Andrew Caulfield, August 3, 2010-Noverre There are also some other suspect names in Noverre=s PEDIGREE INSIGHTS pedigree. His sire, the admirable Rahy, was out of a BY ANDREW CAULFIELD mare by Halo. When I went to Stone Farm to see Halo many years ago, he was wearing a muzzle, so I guess SPIRITED NOVERRE ENJOYING SUCCESS he wasn=t the easiest horse to handle. Halo=s sire Hail AGetting offspring in his own mold: tough, talented, To Reason was described by Frank Talmadge Phelps as tigerish@ ran part of a Darley stallion advertisement for Aa flighty and highly nervous sort@ at the start of his Rahy=s accomplished son Noverre. Now Atigerish@ isn=t arduous two-year-old campaign. an adjective one normally expects to see in such an Noverre=s own broodmare sire was Northern Dancer. advert, but the Darley team were evidently trying to put While I have no desire to detract from this magnificent a positive slant on one of Noverre=s more notable stallion=s well-nigh impeccable record, there are a displays. couple of things I should mention. In Bill Munn=s stallion That came in the G1 Lockinge S. in 2002. Noverre biographies in Windfields= Classic Sirelines 1981, he had been in the lead for a while when the French raider commented that Northern Dancer=s dam Natalma Ahad a Keltos loomed alongside. Such was Noverre=s will to lot of ability, but she possessed a very sour disposition. Munn also wrote that Northern Dancer, win that he didn=t take kindly to being passed, and he @ A the stallion, is still a highstrung animal. He bites and attempted to take a bite out of his opponent=s quarters can be rough to handle. Many of his offspring have as he went by. inherited his temperament. Frankie Dettori had first likened Noverre to a @ One son, the short-lived Marinsky, gained notoriety ferocious feline after the colt had battled through to when he savaged the future Derby second Relkino triumph in a three-way photo finish to the 2001 Poule when Relkino tried to push through on Marinsky=s inside d Essai des Poulains. He s a real tiger, the Italian rider = A = @ as they contested the Diomed S. Although Marinsky said. He s very versatile. For some reason, I couldn t A = = wore blinkers and a muzzle on both his subsequent get him off the rail and got boxed in until late on. @ starts, they weren=t enough to prevent his being Noverre later lost his Classic victory after testing demoted for interference after his victory in the 1977 positive for a corticosteroid commonly used for arthritic July Cup. problems. Fortunately, there were no such problems One thing this article highlights is that a tough, after Noverre=s decisive win in the G1 Sussex S.-- a aggressive or even ultra-competitive temperament need victory that helped him end the year as the be no barrier to stallion success, as Nasrullah, Grey highest-rated three-year-old miler in Europe (admittedly Sovereign and Halo all demonstrated. Indeed, I in a non-vintage year). sometimes wonder whether this determination to be It is hardly surprising that Noverre possessed a the alpha male is a positive virtue, even if it makes life spirited temperament. For a start, he comes from the much more difficult for those who have to deal with it male line descending from the famously quirky on a daily basis. Nasrullah. The Bloodstock Breeders= Review=s obituary Storm Cat could probably also be included in this for this exceptional stallion simply stated, ALike himself, category, judging by a comment Ric Waldman once the progeny of Nasrullah are on the whole an unruly made to The Blood-Horse. He said that Storm Cat is Aa lot.@ much better sire than he was a racehorse, but he did Perhaps the most famous example was his British son have one ingredient on the racetrack--he was really Grey Sovereign. His obituary in the same publication tough. I=ve seen that toughness in his foals. They win reported that Ahis highly strung temperament caused the nose decisions rather than lose them. That=s the concern throughout his lifetime. Even as a two-year-old difference.@ he was frequently ridden in the paddock preliminaries To get back to Noverre, he appeared to have many of and was often accompanied to the start by the trainer=s the assets one looks for in a potential stallion. As his assistant, whose unenviable task was to help the horse adverts stressed, he had been tough and talented. relax by pulling his tongue. However, Grey Sovereign Showing similar precocity to his grandsire Blushing was never inclined to do anything against his will. His Groom, Noverre won his first three starts at two, stubbornness persisted into old age, when he would including the G3 July S. sometimes defy all attempts to bring him in from his He later added to his reputation with a win in the paddock. If rearing up and striking out failed to have G2 Champagne S. and a second in the G1 Dewhurst S. the desired effect, he would charge with teeth bared.@ He then progressed so well that he became a top miler, Noverre=s great-grandsire Red God, another son of but he had two significant obstacles to overcome when Nasrullah, earned the unwanted Timeform squiggle that he retired to Kildangan Stud. His three-parts brother denotes Aa horse who is somewhat ungenerous, Arazi had demonstrated even greater ability at two, faint-hearted or a bit of a coward.@ This Guggenheim only to become a serious disappointment as a stallion colt had looked very good when he won the Richmond (despite the best efforts of his only Grade I winner, S. on only his second start, but then snatched defeat Congaree). The lack of a victory among Noverre=s seven from the jaws of certain victory in the Champagne S., starts as a four-year-old also took some of the gloss of throwing his head up just before the line. his earlier achievements, even though his form was still very good. Caulfield cont. In the circumstances, it came as no great surprise when Darley decided to sell Noverre to India at the start of 2008, instead of standing him, as advertised, for a fifth season in Ireland, at a reduced fee of i10,000. Noverre had been represented by two group winners, one from each of his first two crops (the G2 Challenge S. winner Miss Lucifer and the G3 Albany S. winner Nijoom Dubai). Things have looked up considerably since then, with Summit Surge and Cottonmouth boosting the number of group winners in his first crop to three. More to the point, Noverre=s third and fourth crops have so far produced three Group 1 winners, two of them at Classic level. His son Le Havre took the 2009 Prix du Jockey-Club, having finished second in the Poule d=Essai des Poulains. This crop also contained the quick-maturing Langs Lash, winner of the G2 Queen Mary S at two. This year has Le Havre Horsephotos seen his daughter Music Show defeat a strong field in the G1 Falmouth S. before finishing second to the mighty Goldikova in the Prix Rothschild two days ago. Music Show=s fine run at Deauville came just hours before Noverre=s daughter Enora finished strongly to take the Preis der Diana, the German Oaks. Enora=s win makes her the eighth group winner from Noverre=s first four crops, and she is one of six fillies among them. This upturn in Noverre=s record suggests he=s going to prove an asset to the breeding industry in India, the natural home of the tiger. NOVERRE, h, 1998 Nasrullah (GB) Red God Spring Run Blushing Groom (Fr) Runaway Bride Wild Risk (Fr) (GB) Aimee (GB) Rahy Hail to Reason Halo Cosmah Glorious Song Herbager (Fr) Ballade Miss Swapsco Nearco (Ity) Nearctic Lady Angela (GB) Northern Dancer Native Dancer Natalma Danseur Fabuleux Almahmoud GSP-Fr Wild Risk (Fr) 12Fls, 2GSW, 1Ch Le Fabuleux (Fr) Fabuleux Jane Anguar (Fr) GSW & G1SP-Fr 14Fls, 2GSW, 1SW Native Partner Raise a Native 13Fls, 4GSW, 1Ch Dinner Partner.