'We go into next year with as strong a roster as we've ever had' - Siyouni and Sea The Stars rise to €200,000

Siyouni and Sea The Stars have been given career-high fees of €200,000 for 2024, with both Aga Khan Studs sires having enjoyed another strong year.

Siyouni, who stood for €150,000 in the 2023 breeding season at the Aga’s Haras de Bonneval in France, is the second leading sire in Europe by prize-money this year, behind Frankel.

He began with a sensational Classic double, with Paddington and Tahiyra winning the Irish 2,000 and Irish 1,000 Guineas – and both three-year-olds continued to light up the Flat season, notching an additional five Group 1 victories between them.

In France, Mqse De Sévigné won two Group 1s during the summer in Deauville, and in Australia, Amelia’s Jewel blitzed an extraordinary trail of Group-race success.

Siyouni also continues to be one of the most in-demand sires in the sales ring, with his yearlings in 2023 fetching up to €2.2 million.

Sea The Stars, who stands at the Aga’s Gilltown Stud base in Ireland and was pitched at €180,000 this year, has been represented by four Group 1 winners in 2023, among them Hukum, one of the highest-rated horses on the planet.

With more than 110 stakes winners and 21 Group 1 winners to his name, and 12 per cent lifetime stakes winners to runners, Sea The Stars is an undeniably reliable source of star performers.

He is also a notable broodmare sire, with five top-level winners to his name, including recent Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Unquestionable.

See The Stars: career-high stud fee for 2024Credit: Patrick McCann

With his two-year-olds this season including Fillies’ Mile third See The Fire, as well as fellow black-type performers Aventure, Macduff and Sosie, there is also much to look forward to in 2024.

Zarak has supplied stakes winners at an eye-popping strike-rate since his first crop, conceived at €12,000, hit the track in 2021. His first two crops have produced six Group 1 horses, including 2023 Group 1 winner Zagrey, and his third crop – two-year-olds of 2023 – feature the likes of Group 3 winner Shagara, and Group-placed Zaphod and Saganti.

His yearlings of 2024 will be his first crop conceived at an increased fee following his significant early success, and he remains at €60,000 for 2024, standing alongside Siyouni.

Vadeni also joins the roster at Haras de Bonneval as a Cartier champion three-year-old, the record-breaking winner of the Prix du Jockey Club and the first French horse in 60 years to win the Eclipse.

He was also a stakes-winning and Group-placed two-year-old, and showed great constitution and temperament throughout his career, enabling him to perform with distinction at the highest level in France, Ireland and Britain. His opening fee has been set at €18,000.

Erevann is another new recruit to Bonneval and boasts an attractive profile as a son of sire of sires Dubawi and Siyouni’s multiple Group 1-winning daughter Ervedya.

The winner of four races in five starts over a mile at two and three, including the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein, Erevann was beaten just a neck in the Prix Jacques le Marois, and goes to stud with a similar profile to Zarak. He starts out at €8,000.

Georges Rimaud, manager of the Aga Khan Studs in France, said: “With two internationally proven leading sires, one rapidly rising star and two exciting new stallions to offer breeders in 2024, we go into next year with as strong a roster as we have ever had.

“We look forward to showing them to breeders over the next few weeks, and invite people to get in touch with myself or Fanny Cyprès in France, or Pat Downes or Julie White in Ireland, to discuss their mating plans.”

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