30 Jun 2021This time last year the black and gold colours of Brendan and Jo Lindsay were resplendent at Royal Ascot when Hello Youmzain (FR) won the Gr.1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes. Now the Cambridge Stud proprietors are looking forward to him standing his first season at stud in New Zealand.
He will be the first son of the exciting stallion Kodiac (GB) to stand at stud in the southern hemisphere and a welcome addition to the New Zealand stallion ranks.
As a late summer two-year-old Hello Youmzain won on debut at Carlisle over 1200m, and followed that with a second at Haydock before heading to France for a win in the Gr.2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte.
He returned the following spring and threw a shoe running fourth in the Gr.3 Greenham Stakes at Newbury before winning the Gr.2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock. Lining up at Royal Ascot he ran third in the Gr.1 Commonwealth Cup behind Advertise and Forever In Dreams before going on to win the Gr.1 Haydock Sprint Cup.
He had one more start at three before being spelled and came back at four to win the Gr.1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, beating Dream of Dreams who won that event this year. He finished fifth at Newmarket to Oxted -who was also a winner at Royal Ascot this year taking out the Gr.1 Kings Stand – before running second in the Gr.1 Prix Maurie de Gheest at Deauville. He was retired after his next start.
Kodiac is a son of Danehill (USA) and a three-quarter blood brother to the sensational sire Invincible Spirit (IRE). He is a great source of speed and precocity in Europe and was the European Champion Sire of Two-Year-Olds in 2018 and 2020.
He holds the record for the most two-year-old winners in a single season and is the sire of more than 130 stakes performers worldwide. His progeny include the Group One winning fillies Campanelle, Fairyland and Tiggy Wiggy along with the triple Group One winner Best Solution.
In 2020 he broke records again as the sire of nine stakes winning two-year-olds, and the progeny of Kodiac can be found gracing the winners circles of stakes races all over the world. Now his sons are producing the goods at stud in their own right and his legacy looks sure to continue and strengthen.
At Royal Ascot last year when Hello Youmzain won, Kodiac sired three Group winners in one day, with Campanelle winning the Gr.2 Queen Mary Stakes and Nando Parrado the Gr.2 Coventry Stakes for two-year-olds. This year Campanelle won the Gr.1 Commonwealth Cup and in the two-year-old event the Gr.2 Norfolk Stakes the winner Perfect Power was by Ardad (IRE) a son of Kodiac and the second horse Go Bears Go was by Kodi Bear (IRE) also by Kodiac.
On his dam side Hello Youmzain is out of the unraced Sharmardal (IRE) mare Spasha (GB) who is the dam of six foals, four to race all stakes performers including Royal Youmzain (by Youmzain [IRE]). He was the Champion Two-Year-Old colt in Italy in 2017 and Champion Three-Year-Old in Italy and Germany in 2018, and his brother Saglawy won four races and was stakes placed three times. A half-sister by Elnadim (USA) won three races including the Listed Lansdown Stakes at Bath and was stakes placed on two occasions.
Spasha was a half-sister to Persian Majesty a stakes winner of eight races in England, Germany and France both being out of the unraced Sadler’s Wells (IRE) mare Spa. Herself a half-sister to the stakes winners Sandmason and Sardegna, along with Subterfuge who made a name for herself in the southern hemisphere as the dam of the stakes winners Shania Dane, Scintillation and Risk Aversion along with the stakes performers Liatris, Danevade and Puzzle Book.
His third dam is the Mill Reef (GB) stakes winning mare Sandy Island won the Gr.3 Lancashire Oaks and the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes and she is a half-sister to Slip Anchor.
Cambridge Stud CEO Henry Plumptre said Hello Youmzain is an ideal stallion for New Zealand breeders.
“We think he’s got a good European profile and a profile that fits in with our plans at Cambridge Stud,” he said.
“He’s a Group One winner at Royal Ascot and a Group winner in France. He won a stakes race at two and again at three and four.
“He’s by Kodiac, a son of Danehill who stands at the O’Callaghan’s Tally Ho Stud in Ireland, where they appreciated his beautiful pedigree but never got to see his true ability. He has done well with a number of good stakes winners and is from that prepotent Danehill line.
“On his merits and off the back of a number of Group One winners, he has gone from being a 5000 Euro stallion to a 65,000 Euro stallion.
“His dam is a half-sister to Invincible Spirt so it’s a good pedigree with a lot of speed.”
Plumptre believes that physically, Hello Youmzain has got a lot of scope as well, standing at 16.1hh.
“We will try to stay away from big strong mares, as he is a big horse himself,” he said. “He should suit most of the middle distance and mid-size mares that we have here. As for pedigree matings, Danehill crosses with anything except maybe Danehill.
"Danehill over Danehill hasn’t produced the best results yet, but as it gets further back in the pedigree it may.
“Of course, there is the very proven Danehill/Zabeel cross and there are plenty of Zabeel mares around, but I believe he will suit a smorgasbord of mares.
“We have been very lucky with him we have got a bloody good syndicate behind him. A lot of the people who came into Almanzor have come along for the ride again, so he won’t lack for mares.
“I feel things are turning around in the breeding world, there seems to be a lot more confidence in the industry at the moment, as at least there has been some progress made in the industry with something to build on.
“We at Cambridge Stud just need to keep putting lovely stallions in front of breeders and stem that flow of mares to Australia.” - Michelle Saba, NZ Thoroughbred Breeders' Association.