Teofilo's influence extends beyond Cup heroics

Cover image courtesy of Darley Europe

Health and fertility issues restricted Teofilo to just six seasons spread across nine years at stud in Australia and while he has been confined to stallion duties in one hemisphere since 2017, at Kildangan Stud in Ireland, his global impact continues to grow.

The Joseph O'Brien-trained Twilight Payment was not only Teofilo's second Melbourne Cup winner in three years, following on from Cross Counter's (GB) win for Charlie Appleby in 2018, he was also the stallion's sixth Group 1 winner globally in 2020.

Exultant (Ire) kicked things off with a pair of Group 1 wins in Hong Kong in April and May before Tawkeel (GB) and Donjha (Ire) claimed top-flight success in France and Germany respectively. Only last month, Gear Up (Ire) and Subjectivist (GB) completed a two-day Group 1 double for their sire at Saint Cloud and Longchamp respectively.

"He's having an unbelievable season. That was his sixth Group 1 winner of 2020 and completes a remarkable few weeks with a couple of Group 1 winners in France a couple of weeks back," Darley Australia's Head Of Sales, Alastair Pulford said.

"The only stallion that has gone better in that regard in the Northern Hemisphere is Galileo, in terms of Group 1 winners, so he's a remarkable success."

Achieving what he has, somewhat in the shadow of his own sire, has been no mean feat for Teofilo. With 94 stakes winners, he is the most successful son of Galileo to date. Thirteen of those stakes winners were bred in his time in Australia from only 129 runners to the track, an impressive strike rate for any shuttle stallion.

Unbeaten in five starts at two for Jim Bolger, winning both the G1 Dewhurst S. and the G1 National S., injury ended Teofilo's racing career before his 3-year-old campaign began, and he was installed as one of the jewels of Darley's offering at Kildangan Stud in 2008.

Watch: Teofilo (Ire) win the G1 Dewhurst S.

"They were talking about him as the next Nijinsky, he was so highly rated. He was favourite for the 2000 Guineas when he went wrong at an early part of his 3-year-old career and they weren't able to race him again. He was very highly regarded in Europe as a 2-year-old, which is why he got such great support at stud up there," Pulford said.

He has proven an amazingly consistent producer of stakes horses in the Northern Hemisphere, with at least nine stakes winners from each of his first six crops, highlighted by Group 1 winning horses such as Parish Hall (Ire), Loch Garmin (Ire), Trading Leather (Ire) and Havana Gold (Ire).

Teofilo arrived for his first season in Australia in 2009, with Darley's Australian operation in full flight after the purchase of Woodlands Stud the previous year. He averaged over 100 mares a season in his first three seasons, before being rested for what would have been his fourth season in 2012.

The Australian market were somewhat reserved in response to his early crops through the sales ring. His first crop averaged $34,000 in 2012, and then $54,523 in 2013 and $52,225 in 2014.

Making an impact on the track

It was the victory of Sonntag in the 2014 G1 Queensland Derby that provided a considerable boost to the prominence of his Australian-bred progeny. He had returned to Darley's Kelvinside property for one season the previous year with a book of 116 but would not return again until 2016.

"He was an important part of our roster here, but unfortunately, niggling health and fertility issues prevented him from continuously shuttling," Pulford said. "He had a bit of a sporadic career here. He never really got the numbers here because of those health issues."

However, those early crops were able to make a considerable impression when they did hit the track. Along with Sonntag, multiple Group 1 winner Happy Clapper was another horse to emerge from his first Australian crop, while the second crop contained dual Group 1 winner and now Darley stallion Kermadec (NZ).

The 2012 crop featured both G1 Australian Guineas and Makybe Diva S. winner Palentino and triple Group 1 winner Humidor (NZ).

The emergence of those horses gave much more confidence to both the Australasian breeders and the market. On a restricted book, Teofilo stood at $44,000 (inc GST), twice his previous price, in 2016 and 2017 while his past three crops to the yearling sales have averaged $132,545 (2016), $164,848 (2019) and $175,132 (2020).

Firm tracks, firm prospects

The performance of his Northern Hemisphere-bred progeny, notably his two Melbourne Cup winners, has given Teofilo additional profile in the Australian market and Pulford sees a key reason behind their Australian success.

"He's a rare part of that Sadler's Wells-line that relishes being on top of the ground. They do go in softer ground, buy they do like fast ground," Pulford said in the aftermath of Twilight Payment's all-the-way win on a Good 3 track at Flemington on Tuesday.

"It’s similar in the Northern Hemisphere. They go better on top of the ground and that suits them out here. The difference is that his two Melbourne Cup winners were bred in the Northern Hemisphere, where the gene pool is more geared towards stamina. His top horses here are geared towards a gene pool that are milers.

"Kermadec, Happy Clapper, Palentino all won multiple Group 1s over a mile, and Humidor, even though he got out to 2000 metres, was also a Group 1 mile winner."

Best to come?

Teofilo's final two Australian crops are only yet two and three, and when you consider the longevity of the breed, there seems to be plenty of more years for the stallion to have an impact with those Australian-bred progeny.

"He certainly got better quality mares when he came back for those last two seasons and had increased support not only from us, but clients as well," Pulford said.

"We’ve got a couple of decent ones in there (through Godolphin) in Alcyone and Choir, who haven't quite delivered in the Spring, but we do think they are pretty decent horses. We have got a couple of fillies we think will make very nice ones in the autumn."

Kermadec well-placed to build legacy

In terms of the ongoing legacy, Teofilo is well-placed with Kermadec and Palentino already well into their stud careers at Darley and Sun Stud respectively, and St Jean (Ire) also active at Brackley Park in Victoria.

Pulford feels Kermadec, whose oldest progeny are only three, has several of the better qualities of his own sire.

"Kermadec is probably a better-looking horse than his father. He has more quality. He's a similar size. The notable thing about both of them is that they are beautiful movers," he said.

"Kermadec is as good a looking horse as you’d see and moves fantastically well. Teofilo had a bit more Danehill in him, being out of a Danehill mare. He was slightly plainer in the head and doesn't quite have the balance that Kermadec has got, but he certainly had the movement," he said.

Kermadec is already a Group 1-producing sire thanks to Flight S., and Spring Champion S. winner Montefilia, who is set to start odds-on favourite for the G1 Kennedy Oaks on Thursday for trainer David Payne.

"They are not early 3-year-olds. Kermadec himself didn’t start racing until the spring of his 3-year-old career, where he won a Carbine Club, Montefilia has done a terrific job to get where she has already," Pulford said.

"He also had a pretty impressive winner at Randwick on Tuesday in Kermanding, who we think is only going to get better and better, and the Snowdens seem to think that as well."

Pulford certainly sees the next 12 months as extremely promising for Kermadec's progeny.

"He could be in for a big autumn carnival and he might end up a very handy sire of stamina-oriented horses at a mile to a mile and quarter-plus," he said. "When you look at the field for the VRC Derby the other day, we definitely have a need for those stamina-oriented stallions and I think the opportunity is there for Kermadec to succeed in that area."