Highly rated Cloth Of Stars an exciting newcomer at Haras du Logis

They say you should judge a person by the company they keep, as well as by the character of the foes they confront.

The same thing could be said of racehorses and so, with Cloth Of Stars joining the ever-improving ranks standing in Normandy for 2019, there is genuine excitement.

The son of Sea The Stars passes many of the key tests that act as gatekeepers to the top stud farms: by a top-class sire himself; a Group winner at two; a Group 1 winner at four in the Prix Ganay and a female family to die for.

But what the wider racing public will keep coming back to are those two heroic performances behind Enable in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2017 and 2018. The mark earned by Cloth Of Stars at Chantilly in the first of those two attempts – 126 on Racing Post Ratings – means he is second only to Almanzor in recent memory in terms of achievement for a horse retiring to stand in France.

The man charged most directly with steering his nascent career is Julian Ince, the owner and driving force behind the ludicrously charming Haras du Logis at Louvieres-en-Auge, a village where the horses definitely outnumber the humans.

Ince is only too well aware that Cloth Of Stars is the type of horse who, until relatively recently, would have stood in Britain or Ireland before potentially coming to France later on.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have a horse with such a high rating,” says Ince. “His Arc exploits behind Enable make him just about the second highest [Timeform] rated horse to be retired to stud in France in the last 40 years. He was the first colt home in each
of the last two Arcs, which is an amazing feat in itself.

“He comes from a good Niarchos family and is the highest-rated among them, and he is the best by Sea The Stars so, yes, he’s a very exciting horse.

“We’re delighted Sheikh Mohammed has sent him here to Logis and shown his continued support for the French stallion industry.” Cloth Of Stars might chiefly occupy the space of champion older horse in the public imagination but Andre Fabre was not shy about trying him in high grade as a juvenile, when he won the Group 3 Prix des Chenes over a mile and then placed twice more, notably when runner-up in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

Ince says: “Everybody will think of that longevity and it’s absolutely right but the one thing you have to remember with this horse is that he was a top-class two-year-old and that’s really the icing on the cake with him.”

There is a reminder of the potential for placed horses in the Arc to succeed at stud Cloth Of Stars’ family, given that his third dam is Northern Trick, herself runner-up to Sagace for Stavros Niarchos in the 1984 running.

The near family also boasts Shiva, Oaks heroine Light Shift and Ulysses, who finished directly behind Cloth Of Stars in the 2017 Arc.

None of this has been missed by breeders hoping to use Cloth Of Stars in his first year at Logis.

“We’re in the lucky position that he’s been exceedingly popular and so we’re now going through mares to try and limit his numbers, rather than looking for mares,” says Ince.

“We decided as with a lot of our stallions to offer 30-odd breeding rights and they were sold within 24 hours.”

‘Works well for both sides’

To welcome such an illustrious prospect at the start of his career is a far cry from Ince’s introduction to standing a horse and working with Darley.

“The farm was pretty much full after I’d been here about a year and I was getting a bit bored, so I went to Sheikh Mohammed’s team and asked them about purchasing a horse,” he says. “That deal fell through but they told me they were changing policy and were looking to stand stallions rather than sell them.

“I put in an offer to stand the horse and they looked at it and we were lucky enough to get a horse called Medaaly here and that was our first horse for Darley, 20 years ago now.

“It works well for both sides and we do everything we can to make the operation and the stallions successful.”

The story ever since has been one of gradually attempting to upgrade the calibre of horse standing at Logis.

Ince adds: “In the beginning we targeted the very best sons of the best French sires, hence a horse like Medaaly who was the best son of Highest Honor. Then we looked to improve the quality of the horses coming in with horses like King’s Best who had already produced Group 1 winners in Britain and Ireland.

“We took Authorized [from Dalham Hall in 2014] and Manduro [from Kildangan in 2012] because we felt the race programme in France was far more suitable for those types of horses.

