Tamayuz making his name through quality not quantity

One of the primary concerns for a stallion master, when launching a young sire, is to ensure that he gets the numbers on the ground to make an impact. Today's world is very different to 40 years ago, when much smaller - and dare I say it, better managed - books were the norm. It is widely accepted that today’s freshman needs in excess of 80 foals to attract enough notice, and that is something many of the larger operations regularly achieve regardless of the stallion in question.

Haras de la Cauviniere's Rajsaman is an example of how vitally important numbers can be. The son of Linamix was France's busiest stallion of 2013, when attracting 184 mates, and an exceptional talent has emerged from the resulting crop in Sunday's Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Brametot. Few stallions sire a Classic winner in their first crop; even fewer do it off a fee of €4,000.

Tamayuz, however, has never had the luxury of large numbers. His largest crop consists of 64 foals; his smallest, just 20. Yet out of an overall 276 foals of racing age, he is the sire of 14 stakes winners - ranging from fast two-year-olds, such as Sir Prancealot, to older horses of the ilk of G Force and Blond Me. And now the son of Nayef can also boast a Classic-winning miler in Saturday's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Precieuse - a second Group 1 winner for Tamayuz following G Force, successful in the 2014 Betfred Sprint Cup.