‘He’s touched a lot of people’s lives’: Fastnet Rock passes away at 24

Cover image courtesy of Coolmore

Dual Australian Champion Sire Fastnet Rock was humanely euthanised at Coolmore Stud on Monday morning after a stellar career on the track and in the breeding shed.

“This is such a sad day for everyone who has worked at Coolmore and played a part in Fastnet’s life. Our thoughts today are with all the staff who cared for him over the past 24 years,” said Tom Magnier in a press release.

“Residing in the stallion barn for 20 years, he was the kindest and smartest horse you would ever meet and I’m so glad that we got to parade him one last time at the open day two weeks ago, where he looked incredible. Sadly, he suffered an injury over the weekend, which deteriorated rapidly and we did not want him to suffer. Coolmore Australia would not be what it is today without Fastnet Rock and we owe him so much.”

The farm had retired him from stud duties in January 2024.

A completely Coolmore product

Fastnet Rock spent nearly all his life at Coolmore, apart from when he raced. “He was born and prepared as a yearling here at Coolmore and raced in the navy silks for Paul Perry and our ownership partners,” said Magnier.

A son of Danehill (USA), he was the third foal out of Piccadilly Circus (Royal Academy {USA}). “For us and our family he was a life changing horse. We bred him, and he wasn’t what you’d call a good looking yearling,” said part-owner Duncan Grimley.

“It’s quite a funny story as he was the third foal, and the second foal was magnificent. Theatre Of Dreams, he made $800,000 which was massive money then, and then Fastnet Rock pops out the next year and he wasn’t what we were expecting at all.

“We tried to sell him and failed miserably, and it was the best thing that happened to us. We sent him to Paul Perry who rang up before Christmas and said this horse is very, very good. He was a good 2-year-old without winning and ran some great races.”

Fastnet Rock made his debut as a January 2-year-old running fifth. In seven starts at two, Fastnet Rock didn’t win, but he did place in the G3 Skyline Stakes, G2 Pago Pago Stakes and G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes. He also ran fourth in the G1 Golden Slipper in a year when Dance Hero (Danzero) dominated the juvenile ranks winning all three Sydney Group 1 races as well as the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic.

“He was fourth in the Slipper behind Dance Hero, Charge Forward, and Alinghi. He would’ve won any other year. It was the fastest Slipper ever run at that time," said Grimley.

Back at three, Fastnet Rock was second in the G2 San Domenico Stakes before finally breaking his maiden status in the G2 Up & Coming Stakes, then making it two in succession when winning the G3 Roman Consul Stakes. Twice more Group-placed, he struggled when asked to stretch to a mile in the G1 Caulfield Guineas, then added two more group wins to end his spring with four wins from seven starts.

“At three we tried to make him stay and that didn’t work. After the Guineas, which was a disaster, Paul wanted to freshen him up and we had pretty much given up and just thought ‘whatever’ and then he came out (in the G3 Rory's Jester Plate) and dropped Glen Boss in the barrier, ran down the track, and we are sitting in the grandstand watching,” said Grimley.

“The clerk of the course went to get him, he went another 50 metres down the track before he let himself be caught, then he loaded properly and came out and won the race. Well, we thought, this horse is a freak and Paul Perry is a genius.”

In the autumn at three, Fastnet Rock was kept to sprinting trips and really excelled winning the G1 Lightning Stakes, G1 Oakleigh Plate, and then placing in both the G1 Newmarket Handicap and G1 TJ Smith Stakes.

“In the autumn he won the Lightning and then the Oakleigh Plate carrying 57kg as a 3-year-old and beat a good field that day. It was probably his best run. We took him to England for Ascot and he got travel sick on the way over. We had a good vet in Newmarket looking after him and she did a great job.”

He retired with six wins and nine placings from 19 starts with earnings over $1.7 million.

Just like his dad

As a dual Group 1-winning son of Danehill, Fastnet Rock’s position at stud was assured and Fastnet Rock was often compared to his illustrious sire, and the similarities were uncanny according to Peter O'Brien.

“All the way through, he was just like his father, a child could lead him, and you could put a child on his back.” O'Brien said

“He had such a strong libido and appetite. When you were at the stallion barn, all you had to do was shake the feed bucket or move the bridle, and it was like he was just pleading, Please be me, as he knew someone was getting a cover.

“He was so like his father, one jump for every mare. His temperament, super fertile, a big appetite, and they left big, strong, robust animals that were great eaters, easy to train and had a will to win.”

His dam, Piccadilly Circus, was a brilliant juvenile winning the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude and Listed Debutante Stakes as well as placing in the G1 Blue Diamond.

Her first foal, Cirque Du Soleil, a full sister to Fastnet Rock, was twice Listed-placed, and Piccadilly Circus would later produce the incredibly tough winner of 28 races Juggling Act (Giant’s Causeway {USA}). Piccadilly Circus was a full sister to Group 3 winner Raheeb, and they were both out of Listed winner Gatana (Marauding {NZ}).

