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Coolmore’s star stallion Wootton Bassett dies aged 17
By James Thomas
Racing Post Bloodstock
Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), one of the world’s hottest sires, has died unexpectedly at the age of 17. His premature death while on shuttle duty in Australia was announced on Coolmore’s social media channels in a post that stated the horse suffered from “acute pneumonia which deteriorated rapidly.”
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The post continued: “Despite round-the-clock care from a dedicated team of vets, overseen by Dr Nathan Slovis from Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Kentucky, he was unable to be saved.”
The son of Iffraaj (Zafonic) was covering his fifth book of mares in Australia where he was standing for a record fee of $385,000 (inc GST).
His spell in Australia had begun to see him exert his considerable influence on the global stage, with his debut Australian-bred crop containing Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) runner-up Wodeton, who will shoot for Group 1 glory this weekend in the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) at Rosehill. His southern hemisphere-bred winner count stands at 16 winners from 48 starters.
His two sons at stud in Australasia are headed by Almanzor, sire of Australian Group 1-winning pair Circle Of Fire and Manzoice, while Swettenham Stud also stand his top-flight producing son Wooded, whose first southern hemisphere-bred runners will hit the tracks later this season.
The stallion’s demise is a crushing blow for both Coolmore and the wider global bloodstock industry, and brings an end to a truly remarkable rags to riches tale.
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Wootton Bassett was bred by Laundry Cottage Stud Farm when Melba and Colin Bryce sent their mare Balladonia (Primo Dominie) to be covered by Darley’s Kildangan Stud resident and former shuttler Iffraaj in 2007. The colt resulting from that mating was sold to bloodstock agent Bobby O’Ryan for £46,000 at the Doncaster St Leger Yearling Sale.
Sent into training with Richard Fahey for owners Frank Brady and The Cosmic Cases, Wootton Bassett rocketed through an unbeaten five-race juvenile campaign. His first season in training culminated with a wide-margin victory in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (Gr 1, 1400m). That proved to be his final success as he was unable to add to his tally in four outings at three.
In 2012, Wootton Bassett was introduced at Haras d'Etreham. Despite an introductory fee of just €6,000, French breeders gave the horse a lukewarm reception, with a debut book numbering just 47 mares.
His fee fell to €5,000 the following year, when he covered only 29 mares, and again to €4,000 in years three and four. That inauspicious start to life at stud gave little indication of what would come next.
A debut crop of 23 foals would spell disaster for most stallions, but a bonafide champion emerged from within that number in the shape of Almanzor. He was crowned the leading three-year-old in Europe after sweeping through the Prix du Jockey Club (Gr 1, 2100m), Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) and the Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) of 2016.
Almanzor was not the only star to come from Wootton Bassett’s smaller, early crops, with Group 1 performers Patascoy and Wootton emerging from his third and Audarya, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (Gr 1, 9.5f) and Prix Jean Romanet (Gr 1, 2000m), emanating from his fourth.
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As the penny dropped that Wootton Bassett was something completely out of the ordinary, momentum began to build. He covered his first three-figure book in 2016, while still priced at just €6,000, and maintained those numbers as his fee rose to €20,000 in 2017 and then €40,000 in 2019.
Then, in August 2020, came the news that would set his stallion career on a stratospheric trajectory. Coolmore’s decision to purchase Wootton Bassett from Haras d’Etreham can’t have been cheap, but there was rarely a day when it did not look like money well spent.
His fee more than doubled to €100,000 for his first season in Ireland, and he was duly inundated with mares. His first Coolmore-conceived book numbered 234, and the resulting foals ripped up the rule book once they reached the racecourse.
That first Irish-bred crop yielded ten two-year-old Group winners, surpassing the previous record (seven) held jointly by Danehill (Danzig) and Galileo (Sadler’s Wells).
They included four Group 1 winners to boot, namely Camille Pissarro (Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere), Henri Matisse (Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf), Tennessee Stud (Criterium de Saint-Cloud) and Twain (Criterium International).
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Those names have continued to perform at three this season, with Camille Pissarro landing the Prix du Jockey Club and Henri Matisse claiming the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (Gr 1, 1600m). Those results, along with fellow Group 1 scorers Al Riffa, Sahlan and Whirl, have seen Wootton Bassett go over €2,000,000 clear in this year’s European sires’ title.
At the time of his death, his record stands at 127 stakes performers (71 of those stakes winners), giving him an impressive black type horses-to-runners strike rate of 15.7 per cent. Of those 127, 50 have struck in Group company, while 16 of those have won at the very highest level.
Wootton Bassett service fee since 2021
Needless to say, those results have only added to Wootton Bassett’s popularity. His current two-year-old crop, bred at a fee of €150,000, comes from a book of 245 mares. This cohort has already yielded 30 European winners, including the likes of Albert Einstein, Beautify, Composing, Constitution River and Puerto Rico.
Another member of this crop, the as yet unraced Poker, became the most expensive colt in European sales history when purchased by Amo Racing for 4,300,000gns at Book 1 of last year’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
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