Coolmore Stud and the bloodstock industry generally suffered a huge blow after the sudden death of top stallion Wootton Bassett was confirmed on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old horse with claims to be the world’s most influential current sire had proved to be an unlikely success story whose graduation from obscurity to leading Coolmore’s stallion bill was unparalleled in recent times.
It emerged on Tuesday that Wootton Bassett died at Coolmore’s Australian base. He had suffered from choke – a blockage of the oesophagus that stops food and water reaching the stomach – and deteriorated rapidly after developing pneumonia.
The horse was in Australia for the southern hemisphere covering season having been shuttled from Coolmore’s Co Tipperary base. His fee in Ireland in 2025 was €300,000, while his fee in Australia was AUD$375,000 (€210,000.)
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The sire of Group One winners this season such as Camille Pissarro (French Derby) and Henri Matisse (French 2000 Guineas) was bought by Coolmore for a reported figure of close to €50 million five years ago.
“Wootton Bassett, one of the world’s great sires, has sadly passed away today at Coolmore Australia having suffered from choke and subsequently developing an acute pneumonia which deteriorated rapidly,” a statement from Coolmore on Tuesday read.
“Despite round-the-clock care from a dedicated team of vets, overseen by Dr Nathan Slovis from Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Kentucky, he was unable to be saved.”
Bought by Coolmore as a potential replacement for their prepotent stallion Galileo, who died in 2021 aged 23, Wootten Bassett exceeded expectations during five years at the world’s most successful bloodstock operation. That was nothing new for the son of unfashionable sire Iffraaj.
A Group One winner in his racing days, landing the Prix Jean Luc Lagadere as a two-year-old, Wootton Bassett failed to fire in his classic year when trained by Irishman Richard Fahey in Yorkshire.
Demand for him as a stallion in Ireland and Britain was negligible and his Lagadere victory meant he got a chance to stand at stud in France.
Wotton Bassett stood initially at a lowly fee of €6,000 and had just 23 foals in his first crop. His fee dropped to €4,000 before evidence of his outstanding ability to transmit speed and ability to his progeny started to emerge.
His first major star from his first crop was Almanzor, winner of the French Derby in 2016 and also victorious later that year in a vintage renewal of the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.
It was that capacity to produce major talent that prompted Coolmore to invest heavily and bring him to Ireland. He stood for €100,0000 in 2020 and that initial crop contained four Group One juvenile winners.
Aidan O’Brien has trained many of Wotton Bassett’s best and described the sire as incredible. His unbeaten two-year-old son, Albert Einstein, one of the favourites for next year’s 2000 Guineas, was labelled by O’Brien as the fastest horse he’s ever seen work at the Ballydoyle base.
In other news, Cheltenham racecourse has unveiled a series of steps designed to help with the customer experience, including at the National Hunt festival in March.
The festival has come under fire in recent years over pricing and a lack of competition on the track. Attendance levels have slumped and a crowd of almost 42,000 for Day Two this year was the lowest at the festival in over 30 years. Attendances peaked in 2022 with 280,627 over the four days.
The steps taken by Cheltenham’s Jockey Club owners to encourage customers back range from a 30p cut in the price of a pint of beer, including Guinness, to £7.50 (€8.60) and projected improvements to the track’s big screen coverage.
Cheltenham’s capacity has also been cut to 66,000 from 68,500, while attempts to boost the Wednesday appeal include the official return of a ‘Ladies Day’ tagline for the first time since 2019.
There will also be a new covered food court in the tented village, as well as further refurbishments to two of the bars in the main grandstand, while “additional discount windows” will beintroduced allowing racegoers to buy tickets at a reduced cost, with prices being the same, or lower, than the 2025 festival for more than 10 months.
“Cheltenham is the jewel in the crown of jump racing, and we want racegoers to feel they are stepping into somewhere truly special from the moment that they arrive. That is why over the coming seasons we’ll explore everything from racecourse layout, our enclosure structure and membership offerings, to hospitality and food and beverage options,” the track’s CEO Guy Lavendar said.
Early bird tickets for next year’s Cheltenham Festival will be available until December when prices will increase.
