Quality not quantity promises another twist in Al Kazeem fairytale

The long and winding tale of Al Kazeem reads like a storyboard for a film. John Deer's homebred son of Dubawi was maturing into a top-class talent, having hacked up in the Jockey Club Stakes on his four-year-old debut, when sidelined for nearly a year by a stress fracture to his pelvis.

Expertly nurtured back to full fitness by trainer Roger Charlton, he carried all before him in the first half of the 2013 Flat season. After taking the scalp of Camelot in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, he stormed home to collar Mukhadram in the Prince of Wales's Stakes and then beat Declaration Of War by two lengths in the Eclipse.

A deal was struck for Al Kazeem to start his stallion career at the Royal Studs in 2014, with Al Shaqab Racing taking a significant share and set to send many of its best racemares and producers to him. Unfortunately, the horse was found to be subfertile and sold back to Deer, who sent him back to Charlton.