Mare of the Moment: Mathuna

Wandering Eyes · November 4, 2019

The first race on QIPCO British Champions Day was won in such style that there was little doubt as to who was the best horse in the race. Despite the heavy ground, a large field of 16 started for the G1 QIPCO Champions Sprint S. Although it looked like anyone’s race within the final furlong, it was the King Power-owned Donjuan Triumphant (Ire) (Dream Ahead) who overcame a hampered run to win by a length. This was clearly an emotional score for the connections, with trainer Andrew Balding showing the poignancy of the success in a post-race interview, a victory which came roughly one year on from the loss of King Power Racing’s Chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Donjuan Triumphant is one of nine foals for the broodmare Mathuna. The dam of four winners, including listed winner Caledonian Spring (Ire) (Amadeus Wolf {GB}), she has proven a shrewd purchase by Kilcarn Park and Patrick Cosgrove having been bought as a 3-year-old for €15,500 at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale in 2007. In Donjuan Triumphant, she has bred a horse of soundness and class. The 6-year-old entire-bred by Cosgrove and the Dream Ahead Syndicate–made 37 starts, won on seven of those occasions including the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte at two and his Group 1 win in October, and filled the frame a further 14 times.

For a breeder, there surely can be no greater achievement than breeding a horse whose career spans five years and who possesses the temperament to remain an entire horse and continue to compete at the top level. Donjuan Triumphant’s win on Champions Day proved an extremely timely update for his half-brother, by Invincible Spirit (GB), who is due to be sold at the Goffs November Foal Sale as lot 728.

Donjuan Triumphant’s future lies in France where he will take up stud duties at Haras de la Barbottiere. While a mare can only produce one foal each year for her breeding life, a stallion can have multiply progeny on the ground each breeding season. This is perhaps the greatest way for a mare to leave her mark on the breed, you only have to look at the dominance of Urban Sea (Miswaki) in pedigrees to see that. Whatever Donjuan Triumphant achieves as a sire, his dam will always be the producer of a Group 1 winner who gave his connections a win to remember.