Charyn stallion plans, jockey retainers and even overseas expansion – a big interview with Nurlan Bizakov
Martin Stevens engages the Sumbe supremo in a wide-ranging conversation for Good Morning Bloodstock
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Nurlan Bizakov is not one to rest on his laurels, and after an annus mirabilis in 2024 thanks to champion miler Charyn, homebred Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Lazzat and a host of other stakes performers, he is taking steps to ensure his Sumbe operation enjoys more success this year and beyond.
The plan of action includes retaining Silvestre de Sousa to ride his British-trained horses this year, following the announcement last month that the services of Cristian Demuro had been secured for his French-based string.
De Sousa was aboard Charyn when the Roger Varian-trained colt struck in the Doncaster Mile, Bet365 Mile, Queen Anne Stakes, Prix Jacques le Marois and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and also when he ran second behind enterprisingly ridden front-runners in the Lockinge Stakes and Prix du Moulin last year.
“I enjoy having Silvestre ride my horses, in terms of the way he handles them and the feedback he gives afterwards,” Bizakov told Good Morning Bloodstock. “He struck up a great relationship with Charyn and even on the couple of occasions he was beaten on him there were valid excuses.
“The Lockinge was definitely not his fault, as he was asked to follow Big Rock, and ignore every other horse, and that sadly proved to be the wrong decision. But Charyn was still the only one who challenged Audience, and he proved he was much better than that horse in the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot. If they ran against each other in ten more races I think he’d win every time.
“As for the Prix du Moulin, I'd say it was probably a misjudgement, but not only by Silvestre, by every other jockey in the race too. Ryan Moore and William Buick were also worrying about each other and forgot about Tribalist, but that’s the nature of racing. These things happen sometimes.”
As it happened, Charyn was one of those rare horses who looked good even in defeat, as he always gave his rider everything, even when victory was a forlorn hope.
“He always tried his best,” affirmed Bizakov. “He was incredibly tough. He put his head down and tried and tried. Of course it would have been nicer to go throughout the year unbeaten, but those defeats didn’t detract from his overall profile.”
Charyn was retired to stand at Sumbe’s stallion base at Haras de Montfort et Preaux in Normandy after a typically game fifth in the Mile Championship at Kyoto under Ryan Moore in November, but De Sousa will still have 19 horses owned by Sumbe in Britain to partner this year.
They comprise two four-year-olds, namely the lightly raced Kingman geldings Dosman and Qazaq; eight three-year-olds, including Middle Park Stakes third Dash Dizzy, exciting fillies Gulya and Qarlyga and Charyn’s unraced full-sister Shinara; and nine unnamed two-year-olds.
“Dash Dizzy’s first race will be the Pavilion Stakes at Ascot, and if all goes well, he'll then go for the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock and the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot,” reported Bizakov of the Charlie Johnston-trained colt.
“He’s a big horse and he did well to run last year, as for most of the season he was a baby with plenty of daylight beneath him. We initially thought we might have to wait with him until this year.
“But he improved lots as the season went on, and if he’s kept on improving at the same rate between two and three he will be exciting. We’re treating him as a sprinter, as his family is quite fast. If he turns out to be as good as we hope, he would make a nice stallion prospect as his half-brother Sioux Nation is doing well.”
Qarlyga, a homebred from the first crop of Sumbe stallion Golden Horde out of the Listed-winning Frankel mare Qazyna, won a 7f novice stakes by clear water at Newcastle in November second time out, and Gulya, a daughter of Night Of Thunder related to crack miler Romanised, finished a close second to subsequent Group 3 scorer Whirl on her sole start in a Doncaster maiden in September. Both Varian-trained fillies can be filed under ‘could be anything’.
“Qarlyga is the only Golden Horde we sent to Britain, because Roger trained the dam,” said Bizakov. “She’s a nice filly but we don’t know how good she is yet. It’s a big year for the sire, and we also have an exciting colt by him in France called Dos Mukasan, who has won two races for Christopher Head.
“Gulya is one of our big hopes for this year. We think she could be a 1,000 Guineas filly, if not at Newmarket then in Ireland or France. We’ll see, but she's very exciting.”
Regarding Charyn’s sister Shinara, who was bought for 850,000gns from Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, he added: “She had a little setback. The plan had been to try to win a race early in the season and go for a 1,000 Guineas trial, but those plans are on hold now. We remain keen on her, though.”
