MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 2019 CHANNEL A FINE START MAXIMUS WINS THE BATTLE; ROMANISED MAY YET WIN THE WAR FOR DE BARROS There was drama in Sunday=s G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp and ultimately the stewards had to decide the outcome after the Irish duo Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) fought out a frantic finale. Joining battle inside the last 300 metres, it was the Ballydoyle raider who prevailed by a nose, with a length back to Line of Duty (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in third, but the head-on revealed significant interference caused by the errant passage of the G1 St James=s Palace S. winner to the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois hero. After a ruling far removed from past precedent where the French authorities are concerned, Circus Maximus was allowed to keep the race at odds of 4-1. Ryan Moore was in no doubt that the end result was fair and said, AI think he was the best horse on the day and was always holding the second with a bit more in the tank.@ Cont. p5 Samuel de Barros=s Channel winning the Prix de Diane | Scoop Dyga IN TDN AMERICA TODAY by Kelsey Riley KEENELAND SEPTEMBER SALE STARTS MONDAY Parisian businessman-turned Normandy horse farmer Samuel The Keeneland September Yearling Sale begins its 13-day run on de Barros describes his short time in the Thoroughbred industry Monday. Jessica Martini, Brian DiDonato and Christie DeBernardis as a Afriendship story.@ are on the grounds in Lexington. Click or tap here to go straight to It is likely he will be friends for life, then, with agent Bertrand TDN America. Le Metayer and trainer Francis Graffard after the trio teamed up to produce this year=s G1 Prix de Diane winner Channel (Ire) (Nathaniel {Ire}), de Barros=s first--and up until recently only-- racehorse. AWe=re all the same age, we=re all 40, we got started pretty much together,@ de Barros said last month at the Arqana August yearling sale in Deauville. AIt=s been a really fun story between what=s become quite a strong team just around this filly starting from scratch.@ De Barros described Diane day, when Channel burst through an opening in midstretch and held on by a head at 9-1 on her fourth startBas Amadness,@ and ranked it behind only the birth of his children and his wedding day as the best days of his life. De Barros=s wife, Elodie, is an accomplished breeder of trotters, and about 10 years ago at Elodie=s urging the couple moved from Paris to Normandy to live on their farm where they keep about a dozen high-quality trotting mares and about 15 horses in training. Cont. p2 TDN EUROPE • PAGE 2 OF 14 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 9 SEPTEMBER 2019 Channel a Fine Start for De Barros Cont. from p1 Now fully immersed in country life, De Barros decided he wanted to dabble in the horse game himself, but he didn=t want to compete with his wife, who among her accomplishments had already produced two homebred stallions and won a handful of group-level races. So Samuel turned to Thoroughbreds. AI had been visually attracted to the Thoroughbreds for quite some time and I wanted to share the involvement in horses with my wife, but I wanted to have my own thing within the horses,@ De Barros explained. AElodie has done what she=s done for years and I wanted to have my own thing, but now I=m trying to get Elodie to share in the Thoroughbreds with me. AI=m very attracted to the international side of the Thoroughbred business. It=s very eye-opening that you can travel and meet people all over the world and buy and trade horses with them. Trotting is a very protected market in France. With Thoroughbreds you meet so many different people around the world and there are so many more opportunities than with the trotters. I want to be part of this international industry.@ The first step was finding the right expert to guide him, and De Barros was introduced by a mutual associate to Bertrand Le Metayer. AOne of their friends and racing advisors in the trotters contacted me one day and said, >I have some clients who would like to look into Thoroughbreds,=@ Le Metayer recalled. AHe said, >that=s not my game, I don=t know anything about it, would you mind meeting them?= We met at their farm and they told me they wanted to get into breeding Thoroughbreds to potentially sell and sometimes race one or two fillies.@ The first stop was Tattersalls December in 2017, where the couple found the market to be quite different to the Standardbred market they were accustomed to. ASamuel and Elodie are used to, with the trotters, when they want a mare they can almost certainly have her,@ Le Metayer explained. AThey were surprised when they discovered what the Thoroughbred market was all about: we got beat nine times before buying the first mare. There was some frustration in the early stages because we went to Tattersalls to buy some nice commercial mares and just couldn=t get one. We managed to buy one the first year after bidding on 10, and then one in the Arqana February sale, a very nice mare from a dispersal. Then we bought a mare in partnership with Newsells Park.