Group 1 winner Zagrey, and his third crop – two-year-olds of 2023 – already encompass the likes of Group 3 winner Shagara, Group-placed Zaphod and Saganti. His yearlings of 2024 will be his first crop conceived at an increased fee following his significant early success.
VADENI joins the roster at Haras de Bonneval as a Cartier Champion Three-Year-Old, the record-breaking winner of the Gr.1 Prix du Jockey Club and the first French horse in 60 years to win the Gr.1 Eclipse Stakes. He was also a Stakes winning and Group-placed two-year-old, and showed great constitution and temperament throughout his career that enabled him to perform with distinction at the highest level in France, Ireland and the UK.
EREVANN is another new recruit, and boasts an attractive profile as a son of sire of sires Dubawi and SIYOUNI’s multiple Group 1 winning daughter Ervedya. The winner of four races in five starts over a mile at two and three, including the Gr.2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein over Arc weekend, EREVANN was also just a neck from victory in the Gr.1 Prix Jacques Le Marois, and comes to stud with a similar profile to his new stablemate ZARAK.
Georges Rimaud, manager of the Aga Khan Studs in France, commented: “With two internationally proven leading sires, one rapidly rising star and two exciting new stallions to offer breeders in 2024, we go into next year with as strong a roster as we have ever had. We look forward to showing them to breeders over the next few weeks, and invite people to get in touch with myself or Fanny Cyprès in France, or Pat Downes or Julie White in Ireland, to discuss their mating plans.”
