Goffs magazine Stallion Stars

STALLIONS Sea The Stars

STALLION STARS

IRELAND IS HOME TO SOME OF THE BEST THOROUGHBRED STALLIONS IN THE WORLD. LISSA OLIVER VISITED THE SEVEN IRISH STUD FARMS WHICH ARE HOME TO THE NINE STALLIONS WHOSE FEES FOR 2017 WERE €50,000 OR ABOVE.

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STALLIONS

F

you haven’t long to spend in Ireland and are looking for a pleasurable day out, then a visit to Ireland’s leading stallions fits the bill perfectly. They reside in some of the most scenic spots in the country and, beginning at Tally-Ho Stud in Westmeath, you can meander through Kildare toward Thomastown and on to Fethard in Tipperary. The scenery may be beautiful and the hospitality at the various stud farms along the route legendary, but what really makes the trip worthwhile is the opportunity to meet some of the best thoroughbred stallions in the world. That there are two pairs of brothers in our list shows the equal importance of the mare too! If you are lucky enough to meet the gentlemen Exceed And Excel, Kodiac and Sea The Stars; or monsieur le rock star Lope De Vega; imposing Dark Angel and Invincible Spirit; or international superstars Shamardal, Galileo and Fastnet Rock, you will come away with a true understanding of why Ireland is the thoroughbred cradle of the world. Look at the pastures surrounding you, at the muscle and bone standing before you and the even temperament of all nine of Ireland’s leading sires and you know you are in the land of the horseman. Between them, seven of the stallions have sired 260 individual Group winners. Throw in eight-time leading sire Galileo and that’s another 66 Group 1 winners alone to add on. So let us wander through the land of the true giants…

DARK ANGEL

YEOMANSTOWN STUD (€65,000) This dapper 12-year-old grey son of Acclamation, out of the Machiavellian mare Midnight Angel, is a fine advocate of “going to work on an egg”. Apparently, he loves an egg for breakfast, which could be why he has such a great libido! He is a proven outcross for Northern Dancer line mares and is the sire of 21 Group winners to date. He has sired 57 stakes performers and the best of his offspring must surely be champion sprinter Lethal Force and the brave and consistent Mecca’s Angel, a dual heroine of the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. Perhaps his most popular son is Sovereign Debt, an eight-year-old gelding who won his 14th race when landing the Group 3 Diomed Stakes at the Epsom Derby meeting and is so typical of Dark Angel progeny, who just seem to keep improving with age. We can only wonder what we missed out on

by Dark Angel’s early retirement to stud, having proven himself a top-class twoyear-old when winning four of his nine races, including the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes and Group 1 Middle Park Stakes.

Still, racing’s loss was breeders’ gain and Dark Angel enjoyed a phenomenal year last year, siring 23 individual Group and stakes performers, which included Divine, Persuasive and Ardhoomey. He was also represented by no fewer than 40 two-year-old winners, including five individual stakes winners. Better yet, like all of the leading sires, he is quickly establishing his own dynasty, with sons Lethal Force, Estidhkaar, Gutaifan and Alhebayeb already at stud and hoping to pass on those speedy but long-lasting genes.

EXCEED AND EXCEL, KILDANGAN STUD (€50,000)

The bay son of Danehill, out of the Lomond mare Patrona, is now 17 and is “an absolute diamond of a horse” according to the stallion men at Kildangan. He’s clearly a pleasure to have around and, if you’ll pardon the obvious, he never has a bad word to say about anyone! I’m told he’s a great guy for helping the new stallion men learn the ropes, too. He was, of course, an Australian champion sprinter who twice set a new course record, over six and seven furlongs, winning seven of his 12 starts. Now he dominates as the world’s leading sire of juvenile winners and stakes winners and has been champion sire in Australia. His 131 stakes winners are led by Group 1 winners and sires Excelebration and Helmet and he has sired 63 Group winners to date. Of those, 30 have been Group-winning two-year-olds, including last year’s recordbreaker Yalta. Winning for him already at Group level this season are Championship, Mix And Mingle, Priceless, Heavy Metal in Dubai and Mr Stunning, in Sha Tin, underlining his global impact.

