'We're delighted' - Decamond stallions making waves in Scandinavia and France

Decamond Racing founder Hamid Khalili's faith in Deep Impact's son Geniale has proved well founded, with their stallion covering 36 mares to become the most popular sire in Sweden this year.

According to the Swedish Stud Book, Geniale ranked well clear of Gale Force Ten, with 22 mares. Swipe (19), Mustajeeb (13) and Jimmy Mack (12) were the other stallions to attract a double-figure book of mares.

Geniale won twice in Japan and also took the Group 3 Prix Messidor in 2018 at Maisons-Laffitte.

Bred by Shadai Farm from its multiple champion sire Deep Impact, the seven-year-old Geniale is out of the Aga Khan’s triple Group 1-winning Classic heroine Sarafina, and is a full-brother to Savarin, winner of the Group 3 Prix d’Aumale at Longchamp.

Khalili says: "We're delighted that we were able to offer a high-quality stallion that appealed to a high number of breeders in a year in which — as the statistical reports show — a large proportion of Scandinavian breeders decided to send their mares to stallions standing in other countries, such as the UK, Ireland, France and Germany."

Also on Decamond's stallion books is Hot Streak, the Irish-bred son of Iffraaj who landed the Cornwallis Stakes at two for Kevin Ryan and Qatar Racing, and then finished second to stablemate Astaire in the Middle Park.

He went on to land the Temple Stakes and take third in the King's Stand,, and stood this year at Haras d'Annebault for €3,500.

All those connected to the ten-year-old were able to celebrate a first Group 1 strike on Arc day, when his son A Case Of You got up in the last stride to inflict a rather agonising defeat on Air De Valse in the Prix de l'Abbaye.

A Case Of You (this side): brilliant result in the Abbaye for his sire Hot Streak and Decamond RacingCredit: Edward Whitaker

"As you can imagine, the most enthralling moment for us this year was the Group 1 victory of A Case Of You, the son of our stallion Hot Streak," says Khalili. "You cannot imagine the number of congratulatory phone calls and messages we received after that.

"Hot Streak also added two new black-type horses, Royal Ashirah and Harmony Rose, to his resume this year.

"He'll stay in France next year but will experience a rise in his stud fee. That needs to be discussed with the stud and our bloodstock consultant Federico Barberini.

"There's also a New Zealand stud interested in standing him for the southern hemisphere breeding season."

A Case Of You could be heading for the Breeders' Cup, in which case, Khalili suggested, it made sense to see how he fares at Del Mar before making any firm decisions with his sire.

Switching to the east coast of the United States, Economic Model has been added to the Decamond stallion roster. The eight-year-old son of Flatter, out of the Quiet American mare Queen Of America, won five of his 15 starts including the Grade 3 Hal's Hope Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

He started favourite subsequently for the 2018 Godolphin Mile on Dubai World Cup day, finishing seventh.

Khalili says: "He's a Graded winner and Grade 1-placed son of Flatter out of an excellent female family. We got him from Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum through a friendly deal; he has always been very kind to our operation.

"Economic Model will start his northern hemisphere career in Norway and will continue his stud duties in the southern hemisphere; the most likely scenario at the moment is Argentina but we also have offers from Chile and Uruguay.

"In Norway, Economic Model is going to stand at Maria Roberts' stud - she is an influential board member at the Norwegian Racing Authority and the chairman of the board of the Norwegian Breeders’ Association.

"She believes Economic Model is one of the best horses who has ever entered stud in Norway, if not the best, and will do very well as American dirt horses have meaningfully contributed to the success of the Norwegian racing industry in the past."

Economic Model and Irad Ortiz winning the Easy Goer Stakes at Belmont Park

Khalili adds: "Economic Model is a typical top-class dirt horse and Maria expects a high number of mares to be attracted to him. It's highly probable that in the following years we'll send Economic Model to the US — we already have an offer from a stud in Ocala that wants to have him next year.

"Let's see what happens, as the most important thing is to have him in a place where he's well supported and can be influential."

While Scandinavia was slated to contribute only five Group 3 contests to the 2021 European Pattern, two each in Sweden (Stockholm Cup International and Stockholms Stora Pris) and Norway (Marit Sveaas Minnelop and Oslo Cup), plus Denmark's Scandinavian Open Championship, Khalili is delighted to have become involved in their racing and breeding scene.

"We discovered Scandinavian racing last year and couldn’t believe the scale and quality," he says. "There are several aspects that make racing and breeding in Scandinavia appealing to international owners like us; prize-money is quite reasonable, animal welfare and racing integrity are to extremely high standards, there is a flexible racing programme as it is possible to race both on dirt and turf, and stakeholders are so welcoming and friendly to breeders and owners from overseas.

"Another fascinating facet about Scandinavian racing is the critical role women play in racing and breeding. Without a shred of doubt, the number of women in both breeding and racing in Scandinavia is remarkably higher than any other place I've seen. The industry is basically run by female leaders!"

He adds: "What we try to do in Scandinavia, with the help of Scandinavian Racehorses company and its CEO Annette Johansson, is to import breeding stock and breed with horses that have live pedigrees with the potential to be competitive in Part I IFHA countries, such as the UK, Ireland and France.

"Of course, we also have the ambition to compete in important racing events with the (SWE) suffix."

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