'I think it speaks volumes about how talented Waldkonig is'

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While Martin Stevens is taking a well-earned breather, Aisling Crowe reveals the news about the blue-blooded Waldkonig heading to Knockhouse Stud - subscribers can get great such insight every Monday to Friday.

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In what is believed to be a first for Good Morning Bloodstock, we are delighted to have the privilege of announcing that Waldkonig, a Group 3-winning Kingman half-brother to Waldgeist, will stand at the Kinsella family's Knockhouse Stud for the 2023 season in conjunction with his breeders Gestut Ammerland.

The deal was brokered by Richard Venn with the assistance of Crispin de Moubray and it is an exciting departure for the farm where Derby and Arc hero Workforce has made the most of his second chance as a stallion, having returned from Japan to stand as a National Hunt sire at Knockhouse.

Waldkonig was trained by John Gosden to win three of his five starts, culminating in success in the Group 3 Gordon Richard Stakes at Sandown, where the vanquished included Hukum. Never out of the first three in his career, he was so highly thought of by the team at Clarehaven Stables that he was considered capable of emulating his older half-brother in the Arc, before injury intervened.

Trainer John Gosden commented: "Waldkonig was a very talented and courageous colt, who handled soft ground very well."

Richard Venn gave Good Morning Bloodstock the inside line on Waldkonig and his new career as a stallion, and he adds to Gosden's remarks as to his ability.

"He picked up an injury after his win in Sandown last year but he recovered and was back in training for the St Simon Stakes,” he says.

“He had a little problem that meant he couldn't make the engagement. I think it speaks volumes about how talented Waldkonig is and how strongly everyone connected with the horse believed in him that they were prepared to do that for another 18 months, to give him the chance to win his Group 1.”

Before getting into the fantastic family Waldkonig hails from, there is a topic to be addressed; inevitably questions arise over a son of Kingman as a National Hunt sire. Venn is as keen to tackle them as Josh van der Flier is to take on an opponent when confronted with an All Black jersey.

"We have got to look outside the box slightly in the search for new National Hunt sires and so the Invincible Spirit line, which has worked around the world, has to be given a chance,” says Venn.

“Headman, a dual Group 2 winner by Kingman, is at stud at Haras de Cercy, where he covered 74 mares in 2021 and 82 mares this year. I've seen some of his first foals and liked them, he seems to throw to type. We are all trying to find other things that will work and I believe Waldkonig will."

The reasons to have faith in the five-year-old, who is a gorgeous dark bay and possesses the size and scope so desirable in a National Hunt stallion, are manifold, not least those physical attributes.

Then there is his family, the fabled German W dynasty.

Waldkonig’s half-brother Waldgeist’s four Group 1 triumphs included a defeat of Enable in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The son of Galileo stands at Ballylinch Stud and his first crop, who are just yearlings, made a splash at the sales.

Waldkonig's half-brother Waldgeist won the Arc in 2019Credit: Edward Whitaker

He is also a half-brother to the Group 2 Prix de Malleret winner Waldlied, who made 2,200,000gns in foal to Kingman at the 2021 Tattersalls December Mare Sale as part of the dissolution of the partnership between Newsells Park Stud and Gestut Ammerland, following the sale of the English farm by the Jacobs family to Graham Smith-Bernal.

Another half-sister, the then three-year-old Galileo filly Wildfeder, made €2,050,000 to Crispin de Moubray, on behalf of Gestut Ammerland, at last December's Arqana Breeding Stock Sale.

Their dam Waldlerche won the Group 3 Prix Penelope and is a Monsun half-sister to St Leger winner Masked Marvel, the son of Montjeu who is an emerging National Hunt sire in France. Waldlerche is a three-parts sister to Bright Beacon, the dam of this year's Group 3 Gordon Stakes winner and Group 1 St Leger runner-up New London.

Another of her sisters, the Peintre Celebre mare Gifted Icon, is the second dam of Willie Mullins’ scintillating hurdler Vauban, who won three Grade 1 juvenile hurdles last season including the Triumph at Cheltenham.

Second dam Waldmark was runner-up in the Falmouth Stakes and is a Mark Of Esteem half-sister to Deutsches Derby winner Waldpark, who also stands at Haras de Cercy and has made a promising start to his stud career.

Waldmark is a full-sister to Waldbeere, the unraced dam of Group 3 winner and sire Wiesenpfad and Waldpfad, the son of Shamardal who was a Group 3-winning and Group 1-placed sprinter. He retired to stud at Gestut Erftmuhle in 2021 with the support of a conglomeration of German breeders and was the third busiest sire in Germany this year.

It is a family which screams class and success - and that is without mentioning his broodmare sire.

"He has a proper stallion's pedigree," Venn concurs. "The fact he is out of a Monsun mare is a real positive, as he is one of the best broodmare sires around. He was a phenomenal sire when you think of what he achieved and he never covered enormous books, when you think of the size of books that stallions cover now."

Japanese breeders know the time of day and, for a decade or more, have been snapping up well-bred daughters of Monsun from Germany to add to their already unbelievable broodmare bands.

Stacelita is just one high-profile example - the Monsun mare won six Group/Grade 1 contests and as a broodmare has foaled Frankel's first Group 1 winner in Soul Stirring, the Group 3 winner Schon Glanz, by Deep Impact, and Sentimental Mambo, a Listed-winning daughter of Deep Impact. Stacelita is the second dam of Stars On Earth, successful in this year's Group 1 Japanese 1,000 Guineas and Oaks.

Monsun's latest regally bred descendant, Waldkonig, will stand at a fee of €2,500 at Knockhouse Stud and the usual filly foal concessions will apply.

Venn says: "Sean [Kinsella] saw him and really liked him so hopefully can make a success of him, as he’s done with the likes of Roselier and Beneficial, who have made their mark on National Hunt racing."

And Good Morning Bloodstock will hopefully be around to chronicle the success of our first stallion announcement into the future.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

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Pedigree pick

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