The market can be quick to pigeon-hole horses. As any commercial breeder is aware, it looks favourably upon fast horses yet displays suspicion towards middle-distance types - something that is now thankfully being alleviated by the increasing investment in such animals from Australian interests.
When it comes to a horse like Darley’s Masar, however, the industry is faced with an intriguing rarity.
Here is a horse who offers the best of both worlds; quick enough to win over 6f on debut in May of his 2-year-old campaign, he was also in possession of the Classic class to defeat the best of his generation in the Derby at 3.
Masar is rightly well remembered for his Derby victory in 2018, in which he had the measure of Roaring Lion and Saxon Warrior. Rewind 12 months, however, and Masar also had the measure of Invincible Army, subsequently a G2-winning sprinter, down the sharp 6f at Goodwood. That debut win set the tone for a career for Charlie Appleby that would also come to include an easy win over Classic-winning miler Romanised in the Solario Stakes later that year and a nine-length win in the Craven Stakes the following spring. In turn, his Craven performance preceded a third-placed effort in the 2000 Guineas.
As such, one of the disappointments of the latter part of 2018 was that a soft tissue leg injury prevented Masar from running again after the Derby. He wasn’t the same horse when he reappeared the following year, blowing the start when running down the field in the Hardwicke Stakes prior to a below par effort in the Princess Of Wales’s Stakes.
Masar was retired for the 2020 season to stand under the Darley banner at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket.
Had fortune looked more kindly upon the latter part of his career, then it’s unlikely that he would have started his stud career at a fee of £15,000. However to many breeders, that opening level came to be viewed as a welcome opportunity, not just as an affordable means of using a Derby winner but also as a means of accessing a route into one of the greatest families in the Stud Book.
By New Approach, Masar is out of UAE Derby heroine Khawlah, a Cape Cross half-sister to G2 winner Vancouverite. Arguably more importantly, however, is the fact that he descends from Arc heroine Urban Sea, of course the dam of Galileo and Sea The Stars among others, and is inbred to the mare 3x4 to boot.
“Masar winning the Derby in the all blue was the best day I’ve ever had on a racecourse,” says Sam Bullard, director of stallions at Darley. “His 2-year-old form was obviously attractive to breeders. But throughout it all, he didn’t shirk a challenge. To win at Goodwood in May as a 2-year-old, then win the Solario and the Derby having run placed in the Guineas - is that not what breeders want horses to do?”
Masar was obviously a hugely important horse for Godolphin and, in return, around 30 of his 146-strong debut book belonged to the home team and its associates, among them the G1 winners Lady Marian and Punctilious, G2-winning 2-year-old Discourse and G3 winner Bean Feasa, a Dubawi half-sister to Teofilo.
Support of outside breeders
However, he was also well supported by a range of well respected, outside breeders, meaning that his book ultimately came to consist of over 70 black-type winners and/or producers.
“When he was a young horse, he was a little like his father, a bit on the leg,” says Bullard. “And I think that’s what people expected him to be. But when they saw him, he went down really well as he’s more compact and stronger than what might have been expected.”
He adds, “And then you get to the discerning breeders, those that think about pedigrees, and of course with this horse there is the Rasmussen Factor [the concept of inbreeding to a major broodmare] - a Derby winner who is inbred to the most superior mare of the recent era in Urban Sea.”
One breeder who has ‘gone long and large’ is Luke Lillingston of Mount Coote Stud. Attracted by his profile and fee, Lillingston has three foals from the first crop of Masar on the ground and has supported the horse again this year at his new fee of £14,000.
“The price is safe and we supported him well last year, and between myself and clients I think we’ve bred more mares to him again this year,” he says. “We’ve gone in long and large!”
“This horse is stronger behind the saddle than his sire. He’s also well balanced and correct, and that makes him very easy to use.
“I’ve got three on the farm, one of them belonging to a client - she is a very pretty filly with lots of personality. They’re all good foals, each well conformed, and I like all of them.”
‘We’re using him while he’s still affordable’
He adds, “I think these types of horses need supporting and with a pedigree like that he has a real chance, so I thought we may as well use him while he’s still affordable!”
Another breeder who has committed to repeat business is Nick Pocock of Stringston Farm, perhaps best known as the breeder of Melbourne Cup hero Rekindling.
“We have been very impressed with our Masar colt,” says Pocock. “He is very correct and has great presence. He looks a sharp type that reminds us that Masar was a very high-class 2-year-old.
“We are sending two mares to Masar this year.”
Similarly, Jack Conroy, farm manager of Chasemore Farm, is also happy with what he sees from their first representatives of the stallion. And as in the case of Mount Coote Stud and Stringston Farm, Chasemore are using Masar again in 2021.
“We have two fillies by him,” he says. “The main aspect is that they’re very good walkers, they’re easy movers. We really like them.”
Perhaps the last word should be left to Peter Stanley, of the Newmarket-based New England Stud. Another firm supporter, he sums up the horse’s attraction well.
“Masar is a magnificent, well-grown stallion with great substance and a good walk,” he says. “He has everything you could look for being a Group-winning 2-year-old, a Derby winner at three as well as a very impressive Craven Stakes winner over a mile.
“Most exciting of all is his pedigree; being inbred to Urban Sea can only give him every chance. He is in my opinion, a nap for stallion success and best of all, he is affordable!"
As such, Masar has been given every chance to succeed and come 2023, don’t be surprised to see him make a swift impact.