'They're absolute jungle cats' - Stradivarius first foals are thrilling Bjorn Nielsen

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Here, Martin Stevens chats to Bjorn Nielsen about Stradivarius and his foals. Subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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I’m not one for reading too much into foal photos. How people can say with any confidence that a week-old infant with noodly limbs and tufty ears will, or won’t, eventually become a high-class athlete escapes me. 

However, I’ve suspended my usual cynicism since pictures of the first Stradivarius foals have emerged on social media in the last few weeks. 

Nearly all the ones I’ve seen have a chestnut coat, white blaze or white legs – or a combination of all three, just like their father. So it’s hard not to get carried away dreaming that some might also have his exceptional ability, which saw him win a record 18 Group races in Europe, including three Gold Cups.

If Stradivarius’s early offspring are exciting us racing fans and breeding nerds, imagine what it’s like for the son of Sea The Stars’ owner and breeder Bjorn Nielsen, who stands him at the National Stud and sent him six of his own mares last year. 

“I know every stallion owner always says ‘oh, he’s producing fantastic first foals’ and all the rest of it, but I really have been told over and over again in the last few weeks that he’s getting very good, strong stock,” he says.

“I’ve seen videos of a couple of the foals walking, and they’re absolute jungle cats. Strad has a great walk himself, of course – there’s few better – and he seems to be passing that down, which is pleasing.  

“The buzz is he’s doing well and people are excited about what they’re seeing. In fact, there’s one guy who’s seen those foals and booked his whole broodmare band, around eight or nine mares, into him this year on the strength of them.”

Nielsen has welcomed two Stradivarius foals of his own: a filly out of Theoricienne, a winning daughter of Kendor descended in the distaff line from Natalma and already the dam of stakes winners She’s My Type and Tour To Paris, and a colt out of Reflective, a Seeking The Gold half-sister to Classic victors Bosra Sham, Hector Protector and Shanghai who produced the owner’s talented stayer Biographer. 

“Theoricienne’s filly must be one of the only ones who isn’t a chestnut with white socks; she’s a grey,” says Nielsen. “Most of the foals I’ve seen are clones of their sire. It hasn’t mattered whether the mare is grey or dark brown, they’ve come out as chestnut with white socks.

“Theoricienne is one of two older but already stakes-producing mares I bought from the Haras du Quesnay dispersal at Arqana in 2022, with the intention of sending to Stradivarius.  

“The other was Treasure [a daughter of Anabaa who is the dam of Listed winner Tresorerie and smart pair King Ottokar and Tresorier], who unfortunately lost her foal early last year but goes back to him this season. 

“I was never going to go crazy buying mares for Stradivarius. I wanted the right ones rather than having loads for the sake of quantity. Also, it’s the golden rule of being an owner-breeder not to send all of your own broodmare band to your own stallion, as it can ruin the whole lot.”

John Gosden, Bjorn Nielsen and Frankie Dettori as Stradivarius is officially inducted into the Qipco British Champions Series Hall of FameCredit: British Champions Series

The colt foal out of Reflective, one of the few in Nielsen’s existing roster of mares who did go to Stradivarius, conforms to expectations as a chestnut with white socks and is “a phenomenal individual, a particularly good mover,” adds the proud owner. 

Stradivarius’s stallion appeal was once the subject of much debate as he had won over the ‘wrong’ distances, and was the ‘wrong’ colour and size, so it is gratifying that he is now far more often associated with a different physical trait that everyone agrees on as being right: his tremendous walk.

“There was always this question mark over him as a stayer, whether he would make it as a Flat sire,” says Nielsen. “But I’m convinced he was really more a mile and a half horse, he just had the ability to switch off early in his races and never burned any energy unnecessarily. It was remarkable how his jockeys could quicken whenever they wanted.

“He was so unusual in that his turnover and stride were so quick. I was told that he was faster than a lot of sprinters covering the same ground, and so I think he’d suit mares who were a little faster. That's what I've tried to send him.” 

He adds: “Mark Weinfeld of Meon Valley Stud, who clearly knows what he’s talking about, sent me an email recently saying he’d seen the Strad at the National Stud and was absolutely amazed; he said he didn’t walk so much as prowl. And he really does. He has a fantastic swagger.

“I think there’s an old saying among horsemen that goes something like ‘all good horses can walk, but not all good walkers can run’. As it goes I think most horses that do have that sort of walk on them are athletic too.” 

Reflective sadly died after foaling, but Theoricienne and Treasure will return to Stradivarius this year, along with Nielsen’s homebred Royal Ascot scorer Agrotera and her dam Lombatina; Fabulist, a winning Dubawi half-sister to Prix d’Ispahan runner-up Almodovar; and the newly retired Vaguely Regal, who is a daughter of Galileo and Danilovna, a Dansili half-sister to dual Group 1 heroine and modern blue hen Lillie Langtry.

“Agrotera didn’t go in foal to Stradivarius last year but Lombatina is due to foal to him in April,” says Nielsen. “She’s a very good mare. As well as producing Agrotera she’s the dam of Jeanne D’Arc, a Le Havre filly who broke her maiden at Chelmsford nicely over the winter and is in the Nell Gwyn and the 1,000 Guineas. The Gosdens think she’s a pretty nice prospect.” 

