Cover image courtesy of Scoop Dyga
A son of Coolmore’s late superstar sire Galileo (Ire), Armory racked up an impressive record during his career, winning five of his 16 starts which saw him accrue £995,402 (AU$1.72 million) in prizemoney.
However, his win record only tells half of his story and certainly doesn’t paint the full picture in terms of the horse's achievements on the track. Throughout his career, the 5-year-old raced in four different countries and ran in Group 1 company an eye-watering nine times, making the frame in an astonishing eight of them.
Davison - who will stand the horse in conjunction with Windsor Park - told TDN AusNZ he was looking forward to adding the high-class racehorse to the roster.
Simms Davison | Image courtesy of NZ Racing Desk
“We are really looking forward to welcoming Armory to Mapperley,” he said. “He is a top athlete and performed at a high level and he was a horse that we could stand with Windsor Park and he is the type of horse that we love in New Zealand and that we can make work. It’s great for us.”
Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Armory broke his maiden on the second attempt when taking out a seven furlong contest at The Curragh, which he then duly followed up with a brace of stakes victories in the G3 Tyros S. and G2 Futurity S.
The colt was then tested at the highest level in the G1 National S. where he finished second to Champion 2-Year-Old Pinatubo (Ire). The final two starts of his juvenile career came in France, finishing a close third in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, before running second in the G1 Criterium International S.
After kicking off his Classic campaign with an unlucky fourth in the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas, he occupied that same position on his next start in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. His third stakes triumph came in the G3 Royal Whip S. at The Curragh which he duly followed up with a third-place finish in the G1 Irish Champion S. at the same venue.
Armory (Ire) at Moonee Valley
Following that performance, Armory was sent to Australia for a crack at the G1 Cox Plate, delivering a fantastic performance to finish 1.3l adrift of fellow import and former stablemate Sir Dragonet (Ire) (Camelot {GB}).
Simms said it was the Cox Plate performance that initially ignited their interest in the horse.
“I would say what first made us look at the horse as a real possibility was how he performed in that Cox Plate. It is one of the best weight-for-age races in the world and he ran fantastic and was probably a little bit unlucky,” explained Davison.
“The amazing thing about this is that he came down to Australia and performed on the big stage and then he actually went back to Europe and continued to perform well as a 4-year-old.”
"...he (Armory) came down to Australia and performed on the big stage and then he actually went back to Europe and continued to perform well as a 4-year-old." - Simms Davison
Following his run at Moonee Valley, Armory returned to Europe and opened his account as a 4-year-old with victory in the G2 Huxley S. which he then followed up with a third-place finish in the G1 Prince of Wales's S., before coming home in fourth in the G2 York S., while he rounded off his career by finishing sixth in the G1 Mister D S. at Arlington Park - the only Group 1 he failed to finish in the top four.
Simms said the horse’s high-class juvenile form was a huge feather in Armory’s cap, believing his 2-year-old record will be a big attraction for breeders.
“What I really like about him as well, is that they clearly got stuck into him as a 2-year-old and he seemed to be able to handle that,” he said. “Any horse that can travel across the world and consistently keep performing at the highest level has to not only be a good athlete but also has to have a good temperament.”
“Any horse that can travel across the world and consistently keep performing at the highest level has to not only be a good athlete but also has to have a good temperament.” - Simms Davison
After being crowned Champion Older Male in Ireland in 2021, a group of high-profile Australian owners moved quickly to secure the entire and he was transferred to the care of leading trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace. However, fate dealt a cruel hand with the horse picking up an injury and prematurely brought an end to the entire’s glittering racing career.
When Simms recently travelled to Australia to inspect the horse, he was struck by his strength, believing he will inject a touch of precocity into his stock.
“When I went to Australia two weeks ago to inspect the horse one of the main things that struck me about him was how relaxed and very calm he was,” said Simms.
“He is also very strong and you can see why he performed as a 2-year-old. He has this huge, strong shoulder on him and his walk is probably one of his biggest assets, as soon as you see him walk it’s like: ‘Wow’. He just moves very well.
“He was definitely significantly stronger than I had anticipated. I think he will really suit the mares in New Zealand, because some of them here are very late maturers and he is definitely going to tidy up a lot of those mares whose progeny have previously taken a bit of time to get to a level where they can perform, so I think he is going to perfect for some of mares who we want to inject a bit of ‘umph’ in to them.
“The trade market in New Zealand is very, very strong and it's hard to wait around for horses to mature, we need to get them up and going. We are obviously happy to wait until three, but you just can’t wait until four anymore.”
“The trade market in New Zealand is very, very strong and it's hard to wait around for horses to mature, we need to get them up and going." - Simms Davison
While Simms said a Group 1 next to his name would have been a huge achievement, the master of Mapperley Stud is not getting hung up on it, in fact quite the opposite believing it has actually played in his hands.
“He obviously performed well at Group 1 level throughout his career and we know that if he would have won a Group 1 he probably would not be standing here in New Zealand, so that aspect has probably worked in our favour,” he said.
In joining the New Zealand nursery’s roster, Armory will become only the second son of the pierless Galileo - who died at Coolmore Stud in Ireland last year - on offer to breeders in New Zealand, with the stallion’s former stablemate Circus Maximus (Ire) residing at Windsor Park during his time in the Southern Hemisphere.
Galileo (Ire) | Image courtesy of Coolmore
However, Simms said when he and Windsor Park’s Rodney Schick set out to find an appropriate stallion, their aim was to focus more on finding a top-class racehorse that would appeal to the New Zealand industry.
“We weren’t specifically looking for a son of Galileo, we were literally trying to find a high-class racehorse that we could stand,” said Simms. “Of course he needed to be by a significant sire to make it work and obviously we were very lucky that he is by Galileo, but if he had been by any top-end sire we would still have been happy."
The relationship between Mapperley and Windsor Park stretches back a few generations and Simms said it was an exciting prospect to be back in business with the stud, with the pair having enjoyed success together when they stood multiple Champion Sire Volksraad (GB) in partnership many moons ago.
Rodney Schick | Image courtesy of NZ Racing Desk
“Rodney Schick and myself are great mates,” explained Simms. “We buy mares together and over the last couple of years we’ve been looking for a stallion to stand in partnership and we’ve had a few cracks on a few horses.
“The relationship when we stood Volksraad just came about because our parents were friends who went into business together and we have kicked around since we were kids. It has been a very successful one and now it is great for me and Rodney to continue it on.”
For the time-being the new recruit will call Mapperley home, but Simms was not ruling out shuttling the horse between the two farms in the future.
“He will stand at Mapperley for now, but he could go to Windsor Park some seasons. We were very open when we were buying stallions to look at doing one year at Mapperley and one year at Windsor Park, it sounds a little bit silly, but we were open to making it work,” said Simms.
“He (Armory) will stand at Mapperley for now, but he could go to Windsor Park some seasons. We were very open when we were buying stallions to look at doing one year at Mapperley and one year at Windsor Park..." - Simms Davison
“But we just need to see how the horse settles in and how he is in the breeding shed, he could very easily go between Mapperly and Windsor.”
Like all farms when they gain a new stallion, Simms and Schick will be supporting Armory with their own mares and possibly some new faces, with the men set to make a trip across the Tasman to the upcoming Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in search of some suitable mates for their newcomer.
“We will be going to be buying mares together at the Gold Coast in two weeks’ time to send to him,” said Simms. “Both of us will be giving the stallion huge support to give him every opportunity. It was another really good thing about securing a high-class horse like this one, we can support him with our good mares.
“It is very important when trying to make a successful sire to give him all the opportunities and the best mares and that is what we intend to do.”
