'She looked like she'd had the virus - and the trace clip made her look wonky'

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Here, he speaks to Sumbe's Tony Fry in the wake of Belbek's important Group 1 victory for Nurlan Bizakov's operation on Arc day. Subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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It took Kazakhstani business magnate Nurlan Bizakov more than 12 years in racing, and no little expenditure on studs and stock during that period, before he tasted Group 1 victory for the first time when Belbek landed the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp on Sunday.

In truth, that delayed gratification might not have been the worst thing in the world; we’ve all seen big new investors in the sport become spoilt by early success and grow disillusioned when they endure a leaner spell. Besides which, it’s not as if Bizakov's relatively long wait wasn’t punctuated by other classy horses carrying his familiar pale blue and yellow silks – the likes of Altyn Orda, Anipa, Elik, Nausha and Tomyris, for example.

Belbek’s breakthrough at the highest level will also be all the sweeter as he is a homebred for Sumbe, the banner under which Bizakov has bred since he merged operations at Hesmonds Stud in East Sussex, which was bought in 2010, and Haras de Montfort et Preaux, which was added to his portfolio around a decade later, with the historic Haras du Mezeray brought into the fold soon after that.

It’s not just Belbek who has been flying the flag for Sumbe on the racecourse of late, either. Most notably Souzak, a son of Kodiac bought as a yearling for €100,000, earned €150,000 by winning the Haras de Bouquetot Criterium Arqana at Longchamp for Jerome Reynier on Saturday before being sold for €400,000 at the Arqana Arc Sale across town at Saint-Cloud later in the day.

Bizakov also has a number of exciting two-year-olds in training in Britain, including the Roger Varian-trained trio of Charyn, a son of Dark Angel who kept on nicely into third behind stablemate Sakheer in the Mill Reef Stakes last time, Kolsai, an Oasis Dream colt who won a warm Newmarket maiden on his second start recently, and Almaty Star, a son of Kodiac who ran a highly promising third at Haydock on debut two weeks ago.

On top of all that, it was announced just last week that three-time Group 1 hero Mishriff, one of the hottest properties among the few independently owned stallion prospects around, would stand under the Sumbe banner at Montfort et Preaux from next year.

So, what’s behind the Sumbe surge? “There must be something in the water in France,” laughs Tony Fry, who has managed Bizakov’s equine interests since the early days at Hesmonds and is now based in Normandy.

“No, the thing is, we’re still learning. I look back now and think to myself why did I cover that mare with that stallion, or why did I send that yearling to that trainer?

“It’s been a long learning process, finding out what works and what doesn’t, and it’s still a work in progress. It’s just fantastic to have been rewarded for all the work we've put in so far with a colt as good as Belbek.”

Tony Fry with Nurlan Bizakov at TattersallsCredit: Laura Green

Bizakov made a splash when he entered the bloodstock market by buying a number of top sellers, including the Listed-winning Highest Honor mare First for 1,100,000gns from the Bloomsbury Stud dispersal at Tattersalls in 2010 and the dearest yearling sold anywhere in the world in the following year – the 1,700,000gns Galileo three-parts sister to Listen.

But, rather interestingly, his first Group 1 winner is the result of a far more modest outlay.

Belbek is by Whitsbury Manor Stud stalwart Showcasing, and was conceived in the year he was standing at £55,000, which dipped to £45,000 in the past two seasons but looks set to rise again in 2023 thanks to the exploits of this colt and fellow stakes-winning juveniles Cold Case, Dramatised, Swingalong and Wodao.

Even more economically, though, Belbek is out of Bee Queen, a Makfi half-sister to Hampton Court Stakes winner Sangarius who was bought for just 50,000gns from the Juddmonte draft at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale of 2017.

The modest Fry says: “I bought the mare – I’m not blowing my own trumpet when I say that, as it’s a one-off at the moment and other people do it every year, plus it’s Nurlan’s money not mine – as she was just a lovely individual, a real sweetheart, and she still is.

“She looked awful at the sale, though. She’d come from Dermot Weld’s and I think he’d had the virus that year. I have a picture of her on my phone from when she arrived with us, and she had a trace clip, so half of her looked ginger and the other half looked brown.

“She looked like a filly who’d had the virus – tired, lethargic, a bit sick – and then the trace clip made her look a bit wonky. But she could walk, she had a bit of size and substance, and I liked the idea of Makfi as a broodmare sire, and the fact that the granddam was by Empire Maker. It’s also that family of Banks Hill and Hasili, and there’s always hope when you buy a Juddmonte page.”

Belbek has not only inherited a large amount of class from his Juddmonte-bred parents, but also considerable toughness and versatility. He made his debut over the minimum trip in April and Sunday's score over seven furlongs was his sixth start of a campaign that also brought Group 3 honours in the Prix du Bois at Chantilly in June.