Craig Buckingham's Stradivarius colt out of Sweet BonnetCredit: Craig and Laura Buckingham

He adds: “Vaguely Regal is bred along similar lines to Minding, who’s by Galileo out of Lillie Langtry. She ran only once, at four last year, but she was kept in training from when she was three until we drew stumps with her only recently, as we had a high opinion of her. 

“She’d always worked very well at home, but early in her time as a three-year-old in pre-training she crashed through a fence, and it became difficult to keep her sound after that.  

“Then, each time she was ready to race, little things would go wrong. The one time she did run, she was drawn 11 at Windsor and it was a disaster. But we know she had a lot of speed, and probably would have been a mile to ten-furlong horse, and she’s a big girl too. So she should suit Strad all round.”

Sending a daughter of Galileo to a son of Galileo’s half-brother Sea The Stars produces a 3x3 duplication of those great horses’ dam Urban Sea in the tabulated pedigree. No problem, says Nielsen. 

“I don’t mind that at all,” he contends. “For whatever reason, I don’t like to see 3x3 with stallions, be it Danehill or Sadler’s Wells for instance. I know Enable was 3x2 to Sadler’s Wells, and she’s one of the greatest racemares in history, so it worked with her, but it’s just not to my taste. 

“Doubling up on a prepotent mare doesn’t bother me, though. In fact I think full-brothers and half-brothers in a pedigree make for an interesting combination, and we’re going to see tons more of that with Urban Sea in future, what with Frankel and other sons of Galileo, and Sea The Stars too. 

“In fact, El Cordobes, who I bred and sold as a yearling for 2,000,000gns and who broke his maiden impressively for Godolphin recently, is by Frankel out of the Sea The Stars mare Bold Lass and so is 3x3 to Urban Sea as well.”

All this granular pedigree discussion reminds me: Nielsen is the new owner of one of the best breeding curios of the last few years, who was arguably a bit of a snip even though she formed part of the much vaunted Niarchos family reduction at Goffs in November. 

Jeremy Brummitt signed on his behalf at €180,000 for Only Mine, who was a multiple stakes winner over six furlongs for Joe Murphy despite being by Derby winner and stamina influence Pour Moi out of the ten-furlong Listed scorer Truly Mine.

The reported first foal by the legendary stayer, the Wretham Stud-bred filly out of Bated Breath mare Give Me Breath Credit: Dominic James/National Stud

“I think she was a decent buy at that price as there were a lot of very expensive mares in that sale,” says Nielsen of the 11-year-old mare, whose first two runners are the classy winners Reflexivity and Uxmal. “She’s due to Siyouni in May so I sent her to France to foal down and won’t cover her this year, as it would be June before we were able to do so. We’ll bring her back early next year but I haven’t decided what we’ll send her to yet. 

“A sprinter by Pour Moi is unusual, and there’s little on the dam’s side that would give you a clue either. It’s the family of last year’s Oaks winner Soul Sister, in fact. I wasn’t surprised that a major breeder like the Niarchos family bought her, as it suggests she has something special in her.

“You’d think she should have been a ten-furlong mare at least, but she was very quick. I don’t believe there was anything wrong with her breathing to make her a short runner, which happens sometimes, or that she was a filly who was very on her toes and hard to settle, which was the case with Frankel's dam Kind, who was entitled to stay ten furlongs on pedigree ”  

So Nielsen can’t shed any more light on Only Mine’s unusual profile? 

“No, I don’t think it was her temperament, as Jeremy said she was well behaved at the sales, and she’s been very settled in her new home,” he adds. “But look at her physique and she’s got a massive backend; she’s built more like a sprinter. How that happened, I just don’t know.”

Perhaps the inexplicable outlier Only Mine will one day find herself in Stradivarius’s book, after he’s proved to be effective as a sire, if not before. 

He’s doing everything required of him so far, selling himself to breeders not only on his brilliant race record but also his trademark prowl, and then encouraging more custom thanks to his striking first foals exciting interest. 

“He’s up to around 70 mares this season and is on his way to getting between 80 and 100, which is what we hoped for,” says Nielsen. “He’s getting his chances, I can’t ask for more than that, and now it’s up to him to prove it with his runners on the track in three years’ time.

“But looking at those early foals, I think he’s going to have runners all right. I’m seeing all the right things.”

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"Like any breeder you just want them home safe, he's won a Grade 2 and whatever he does over hurdles, he's going to be a better chaser," says Dena Merson, the well-known industry figure who's behind Supreme Novices' Hurdle hopeful Slade Steel.

Pedigree pick

Mystical Power’s claims in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham on Tuesday (1.30) are endorsed by his outstanding breeding – by supersire Galileo out of the great hurdling mare Annie Power – but he won’t go off a huge price and one of his rivals is just as well bred and might be worth a small, speculative each-way bet to pedigree enthusiasts. 

Supersundae, a runner-up at Compiegne last April who makes his debut for Willie Mullins on the biggest stage in jump racing, has little chance on form but he is by leading jumps sire Authorized out of Distinctive Look, a winning Danehill half-sister to Group 1 stars Great Heavens, Nathaniel and Playful Act. 

Most importantly, his homophonous half-brother Supasundae was a multiple Grade 1-winning hurdler who landed the Coral Cup and finished second in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

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