Humble hero who

Martin Stevens pays tribute to a late star who lit up the track and the breeding shed

CHOISIR confounded those in Europe who dismissed him as a freak not once but twice: first on the racecourse, when blitzing the field in the King’s Stand Stakes and repeating the feat in the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2003, and then again at stud, when becoming an influential sire who helped open new lines of commerce in the breeding business.

No-one could deny that the trailblazing Australian raider was fast, tough and powerfully built, or that his Irish-bred-and-based sire Danehill Dancer was a fine prospect, having supplied talented horses such as Barbajuan, Lady Dominatrix, Lahinch, Monsieur Bond and Where Or When from cheap early covers. However, his distaff family was not only unfamiliar to Europeans, but also apparently rather ordinary. He was one of three winners out of the winning Lunchtime mare Great Selection, who in turn was a sibling to three other scorers out of the winning Biscay mare Pensive Mood. Sure, there were lots of winners on the page, but to this day he is the only stakes winner under his first three dams.

Choisir’s first northern-hemisphere crop showed he was capable of imparting precocity and pace, as had been expected, but also a good deal of class, sometimes to a surprisingly high degree. It yielded Challenge Stakes victor Stimulation, who ran a neck second to Paco Boy in the Lennox Stakes, and Listed winners Choose Your Moment, Fat Boy, Meydan Princess and Porto Marmay. His second European-bred generation contained Listed winner Choose Me and black type-placed Ares Choix, Cape Carbonara, Indian Art, Scrapper Smith and Select, while his third included Pattern scorers Lady Springbank, Monsieur Joe and Sir Parky and stakes performers Amitola and Celerina.

Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint hero and dual Shoemaker Mile winner Obviously was the highlight of Choisir’s fourth Irish crop, which also encompassed Athasi Stakes scorer Gossamer Seed and Listed winners Clondinnery and Codemaster, while Vintage Stakes victor Chandlery was the best of the fifth, along with Listed winners Choisir Shadow, One Fine Day and Strategic Game.

Choisir’s 2010 crop in the northern hemisphere was a vintage one, as it contained Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Lockinge and Prix de la Foret hero Olympic Glory and 2,000 Guineas runner-up Glory Awaits, but he was rested from shuttling that year and for the next two seasons.

He made his return to Coolmore in County Tipperary in 2013, with the resultant produce including Middle Park Stakes winner The Last Lion and Group 3 scorers Alexios Komnenos and Psychedelic Funk, and he completed one last season north of the equator in 2014, with Coventry Stakes winner Rajasinghe (below right) and stakes scorers Blue Uluru, Qaysar, Sirici and Zihba emerging from that generation.

Choisir continued covering in Australia until being retired in 2019, and he died in December 2021, prompting a wave of warm obituaries celebrating a pioneer in international racing.

His stud record in the southern hemisphere was arguably even better than in the north, not least because it was topped by an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree, in the shape of Starspangledbanner.

The chestnut was useful at two, when he won an Inglis sales race and ran third in the Blue Diamond Prelude, and showed significant improvement and admirable versatility at three, when he took the Caulfield Guineas over a mile and the Oakleigh Plate over five and a half furlongs. He also finished third in the Newmarket Handicap and fourth in the Lightning Stakes that season.

Those efforts caught the attention of Coolmore, who snapped up a majority share in the colt and brought him to be trained by Aidan O’Brien at Ballydoyle. He ignited memories of his sire by making all the running in the Golden Jubilee Stakes and went one better than Dad by doing the same to win the July Cup.

CHOISIR’S southernhemisphere crops also produced Australasian Group 1 winners Choice Bro, Divine Prophet, Historian, Japonisme, Kushadasi, Sacred Choice, Snapdancer and The Mission, as well as Hong Kong stars Luger and Secret Weapon.

All told, he sired 56 Group/Graded winners, 47 Listed scorers and 84 other black-type performers. Not bad for a horse with a modest pedigree, who never stood at a fee higher than €15,000 in Ireland or A$35,750 (£19,175/€22,400) in Australia.

Even better, he is developing a considerable influence on the breed through his sons and daughters, which could arguably be a result of more classical and refined blood being mingled with his.

Starspangledbanner has been something of a bellwether for Choisir in this respect, too, in spite of suffering from subfertility during his early years at stud. He sired a debut northern-hemisphere crop numbering just 33 foals, but it contained two Royal Ascot juvenile winners in The Wow Signal and Anthem Alexander, as well as further stakes scorers Great Wide Open, Home Of The Brave, Last Gift, Meliora, Silver Rainbow and Spangled.

Starspangledbanner’s second Irish-bred crop amounted to only eight foals, but six winners, and after a spell of not shuttling from Australia he returned to Coolmore in Fethard to great fanfare in 2015, with his fertility issues evidently fixed. His subsequent larger northern-hemisphere crops include Cheveley Park Stakes winner Millisle and Group 1-placed two-year-olds Aloha Star, Castle Star and Flotus.

More recently, he has shown he isn’t just about speed and precocity, with State Of Rest winning the Saratoga Derby, Cox Plate, Prix Ganay and Prince of Wales’s Stakes before retiring to Rathbarry Stud, California Spangle shining over a mile to nine furlongs in Hong Kong, Aristia scoring in the Prix

Jean Romanet, and Rhea Moon taking the American Oaks.

Starspangledbanner, who stood at a career-high fee of €50,000 at Coolmore in Ireland this season, has 20 Pattern winners, ten Listed scorers and 25 other black-type performers on his record. Those figures look set to soar in the coming years.

History repeated itself a little last year when Rajasinghe, another Choisir stallion son, produced an eye-popping strike-rate with his small debut crop of two-year-olds. He fielded eight winners from just ten runners, including the Listed-placed Waiting All Night, and he is reportedly in more demand at the National Stud this year at a fee of just £3,000.

Choisir’s third son on active duty in Europe this year, Olympic Glory, has been a bit hit and miss since his first juveniles reached the track five years ago, but he has proved with the Group 1-winning fillies Grand Glory and Watch Me that he is capable of getting one out of the top drawer, and he possibly represents value at a fee of €4,000 at Haras de Bouquetot in Normandy. Even some of Choisir’s sire sons who didn’t stand the test of