Big Breeders’ Cup weekend for trio of young shuttle stallions

Cover image courtesy of Coolmore

Very few stallions can lay claim to having sired as many as six Group 1 winners from their first two crops, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that Justify is no ordinary stallion.

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The sire of arguably the most exciting 2-year-old colt on the planet in the shape of runaway G1 Dewhurst S. winner City Of Troy (USA), Justify’s stocks continue to rise following a weekend which saw two fillies by the unbeaten US Triple Crown winner - Just FYI (USA) and Hard To Justify (USA) - land two of the Grade 1 events for juveniles at the prestigious Breeders’ Cup meeting.

It has been a remarkable few months all across the world for the progeny of last season’s Champion First Season Sire in Australia, and Coolmore’s racing and bloodstock manager John Kennedy told The Thoroughbred Report that the bloodstock industry Down Under is once again benefitting from the incredible foresight shown by Coolmore supremo John Magnier.

“Probably the only person in the room that knew Justify was going to be what he is, is John Magnier,” Kennedy said. “The support he gave him since the day he landed in Australia is unbelievable to be perfectly honest.

“He got an unbelievable bunch of mares in his first season and what he has done from that crop of runners is sensational. He looks like an unbelievable influence to bring into the Danehill mares in Australia, which is very important.

“It’s a very difficult thing to get to where he is in such a short space of time, and I’d say what's to come is going to be very special.”

Crucially, Justify’s pair of Grade 1 winners on Friday night were split across turf and dirt, proving once again that he is a stallion capable of producing elite-level horses on both surfaces.

His versatility is not restricted to track type, however, with the US Triple Crown hero’s impressive 22 stakes winners to date coming over distances ranging from 1100 metres to 2100 metres, and in seven different racing jurisdictions across three continents to boot.

“I think that’s the most important thing, the versatility that he brings,” Kennedy added.

“He’s getting them from every angle. He’s getting them over turf and over dirt, over a sprinting trip and over a mile, he’s getting them in Europe, America and Australia - it’s a pinch yourself kind of thing.

“We are very, very excited about what’s to come and the belief has been there from day one with the mares that he was supported with. It’s great to see it shine through now.

“It looks like there’s a very nice crop of 2-year-olds coming through in Australia as well.”

One such juvenile singled out for praise by Kennedy is Storm Boy (Justify {USA}), who was purchased by his trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott in conjunction with Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds for $460,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale earlier this year.

Bred on the same cross as Coolmore’s Group 2 winner Learning To Fly (Justify {USA}) and the first foal out of the winning Fastnet Rock mare Pelican (NZ), Storm Boy is a grandson of NZ Horse of the Year and Champion Sprinter Seachange (NZ) (Cape Cross {Ire}), whose half sister Keepa Cruisin (NZ) was also victorious at the highest level.

“There is a very nice colt that we sold at the Magic Millions sales to Gai and Adrian called Storm Boy, he looks special,” Kennedy said.

“He’s out of a Fastnet Rock mare, who had an unbelievable day on Saturday as a broodmare sire, and he actually won his trial very impressively last Thursday against Scampi. He looks like a rising star.

“He’s a machine and he has a good bunch of owners - Rob McClure, the Cunningham family, there’s a good bunch of them.”

Justify’s first Australian crop are striking at just shy of 10 per cent stakes winners to runners, spearheaded by last season’s star juvenile filly Learning To Fly, who hasn’t been seen since clipping heels and unseating her rider Chad Schofield in the G1 Golden Slipper S. back in March.

Kennedy revealed that Learning To Fly won’t be seen this side of Christmas, but issued an upbeat bulletin on the previously unbeaten filly, who is back in work at Annabel Neasham’s Warwick Farm stables and is reportedly heading in the right direction.

Two can play at that game

Not to be upstaged by his Coolmore Australia barnmate, fellow shuttle stallion Wootton Bassett got in on the act at Santa Anita a little over an hour after Justify had sired his juvenile Group 1 double on Friday night.

While it wasn’t to be for his star 3-year-old colt King Of Steel (USA), who finished a very respectable fifth in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf on Saturday night, Wootton Bassett had tasted Grade 1 glory 24 hours earlier courtesy of his 2-year-old son Unquestionable (Fr), who landed the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf over a mile in the colours of Qatari outfit Al Shaqab Racing - co-owners of the colt alongside Coolmore and Westerberg.

Unquestionable became the Coolmore shuttler’s fourth juvenile Group 1 winner and second this season after Bucanero Fuerte (GB), who beat both Unquestionable and subsequent Group 1-winning filly Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio {USA}) in the G1 National S. in Ireland earlier this year.

Had Unquestionable’s Ballydoyle stablemate and Royal Ascot winner River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) not been scratched on veterinary advice, it could have been an even better result in the prestigious Grade 1 for Wootton Bassett, who has been extremely well received Down Under ever since the decision was made to shuttle him for the first time in 2021.

“He’s in a great place at the moment and the Australian breeders have really latched onto him,” Kennedy said.

“He really complements the Australian mares and, like Justify, he latches onto the Danehill line very well. I think he’s going to be a special horse for Australia going forward.

“He has had a lot of support from some of the best breeders in the business, and I think this week alone he covered a Blue Diamond winner and a Golden Slipper winner in the space of 24 hours. That just goes to show the type of mares that he’s getting.

“What’s to come is going to be pretty special and we have a lovely bunch of yearlings by him going to Magic Millions. I think most farms going to that sale have a nice one, so it’s going to be very exciting to see them go through the ring.”

Wootton Bassett’s story is one of rags to riches, having joined the Coolmore roster in Ireland for the 2021 Northern Hemisphere breeding season after making an explosive start from his small early crops conceived at Haras d’Etreham in France, where he was crowned Champion 2-Year-Old Colt following an unbeaten juvenile season in 2010.

