Von Boetticher and Ballylinch love affair continues with Waldgeist

There is already a shining example at Ballylinch Stud of a pan-European partnership from which both sides have gained considerable benefit.

Lope De Vega arrived in County Kilkenny after his French Derby success in 2010 and has surely exceeded even the most fanciful of expectations, his fee multiplying almost seven-fold to €100,000 and his offspring already gathering more than a century of stakes wins.

So when Dietrich von Boetticher and the Jacobs family’s Newsells Park Stud, the joint owners and breeders of Waldgeist, had a decision to make about where to provide last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner with the surest footing to build another budding stallion’s profile, one place was high on the shortlist.

"I’ve been involved with them for many, many years and I’ve always had a very good feeling about them," says Von Boetticher, whose Gestut Ammerland was the sole breeder of Lope De Vega. "They are very professional in every respect, including sales, and bringing good mares to him, which is very important."

He continues: "I think Ireland is a great place for a stallion to stand because it has fantastic mares, and lots of them. Not too many of them are stayers, of course you like fast horses, but that’s another reason, I think, to give him a chance to be in an environment which is maybe a little bit different than what he would get, for example, in Germany or France.

Arc hero Waldgeist parades for the crowd at Ballylinch StudCredit: Alex Cairns

"We just don’t have the base of mares in Germany which he deserves, we have to recognise that. There are good lines in Germany, but by far not what you see in Ireland, England or France.

"They were also suggesting I should maybe put him into France but, no, I very much like the idea of him standing in Ireland and Ballylinch Farm has done a fantastic job for me with Lope De Vega. They are not too big - although they are growing fast - so I think it’s an ideal place for him to stay."

Ammerland, which has been in operation from the banks of Lake Starnberg since 1989, has produced many champions in its red and green silks beginning with Borgia, the wondermare who won the German Derby and ended up travelling the globe and cemented an alliance with trainer Andre Fabre which continued all the way through to Waldgeist.

It appears that this was one of the bonds which brought about its latest Group 1 hero, who was produced out of the Newsells-bred Waldlerche, winner of the Group 3 Prix Penelope at Saint-Cloud in a brief career for Fabre.

"The mother was a bit crazy, to put it mildly," says Von Boetticher, breaking into a laugh. "She decided that she would train herself in the woods of Chantilly without a jockey on her. Andre said I think you have to take her back, so I took her back to Germany, but the offspring is completely trustworthy."

Thankfully, the two German dynasties persevered.

"It’s such a lucky coincidence that Andreas Jacobs and his family, we have done this together," he says. "There is so much more pleasure out of a successful partnership than if you do it all on your own.

"We were talking. Andreas, of course, that line comes from his stud farm. I was attracted to it, and Andreas was in turn interested in having horses in training with Andre Fabre, and Andre doesn’t take new owners, he’s quite consistent about it…

"So I said, 'well come along, we’ll do it together, and we’ll put a good German family', Andre likes German families because they’re quite robust, they are typically staying horses, which Andre can handle very well. So between the three of us, very quickly we had an agreement and we did it."

The arrangement worked perfectly, with Waldlerche providing not only the four-time Group 1 star but a brief but immensely promising career by his sibling Waldlied. Just as exciting was her fourth foal, Waldkonig, who made an astonishing debut for John Gosden in winning his maiden by nine lengths when still palpably very green.

"I think we have some things which may turn out to be quite good," says the Munich-based lawyer cryptically when asked about the Kingman colt. "We’re looking forward to it."

While Waldgeist might represent some of the cream of German pedigrees, Von Boetticher is adamant about the other part of the formula. He has long admired Galileo, with the juggernaut stallion providing him with a French Guineas-Oaks double in 2011 through Golden Lilac.

"If he can do what Lope De Vega has done, it would be fantastic, " he says. "But in all of this we should all keep in mind that Coolmore is a huge part of the success. Without them, without that sire, where would we be? Waldgeist won it but the breed comes from the best sire in the world, he absolutely deserves that.

"I can’t see in the history of breeding any sire who has been so consistent performing with his offspring. Galileo here, Galileo there, all distances. It’s a great moment."

Waldgeist's half-brother Waldkonig made the brightest of startsCredit: Laura Green

Landing the European finale at Longchamp is a dream which Jacobs admitted he had long held when Waldgeist was tied with Enable and Crystal Ocean at the top of the recent Longines World's Best Racehorse rankings, and his partner concurs.

"It’s the best you can have," says Von Boetticher. "I had Arc winners before, but by the time Hurricane Run had won the Arc (in 2005), I had sold him to Coolmore. It wasn’t my colours, but he came from Ammerland and he returned to Ammerland after his career there to enjoy a quiet life with us. He was a great horse as well, by all scores, he could handle everything."

Waldgeist has been pitched at €17,500 and with no shortage of Galileo’s sons at stud, however accomplished, it will be necessary to err on the side of caution as to his prospects.

The enthusiastic man behind him, of course, will do his best to help him along.

"I’ll use him of course, already I have certain mares earmarked, but it’s too early really to talk about that now," Von Boetticher says. "I’m using Lope also with my mares.

"Now it’s the next Arc de Triomphe, this time as a sire - can he produce what he could do himself?"

This interview first appeared in Racing Post Bloodstock's new sires supplement, which you can read in full here