DANEHILL (by Danzig) transformed the global bloodstock industry. The classic-placed, Group 1-winning sprinter was one of the first shuttle sires and his phenomenal success ‘down under’ led to that tentative early experiment becoming a major, lucrative and ever-expanding part of the business.
Horses now shuttle from Europe and North America to Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil and Chile, and a growing number are doing the ‘reverse shuttle’, come from the southern hemisphere to stand here.
There have been mixed results, but it is no surprise that it is the Danehill line that has yielded the greatest success among those making the trip north. Exceed And Excel, for example, has been champion sire in Australia and a multiple Group 1 producer in Europe, and star sprinter Choisir (by Danehill Dancer), who was twice Group 1-placed at a mile, has hit the Group 1 target in both continents.
Choisir’s reverse shuttle son Starspangledbanner is the sire of juvenile Group 1 scorer The Wow Signal, and his Irish-born sons Olympic Glory and The Last Lion are in earlier stages of their stud careers. The latter stands at Kildangan Stud and has his first foals on the ground, while yearlings by the former, a star miler who stands at Haras de Bouquetot, made up to 180,000gns in 2017.
Choisir’s sons also include Divine Prophet, the newest member of the team at Tara Stud. He won the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas over a mile, was a Group 3 scorer over six and a half furlongs at Randwick, and only beaten a total of a length when third to Prized Icon in the Group 1 Champagne Stakes over seven furlongs as a two-year-old.
As a Group 1-winning representative of the powerful Danehill sire line, Divine Prophet looks sure to prove very popular with breeders, and yet these are not the only eye-catching credentials he can boast. He is out of successful sprinter Prophet Jewel, who is by the top-class Fairy King (by Northern Dancer) horse Encosta De Lago, and that makes him a full-brother to the former Gai Waterhouse-trained Proisir.
That colt ran away with a Group 3 contest over a mile and came very close to winning two Group 1s. In the first of those he was odds-on when a head runner-up to It’s A Dundeel in the Spring Champion Stakes over 10 furlongs, and it was that same star who beat him by half a length in the one-mile Randwick Guineas a few months later.
DIVINE PROPHET (AUS), Bay 2013. Won three races, £437,485, from 6 furlongs to 1 mile, at 2 and 3 years including, Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas, Caulfield, Gr.1, Primo Smallgoods Up And Coming Stakes, Randwick, Gr.3, also placed 2nd Stan Fox Stakes, Rosehill, Gr.2, and 3rd Moet & Chandon Champagne Stakes, Randwick, Gr.1.
Retired to stud in Australia in 2017, in Ireland in 2018.
Stands at: Tara Stud, Naas, Co Kildare, Ireland.
Contact: Derek Iceton, John Walsh Bloodstock or Ivan Clarke
Telephone: +353 (0)87 2323566 (Derek Iceton), +353 (0)86 2558945 (John Walsh Bloodstock), +353 (0)87 9969643 (Ivan Clarke)
Email: derekiceton@tarastud.com or walshbloodstock@gmail.com
Web: www.tarastud.com
Fee: €7,500