Bloodstock Desk: Sheikh buys share in Cheveley Park-based sire Pivotal.

Byline: Rachel Pagones

SHEIKH MOHAMMED has purchased a 25 per cent share in top sire Pivotal for an undisclosed sum. The 12-year-old son of Polar Falcon will remain at David and Patricia Thompson's Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket, where he was born and raised, and will stand for a fee of pounds 65,000 next year - the highest in Britain, writes Rachel Pagones. Pivotal will not be marketed by Darley, Sheikh Mohammed's extensive breeding operation, Cheveley Park's managing director Chris Richardson said last night. "Everything remains purely as is. Nothing will change," Richardson said. "They [Darley] just have an investment.

"We're very pleased to have their support and the likelihood of some very good mares coming to him."

Richardson added that Sheikh Mohammed's agent John Ferguson negotiated the deal with Cheveley Park about four months ago, before the round of yearling sales began in September. "It was just a private arrangement," he said. "With a horse of that value, it's a good investment from our point of view.

"It's nice they had the confidence to do it, and it's good for everyone. It's good for European breeders to have their support."

Asked whether Sheikh Mohammed offered to buy Pivotal outright, Richardson said: "Mr and Mrs Thompson would never sell the horse. He is what allowed us to continue the development of Cheveley and to invest in valuable mares."

Pivotal entered stud at Cheveley in 1997 for a fee of pounds 6,000. That dropped to pounds 5,000 from 19992001, but it has since risen steadily as the stallion's runners have won at the top level in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and the US, including sprinters such as Somnus and Kyllachy as well as middle-distance standouts such as Chorist, Golden Apples and Megahertz. He gained a first Classic winner this year when Saoire beat another Pivotal filly, Penkenna Princess, in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.

It has been a similar success story at the sales, and Sheikh Mohammed in particular had a keen eye for Pivotal yearlings this season. Ferguson bought five of them at the Tattersalls October Sale, Part 1, for a total of 1,380,000gns, including a colt out of the Kingmambo mare Model Queen for 430,000gns and another out of the Interrex mare P retty Sharp for 420,000gns.

n MONTJEU'S unraced brother Gold Well has been acquired by Arctic Tack Stud in County Wexford for stud duty next year. The four-year-old, by Sadler's Wells out of Floripedes, will stand as a jump stallion next to Great Palm, Heron Island and Bienamado.