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STALLIONS

FASTNET ROCK,

COOLMORE STUD (PRIVATE)

Mecca’s Angel

Helmet

The chilled out 16-year-old bay looks every inch a sprinter and the son of Danehill out of the Royal Academy mare Piccadilly Circus was indeed a champion over five and six furlongs in Australia, winning six of his 19 races and runner-up seven times, showing remarkable consistency. Yet he’s as relaxed a customer as they come and takes shuttling to and from his homeland in his stride. Having secured the champion three-year-old and champion sprinter titles in Australia, he became Australia’s champion sire in 2011/12 and again in 2014/15 and his Irish foal crops ensure he is just as competitive on this side of the world.

You would expect his offspring to inherit his speed, but in fact he is also a surprising source of stamina and the lethal combination is a hallmark of his versatility as a sire. Fascinating Rock, the Group 1 Champion Stakes and Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup hero, is perhaps the best-loved of his sons and the Group 1-winning juvenile of last year, Rivet, may add further lustre to his CV as the season progresses. Fastnet Rock’s daughters are equally noted for their toughness and include the Group 1 Oaks winner Qualify, Intricately, winner of the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at two, Diamondsandrubies (Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes) and globe-trotting Zhukova, who won the Group 1 Man O’War Stakes for Dermot Weld. In all he has sired 76 Group winners from his 216 stakes performers.

Fastnet Rock

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STALLIONS Galileo

GALILEO,

COOLMORE STUD (PRIVATE) There doesn’t seem much we can say here that Galileo (above) hasn’t already said himself.

The 18-year-old bay is a living legend – and he knows it! While he knows exactly who the visitors at Coolmore are there to see, he’s a perfect gentleman, too, and hasn’t let stardom go to his head. His stallion man describes him as “a creature of habit” and, like any senior gentleman, he likes his routine.

He is, of course, bred to be a star and is fast approaching the feat of beating the records of his own sire, Sadler’s Wells. His dam, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Urban Sea, was a phenomenal broodmare, by Miswaki, and is represented in this feature again by Sea The Stars. We’re talking racing royalty and it pretty much started with Galileo. He was champion three-year-old, winning the Group 1 Epsom Derby, Group 1 Irish Derby and Group 1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in style. And then he went to stud and the story really got going. It may have been a slow start by his own high standards, but he became champion sire in 2008 and after winning it again in 2010 he had hung on to his title to the present day. His 64 Group 1 winners include world champion Frankel, Epsom Derby winners Australia, Ruler Of The World and New Approach, Irish Derby heroes Treasure Beach, Soldier Of Fortune, Cape Blanco and Capri, and other classic winners Magician, Gleneagles, The Gurkha, Minding, Churchill, Winter, Was, Roderic O’Connor, Misty For Me, Golden Lilac, Order Of St George, Sixties Icon and Nightime.

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Tiggy Wiggy

STALLIONS

INVINCIBLE SPIRIT,

IRISH NATIONAL STUD (€120,000) Now aged 20, the bay son of Green Desert and classic heroine Rafha (by Kris) takes everything in his stride.

He’s incredibly straightforward and that’s probably what makes him such a good stallion. It’s a trait he passes on, but there’s also steel and determination about him, very much in evidence when he raced. He was the winner of seven of his 17 races from two to five years, the pinnacle being the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup. As with so many of our leading stallions, it was his career after racing that shot him to real stardom and saw him outshine even his own celebrated sire. He is a prepotent sire of sires, with 15 sons at stud, and has sired 50 Group winners, 15 at Group 1 level, and a total of 175 stakes winners. He is also the proud grandfather of seven individual Group 1 winners. Never let it be said that older stallions slow down when it comes to winning progeny, as last year’s Group 1-winning National Defense, Profitable and Signs Of Blessing argue otherwise, the latter already further adding to his group tally this season. Dual classic-winner Lawman, Kingman, Moonlight Cloud, Charm Spirit, Muthmir, Shalaa, Territories, Ektihaam and Born To Sea are other household names to have represented him on the racetrack.

