By Elaine Belval
Byword won the 10-furlong Prince of Wales’s S. at Royal Ascot on Wednesday, the highlight of the day’s card. He is now the 14th G1 winner for his sire, Peintre Celebre, who has quietly enjoyed a successful career, and he’s another homebred G1 winner for Juddmonte Farms, which also won the Epsom Derby with Workforce.
Peintre Celebre is one of numerous champions by the great sire Nureyev. He is best known for his dazzling racetrack performance in the 1997 Prix de l’Arc de Troimphe, where he set a new course record, winning by five lengths over such G1 winners as Pilsudski (Breeders’ Cup Turf), Swain (multiple G1 winner), Helissio (1996 Arc winner) and Borgia (German Derby winner).
Peintre Celebre retired to stud at Coolmore. His first Northern Hemisphere crop contained three G1 winners including multiple champion Pride and German Derby winner Dai Jin. His second crop contained US G1 winner Castledale (Santa Anita Derby).
He has hardly slowed down since, with G1 winners in Europe, Australia, South Africa and Hong Kong, even if he hasn’t enjoyed the biggest of profiles. Peintre Celebre has been a consistent source of middle distance ability. While he has SWs from six to 12+ furlongs, his best runners are in the 8-12 furlong range.
Byword is out of a daughter of Woodman. Peintre Celebre has 17 foals with daughters of Woodman, with three SWs. They are G1 winners Byword, Sudan (Gran Premio di Milano) and G2 winner and multiple G1-placed Super Celebre. The Peintre Celebre/Woodman cross is a perfect example of the A+++.
Peintre Celebre stands at Coolmore Stud in Ireland and his 2010 fee was €17,500.
Click here to see Byword’s Royal Ascot race. Click here to see videos of each of the G1 races at Royal Ascot through Thursday.
(Elaine Belval is senior pedigree analyst at WTC.)