Almanzor the key to Wootton Bassett's breakthrough year

The idea that several of the 2012 intake of new stallions would be capable of siring a big name out their first crops wasn’t far fetched given the profiles that several had to offer, particularly Zoffany, Canford Cliffs, Pour Moi and Poet’s Voice.

Perhaps not so obvious, however, was Wootton Bassett. That statement is not reflective of Wootton Bassett’s talent since he was one of the leading two-year-olds of 2010. But it’s fair to say that the second half of his career on the track was rather an anti-climax and in turn, he started out at a very affordable €6,000 at Haras d’Etreham in Normandy.

In contrast to a number of his contemporaries, Wootton Bassett did not enter 2015 with a sizeable crop of two-year-olds with which to go to war. But lack of ammunition has not prevented him from producing a real top notcher out of a first crop that numbers barely 20 in Almanzor, whose sweep of the Prix du Jockey Club, Prix Guillaume d’Ornano, Irish Champion Stakes and QIPCO Champion Stakes provides the bulk of the £2.4 million won in Europe this year by his sire’s progeny.