Bizakov Excited About New French Venture

[Wandering Eyes]

Within European bloodstock, one of the major themes of the last decade has been the resurgence of the French breeding industry. A perfect storm of exciting young stallions and decent prize-money in relation to its neighbouring countries, not to mention the envied premiums scheme, has led to a vibrant upturn in investment in the French programme, often through multi-national partnerships. One man, however, has taken it a step further.

As the tenth anniversary approaches of his purchase of Hesmonds Stud from Peter Goulandris, Nurlan Bizakov has recently increased significantly his bloodstock-related portfolio. Last month it was announced that the Kazakhstan-born owner-breeder had bought Haras de Montfort & Préaux in Normandy from Sylvain Vidal, who, in a little over a decade, has expanded what was initially a small boarding farm known as Haras de la Cauvinière into one of the most successful breeding operations in France. That expansion was helped in no small part by another owner-breeder, Gérard Augustin-Normand, and his 2009 Prix du Jockey Club winner Le Havre (Ire), now one of the most sought-after stallions in the country who has spent his entire career at the farm just outside Notre Dame de Courson.

Neither Vidal nor Augustin-Normand is deserting Montfort & Préaux: the former will stay on as a consultant and the latter as a major client with boarding mares, while the farm’s affable and bilingual frontman Mathieu Alex has been promoted to stud director.

“It’s not just a new farm for me, it’s a new business—the stallion business—and I’m quite excited about that,” says Bizakov during a break from inspecting the first foals by the stud’s other stallion, Recorder (GB), during the recent Arqana Breeding Stock Sale in Deauville. “We have two stallions—one established stallion who made the farm and then a young stallion, Recorder, owned by the Queen. I hope he will be lucky as well.”

With manager Tony Fry at the helm, the 700-acre Hesmonds Stud on the Sussex Downs in the south of England has undergone significant renovation during Bizakov’s tenure. It has been home to a 25-strong broodmare band which has been responsible for producing his homebred stakes winners such as Nausha (GB) (Kingman {GB}), Altyn Orda (Ire) (Kyllachy {GB}), Tomyris (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Anipa (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). Now, though, adding a more commercially-run enterprise to a private stud brings about the potential for a slight change of tack.

Bizakov says, “I’m proud of the work we’ve done with Tony at Hesmonds. It’s been a private farm up until now but the French farm has done very well with its clients and we could change a few things in England and maybe take some mares for Mr Augustin-Normand next season if that’s what he decides to do. I don’t want to say that Hesmonds will become a commercial farm but we may take a few mares for existing clients of Montfort & Préaux.”

He adds, “Montfort & Préaux is an established commercial farm and we would like to keep the business as it is. I am very grateful that Sylvain and Mathieu will stay on as they know everyone and they built the business. Every year they have produced good horses at Group 1 level—it is good land with good people.”

Bizakov’s introduction to the team at Montfort & Préaux came about through his appreciation of their flagship stallion. “We’ve been fans of Le Havre for a while,” he says. “I bought a share in him through Arqana’s online auction and then we came to see him and we met Sylvain and Mathieu. Then when Sylvain decided to put the farm on the market we reached an agreement. Now we will send three or four mares to Le Havre next year—we haven’t finalised all our plans yet—but we will also use Recorder. He’s an unusual son of Galileo as he was fast and precocious.”

He continues, “At Hesmonds we built three new barns and put in 60 miles of fencing, and here at Montfort & Préaux, it’s a big farm, but we might try to buy some extra land. I would like every single foal that I breed to be eligible for French premiums, so we have brought all of our in-foal mares to France. The French prize-money is a lot better than in England.”

With such a change afoot, the current trainer roster for the Hesmonds homebreds has been doubled. To the existing team of Roger Varian and Archie Watson has been added the champion trainer John Gosden, while with an increasing emphasis on the French scene, Bizakov has recently sent two horses to Francis Graffard.

“At the moment we race almost everything we breed and just sell one or two,” he explains. “Now that we are in the stallion business, the cheapest way is to produce our own stallions. So we will send some horses to John Gosden for the first time.”

In his native country, Bizakov’s business interests revolve around the phosphates and oil industries, and his sporting interests have progressed from football to horseracing. And, like so many involved in this sport, his initial purchase of one horse has expanded notably in the last decade.

“Kazakh people have a love of horses and racing and my interest started some years ago when I bought a horse from Russia to run in our national races,” he recalls. “At that time I owned a football club in the premier league and I gave that up and decided that instead of running a football club it was better to own a racehorse.

“The filly I bought was very successful and we set up a Jockey Club in Kazakhstan to arrange some Flat races—Guineas, Oaks, Derby, St Leger—but actually it wasn’t a success as we didn’t have the right infrastructure. But at that time I went to Tattersalls and bought six horses from the Horses-in-Training sale—just cheap ones—and then I realised that it was a real market. The next year I bought my first horse [to race in England] from Book 2 and he was a good stayer, Askar Tau. Then the next year I bought some more, and in 2010 I bought Hesmonds Stud from Mr Goulandris, who bred some really good horses there.”

The initial thrill of owning not just a decent filly in his home country but then the Marcus Tregoning-trained G2 Doncaster Cup and G2 Lonsdale Cup winner Askar Tau (Fr) (Montjeu {Ire}) as his introduction to British racing clearly had Bizakov hooked. From a modest start the numbers have grown, but are being kept in check.

When quizzed on the number he currently has in training, he says with a smile, “In Kazakhstan we don’t count kids or horses but I think we should have 20-plus horses in training. The intention was to keep around 25 mares and to focus on quality, and this year we decided not to sell any mares because of the stallions here.”

Bizakov, who spends most of his time at Hesmonds but is planning on making plenty of trips to France, adds, “It’s not about numbers, it’s about quality, so if we end up with more mares it will be because they are good mares. The intention is to be disciplined. We might make mistakes by selling good ones but that happens for every breeder, even very clever breeders like Juddmonte.

“I will now be spending a bit more time in France as I love to see the foals. We have a nice bunch of yearlings and 2-year-olds to go to war with so I am really looking forward to next year.”

 

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