“Cloth Of Stars is the best horse we’ve had to start his career at Logis, that’s for sure, and he’s perfectly suited to the French race programme, having been a Group winner at two before progressing to a mile and a quarter and then a mile and a half.”

Cloth not the only star

Regulars on the Route des Etalons will not only be keen to look at Cloth Of Stars but to reacquaint themselves with the rest of Ince’s roster, including “champion du monde” Manduro and his son Ultra – winner of the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere in 2015 for Godolphin and Fabre – who debuted on the trail 12 months ago and whose first foals are imminent.

“We sold 30-odd breeding rights with him too and that went very well, while the breeders have supported him with some top-class mares,” says Ince.

“Physically he has developed into a wonderful-looking horse who is as impressive as his father.

“Again he was a top twoyear-old from a good family and he’s a horse we’re very excited about.”

Ince remains a fervent supporter of Manduro and believes breeders are beginning to appreciate the son of Monsun much more.

He says: “The marketplace is a funny place and doesn’t always reflect the results and the quality of the horses a stallion has been producing. That’s possibly been the case a little bit with Manduro over the last few years but now things have certainly turned around.

“He’s had a great standard bearer in Vazirabad but there are also horses such as Ultra and [Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner] Mandaean who, like a lot of his stock, have performed well in France.

“And in the last year he has had a few horses perform very well over jumps, which means he has become popular not only as a sire of two-year-olds but also with the jumps boys.”

The roster at Haras du Logis also includes Manduro and his chestnut son UltraCredit: Marc Ruhl

If the jumping fraternity are beginning to catch on to Manduro – through the exploits of horses like Rashaan for Colin Kidd and the Francois Nicolle-trained Porto Pollo – then the cat has long been out of that particular bag about Authorized.

Ince says the 2007 Derby winner began at Logis with about a 70-30 split in favour of Flat-bred covers but now has around the same numbers in favour of future National Hunt stock.

“Looking at last year alone, in February he produced a Group 1 winner [Hartnell] over 1,400 metres [seven furlongs] in Australia and then, less than two months later, he got the winner of the Grand National in Tiger Roll.

“He’s done everything and he can produce every type of horse on any ground, over any distance. We’re delighted to have him and he’s delighted to be here. He’s very settled into his French way of life.”

‘Very exciting horse’

Ince points to the preponderance of ownerbreeders in France as evidence for the popularity of horses like the three Logis inmates priced at €4,000, namely Masterstroke, Bow Creek and Hunter’s Light.

While stallion masters are supposed to be as impartial with their horses as their children, there is no mistaking the enthusiasm Ince has for Hunter’s Light, whom he feels might be able to break out from that lower-priced bracket.

“He has his first two-yearolds [this season] and was our first Darley Club horse, with nearly 100 mares coming into him just for the club, while at the same time we sell nominations to him as well.

“I think he’s going to be a very exciting horse in the future as an excellent son of Dubawi from a good family, the family of Darshaan.

“If you look at all the sons of Dubawi at stud today, there are only Hunter’s Light, Postponed and Al Kazeem that have won three or more Group 1s.

“He’s going to have to do it the hard way but, with his pedigree and his performance, as well as numbers on the ground, I’m quite excited about Hunter’s Light. He looks to me like a horse who could come through.”

Fabre’s view ‘He’s the ideal type of thoroughbred’

As with his near neighbours at the Haras du Logis, Manduro, Ultra and Masterstroke, Cloth Of Stars was guided throughout his career by master trainer Andre Fabre.

In 2017 and 2018 the son of Sea The Stars ended the season as the top-rated horse in France and Fabre has no doubts as to what made him such a big talent on the track, traits that breeders will hope he can bequeath to his progeny.

“His great strength was his acceleration, that change of pace. For a mile-and-a-half horse, he had a real ability to quicken.

“There’s also his lovely conformation. For me he’s the ideal type of thoroughbred: not too big, not too heavy. He was sound and really one of my favourite types of horse.

“He won Group races at all ages and, although he didn’t handle going to Dubai, he came back to form at the right moment for the Arc."

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