@ De Barros=s broodmare band after that first sales season comprised Embiyra (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), a now 6-year-old granddaughter of the Aga Khan=s excellent producer Ebaziya (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}), the dam of G1 Gold Cup winners Estimate (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}) and Enzeli (Ire) (Kahyasi {Ire}) and G1 Irish Oaks victress Ebadiyla (Ire) (Sadler=s Wells), bought for 260,000gns at Tattersalls December in foal to Gleneagles (Ire) (she has subsequently produced a filly). Cont. p3 TDN EUROPE • PAGE 3 OF 14 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 9 SEPTEMBER 2019 Channel a Fine Start for De Barros Cont. The stakes-winning Lbretha (Fr) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), whose third dam is the multiple French champion Allez France (Sea-Bird) for i260,000 at Arqana February is also part of the band, as is the 4-year-old Pinkster (GB), who is incidentally closely related to Channel being by Nathaniel and out of Puce Vice President, International Operations Gary King (GB) (Darshaan {GB}), whose granddaughter Prudenzia (Ire) Twitter: @garykingTDN (Dansili {Ire}) has produced G1 Irish Oaks winner Chicquita (Ire) [email protected] (Montjeu {Ire}) and G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Magic Wand (Ire) + 1.732.320.0975 (Galileo {Ire}). Pinkster=s second dam is Ecurie des Monceaux=s Souk (Ire), and Channel was produced by another branch of that International Editor mare, her second dam being Souk=s G1 Cheveley Park S.-winning Kelsey Riley granddaughter Magical Romance (Ire) (Barathea {Ire}). Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN So De Barros had established the foundations of an enviable [email protected] broodmare band when the racecourse began to call. European Editor AWe had our first three mares and it was all going well and Emma Berry then Samuel said, >I=d love to have my silks,=@ Le Metayer Twitter: @collingsberry recalled. AHe designed his silks, which was a fun process, and [email protected] then one day around breeze-up time he said, >we need a horse for my silks.=@ Associate International Editor Heather Anderson Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen Twitter: @AlaynaCullen [email protected] Contributing Editor Alan Carasso Twitter: @EquinealTDN Cafe Racing Sean Cronin Tom Frary [email protected] Samuel and Elodie De Barros at Arqana | Kelsey Riley Irish Correspondent Daithi Harvey So Le Metayer, De Barros and trainer Francis Graffard headed Regular Columnists Chris McGrath | Andrew Caulfield to Arqana=s May Breeze-Up Sale, where they found a bay filly by John Berry | Kevin Blake Nathaniel at the Mayfield Stables consignment. She was from a family that has featured prominently at Arqana over the last few yearsBMagic Wand topped the August Yearling Sale in 2016 at i1.4 million and this year a Dubawi (Ire) filly and a Galileo (Ire) IN TDN AUS/NZ TODAY colt out of full-sisters Prudenzia (Ire) and Prudente (Fr) were the STALLION CAP DEBATE DIVIDES top two lotsBbut she flew under the radar perhaps because of Bren O’Brien speaks with several Australian industry figures her slight stature and De Barros was able to secure her for regarding The Jockey Club’s proposed covering cap. Click or tap i70,000. Cont. p4 here to go straight to TDN Aus/NZ. TDN EUROPE • PAGE 4 OF 14 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • 9 SEPTEMBER 2019 Channel a Fine Start for De Barros Cont. AWe haven=t seen [Secret Walk] again but Andre Fabre said she AI had said, >why don=t we buy something good value?=@ Le was really good,@ Le Metayer said. AAnd this tiny little filly Metayer said. A>The breeze-ups are all about speed, so let=s go [Channel] really came and got to her heels. We thought, >maybe the opposite and buy a staying filly from a good pedigree.= She she is ok.=@ was a great mover and breezed very well for what she was Four weeks later, Channel broke her maiden by two lengths physically, and we decided to go for her. We weren=t expecting under Pierre-Charles Boudot at Lyon Parilly. She followed up much, although she had a lovely family and an amazing page.@ three weeks later in a Diane course-and-distance conditions race The bay filly headed to Graffard=s Chantilly yard and De Barros at Chantilly, leaving her connections no choice but to pitch her and Le Metayer turned their focus back to the burgeoning into the Classic.