Bon voyage, notre ami

Yesterday did indeed prove to be the end of an era (speaking very subjectively, of course, as ever) as Largesse is due to head off to Egypt. That's a shame, but really an inevitable one and viewed objectively (is that possible?) is a good thing. Largesse has had two real strokes of good luck in his life: first he found himself owned by Henry and Rosemary Moszkowicz, and more recently he found himself standing at Greg Parsons' Upperwood Farm Stud. For the racing seasons 1996 to 2000 inclusive he provided this stable and his owners with a great deal of fun; at the end of his career, Henry took the bold decision to become a stallion master, and arranged for Greg to stand the horse. Since then, Henry's boldness has been rewarded with a few winners, but financially it just didn't make sense because in the modern era there no longer seems to be a place for the bread-and-butter stallion or for the studs which used to stand this sort of horse. Everyone wants to have their mare covered by a stallion who covers a couple of hundred other mares, and to be covered at a stud which has thousands of mares pass through the gates each year (I'm possibly exaggerating, but not by much). So basically we ended up with a situation in which Largesse was being seriously under-used and was costing Henry a fortune (because the few mares the horse covered were mostly Henry's, and the resultant offspring would invariably be sold for much less than the cost of production). It would have been unwise to let this situation last forever, so seven years on Henry took the tough decision to try to find a home for Largesse where he'd be better used, and this obviously was likely to mean his moving overseas to a less competitive breeding environment.

The one who would feel Largesse's absence the most would be Greg. Over the past seven years, Greg has been pivotal in Largesse's life and vice versa, and Greg had said to Henry that he'd have a home for life at Upperwood Farm if nothing suitable could be found. That, of course, would still mean that the horse would still be failing to fulfill his potential as a sire, but it would be better than too rash a leap into the unknown. Henry came to the sensible decision that if anyone was prepared to pay 15,000 gns or more for him at the sale, then one could be pretty sure that that person would have a serious role in mind for the horse and would be going to look after him well. If he fetched less than that, we'd play safe and he'd go back to Greg's farm. And so yesterday he went, bought for 18,000 gns by (apparently) the Chairman of the Egyptian Jockey Club. While one is subconsciously wary of environments which one doesn't know, the Maktoums have demonstrated that Arabs can be horse-loving people and, having seen the purchaser's joy at having secured the horse he came to England to buy, I am confident that Largesse is moving on to a good home where he will be in safe hands. I don't know anything about the breeding scene in Egypt, nor the racing scene, but I suspect he'll be towards the top of stallion tree there, and thus will be able to pass on the blood of Hyperion far more liberally than he'd ever be allowed to do in the UK or Ireland. So it was sad to wave him farewell - especially for Greg - but, fingers crossed, he will merely be swapping one good life for another.

And what I'm also very pleased about is that I put my own mare in foal to him this year for her first mating. I didn't at the time know that it would be my only opportunity to do so, and I'd feel really bad now if I'd missed the boat. So when her son or daughter is born early next year, fingers crossed, that will be a day to start looking forward to another chapter in the saga with which lovely Largesse has enriched our lives.