LAST May, at a point when he had two Group 1-placed horses among eight stakes winners, I said of Equiano that his “first Group 1 winner may not be far away”.
The Newsells Park Stud stallion is now into double figures with his blacktype tally, his juveniles of 2016 included the Group 2 Railway Stakes winner and Group 1 Phoenix Stakes third Medicine Jack (dam by Formidable), and his son The Tin Man (Bishop Of Cashel) went on to prove himself as one of the top sprinters in Europe. A first-crop son of his sire, that James Fanshawe-trained gelding won the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury, chased home Quiet Reflection in the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock, and then took the Group 1 Qipco British Champions Sprint Cup at Ascot in October, a race in which he had finished fourth the year before.
Equiano’s other pattern winners include the US-based pair Baciami Piccola (Danehill Dancer) and Belvoir Bay (Rock Of Gibraltar), juvenile sprinters Dark Reckoning (Oasis Dream) and Fly On The Night (Green Desert), and also Strath Burn (Irish River), who is his first stallion son. That sprint ace won the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes, was runner-up in the Group 1 Sprint Cup, in the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin and in the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes, and he is standing his first season at Bridge House Stud in Co Westmeath.
Dual Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes hero Equiano is one of three winners at the highest level for noted speed source Acclamation, with the other pair being leading sire Dark Angel and last year’s Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp heroine Marsha.
He is a half-brother to the pattern-placed dual stakes winner Evita Peron (by Pivotal), his dam’s siblings include the dam of undefeated Polish superstar and 2016 German pattern scorer Va Bank (by Archipenko), and there is a long list of stakes winners to be found elsewhere in his pedigree.
These include last year’s juvenile Group 3 winner Kontrastat (by My Risk), New Zealand champions and classic performers King’s Rose (by Redoute’s Choice) and Anabandana (by Anabaa), dual Canadian champion Marchfield (by A.P. Indy), US star Devil May Care (by Malibu Moon), and the high-class French filly Candarliya (by Dalakhani).
Won seven races, £571,949, from 5 furlongs to 6½ furlongs, 2 to 5 years including, King’s Stand Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1 (twice), stanjames.com Palace House Stakes, Newmarket, Gr.3, Connaught Flooring Abernant Stakes, Newmarket, L, also placed second in Darley July Cup, Newmarket, Gr.1, Prix du Gros-Chene, Chantilly, Gr.2, betfred.com Temple Stakes, Haydock Park, Gr.2, Connaught Flooring Abernant Stakes, Newmarket, L, and third in Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte, Maisons-Laffitte, Gr.2.
Retired to stud in 2011, and sire of the winners of 252 races, and £3,708,440 including THE TIN MAN (GB), MEDICINE JACK (GB), BACIAMI PICCOLA (GB), BELVOIR BAY (GB), FLY ON THE NIGHT (GB), STRATH BURN (GB), DARK RECKONING (GB), ALICANTE DAWN (GB), VALLIANO (AUS), WAIPU COVE (GB), LOLA BEAUX (GB), EQUIMOU (GB), BLOOD MOON (GB), NUCLEAR POWER (GB), LADY MACAPA (GB), etc.
Stands at: Newsells Park Stud, Barkway, Royston, Herts SG8 8DY, England
Contact: Julian Dollar or Gary Coffey
Telephone: +44 (0)1763 846000
Email: info@newsells-park.com
Web: www.newsells-park.com
Fee: £8,000