Having started out at a modest fee of €6000 (AU$11,400), Wootton Bassett sired Champion 3-Year-Old Colt and now Cambridge Stud shuttler Almanzor (Fr) from his very first crop, and his meteoric rise continued thereafter, with his Northern Hemisphere fee for the last two seasons sitting at €150,000 (AU$285,200).

The list of mares that he has covered during his sojourns Down Under reads like a who’s who of racetrack stars, and the team at Coolmore could not be more excited about the prospect of selling his first Australian-bred yearlings - several of whom are out of Group 1-winning mares - in the coming months.

“The thing to bear in mind is that all of his success at the moment is off a €40,000 (AU$76,100) stud fee,” Kennedy said. “His Coolmore-bred crop are only rising 2-year-olds and they haven’t even hit the track yet.

“I know from talking to the sales companies that they are very impressed with the stock that he has going around the Hunter Valley and he has a very, very nice colt out of a mare called Celebrity Queen, who needs no introduction. He’s probably one of the nicest yearlings on the farm.

“Some of the standout fillies on the farm would be the first foal out of Avantage, who is going to the Magic Millions Sale. She’s pretty special and we’re looking forward to showing her off to people who come to the farm in the next month or so. There is an outstanding filly out of Mizzy and there’s also a lovely filly out of a mare called Miss Que as well who is going to go to (Inglis) Easter. She is very, very nice.

“It’s going to be unbelievable what Wootton Bassett is going to do.”

With Justify and Wootton Bassett joined by the likes of established shuttlers Churchill (Ire) and Starspangledbanner this year, as well as World Champion 3-Year-Old and Cartier Horse of the Year St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) - who is returning for his second season in Australia - the shuttle stallion ranks at Coolmore look arguably as good as ever in 2023.

Gallery: The shuttle stallion ranks at Coolmore look arguably as good as ever in 2023

It’s the result of Coolmore’s unwavering belief and continued investment in the Australian racing and breeding industries, and Kennedy was quick to heap praise on Australian breeders for getting behind such well-credentialled shuttle prospects.

“Coolmore has had a lot of belief in Australia for a long time, but I definitely think that we are in an amazing place at the moment,” he said.

“We are very fortunate to have the support of the breeders latching on to these horses. If they don’t get supported they don’t come back, and that’s the most important thing.

“Realistically it costs a fortune to bring these stallions down and it’s unbelievable that you have the likes of Justify and Wootton Bassett coming down year on year. The important thing for us here in Australia is that they continue to come back, because they are going to shape the breed.”

It was undoubtedly a good weekend for Coolmore all around the world, with Pride Of Dubai siring a feature-race double in Australia and the regally bred Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) landing his fifth elite-level success in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf to add to the earlier deeds of Justify and Wootton Bassett.

Following the blueprint

Arguably the only breeding and racing operation that can match the might of Coolmore, Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin also enjoyed a fruitful weekend stateside, with star colt Cody’s Wish (USA) (Curlin {USA}) winning for the fifth time at the highest level in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Master Of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) leading home a one-two for the boys in blue in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Much to the delight of everyone at Darley’s Northwood Park base in Victoria, young shuttle stallion Blue Point (Ire), who is set to be crowned Champion First Season Sire in Britain by some margin, also got on the board at the Breeders’ Cup courtesy of his first crop star Big Evs (Ire), who handed his sire his very first stakes winner earlier in the season when winning the Listed Windsor Castle S. at Royal Ascot.

Andy Makiv, head of sales at Darley Australia, was trackside at Royal Ascot to witness Big Evs scorch the turf, and has seen more than enough from Blue Point's first Northern Hemisphere crop to be bullish that he will make a similar impact Down Under in the coming weeks and months.

“He looks a very good horse,” Makiv said of Big Evs. “Obviously, Royal Ascot was a pretty impressive victory and to see him go on and win a Group 1 is very exciting for everyone involved with Blue Point.

“The Australian part of the equation is about to happen and you’d be pretty excited to think what is going to happen in the next few months here for Blue Point.

“The well-regarded Tony McEvoy runner, Blue Stratum, who was a first emergency in the Inglis Banner last Saturday, runs on Tuesday in the Maribyrnong Plate and I think it’s only a matter of time before he has his first winners here in Australia.

“I believe Ciaron Maher’s horse Scampi trialled very well post his disappointing performance on debut when favourite. He may well be heading back to the races shortly and we will be following Blue Stratum on Tuesday very closely.”

Big Evs’ top-level breakthrough comes hot on the heels of his sire’s first Group 1 winner Rosallion (Ire), who beat Friday’s nights G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero Unquestionable by 1l in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp last month.

Siring two Group 1 scorers and a record-breaking 41 individual winners (and counting) from his first Northern Hemisphere crop is no mean feat, and having already achieved the title of leading first-season sire by average at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale earlier this year, Makiv revealed that the demand from Australian breeders for Blue Point’s services is stronger than ever.

“I wish I had 350 slots to sell in him,” Makiv said. “Along with Anamoe and Too Darn Hot, they have been our three most sought-after stallions, and with those three it has been more about telling people that we are sorry and can’t accommodate them than thanking them for their business.

“Blue Point has started extremely well in the north - To have 40-odd winners, five stakes winners and two Group 1 winners from your first crop, you literally can’t do any more - and he’s such a beautiful, well-made horse.

“He’s got such a well-credentialled race record and he is by Shamardal, so he’s been a horse that breeders have flocked to all the way through and then they sold well, so breeders have continued to want to use him.

“We’re so privileged and excited to have him here in Australia and we’re excited about what the future holds for those who have his upcoming 2-year-olds and those who continue to breed to him.”