Arc Hero Waldgeist to Stand at Ballylinch Stud

Waldgeist, who beat Enable to land the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) last month, will start his stallion career at Ballylinch Stud in County Kilkenny at a fee of €17,500 in 2020.

The 5-year-old son of perennial champion sire Galileo retires with a record of nine victories and six other placings from 21 starts, and just shy of £4.3 million (US$5,401,859) in prize money.

Trained by Andre Fabre for a partnership that included his breeders Gestut Ammerland and Newsells Park Stud, he won a Chantilly maiden and the Criterium de Saint-Cloud (G1) at 2 and was beaten a short head into second by Brametot in the QIPCO Prix du Jockey Club (G1) at 3.

Last year he delivered four consecutive group race victories in the Prix d'Hedouville (G3), Grand Prix de Chantilly (G2), Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1), and Qatar Prix Foy (G2), and finished a close fourth to Enable in the Arc, coming with a strong late run after encountering traffic problems in the Longchamp straight.

Waldgeist kicked off this season with a wide-margin win over the high-class pair Study of Man and Ghaiyyath in the Prix Ganay (G1), before taking third in the Prince of Wales's Stakes (G1) and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes (G1) and putting in the ideal Arc preparation with a two-length score in the Prix Foy.

In the big race itself, he deployed his trademark powerful finishing kick to run down Enable and deny the star mare a historic third success in the Paris showpiece.

"Waldgeist was a pleasure to train," Fabre said. "He showed me early that he was very good, he won a group 1 at 2, and progressed all the way to win the Arc.

"He had a fantastic attitude to training and racing, acted on any ground, and had a great turn of foot. He was very sound both mentally and physically and I'm confident that he has everything it takes to make a top stallion."

Waldgeist hails from one of the most active families in the stud book, as the first foal out of Waldlerche, a group 3-winning daughter of Monsun who is also responsible for last year's Prix de Malleret (G2) winner Waldlied.

Waldlerche is a half sister to Ladbrokes St. Leger winner Masked Marvel and listed scorer Waldnah. Her three-parts sister Bright Beacon is the dam of this season's listed-winning 2-year-old Al Dabaran.

Other members of the family include Urwald, a listed winner at Longchamp in April, and Wonderment, successful in last year's Criterium de Saint-Cloud, as well as IDEE Deutsches Derby (G1) hero Waldpark.

Waldgeist will stand at Ballylinch Stud alongside the mighty Lope de Vega, who also carried the silks of Gestut Ammerland's Dietrich von Boetticher.

Managing director John O'Connor said: "The team at Ballylinch are delighted to welcome Waldgeist here to join Lope de Vega. We look forward to working with Dietrich von Botticher and Newsells Park to help develop him into another top-class sire. As with all new Ballylinch stallions, we intend to syndicate a number of shares to leading breeders."