THERE was great excitement about Born To Sea from the moment he arrived in the world for here was a half-brother to the dual Derby hero Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells) and to Sea The Stars (by Cape Cross), then just a potential champion only two months away from his first Group 1 success.
Trained by John Oxx, Born To Sea made a winning debut in the Listed Blenheim Stakes at the Curragh, and although runner-up in the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes on his only other start that year, he remained one of the brightest classic prospects for 2012.
He was unplaced behind Camelot in the 2000 Guineas, and again behind Power in the Irish 2000 Guineas, but was only beaten two lengths when fourth in the St James’s Palace Stakes in June, just 11 days before he chased home Camelot in the Irish Derby at the Curragh, the pair finishing nine lengths clear of the third.
The ground was very heavy that day and again quite soft when he found Famous Name too good in the Group 2 Royal Whip Stakes on his penultimate start.
TO STUD
As an Invincible Spirit (by Green Desert) half-brother to a multiple champion sire it was always a matter of where he would go to stud rather than if a place would be found.
With Sea The Stars having got two classic winners and an additional Group 1 scorer in 2014, and their Group 1-winning sibling Black Sam Bellamy also the sire of a Group 1 winner, it must be a shade of odds-on that Born To Sea can achieve that feat too.
The first of the Invincible Spirit stallions include the classic sire Lawman and last year’s freshman aces Vale Of York and Zebedee, and the family got another major boost in 2014 when Bracelet (by Montjeu), who is out of Born To Sea’s pattern placed three-quarters sister Cherry Hinton (by Green Desert), won the Group 1 Irish Oaks.
He is out of the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Urban Sea (by Miswaki).
He was her final foal, and in addition to Galileo, Black Sam Bellamy, Sea The Stars, and Cherry Hinton, she also gave us the US Grade 1 heroine My Typhoon (by Giant’s Causeway), the Group 3 scorer Urban Ocean (by Bering), and the classic-placed blacktype winners Melikah (by Lammtarra) and All Too Beautiful (by Sadler’s Wells), both of whom have got a Group 1-placed blacktype scorer to their names at stud.
Urban Sea’s half-brother King’s Best (by Kingmambo) won the 2000 Guineas and has sired the Derby and Arc hero Workforce among many others of note, and others among her male relatives include the successful pattern sires Anabaa Blue (by Anabaa), Tertullian (by Miswaki), Tamayuz (by Nayef), and Adlerflug (by In The Wings).
This is one of the most famous families in the stud book, and with the way that his first foals were received it would appear that Born To Sea is widely expected to be the next major sire that it yields.
Although he is an Invincible Spirit-sired juvenile stakes winner, and was more precocious than Galileo and Sea The Stars, both things that boost his prospects of becoming a leading freshman sire of 2016, his pedigree suggests that many of his best progeny may be suited to a mile and upwards and so it could be 2017 before we really begin to find out what he can do.
BORN TO SEA (IRE)
Race record: Winner of 1 race over 6 furlongs, ran from 2-3 years inc Blenheim Stakes, L; 2nd Irish Derby, Gr.1, Royal Whip Stakes, Gr.2, Killavullan Stakes, Gr.3, etc.
Stud record: Retired to stud in 2013. First foals made €220,000, 140,000gns, 100,000gns, €120,000, 72,000gns, etc in 2014. Yearlings made up to €90,000 at the recent Goffs February Mixed Sale.
Stands at: Gilltown Stud, Kilcullen, Co Kildare
Contact: Pat Downes (manager) or Julie White on 045 481216
Email: pat.downes@agakhanstuds.com
Website: www.agakhanstuds.com/BornToSea
Fee: €10,000
AGA KHAN STUDS
THERE are six stallions standing at the Aga Khan’s studs, three of them at Gilltown Stud in Co Kildare and three at Haras de Bonneval in France.
The latter are the dual Derby hero and classic sire Sinndar (by Grand Lodge), the Group 1 winner and last year’s outstanding French freshman sire Siyouni (by Pivotal), and the classic-winning miler and blacktype freshman sire Makfi (by Dubawi) who recently joined the team after four years at Tweenhills Farm & Stud.
The classic sires and brilliant racehorses Dalakhani (by Darshaan) and Sea The Stars (by Cape Cross) are at Gilltown, and they are joined in 2015 by the regally-related classic-placed stakes winner Born To Sea (by Invincible Spirit). The former Rathasker Stud stallion was one of the most popular new sires at the 2014 foal sales.