BY SARAH WHITELAW
When three-year-old Whirl won the June 28th G1 Paddy Power Pretty Polly Stakes, she became the 15th G1 winner for her outstanding sire Wootton Bassett. Runner up in this year’s G1 Betfred Oaks, Whirl is out of the Galileo mare Salsa (a full-sister to successful Cape sire The United States) and is thus bred on an increasingly potent cross.
The Wootton Bassett/Galileo cross has produced a growing number of group/graded stakes winners led by the G1 winners Al Riffa and Whirl, as well as 2025 Irish Derby runner up, Serious Contender.
Galileo’s dual G1 winning son Nathaniel is broodmare sire of Wootton Bassett’s champion daughter Zellie, while Galileo’s half-brother Sea The Stars is damsire of the Wootton Bassett-sired G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner, Unquestionable.
Just a day after Whirl claimed the Pretty Polly Stakes, her sire went close to enjoying more G1 successs, when his colt Serious Contender ran second in the G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby. Fellow Wootton Bassett colt Tennessee Stud (who had finished third in this year’s G1 Betfred Derby) ran fourth in the Irish Derby. Remarkably, Wootton Bassett was the sire of four of the ten runners in the 2025 Irish Derby.
In 2025 (at the time of writing), Wootton Bassett has been responsible for three black type winners in Britain, nine stakes winners in Ireland and eight stakes winners in France. The son of Iffraaj currently heads the sires list in France, where his flagbearers this year include the classic winners Henri Matisse (G1Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains) and Camille Pissarro (G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club).
Henri Matisse and Camille Pissarro ran first and third in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains to give their sire a memorable result in the French 2000 Guineas. (The five time group/graded stakes winning Henri Matisse hails from the same female line as the aforementioned Whirl).
Wootton Bassett also enjoyed a magnificent year in 2024, when he was responsible for four G1 winning two-year-olds, as well as the last two winners (Unquestionable, Henri Matisse) of the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
Himself a top-class two-year-old (he was unbeaten in five starts at two with his victories including the 2010 G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere), Wootton Bassett appears poised for even greater heights if his current crop of two-year-olds are anything to go by.
Wootton Bassett is also showing signs of enjoying notable success in Australia. Earlier this year, it was announced that he would stand for AUS$385 000 in 2025, the highest service fee in Australian history.
At the time of writing, Wootton Bassett (whose first Australian runners are two in 2024-2025) was the second Leading First Season Sire in Australia this season.
Increasingly dominant, Wootton Bassett also looks poised to become a successful sire of sires. His triple G1 winning son Almanzor, the sire of 25 stakes winners thus far, produced 2025 G1 Prix de Diane Longines (French Oaks) winner Gezora and this year’s G2 Derby Italiano (Italian Derby) winner Molveno.
Another Wootton Bassett son, Wooded, is the sire of recent G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Woodshauna. In landing the 2025 Prix Jean Prat, Woodshauna vanquished Wootton Bassett colt Maranoa Charlie into second place! The progressive Woodshauna hails from the first crop of her sire, with Wooded himself scoring his biggest win in the 2020 G1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp.
With a plethora of sons and daughters retiring to the paddocks, and set to be represented by his best bred crops in coming seasons, it it appears that the sky truly is the limit for Wootton Bassett.
