Martin Stevens talks about Golden Horde

Few tears were shed when Lethal Force was sold to continue his stallion career in France in the autumn of 2019. In fact, there were probably a few sighs of relief.

The son of Dark Angel had been represented by Richmond Stakes winner and narrow Middle Park Stakes runner-up Golden Horde that year, but that horse was his only black-type scorer from three crops of racing age, which was difficult to defend.

Lethal Force had received just 19 mares in his final season at Cheveley Park Stud at an advertised fee of £4,500 in the spring of 2019, having covered fairly sizeable books at £10,000 to £12,500 in his early years at the Newmarket operation.

The average and median for his yearlings that season plummeted to 17,700gns and 9,000gns, which spelled widespread losses for his supporters, and they fell again in 2020 and 2021, when his few final British-conceived progeny were sold.

Six years since his exile his list of black-type winners has grown by only two, with Commanche Falls scoring in the Hackwood Stakes, Belgrave Stakes and Garrowby Stakes and Lethal Levi taking the Hopeful Stakes. Mind you, they are really likeable handicappers turned stakes performers blessed with abundant speed and toughness: just the sorts that Dark Angel made his name for delivering, in fact.

There aren’t any grounds for revising history and pretending that Lethal Force was cruelly underestimated by the market, then. But a few breeders should be grateful for him, as he has cropped up in some significant events this month.

Most notably, he is the damsire of Gewan, the son of British and Irish champion sire-elect Night Of Thunder who took the notable scalps of Gstaad, Distant Storm and Zavateri to win the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket.

Gewan was bred by Overbury Stallions and Dukes Stud out of Bordeaux Le Bouscat Listed second Grey Mystere, a half-sister to another Listed runner-up in Ginalyah, out of Creamcake, a non-winning Mr Greeley half-sister to Prix Saint-Alary heroine Coquerelle and Prix du Lys scorer Spring Master.

Grey Mystere – who, like Golden Horde, hails from the third crop of Lethal Force – must be pretty good-looking as she was bought by Blandford Bloodstock on behalf of Gewan’s breeders for €120,000 at the Arqana December Breeding-Stock Sale of 2021, in spite of being by a sidelined sire, having a relatively light page at the top and possessing minor black type. That said, the fact that she was carrying a first foal by Too Darn Hot no doubt sweetened the deal.

Grey Mystere, who was named for her colouring and passed the grey gene from Lethal Force to Gewan, had a yearling colt by Ghaiyyath who has died and she has a May-born Native Trail colt entered in the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.

Lethal Force has racked up three black-type winners as broodmare sire quicker than he managed it as a sire. His daughters have also produced Dick Poole Fillies’ Stakes victress Juniper Berries and three-time Listed scorer Beautiful Diamond.

Juniper Berries’ dam Tricksy Spirit, a highly-rated sprint handicapper from the fast Merry Rous family, has been a fine broodmare for Jonathan Mitchell. She has also produced this year’s Fred Darling Stakes runner-up Hey Boo, and her Ardad yearling filly was knocked down for 105,000gns at Tattersalls this month.

Lethal Force’s record in this department stands at 35 winners from 58 runners for a strike-rate of 60 per cent, with his daughters having also produced smart sorts Orchid Bloom, Sticktoyourguns and Up The Manor. His maternal grandchildren aren’t all by the ritziest sires, so those efforts can be upgraded a little too.

Lethal Force was also lurking in the background of Rabbit’s Foot topping the Arqana Arc Sale when selling to Oceanic Bloodstock for €625,000, only hours after finishing a gallant third to Consent in the Prix de Royallieu at Longchamp.

Rabbit’s Foot is, surprisingly considering how she stuck on so gamely over 14 furlongs on soft ground in that Group 1 contest, by Golden Horde, a top-class sprinter like his sire – as he underlined when successful in the Commonwealth Cup at three.

Now, Rabbit’s Foot’s unraced dam Harem Mistress has to take the lion’s share of the credit for the filly’s considerable talent, as she has also produced Prince of Wales's Stakes runner-up Zarakem, but Golden Horde is interesting nevertheless.

The Sumbe stallion made little impact in his freshman season, even with his smaller numbers taken into account, but he is doing somewhat better as a sophomore this year, with 14 winners from 43 runners at a useful strike-rate of 33 per cent. He also has four stakes performers to his name – the same amount as Earthlight and Romanised, who have had more than twice as many runners.

Counterintuitively, many of Golden Horde’s progeny seem to benefit from patience and/or a step up in trip. Rabbit’s Foot is the most compelling proof of that, but Alem and Ladja have also both finished placed in Listed company in deep ground over a mile in France this autumn, while Sevara scored over 11 furlongs at Amiens recently. The sire’s average winning distance stands at around a mile.

Some of those runners are out of more stoutly bred mares, but Golden Horde’s distaff pedigree goes some way to explaining that slight stamina bent too. 

He is a half-brother to this year’s Prix du Jockey Club winner Camille Pissarro (new to the Coolmore roster for 2026) out of Entreat, a Pivotal mare who didn’t run until the November of her two-year-old season and secured her sole victory, in a nine and a half-furlong maiden at Folkestone, in the following August. 

Don't get me wrong: Gewan and Rabbit’s Foot’s achievements clearly don’t warrant starting a campaign to bring Lethal Force home. But they do suggest we should put a bit of respect back on his name. He wasn’t a good sire, but he’s done some good turns.

It’s a shame that Lethal Force didn’t work out, really. He was a brilliant sprinter, winning the Diamond Jubilee Stakes and July Cup and finishing second to Moonlight Cloud in the Prix Maurice de Gheest in the summer of 2013. That sort of consistency in such a competitive division is rare, as this year’s hokey-cokey Group 1 sprint races have shown.

He was also in possession of a decent pedigree, being out of a half-sister to the wonderful Flanders, dam of another champion sprinter in G Force and ancestress of Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroines Flotilla and Mangoustine.

Furthermore, he inadvertently helped set back the cause of Dark Angel as a ‘sire of sires’ in the eyes of breeders, which was regrettable when Dark Angel produces such classy, progressive and durable stock.

Anyway, no need to feel sorry for Lethal Force. He’s having the last laugh. A quick Google search suggests that after leaving Haras de Grandcamp in Normandy he spent two years standing near Rome, and is now based in Sardinia.

If Gewan carries all before him next year and Rabbit’s Foot strikes at the highest level for her new connections I suppose I’ll just have to take one for the team and visit their mutual grandsire in order to write another article about him. 

24/10/2025