Nestled in the lower Hunter Valley, Mike and Debbie O’Donnell’s Fairhill Farm has been the birthplace of horses like G1 Railway Stakes winner Good Project (Not A Single Doubt) and G1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Choice Bro (Choisir), with their most recent top graduate being the late G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Hayasugi (Royal Meeting {Ire}).
On the day that Hayasugi headed to the G1 Manikato Stakes in 2024, after running second in the G1 Moir Stakes, her dam China Road (Commands) was visiting Darley’s Harry Angel (Ire), and the result is a strapping colt born in mid September.
Harry Angel x China Road colt | Born at Fairhill Farm
Strength and substance
“He’s out of a Commands mare and she leaves very Commands-like horses,” Mike O’Donnell said of the colt. “They’ve all got plenty of strength and substance about them. He’s a very, very nice foal.”
“He’s out of a Commands mare and she (China Road) leaves very Commands-like horses.” - Mike O'Donnell
The colt is China Road’s sixth foal, and her first since the birth of Hayasugi. In the years in between, the mare had unsuccessfully returned to Hayasugi’s little-known sire twice and, once her daughter’s prowess became evident, visited stallions of the calibre of Wootton Bassett (GB) and Jacquinot with no such luck. After missing to the former in 2024, she headed to Darley instead.
An $11,000 stallion when China Road visited him, Lovatsville’s G1 Criterium International winner Royal Meeting (Ire) had his name thrust into the spotlight when Hayasugi launched her career in October of 2023, running second in the R. Listed Inglis 2YO Banner to Bold Bastille (Brazen Beau). She followed that performance with fourth in the G3 Ottawa Stakes and was put away until the autumn, when her brilliance really shone.
Hayasugi | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
The filly swept both Blue Diamond lead-up races for fillies and showed the same explosive turn of foot in the headline event to run down the blueblooded Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon) to score a shocking top flight win.
It was some serious vindication for James Bester Bloodstock and C Mok, who bought the filly as a weanling for $47,500 at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale in 2022.
Perhaps understandably, O’Donnell was keen for another filly in the mould of Hayasugi, who was sadly humanely euthanised following surgical complications in January.
Mike and Debbie O'Donnell | Image courtesy of Fairhill Farm
O’Donnell admitted, “I was thinking about it after he was born, we had been wanting a filly out of the mare, and I probably didn’t send her to the right stallion for a filly.”
But a colt wasn’t the end of the world - and certainly not one by Harry Angel.
A stallion spreads his wings
“I have always liked Harry Angel, he’s always appeared to be a particularly good stallion to me,” O’Donnell said. “That’s why I went to him. I think Private Harry was just on the horizon at that stage as well.”
Private Harry (Harry Angel {Ire}) had been a dual trial winner - and by comfortable margins - as a juvenile by the time that China Road had her date with his sire, but the word about him had been good.
Private Harry | Image courtesy of Sportpix
He hit the scene properly in October with two trial wins, before an explosive debut at Newcastle at the beginning of November, winning by three and a half lengths days after China Road’s positive 30-day scan. That same month, B2B Thoroughbreds bought a 2.5% share in the colt for $25,250 via Inglis Digital, and the following autumn after Private Harry extended his winning streak to five in the G1 Galaxy Handicap, Yulong bought a half-share in the colt.
“I have always liked Harry Angel, he’s always appeared to be a particularly good stallion to me.” - Mike O'Donnell
“The Harry Angels haven’t always sold well, because they haven't always appeared to be particularly good yearlings, but his statistics have been pretty good here for some time,” O’Donnell said.
Fairhill Farm has done well at the sales with their Harry Angels so far; they sold two weanling colts by the sire at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale this year for $220,000 and $100,000 respectively.
Internationally, Harry Angel strikes at around 62% winners to runners, and of his 20 individual stakes winners worldwide, seven have been in Australia, all of whom are Group winners. Fourteen of that number are colts or geldings. His colts have a better strike rate than his fillies as a whole, sitting at over 66% winners to runners, and all of his Australian stakes winners bar last start Listed Alinghi Stakes winner Stretan Angel are colts or geldings.
Harry Angel | Standing at Darley
O’Donnell picked the perfect time to go back to Harry Angel, whose fee has doubled in 2025 to $66,000 (inc GST) off of the back of a trio of Group 1 winners; Private Harry’s Galaxy Handicap win in the autumn was joined by Tom Kitten in the G1 All-Star Mile and War Machine (NZ) taking out the G1 Stradbroke Handicap.
Six of Harry Angel's offspring won Australian stakes races in the 2024/25 racing season, and he is already on track to exceed that number in 2025/26, with five individual stakes winners already on the books.
The leading third season sire last season, Harry Angel also finished in seventh spot in the general sires table - a dramatic jump from sitting outside the top 50 the year before.
“It’s very difficult to get into the likes of him now,” O’Donnell noted.
“It’s very difficult to get into the likes of him (Harry Angel) now.” - Mike O'Donell
Nature will sort it out
This year, China Road heads to Coolmore Stud’s hot young sire Home Affairs, who is also booked and busy, particularly after the debuts of his G3 Breeders’ Plate runner-up I’m Ya Huckleberry and his daughter Home Invasion, who was fifth in the G3 Gimcrack Stakes. Leading into the first juvenile races of the season, he had three trial winners from five to step out.
Home Affairs | Standing at Coolmore
His 2025 service fee of $82,500 (inc GST) is a step up from Harry Angel’s 2024 fee of $38,500 (inc GST), but O’Donnell thinks China Road is well worth the investment. If she can turn out a horse like Hayasugi from Royal Meeting, what can she produce from one of Coolmore’s most well-credentialled residents?
“We have a couple of Home Affairs on the ground ... Both of them are very nice foals.” - Mike O'Donnell
“I don’t think you need a lot of strength in a mare to go to Home Affairs,” O’Donnell said. “The mare does have a lot of strength, but nature will sort it out. We have a couple of Home Affairs on the ground, and neither of them are heavy-set. Both of them are very nice foals. We’re hoping for the same again.”
