Intello colt Slalom laying down a marker for Blushing Away clan

The Wertheimers are facing a nice problem. Such is the depth of talent within their crop of three-year-olds that it is very likely that they will have to let them clash at one time or another down the line.

Rarely does a year go by when Wertheimer et Frere doesn’t campaign a good three-year-old. The brothers, after all, have long held a place within the leading owners in France. But rather like the Niarchos family, their standing generally relies on the quality of their homebreds, the majority of whom are the products of families cultivated over a long period of time.

So far this season, they have enjoyed stakes success on four occasions. The Shamardal colt Shaman, a member of their Only Seule branch of the Fall Aspen clan, has been the most productive, landing the Prix Omnium II and Prix la Force to advertise his Classic credentials. And his win in the Prix la Force came on the same day that another homebred, Platane, captured the Prix Vanteaux. One of a number of promising three-year-olds for Le Havre this season, she hails from the Gold Round branch of their Riviere D’Or family also responsible for Goldikova.