“I was lucky fortunate enough to be their when we bought his mother, I was there when he was conceived, when he was born, I was there when he covered his first mare and I was there when the first foal was born, I have been with him all of the way through," said O'Brien.

“He was a very important horse here for Tom Magnier. The success of Fastnet Rock, the farm, and Tom come hand-in-hand. He has been a fantastic stallion and leaves a legacy.

“It is the end of an era for many of us, he’s touched a lot of people’s lives.”

Hugely popular from the outset

Fastnet Rock, despite not winning at two, was hugely popular from the beginning. He covered over 200 mares in his first book in 2005 at a fee of $55,000 and his fee never dropped below that figure, peaking in 2013 at $275,000.

“He came back to stud and he was popular. From day one, while he didn’t get the most glamorous looking horses, they were certainly better looking than him!” laughed Grimley.

“It’s a wonderful story, and probably the best horse he’s ever had is still running. It’s great to see Via Sistina bookending his career. We have fantastic memories of the horse and have met a lot of great people on the way. He’s been life changing for all of us who owned him. Most of us were lucky enough to also be in Merchant Navy and he did at Ascot what his father wasn’t able to do. He’s provided us with a lifetime of happy memories and shared experiences.

“A wonderful horse at the right time.”

That first crop debuted with Wanted who won the G3 Kindergarten Stakes – his only stakes winner from his first crop as juveniles - and later went on to add the G1 Newmarket Handicap. Eventually that first crop would include 13 stakes winners.

Such was his success that he joined the shuttle run to Coolmore’s Ireland base in 2010 and spent eleven years as a dual hemisphere sire. He won his first Champion Sire of Australia title in 2011/12 and added another in 2014/15.

“All good things come to an end, the lads rang me this morning, it wasn’t an easy decision for them. It is what it is,” part-owenr Michael Kirwan said.

“He looked fabulous right until the end, there will be a tear in a few eyes of people tonight.”

When asked to reflect on the Fastnet Rock story, Kirwan went right back to the beginning.

“We bought his dam Piccadilly Circus as a yearling, we raced her and she was trained by the Freedmans. She won the Blue Diamond Prelude for us, and we sent her to stud as a 3-year-old as she didn’t come up in the spring. She went to Danehill and had a filly, her third foal was Fastnet Rock and he went to the Easter Sales in Sydney and I think he was the fifth last horse to go through the ring, with I think only a $300,000 reserve, and we didn’t sell him, thankfully!”

“He was a big horse, even as a yearling he was a big horse, and I think we bought Choisir around that time and we wanted to give Paul Perry a horse to train and that is how he got there.”

Fastnet Rock also collected Champion Sire titles in Hong Kong (2016/17) and Macau (2018/19), as well as Champion Sire of 2-Year-Olds in New Zealand in 2017/18, and Champion Sire of 3-Year-Olds in Australia twice in 2011/12 and 2014/15.

Among his stakes winners are reigning Horse Of The Year Via Sistina (Ire), Champion 3-Year-Old Fillies Shoals and Atlantic Jewel, Champion 3YO in New Zealand Rock ‘N’ Pop, and Champion 2-Year-Old in New Zealand Avantage.

“He will be around for a long time as a broodmare sire and it’s great that he currently has Via Sistina doing what she is doing as a 8-year-old mare,” said Kirwan.

“He really was an icon of a horse.”

His stock were versatile and improved with age, showing the tough qualities typical of Danehill’s bloodlines.

Lasting legacy

With brilliant racemares like Atlantic Jewel, Mosheen, Sea Siren, Shoals, Avantage, and First Seal, it is no surprise that Fastnet Rock is already a dual Champion Broodmare Sire in Australia, winning the title in 2023/24, and 2024/25.

“He obviously had some issues the last few days, and the last thing that the team wanted was for him to suffer, so the right decision was made as Coolmore has always done with the horse,” Peter O'Brien said.

“He has left such a legacy. I hadn’t seen him for over a year, I think, and saw him at the Coolmore Stud parades a couple of weeks ago. I commented at the time that he looked fantastic, like a teenage boy, so that's a great last memory to have.”

“He was a Champion racehorse, a Champion in the ring, was outstanding in both hemispheres like his father, a Champion sire, a Champion broodmare sire, and will leave a legacy through all of his daughters.”

His sire sons include Smart Missile (27 stakes winners), Foxwedge (26), Hinchinbrook (22), El Roca (11), Your Song (8), Rothesay (7), Atlante (6), Awesome Rock (6), and Wanted (5). Merchant Navy added his first Group 1 winner last season with Royal Merchant and young son Acrobat’s first crop has just turned two.

Fastnet Rock’s final four foals were born in 2024, but his legacy will stretch for many more decades.