Bizakov said that the contract with De Sousa is on an annual basis, to be reviewed after each year, but is “hopefully a long-term arrangement”.
He continued: “Obviously with the number of horses I have it’s not a huge retainer, but I was very keen to secure him for at least one year. If we’re lucky together this year I’m sure both parties will want to maintain it.”
Meanwhile, among the more than 60 Sumbe horses Demuro can look forward to throwing his leg over in France this year are Lazzat, who he rode for the first time in the Hong Kong Mile last month, and Nizam, who bolted up in a Saint-Cloud maiden and Lyon Parilly conditions race on his two starts last autumn.
“We’re thinking carefully about running Lazzat in the Saudi Cup Turf Sprint next month,” said Bizakov of the homebred Territories four-year-old gelding. “The distance is just short of seven furlongs, which should suit him.”
On the subject of Nizam, another homebred from the first crop of Pinatubo and out of Musidora Stakes winner Nausha, he added: “We’re hopeful he’ll be our Prix du Jockey Club horse. He’ll go for the Prix la Force at Longchamp in April and if he wins he might go straight to the Prix du Jockey Club; if not, he could take on another Listed race before Chantilly.
“We think that ten furlongs will be his trip but I’m going to Chantilly this week to see the horses and we’ll discuss then whether we need to make a Guineas entry for him to cover all bases.”
De Sousa will likely ride British-trained horses when they run in big races in France, and vice versa for Demuro, although decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
“That’s to be discussed, no promises have been made,” said Bizakov. “But I like consistency. If a jockey has ridden a horse all season, I would generally like him to keep riding that horse. But then if a horse goes to another country for just a Listed race, it might be more logical for the local jockey to ride it.”
Retaining De Sousa and Demuro isn’t the only bold move that Bizakov is making in 2025 on the back of a landmark year for Sumbe. The glimpse of how things are done in overseas racing jurisdictions afforded by Charyn and Lazzat’s international campaigns opened up his eyes to new opportunities.
“I think of last year in four seasons,” he explained. “In the winter we launched three new stallions, Angel Bleu, Belbek and Mishriff; in the spring we had the excitement of Charyn, Lazzat and Ramadan winning stakes races; in the summer we had a glorious Deauville meeting, when Lazzat won the Maurice de Gheest, Charyn won the Jacques le Marois and we hosted Sumbe Prix Morny day on consecutive Sundays; and then there was what I remember as my autumn of trips.
“I went to Australia with Lazzat, Japan with Charyn, and then Hong Kong with Lazzat again. Even though we didn’t win those races, it was great to go with horses who had good chances. It was really interesting to see how different countries did things. The most eye-opening thing was how they looked after owners.
“They treat you like royalty, looking after you and driving you to the entrance to the racecourse. It was a privilege. Maybe it was just because I was an overseas guest, but I heard that all the owners got the same. There is also a lot more prize-money on offer, of course. They make sure they look after owners, and I think in Europe they could learn a few lessons from that.”
Bizakov fell in love especially deeply with Australia, where Lazzat earned more than £1 million for finishing second in the Golden Eagle at Rosehill, and is making tentative plans to increase his involvement in the country.
“I intend to send a few horses down to Australia in the summer to be trained there,” he said. “Some of our horses who stay a mile and further should be competitive in their races, and if they’re Listed level here there's a good chance they could be running in Group races quite consistently there.
“I met a few trainers who I would be happy to work with, and we’re being assisted down there by Will Johnson, who used to be assistant trainer to Roger [Varian]. He will be a big addition to our team, and will be busier from the summer. He will look after my horses in Australia, and if we send one or two stallions to shuttle there, as we’re thinking we might, he could manage those.
“Even if we don’t shuttle any stallions, I might send two or three fillies or mares to Australia in the autumn to start breeding there. I’m looking at Australia with an open mind, as I really enjoyed my week in Sydney. I was very impressed by the racing there. I want to discover Melbourne next, but I’ve told myself I'll only go there with a horse who will run in the Melbourne Cup.”
That is not to say that Bizakov is disillusioned with the European racing scene, though; far from it. How could he be, after the year Sumbe has just had? Indeed, he said he felt vindicated for moving the operation to Normandy from its original base at Hesmonds Stud in East Sussex.