Invincible Spirit

KODIAC,

TALLY-HO STUD (€50,000) The 16-year-old bay Kodiac is a Danehill half-brother to Invincible Spirit and is described by all who know him at Tally-Ho Stud as an absolute gentleman, one of the kindest, most uncomplicated horses you could wish to meet. A child could lead him, such is his temperament, but there must be a bit of fire in there somewhere, because his mild-mannered offspring have seen him soar to the top end of the sires’ table, coming alight when it matters most. His own racing record hardly pointed to such a celebrated career at stud, winning four of his 20 races, but it speaks volumes for him that agents and pinhookers soon spotted his potential and fell in love with his progeny. Their faith was rewarded and to-date he is the sire of 62 stakes performers, including 14 Group winners. Last year proved his best ever so far, seeing his progeny win e3.7 million on the track and 52 of his yearlings fetching e100,000 or more at public auction. He sired five individual two-year-old Group and Listed winners in 2016, bettered only by Galileo who sired seven. Of his 28 Group and stakes winners, 14 have registered their successes at two and include the champion two-year-old Tiggy Wiggy, who went on to be placed in the 1000 Guineas. Besharah was another of his Group-winning juvenile daughters who placed in a classic at three. Just to show Kodiac is no one-trick-pony, however, Lingfield Derby Trial winner Best Solution looks like being a son to follow over middle-distances.

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STALLIONS Harzand

SEA THE STARS,

GILLTOWN STUD (€125,000) We have met a lot of gentlemen on our tour of stallions and, although the bay has grown in confidence and self-assurance since he first took up stallion duties, 11-year-old Sea The Stars is still the same charming, polite and utter gentleman of his race days. He no longer looks quite so racing-fit these days, but remains elegant, in build and disposition.

He was the perfect racehorse, winner of six consecutive Group 1s in six months, including the 2000 Guineas, Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and is proving to be just as good at stud, as could be expected from one of his breeding, a Cape Cross half-brother to Galileo, no less. He got off to a flying start as a sire and his first crop included the Classic winners Sea The Moon and Taghrooda. Last year Harzand (pictured left) gained him an Epsom Derby success and followed up in the Irish Derby, to earn a place at stud alongside his illustrious sire. One-fifth of Sea The Stars’ runners have performed at stakes level (62) and Cloth Of Stars, Mekhtaal, Vazira and Zelzal are among his 21 Group winners. His lifetime ratio of 12.1% stakes winners to runners is a figure bettered only by Dubawi at the same stage of his career.

SHAMARDAL,

Casamento

KILDANGAN STUD (PRIVATE) A son of the ultra-tough Giant’s Causeway, Shamardal won the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes as a two-year-old, when trained by Mark Johnston. Transferred to Godolphin for his classic season in 2005, he won the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, the Prix du Jockey Club and the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. Despite not racing again after that, he was crowned champion European miler and he has since established himself as one of Europe’s most important sires. His progeny tend to go best on fast ground, so it should be no surprise that his sons Able Friend and Dan Excel won multiple Group 1 races in Hong Kong. Closer to home, his best progeny have included Mukhadram, Lope De Vega, Zazou, Tryster, Lumiere and Casamento. Shamardal’s stud fee was initially e40,000 in 2006. It dipped to as low as e20,000 during the recession in 2009 and 2010 but quickly rose to e50,000 and then e70,000 before turning ‘private’ for the past two seasons.

LOPE DE VEGA, BALLYLINCH (€50,000)

At 10, this imposing chesnut son of Shamardal, out of the Vettori mare Lady Vettori, is the youngest of the current leading sires we’re looking at here, but there’s no young rookie about him. He knows he’s good and he has the attitude to go with it, something of a king of all he surveys. That probably stems from the admiration Belardo he was used to as a well-regarded two-year-old and dual classic-winning three-year-old, winning the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club for André Fabre. He made an immediate impression at stud with 25 individual winners and no fewer than four Group-winning horses, champion two-year-old Belardo among them, in his first crop. Not surprisingly, their efforts earned him the honour of being champion first crop sire in Europe in 2014. In the short time since he has already sired 50 stakes performers at the time of going to press. His 15 Group winners include Jemayel, The Right Man, Very Special and Blue De Vega, while Vega Magic, French Fern and Santa Ana Lane have also confirmed his status in Australia.

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