French sire reaches a crescendo

The influence of champion French sire Love You reached a crescendo over the holiday racing in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

In France, the five-year-old Galius took out the Group 2 $US125,000 Prix Tenor de Baune, a qualification race for the upcoming Prix d’Amerique, held at Paris Winter meeting at Vincennes on Boxing Day.

On the same card Hohneck, a son of the Love You horse Royal Dream, a Prix d’Amerique winner himself, booked his spot in this month’s French holy grail when he overcame a wide passage to win the $US230,000 Criterium Continental.

In Australia, Love You and his sons Quaker Jet and Kvintet Avenger sired the winners of $100,000 Finals of the Vicbred Super Series, run at Melton, in Parisian Artiste (3YO gelding), Fancy (3YO filly) and Ebonys Avenger (2YO filly) respectively.

Ebonys Avenger is one of the first crop of the Finnish bred Kvintet Avenger, now standing at Chris Angove’s Muckleford property, while Parisian Artiste is a member of Quaker Jet’s second frozen semen crop.

Both Love You and Quaker Jet are available to Australian breeders through Haras Des Trotteurs, Cardigan, near Ballarat.

While in NZ, Quik Barbie, a daughter of Quaker Jet, hoisted a fresh national record of 2:52.1 (a 2:05.8 mile rate) for the 2200 metres stand for her age, gait and sex, winning by open lengths at Cambridge Raceway.

Love You, who stands in the Nonant-le-Pin region in north-western France, has been the premier sire in 11 of the more than 20 countries in Europe who conduct trotting races, as well as NZ and Australia.

Twice the premier French sire, Love You has sired 1352 French-bred foals, 875 starters and progeny earnings of a whopping 63,575,131 euros (as at December 29, 2021). He is currently third on this season’s French sires list with 3,989,740 euros from 208 starters.

In Sweden, the second biggest trotting country in Europe after France, he is sixth on the stakemoney list with 19.7 million SEK from 192 starters.

Love You was the leading sire of two-year-old trotters in Australia and the premier sire of three-year-olds in NZ in the closing season.

By Peter Wharton