- This topic has 9 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 7 months ago by
.
- Posts
Coolmore and Ballydoyle are without a doubt the most dominant thoroughbred operation in the world, and deserve every accolade going in my opinion. But perhaps even more deserving is Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms.
Over the years their modus operandi has been one of quality over quantity, and this is exhibited no better than in their decision to cull over 50 broodmares since 2014, who were deemed surplus to requirements. Unlike Coolmore – who’s roll of honour is filled with countless stars as if to resemble the night sky – Juddmonte have but a small constellation, a small constellation that burns brighter than any other however.
To name but a few we have Warning, Dancing Brave, Zafonic, Midday, Kingman, Arrogate, more recently Enable, the exciting Expert Eye will hope to live up to theses names, and the greatest of all; Frankel.
The stability and continuity within their organisation has no doubt contributed to this success, and their consistent loyalty to a select number of trainers such as Sir Henry Cecil, John Golden and Sir Michael Stoute.
Perhaps their greatest asset is their lack of pride. Unlike Godolphin, who until recently have been embattled in a cold-war with Coolmore, Juddmonte have reaped huge rewards from their open relationship. None more so than the partnership between Galileo and their own homebred mare Kind, producing the mighty Frankel.
I’d like to hear your opinions on what it is that makes Juddmonte the racing juggernaut that it is?
Interesting question Voleur. For me, a lot of their success is to do with the strength (and diversity) of their broodmare purchases back in the 1970s (think Mofida, Sookera etc.), the female families that have resulted, and then the way they have worked with those families over the years. Initially the mares went to classic stallions. Mofida’s best daughters (Zaizafon and Modena) are by The Minstrel and Roberto for example; Navajo Princess went to Lyphard to get Dancing Brave; Where You Lead produced Slightly Dangerous again to Roberto. In the next generation, Mofida’s daughters went the Mr P, ND sons route, to produce the likes of Midsummer and Reams of Verse. In turn, they have been put to Juddmonte’s own-bred stallions to get the likes of Midday. This is more the Aga Khan model than Coolmore (which is a stallion-based operation). Actually, the affinities between Juddmonte and the AKS are quite striking when you compare Zarkava’s, Kingman’s and Hasili’s pedigrees. Zamindar (whose dam is Zaizafon) is the sire of Zarkava and the broodmare sire of Kingman; Hasili is by the AK’s stallion Kahyasi who is also the broodmare sire of Zarkava. I’m sure there’d be more if I looked harder. I think this signals a wider quality that you allude to in your post – the capacity to learn from others, and not just to follow fashion.
Is Khalid Abdulla in any way responsible for planning the matings or is there a team of “experts”. I have wondered how modern large scale studs plan them.
<p abp=”195″>Is Khalid Abdulla in any way responsible for planning the matings or is there a team of “experts”. I have wondered how modern large scale studs plan them.
They probably do it how they do it with rabbits, input into a PC. I seem to recall Brigadier Gerard came via that route except in those days it would probably have been a room-sized mainframe
It’s curious how some of these owner/breeder operations hit a dry spot and don’t return to the level formerly operated at. An example would be the Barnett family, who had all those good stayers with Henry Candy – when that trainer was known for excelling with his stayers.The Barnett’s had Time Charter, Master Willie, and a few years earlier the likes of Centrocon, Centroline and Nicholas Bill. Today they had the 5f 2 year old Hannon winner at Nottingham. Time Charter, the third dam.
Two big factors in getting Juddmonte off the ground to becoming the superbly run organisation that it has been for so long was the careful acquisition of selected broodmare bands when the previous owner had died or hit financial difficulties and the involvement of the excellent Bloodstock Agent James Delahooke.
I think you hit the nail on the head about Juddmonte being “superbly run”. With Philip Mitchell as the recently-retired general manager of the breeding side for the best part of thirty years, and Teddy Beckett coming up to twenty years as the racing manager, it points to the man himself, Khalid Abdullah, as the person with an astute mind who leads an organisation where there is consistency and continuity, long term loyalty that works both ways, and a desire in the whole team to play their own part in the enterprise, not just to do a job. There are a few other breeding operations in Europe, USA and Japan which are run on similar lines and have had great success. But with some people imapatience gets the better of them and that can lead to poor decisions in an industry where there are no short cuts to excellence. You have to play the long game to win.
Interesting question Voleur. For me, a lot of their success is to do with the strength (and diversity) of their broodmare purchases back in the 1970s (think Mofida, Sookera etc.), the female families that have resulted, and then the way they have worked with those families over the years. Initially the mares went to classic stallions. Mofida’s best daughters (Zaizafon and Modena) are by The Minstrel and Roberto for example; Navajo Princess went to Lyphard to get Dancing Brave; Where You Lead produced Slightly Dangerous again to Roberto. In the next generation, Mofida’s daughters went the Mr P, ND sons route, to produce the likes of Midsummer and Reams of Verse. In turn, they have been put to Juddmonte’s own-bred stallions to get the likes of Midday. This is more the Aga Khan model than Coolmore (which is a stallion-based operation). Actually, the affinities between Juddmonte and the AKS are quite striking when you compare Zarkava’s, Kingman’s and Hasili’s pedigrees. Zamindar (whose dam is Zaizafon) is the sire of Zarkava and the broodmare sire of Kingman; Hasili is by the AK’s stallion Kahyasi who is also the broodmare sire of Zarkava. I’m sure there’d be more if I looked harder. I think this signals a wider quality that you allude to in your post – the capacity to learn from others, and not just to follow fashion.
Nail on head.
In stark contrast to the sprawling, inefficient, inward looking incoherent breeding operation of SM and his family.
I think the Prince still has the major part of all the mating decisions as he knows the breeding inside and out but he has also built an excellent team around him to run the show for him, my worry would be what happens when he passes on (unlike with SM it is well known that none of the Prince’s children share his passion for horse racing) and I hope he has plans in place to ensure that his legacy will continue on as it would be criminal to see that operation desolved and cherry picked by others.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.