David Thiselton
German thoroughbred breeding has been massively influential in Europe, while South Africa has now had two champion sires that originate from German bloodlines, the German-bred Silvano and his phenomenal record-setting son Vercingetorix.
Silvano and Vercingetorix were and are respectively based at German breeder Andreas Jacob’s Maine Chance Farms, who also stand the German-bred Querari and did stand the German-bred Quasillo.
When researching where the class of German bloodlines originates from a certain stallion keeps on cropping up and it is amazing this horse, a German Derby winner called Alchimist, is no more than a footnote in thoroughbred history.
The Prix de l’Arc de Triompe is generally regarded as the pinnacle turf flat race in the world and it will be a rare occasion that Alchimist does not appear in the pedigree of the winner, the reason being he appears twice in the pedigree of Urban Sea, who is dam of Galileo, the most successful sire in thoroughbred history.
Galileo is the only sire in history to sire over 100 Gr 1 winners.
Urban Sea is one of the greatest broodmares in thoroughbred history as she also produced Sea The Stars, who is regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time having won the 2000 Guineas, the Eclipse, the Derby, the Juddmonte Internation, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Arc in the same year. His progeny have won classic races including the Derby, Irish Derby, and the Oaks.
Urban Sea’s third dam is by Alchimist’s German Derby-winning son Birkahn.
Urban Sea’s damsire is Lombard, whose sire Agio is out of an Alchimist mare.
Last year’s Arc winner Bluestocking was the first Arc winner to have no copies of Alchimist in her since 2015 winner Golden Horn.
Of course, one can take any top stallion in history and find an arbitrary horse in his pedigree and point to him or her appearing in a long list of champions.
However, where it gets interesting with Alchimist is the many Arc winners who have him in their pedigrees without the trace back from Urban Sea.
The 2023 Arc winner Ace Impact, for example, has four copies of Alchimist. He is by Frankel’s son Cracksman, so has the two copies of Alchimist from Urban Sea, but what is fascinating in this case is that Ace Impact’s damsire is inbred 5X4 to Urban Sea’s dam Allegretta, who is by German-bred Lombard out of German-bred Anatevka. Allegretta is inbred 4X4 to Alchimist.
Where it gets really interesting with Alchimist is that he appears no fewer than five times in the pedigree of the 2021 Arc winner, the German-bred Torquator Tasso, and that horse does not have Urban Sea in his pedigree.
Interestingly, Almyra, the third dam of Urban Sea, is a bottom line female on the pedigree of both Torquator Tasso’s sire Alderflug and his dam Tijuana (Toylsome). Almyra is by Alchimist’s son Birkahn.
Alchimist also appears five times in the pedigree of the 2019 Arc winner Waldgeist, who is by Galileo and from a German female line.
Alchimist is the granddam sire of Germany’s first Arc winner in 1975, Star Appeal, and appears in the pedigree of the 2011 German-bred Arc winner Danedream.
The German-bred Silvano was by the Nijinsky sire Nininski and was out of a dam by Surumu, who was a six-times champion sire and twice Champion Broodmare sire. Surumu was bred by the Jacobs family’s Germany-based stud Gestüt Fährhof and is a son of Literat, who is a son of Alchmist’s son Birkahn.
Querari is a regular top six stallion in South Africa and his dam also hails from the Surumu-Alchimist sire line.
Quasillo had three copies of Alchimist as his sire was Sea The Stars and he is a half-brother to Querari.
Their dam was by the Gestüt Fährhof-bred champion Acatenango, who won seven Gr 1s and whose progeny include Lando, who was ridden to Japan Cup glory by South Africa’s Michael “Muis” Roberts. Acatenango is a son of Surumu’s.
The Jacobs family-bred Surumu appears twice in the pedigree of 2019 Arc winner Waldgeist and Acatenango is sire of his third dam.
2011 Arc winner Danedream is a paternal half-brother to Silvano, being by Lomitas.
Silvano is not only a six-times Champion sire, but also the most successful Hollywoodbets Durban July sires in history, as is well documented.
Vercingetorix is the current champion sire and smashed a numerous records to get there, his progeny accumulating the most stakes ever in a season and he produced the most stakes winners ever in a season, not to mention his Sale prices obliterating previous records.
Alchimist must have had some influence on their strong bloodlines.
And yet he is just a footnote in history.
In the Graham Sharpe book “Classic Horseracing Quotes” the following insert appears:
German Derby winner Alchimist became an unusual casualty of World War II. The grooms at Gradiz, where the highly valued stallion was at stud, fled the advancing Russian troops who relieved their starvation by tucking into what must be one of the most expensive meals ever consumed.
Other accounts put it a bit differently and states the Gradiz staff took the stallion with them when fleeing, but were not allowed by the Americans to cross the border. The Russians, who were aware of the value of thoroughbred stallions, only killed the horse as a last resort after he refused to load on to their truck.
Alchimist has nevertheless been a major influence despite his untimely demise as a fifteen-year-old, but he gets scant recognition.
