Situated at the crossroads of Orne and Calvados, an hour’s drive from Deauville and just ten kilometres apart, Haras de Montfort & Préaux and Haras du Mézeray have a rich history of producing Group 1 winners and housing many great stallions including the now-departed heavyweight of the last decade Le Havre. These two separate farms have been carefully integrated and brought together under the Sumbe banner to create a unique 350-hectare base with expertise in all aspects of breeding stock development.

We offer personalised and comprehensive services for seasonal and permanent boarding as well as bloodstock consultation and sales consignment. Through our international integration we can provide our clients with the benefits of cross-channel care for their mares. Our team ensures continuity of operation and ethical compliance as well as uninterrupted technical and sanitary control.

We are confident that our homebred runners’ race record mirrors the breeding standards we have set on our farms.
Please feel free to contact us to get a tailormade offer and start reaping the benefits of our system.

An easy winner of his juvenile debut, the grey son of Dark Angel made his ability know to the French public with a Gr.2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte score to round out his 2-year-old record. Bred for speed top-to-bottom, he displayed further ability at three when stretching out to a mile and, although winless at that age, he diplayed high levels of toughness and constistency throughout the season and proved he belonged in the big league with two third-place finishes in the Gr.1s St James’s Palace S. and Sussex S. Coming back at four as the finished article, he made light work of both his Listed race comeback and the Gr.2 Bet365 Mile. Carrying his early season form into the summer, he exacted a swift retribution for a near miss in the Gr.1 Lockinge S. the previous month with a towering Gr.1 Queen Anne S. score at Royal Ascot, followed by an equally impressive romp in the Gr.1 Prix Jacques Le Marois back in front of the French audience, before rounding out his unparalleled stallion-making record with another demolition job in the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth II S. for his European finale. Highweighted at 124 pounds by the IFHA to become the best miler on the planet regardless or age or surface, the fan favourite made a clean sweep of champion titles capped by a Cartier Older Horse Award. He entered the next chapter of his life as the best-ever son of Dark Angel by far, while playing a major role in consolidating his sire’s status as one of the most significant influences in modern times.

From the penultimate crop of the late Le Havre, Ramadan broke his maiden at second asking while leading an impressive Bizakov 1 - 2 finish at Chantilly before coming up just one length short in the Gr.1 Critérium de Saint-Cloud. He turned his seasonal comeback into an exhibition before putting on another show in the important classic prep Gr.3 Prix de Fontainebleau. An up-close 5th in the Gr.1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains, the French Derby’s added distance proved too much for his stamina, but he bounced back swiftly to deliver his trademark knockout punch again in the Gr.3 Prix Daphnis off a two-month freshening. From this point on, it was only a matter of time before he would graduate at Group 2 level. Taking on his elders during the big showdown on Arc weekend showdown, he motored home an easy winner of the Gr.2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein to confirm his status as one of France’s finest milers of 2024. Logically, he entered  that same night’s Arc Sale as a much sought after commodity, ultimately bringing a winning bid of €1,500,000 from Yulong Investments to secure the hottest racing prospect available on the market.

Unraced as a two-year-old, Lazzat, a second generation homebred by Gr.1 Jean Prat winner Territories out of one of Nurlan Bizakov’s patiently curated foundation lines, kickstarted his career with a three-race winning streak by a cumulated 14 length, including Cagnes Sur Mer winter meet’s feature 3-year-old race L. Prix La Californie. He shipped North for the first time in April to capture the important classic prep Gr.3 Prix Djebel before bagging the Gr.3 Prix Paul de Moussac on the bounce. Putting his unbeaten record on the line to face older rivals in his first Group 1 attempt, he led every step of the way to leave a highly competitive field watching him from a distance. Unstopable in his rise to the top, this last performance earned him a rating of 118 and made him the uncontested leader of Europe’s sprinting division regardless of age. Gifted with an admirable constitution, Lazzat is set to be Sumbe’s colour bearer for years to come in international competitions.

The Prix Morny was set up in 1865, the second year that races were held at Deauville. It was named after the late Duc Auguste de Morny, the half-brother of Napoleon III. The man had three hobbies: artwork, theatre and horses. A visionnary, his actions shaped French racing up to present days. With great foresight, he anticipated the increase in racing and tourism. Longchamp opened in 1857. Deauville, with its casino and races, followed suit in 1864.

Prix Morny has long been considered the first leg of the French 2-year-olds’ Triple Crown, a rare sweep completed only by a handful of champions like Arazi, Hector Protector and Blushing Groom. Two admirable foreign raiders, Vandeek and Whistlejacket, have already won strong renewals of the Prix Morny under Sumbe’s patronage. The pair has already added to existing evidence of Prix Morny’s overwhelming impact, since Vandeek remained a perfect 4-for-4 with a 2 ¼ length win in the 2023 Gr.1 Middle Park Stakes, while Whistlejacket ran second in this year’s running of the same race.

Also in 2024, fillies and mares slightly overshadowed the main event as Mqse de Sévigné completed a second Prix Rothschild – Prix Jean Romanet double in back-to-back summer meets, while George Strawbridge’s Friendly Soul notched Gr.2 Prix Alec Head en route to her Gr.1 Prix de l’Opera triumph.

We are looking forward to gathering our clients and partners from around the world again in 2025, for another memorable day of racing and friendship.

As we started looking for a meaningful raceday to sponsor, Deauville’s summer meet, with its very special vibes pulsating between the racecourse and the adjacent sales venue, stood out as the most fitting target given the nature of our operation. That’s why in 2023, when offered the opportunity to become the official sponsor of one of Deauville’s major race fixtures for five years, Nurlan Bizakov did not look back.