SHUTTLING stallions from Europe to the southern hemisphere has been a huge success and those who have done well all but guarantee that the practice will continue for a long time to come.
Sending Australian or New Zealand-born sires to Europe has not yielded as many rewards, and given the global impact he made, it is no surprise that two of the more successful ‘reverse shuttlers’, as they are called, are sons of Danehill (by Danzig), the horse whose achievements are largely to credit for its endurance.
Neither was an instant hit on the European tracks but the records compiled by Exceed And Excel and Fastnet Rock are such that they can now be considered as global sires.
The former has sons at stud in Europe, and more on their way to the covering sheds, and although Fastnet Rock’s Australian Group 1-winning son Foxwedge has his first yearlings in this part of the world, Coolmore’s classic sire is still awaiting his first European-born stallion son, and only because his oldest progeny here are four-year-olds.
By the end of last season he looked like a useful pattern sire in this hemisphere, falling short of the outstanding results he gets in his native land. Now, however, this Australian champion sire has shot up the rankings in Europe with three Group 1 stars to his name in 2015.
His daughter Qualify sprang a 50/1 shock in the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom in June, Diamondsandrubies took the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh, and at Ascot on Saturday his son Fascinating Rock beat Found and Jack Hobbs in style to land the Group 1 Qipco Champion Stakes (British Champions Middle Distance).
Newtown Anner Stud’s homebred represents the first northern hemisphere crop of his sire, and this win, his seventh from a dozen starts, pushed his earnings past the £1 million mark.
STALLION RANKS
Beaten a neck by Al Kazeem in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh in May, his pattern victories include last month’s Group 3 Enterprise Stakes over 12 furlongs at Leopardstown, in which he trounced the talented Panama Hat by six lengths.
There was a suggestion, after Saturday’s race, that Fascinating Rock might stay in training as a five-year-old, but even if his retirement to stud is postponed for another year or two, his combination of pedigree and performance should make him a popular addition to the stallion ranks.
He is a Group 1-winning colt by a champion sire son of Danehill, he is a direct descendant of an Oaks heroine, and the top performers in his family include a Royal Ascot juvenile sensation who went on to become a brilliant sprinter-miler.
Fascinating Rock is the third living foal out of the dual mile scorer Miss Polaris (by Polar Falcon) and that makes him a half-brother to the 10-furlong Roscommon winner Secretsubstitute (by High Chaparral) and also to the talented dual-purpose gelding Quick Jack (by Footstepsinthesand).
The latter, who won the Grade A Galway Hurdle in July, was only beaten by a length when third to Grumeti in the Cesarewitch at Newmarket a fortnight ago.
Last year he was a three-quarter length third in that same heritage handicap, and other career highlights include his third place finish in the Grade 3 Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, and his runner-up spot to Trip To Paris in the Chester Cup in May.
The six-year-old, who stays further than might have been expected of the son of a Guineas winner, looks capable of picking up plenty more good prizes over the next few years.
Miss Polaris had a Cape Cross (by Green Desert) colt in 2013 and a Rock Of Gibraltar (by Danehill) filly in February.
Her record of two wins from nine starts was useful although it catches the eye that in four of her placed efforts she was beaten between a short-head and half a length.
She is among several multiple winners out of the one-time scorer Sarabah (by Ela-Mana-Mou), and although her siblings include a trio of stakes-placed horses, it is three others who achieved the highest win totals, and they are all full-brothers to Miss Polaris.
The sprinter Cryhavoc won eight times and the ill-fated Ice notched up the same total, from seven to nine furlongs, before adding two more from just four starts over hurdles.
WINNING PLENTY
The most prolific was Euro Falcon, a nine and a half furlong listed scorer in Germany who was a runaway winner over two furlongs further and later placed over hurdles. His career tally came to 11 wins, all on the flat.
Winning is something that this family does, a lot.
Miss Polaris has produced three winners from three runners, her dam’s record is nine winners from 11 runners, and although Sarabah was one of only six from 10 runners for her dam, that mare’s progeny include two prolific sons of note.
Most of Omaha City’s (by Night Shift) nine wins came over seven and eight furlongs, which may come as a surprise to anyone seeing his blacktype record on a catalogue page, as he was runner-up in the Group 2 Moet et Chandon Rennen over six furlongs in Germany as a juvenile, and also placed in the Listed Ripon Champion 2yo Trophy, in the Listed Rose Bowl Stakes, and in the Listed Doncaster Stakes.
His half-brother Gothenberg (by Polish Patriot) was highly effective at around a mile, with the Group 2 Premio Emilio Turati, Group 2 International Stakes, Group 2 Brandenburg Trophy, and Group 3 Tetrarch Stakes featuring among a career total of seven wins.
Other notable performances on his record include the runners-up spot in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp and in the Group 1 Premio Vittorio di Capua at San Siro and he came within half a length of beating Crimson Tide in the Group 2 Premio Ribot over a mile at Capannelle.
The fourth, fifth, and sixth generations are quite distant, but it would not be fair to Fascinating Rock to ignore them, especially given the identities of two stars among them.
His third dam, five-times scorer Be Discreet (by Junius), was a half-sister to nine winners, including the blacktype scorers Kirov Premiere (by Sadler’s Wells) and Theatre Critic (by Sadler’s Wells), but her dam Querida (by Habitat) was a half-sister to Chief Singer (by Ballad Rock).
He created something of a sensation on his debut when taking the Group 2 Coventry Stakes by four lengths at Royal Ascot, and although unplaced in the July Stakes at Newmarket on his only other outing that year, he chased home El Gran Senor in the 2000 Guineas the following spring before storming home by eight lengths in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Ascot.
He then beat Never So Bold in the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket, added the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and he was rated 131 by Timeform.
His grandam Pia (by Darius), who won the Cherry Hinton Stakes and the Lowther Stakes as a juvenile, was the Oaks heroine of 1967.
Chief Singer disappointed at stud, and Gothenberg got few opportunities, but Fascinating Rock represents a more influential sire line which boosts his prospects of being as successful in that role as he has been on the track.