German precision

German precision

Philipp Stauffenberg

DON’T MENTION THE B WORD. Actually don’t mention either of the B-words – Brexit and Boris.

For Stauffenberg Bloodstock the unpredictable nature of the latest occupant of No 10 Downing Street is the variable whose impact on the carefully planned exercise in logistics that is its annual trip to Newmarket is creating some uncertainty.

When Boris, Brexit and everything else is left to one side, Philipp Stauffenberg is anticipating the Tattersalls October Yearling Sales with quiet excitement.

Five years after taking the bold decision to consign the Stauffenberg Bloodstock yearlings under his own banner, he travels to Newmarket with his largest consignment yet.

“This year we are going to Tattersalls with our biggest consignment ever of 22 horses for Books 1 and 2 with nine pinhooks, some homebreds and horses for clients. It is quite a big challenge coming from Germany and we don’t know what Boris will do yet so it is a little unnerving!” he says.

Stauffenberg and his wife Marion maintain a select broodmare band at their farm in Munster, a property and enterprise which was enabled by the success of Que Belle.

The sale of their dual Classic winner financed the purchase of Schlossgut Ittlingen in 1999 and the couple spent their first decade at the farm building and developing their foundation families.

Although she died in 1998, La Concordia has left a lasting legacy as the second dam of Prix de l’Opera winner Lady Marian, who was the first Group 1 winner bred by the couple. They retained Lady Marian’s year-younger Rainbow Quest sister La Reine Noire.

The Group 1 winners Lady Marian and Lucky Speed are two of the best horses bred at Ittlingen, a farm which is as much a part of German bloodstock’s history as it is its present and future.

For 40 years the castle, which traces back to the 14th century, was home to Carl Fastenrath’s Gestüt Quenhorn where champions such as Arjon, Zank and Ziethen were born and where the Die Spaetlase Sale was held for a number of years in the 1980s and 1990s.

Seven years ago, Stauffenberg began operating pinhooking syndicates for investors and it is these syndicate yearlings, as well as a mixture of homebreds and those belonging to clients, which Stauffenberg Bloodstock will consign at Park Paddocks.

He explains the rationale behind the success of the Stauffenberg pinhooks.

“The investors in the syndicate look for profit so the aim is to put together a portfolio of foals by stallions with different attributes,” he says. “We try to buy foals who will make up into Orby, Book 1 and Book 2 yearlings but it has been getting increasingly difficult to get Book 1 foals. The competition for high-end foals at the sales has got furious over the last years and the selection of foals we can buy for value is smaller. This is why we have tried to widen the number and so we have three for Book 1 and six for Book 2.”

Last year, the fifth consigning under their own name, a venture that was encouraged by Angus Gold, Tom Goff and Andreas Putsch, who has sold yearlings through the consignment, Stauffenberg Bloodstock was the leading consignor in Book 2 by average price.

Stauffenberg attributes this to focusing on quality rather than quantity, an approach he continues to employ with the larger draft of 16 yearlings he sends this year and the half dozen Stauffenberg will present in Book 1.

In that sale is Lot 185, a colt by Siyouni, who received the type of pedigree boost every vendor dreams of recently when Danceteria, his four-year-old half-brother by Redoute’s Choice, won the Group 1 Grosser DallmayerPreis Bayerisches Zuchtrennen for David Menuisier.

Even without that impressive upgrade, the colt’s pedigree still has much to boast about as his dam is a half-sister to Classic winner and sire Lope De Vega.

“He was a lucky pinhook!” Stauffenberg exclaims. “Danceteria was not even a black-type horse when we bought him and now he is a Group 1 winner, it is the update you always hope for!

“He was quite a costly foal at €180,000, but is an exceptional walker and is a lovely individual with a great temperament. I really like the way he uses himself.”

Lope De Vega himself is the sire of Lot 117, the first foal out of What Say You, a winning full-sister to 2018 St Leger third Southern France. If any of his foal purchases of 2018 were to receive the ultimate upgrade, Stauffenberg thought it would be this filly. “I had hoped that Southern France would

be a Group 1 winner by now and he has knocked on the door so far this season, maybe now that he will be going to Australia with the Melbourne Cup as his aim, he might make the breakthrough in the southern-hemisphere,” hopes Stauffenberg.

“Lope De Vega is like Siyouni in that he is a younger stallion doing exceptionally well and is a proven source of Classic horses. She is such a gorgeous filly to handle with a good mind and she is a good mover, which is very important.

“For me a horse has to move well. She was not the cheapest foal, but has done very well since I bought her and when the physical specimen and the pedigree are both this good, hopefully buyers will like her.”