“They’re all big and take a bit of time, and eventually do their best over a mile and a quarter or mile and a half, so we spat our tea out when Monsieur Fabre told us he’d be running Belbek over five furlongs in mid-April,” recalls Fry. “We thought he’d lost the plot when he finished eighth but it did lead us to believe he thought he had something special, and so it turned out as the season progressed. I think Monsieur Fabre might know what he’s doing!”

Belbek is a scopey individual who should improve again at three, but before that he might be seen again this year, as connections are carefully considering a supplementary entry to the Vertem Futurity at Doncaster later in the month.

The exciting colt is likely to be joined in Fabre’s stables next year by his Gleneagles yearling half-brother, who has just entered pre-training in France. “He’s a very similar type, with a lovely mind,” says Fry. “The family all has that, they just like to eat and sleep and please you. They get that from their mum.”

It’s not only Belbek’s mooted Doncaster adventure that could allow Sumbe to see out the season in style, as Almaty Star is entered for a novice stakes at York on Friday and Charyn holds black-type entries in Britain and France in the coming week.

“Almaty Star should win at York, and Charyn could race over six furlongs in the Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte or over seven in the Prix Saraca or Dewhurst – we’ll see what Roger [Varian] thinks,” says Fry. “I’m just so glad to be talking about our horses running in races like those, and not about trying to find a weak maiden at Wolverhampton just to get a win into them. It’s what we dream about when we breed or buy them.”

The sold-on Souzak won’t form part of those exciting racing plans for Sumbe any more, but Fry thinks the deal made business sense.

Souizak: did his bit for Sumbe's coffers, never more so than on Saturday at Longchamp and Saint-CloudCredit: Edward Whitaker

“The horse made more than half a million euros for us in one day and I think the boss will be reinvesting that money,” he says. “It’s bittersweet, of course, and half of me thinks we should have kept him, but if someone else gets some value out of him that’s no bad thing; it shows that we sell good horses, and aren’t just squeezing the pip and passing it on.”

Souzak and Belbek’s racecourse heroics at the weekend were a fine advertisement for Sumbe in the week that it was announced it would stand the marvellous Mishriff. Even though the horse himself wasn’t able to make an impact in the Arc, there was apparently no shortage of interest in his stallion career at Longchamp.

“We had a very positive response, and when we weren’t getting soaking wet on Sunday we were fielding questions from people about whether we were selling breeding rights or shares,” reports Fry. “There were lots of people saying they had two or three mares for him, and if everyone is as good as their word I think we must have done 20 bookings on that day alone.

“The Arc was always a bit of a pipe dream for the horse after the going turned. The weather was set fair ten days before the race, and it looked like being good ground, but when the rain started it didn’t stop, so I think we can safely write off his effort and if all’s well we’ll go to the Breeders’ Cup with him. He hasn’t disgraced himself this year, despite not winning.”

Fry added that Sumbe, which will be the majority shareholder in Mishriff, would “pick out plenty” of its 50 mares to go to the Prix du Jockey Club-winning son of Make Believe.

All being well, Sumbe’s own progeny of Mishriff will feed into its tried and tested system of breeding in France, rearing as yearlings at Hesmonds Stud and training back across the Channel in order to take advantage of better prize-money boosted by premiums.

All the while, yearlings will still be bought at the sales to support British-based trainers Roger Varian and Clive Cox.

So Belbek might be a long-awaited first Group 1 winner for the operation, but he looks like being far from the last.

What do you think?

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Pedigree pick

Ballydoyle newcomer Londoner, who makes his debut in the mile maiden at Navan on Wednesday (3.35), makes plenty of appeal on pedigree.

Bred by Blue Diamond Stud and the Irish National Stud, he hails from the first crop of Group 1-winning juvenile and 2,000 Guineas hero Saxon Warrior, which has already yielded Prix de Conde winner Victoria Road and two other Group-placed performers, including Sunday’s Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Gan Teorainn.

He is out of the Monsieur Bond mare Gilt Edge Girl, who got better with age and won the Prix de l’Abbaye on her swansong at four, even though most of her relatives were more precocious, including Arcano, Big Audio, Blue Dakota, Godfrey Street and Streamline.

Gilt Edge Girl hasn’t been the most consistent broodmare, producing two winners from four runners, but they include Listed scorer Time’s Arrow, and at €270,000 Londoner is by far her most expensive yearling to date.

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Good Morning Bloodstock is our latest email newsletter. Martin Stevens, a doyen among bloodstock journalists, provides his take and insight on the biggest stories every morning from Monday to Friday