Wootton Bassett’s champion son Almanzor (Fr) has been the first season sire sensation at Australasian yearling sales in 2021 and is off the mark with his first Northern Hemisphere winner after Faro de San Juan won on debut at Chantilly in France overnight.

Trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, Faro de San Juan scored a determined half length win in the five and a half furlong juvenile maiden featuring nine runners.

The win was not unexpected with Faro de San Juan sent out favourite and performing accordingly as the very first runner for Almanzor.

A regular shuttler to Cambridge Stud in New Zealand, Almanzor was phenomenally successful at the Australasian sales this year as seen below with his top seller a colt from Lazumba that made $800,000 at Magic Millions when bought by Ultra T’Bred Racing Pty Ltd/Baystone Farm.

A Listed winner at two, Almanzor proved an altogether more talented three-year-old as he rattled off a hat-trick of Group 1 victories.

He saw off the likes of Zarak and Talismanic in the Prix du Jockey Club before twice denying the mighty Found, first in the Irish Champion Stakes, with Minding in third and New Bay in fourth, and again in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.

He also won the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano and the Group 3 Prix de Guiche among eight career successes