DEPARTING FROM HIS CLASSIC IDEALS, but not deviating from the stipulation that a sire should be a Group 1 producer, is Lot 506.

A colt by Showcasing, he is the first foal out of Porthilly, a Listed winner and Group 3-placed daughter by the outstanding broodmare sire Pivotal. The cross is already bearing golden fruit.

“The Showcasing colt is bred on the same cross as Advertise out of a mare with a speedy background. The second dam only bred two foals, but both of them are Listed winners so there is class in the family. He is a strong and very well-muscled colt.”

Stauffenberg offers three yearlings by Sea The Moon at Tattersalls – in Book 1 he consigns a full-brother to Quest The Moon, a multiple Group winner at two and three and who was third to Danceteria at Munich.

Lots 558 and 673 in Book 2 are both sons of stakes winners.

The consignor is very pleased at the success of the sire, who stands at Lanwades Stud. That satisfaction also has a personal element as, when manager of Gestüt Karlshof, Stauffenberg purchased Sacarina for the farm. For Karlshorf she produced three Classic winners – Samum, Schiaparelli and Salve Regina all by Monsun as well as their full-sister Senwa, the dam of Sea The Moon.

“Sea The Moon is doing very well and it is satisfying to watch that given my connection to him. He produced some very good horses in his first crop and looks to have an exciting two-year-old in Alpine Star.”

Sea The Moon’s promising start at stud does not gloss over the reality of the German thoroughbred industry – the fact that Sea The Moon stands in Newmarket and not his home country gives an indication of the situation in Germany right now.

You would have to be a little worried when you look into German breeding and racing.

“Most of the top-class racemares have been sold abroad, mainly to Japan, over the last 15 years and when you are selling always your best potential broodmares it is not good for the breed. “The number is dropping and the quality is too, the one thing you need for the health of your herd is to keep good horses and in Germany, we are not doing that. “We have enjoyed some

fantastic results over the last number of years with horses such as Danedream and Novellist, but they were sold abroad. It is not easy to keep producing horses of that class when the numbers are dropping.

“The quality and number of stallions is decreasing too, our best stallion Soldier Hollow is aging and many people had hoped

Philipp Stauffenberg: has concerns regarding the onward development of the German bloodstock industry

that Maxios could be the future champion sire. His daughter, the Preis der Diana winner Diamanta, will hopefully be a flagbearer for him, but the market is not very forgiving for stallions.”

Stauffenberg Bloodstock’s Book 2 consignment of 16, includes a well-related son of Cable Bay, whose first runners have acquitted themselves so well this season. Lot 878 was purchased from Genesis Green Stud at last year’s December Sale for 40,000gns and is reported to be a “good moving and looking colt”.

He is the first foal out of Conservatory, a full-sister to Group 1 Sprint Cup winner African Rose and to the Group 3 Prix d’Aumale winner and Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac second Helleborine. She is the dam of Calyx, who is by another of Invincible Spirit’s young sire sons, Kingman.

Stauffenberg has a filly to sell by the Juddmonte sire who has made such a scintillating start to his stud career.

Lot 843 is named Chloe and is the third foal of Calyxa, by Pivotal and the winner of the Group 3 Hamburger Meile and placed in three Group 1 contests. The Group 2 Preis der Diane winner Centaine is represented by a yearling out of her winning Shirocco daughter Capichera (Lot 846).

Last year Cassandra, her homebred daughter by Dansili, made 360,000gns to Stroud Coleman during Book 2.

This year Stauffenberg Bloodstock offers the Gleneagles half-sister – he already bears the classy name Coupe De Champagne and is a half-sister to Catan, a three-year-old son of Oasis Dream, now successful in Hong Kong.

“Catan won twice in England and has now been sold to Hong Kong and the Dansili two-year-old filly is in training with John Gosden for Godolphin, and reports about her are good so hopefully she will add to the pedigree,” outlines Stauffenberg.

Lot 648 is by Holy Roman Emperor out of the German champion two-year-old Swordhalf . He is a brother to this year’s stakes-winning Sword Peinture and Group 2-placed Satomi, the first two foals for the mare.

For the same breeder, Stauffenberg is consigning Lot 1334, a “loose-moving” daughter of Sea The Stars and the first foal out the stakes-winning Rose Rized

“As 10 of the lots are either out of or are siblings to stakes winners the quality in the consignment is there on paper. The pedigrees are more than matched by the individuals,” says Staufffenberg

Whatever happens to the “B” word this autumn, Stauffenberg is anticipating one word beginning with “S”... Sold.