‘The best... by a long way’
Of all the young stallions at stud in Europe today, few carry the aura of brilliance which surrounds the mighty Manduro, whose first yearlings will be appearing in the sales later this year
Whether one watched him race or merely saw him walk around the parade ring, there was only one word to describe Manduro: stunning. Few racehorses have ever enjoyed a more dominant campaign than the one during which Manduro swept aside all of his rivals in 2007. His first start of the year was good – an effortless four-length defeat of the previous year’s 1,000 Guineas heroine Speciosa in the Earl Of Sefton Stakes over nine furlongs at Newmarket – and he just got better and better thereafter. The G1 Prix d’Ispahan over 1850m at Longchamp came next and this produced an even more clear-cut victory: Manduro won by five lengths, crushing a high-class field in which the place-getters (Turtle Bowl and Stormy River) were both seasoned Group One winners.
Manduro’s third race of 2007 came in the G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, and his victory in this 10-furlong event was rated by Timeform as the best performance seen on a European racecourse all year. The manner of Manduro’s victory alone was eye-catching, but the performance became even more impressive when one considered the opposition. Runner-up Dylan Thomas had won the Irish Derby and Irish Champion Stakes the previous year, had won a G1 race in France already that season and would shortly win the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Irish Champion Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe; while third-placed Notnowcato had won the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on his previous start and would beat Authorized and George Washington in the Eclipse on his next start!
After Royal Ascot, Manduro’s status as the best horse in Europe was secure. But what he was able to demonstrate further was his versatility. For his next run, he took a drop back to a mile in his stride with a facile three-length victory in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville. After that he found the step up to a mile and a half equally straightforward, barely coming off the bridle to win the Prix Foy (2400m) at Longchamp by two and a half lengths from the triple G1 winner Mandesha, with the previous year’s narrow Derby runner-up Dragon Dancer a further three lengths back in third.
The icing on the cake of this flawless campaign would, of course, have been victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, a race for which Manduro was hot favourite. Sadly, however, a training setback necessitated his absence from what would otherwise surely have been his crowning glory, leaving Dylan Thomas, whom he had swept aside so easily at Royal Ascot, to land the spoils. Even without the opportunity to have added that year’s Arc trophy to his collection, however, Andre Fabre (trainer, of course, of no fewer than seven Arc winners) felt confident in asserting that Manduro was “the best horse I have trained, and by a long way”. What greater compliment could a horse receive?
While Manduro’s best season came in maturity, it should not be forgotten that he was far from merely a late-developer: he had been an unbeaten two-year-old, proving himself the best of his age in Germany in a splendid juvenile campaign in which he had won the country’s premier juvenile race, the G3 Preis der Winterfavoriten, by five lengths. Manduro thus retired to stud having proven himself the complete racehorse and, unsurprisingly, then found himself spoilt for choice with good mares.
Of all the high-class mares to visit Manduro in his first season, one of the most interesting was Sacarina, a daughter of Sheikh Mohammed’s clear-cut Prix du Jockey-Club and Irish Derby winner Old Vic who has bred no fewer than three individual Classic winners (Samum, Salve Regina and Schiaparelli) to Manduro’s sire Monsun. Her Manduro yearling colt is thus clearly one of many youngsters who look set to give their sire a flying start to his stud career from next year onwards. Among the other Manduro yearlings are another five who are also half-siblings to G1 winners including half-brothers to Doctor Dino and Cima De Triomphe, plus a half-sister to Best Of The Bests. She, of course, comes from a tremendous family, her dam Sueboog having won the Fred Darling Stakes. Sueboog, though, was far from the best racemare to have visited Manduro in 2008, his book having contained three G1 winners, two of whom (Glorosia and Choc Ice) have already bred Stakes winners.
Not that Manduro’s selection of top-class mares was restricted to his first season. Last season, his second at stud, saw him cover more Stakes winners than many proven stallions, including both Pivotal and Oasis Dream. These included Irish Oaks winner Pure Grain – who is already the dam of the G3 winner Goncharova – as well as the G1 Matriarch Stakes winner Dress To Thrill, the G2 winner Grey Way (who is now the dam of the G1 winner Distant Way); plus Flying Squaw, Dust Dancer and Mezzogiorno, all of whom have already bred Group winners. Furthermore, Manduro’s other mares last year included the dams of the G1 winners Konigstiger, Shamdinan, Dai Jin and Teggiano.
With support like this, it is hard to see anything else than a hugely successful stud career lying in wait for Manduro, a brilliant racehorse who proved that good looks and ability can go hand in hand.
03 March 2010