He commented: “I strongly believe the move to France was the right decision for many reasons, including the quality of land here; you can see how young horses develop bone better, for example.
“Obviously the difference in prize-money is a very big thing too. I don’t want to moan about the situation in Britain: ask me where I most want to win a Group 1 race and eight out of ten times the answer would be in the UK. But racing in France undeniably makes more financial sense.
“Not every horse can be a Lazzat or Charyn and earn fortunes, but even if you win a small maiden in France you can get enough money from the prize-money and premiums to pay for a few months’ training fees. It’s just not the same in the UK. I remember Askar Tau, my first good horse, won five races in a row there and I cleared only about £16,000 or something similar.”
The Sumbe stallion operation in France is thriving too, especially with the arrival of the brilliant Charyn on the roster. Therein lies another small but significant adjustment to the way things are being done this year.
“We syndicated him; it’s the first time we’ve done it with one of our stallions, and we didn’t do it publicly or advertise it,” revealed Bizakov. “We approached some high-end farms we thought would be good partners, and happily we’ve ended up with a great group. I’m especially pleased that the Wertheimer brothers became shareholders, as they don’t often use unproven horses.
“Charyn is already fully booked. I asked the team to restrict numbers, because we need to look after him. He’ll cover 120 to 125 outside mares. I’m planning to send him 20 or so of my own mares, and with shareholders’ mares he might go up to 160 in total.
"We could have covered 200 or more mares for the sake of generating income, but the syndicate is keen that there should be some degree of exclusivity over the horse and his produce. It gives people investing in him more confidence.
“We’re also thinking of shuttling him to the southern hemisphere. There has been high demand from Australia and New Zealand. All in all I’m excited about this journey, and I think other breeders are too. It’s been a long time since a champion miler of his calibre retired to France.”
Bizakov confirmed that among his own band who will visit Charyn this year are Bee Queen, the dam of Belbek; Lastochka, the dam of Lazzat; Nausha and Nazym, the dam and granddam of Nizam; Providenciales, a half-sister to Saffron Beach bought for 380,000gns at Tattersalls last month; Yukata, a blueblooded daughter of Galileo bought for $500,000 at Keeneland in November; and Ezine and Mirakova, both beautifully bred young mares.
Bizakov is in France this week during the Route des Etalons, for which Haras de Montfort et Preaux is open for timed showings tomorrow and Saturday, with Varian making a special guest appearance to extol the virtues of Charyn.
He admitted to being impatient waiting for the arrival of the first Sumbe foals of the year – including debut produce of top-level winners Angel Bleu, Belbek and Mishriff, all of whom also received strong home support – before he returns to his native Kazakhstan next week. Mares have wisely been holding on during the subzero temperatures in western Europe over the past fortnight.
At least memories of that tremendous 2024 must have kept Bizakov warm during the big freeze?
“It was a jubilee year for both me and Tony [Fry, Sumbe general manager],” he agreed. “Both of us had our 60th birthdays, and the horses did their bit to make it more special. Any year in which you win a Group 1 race is a good one, so to win four and be unlucky in a few more was incredible.
“Charyn and Lazzat have made us very proud, and given us belief in what we’re doing, in terms of breeding and buying. I remember when Altyn Orda became our first homebred black-type winner in the Oh So Sharp Stakes, and I told Tony, ‘Okay, we know we can breed a Group 3 winner, now we need to work out how we can breed Group 1 winners’. We got the monkey off our back with Belbek and now we have Lazzat too.”
Bizakov also said he was touched by the public support for Charyn and the Sumbe operation in its year of years.
“We received lots of kind messages, and it was wonderful for the horse to be voted champion miler in Europe,” he added. “He was easy for the public to get behind as a grey who raced every month, and always gave 100 per cent. There aren’t many horses as genuine as him, and I think racing fans appreciate that.
“He also made a good story by making Dark Angel the champion sire for his breeders the O’Callaghan family at Yeomanstown Stud, so there was just a lot of positivity around him. It looks like that will continue in his stallion career now.”
With riding arrangements in place for an exciting bunch of young horses in training, the launch of Charyn, the promise of first foals by Angel Bleu, Belbek and Mishriff and the hope for Golden Horde’s debut three-year-olds – not to mention that intriguing possible expansion into Australia – that annus mirabilis in 2024 really could extend into a decade of delights.
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