ONE of the increasing band of stallions retired to stud soon after a very successful campaign as a two-year-old, The Wow Signal started his new career at Swettenham Stud in Australia last autumn at a fee of AUS$15,000 and is now covering at the Haras de Bouquetot in Normandy, his first season in Europe.
Quite close to Deauville, the Haras de Bouquetot is now home to four stallions belonging to Al Shaqab Racing of Qatar, including Olympic Glory, Planteur and Style Vendome.
Planteur is a Group 1 winning son of Danehill Dancer and he has his first yearlings in 2016. His fee for this season is €6,000.
Another with his first yearlings this year is Style Vendome and his fee is €7,000. This classic-winning son of Anabaa is from the family of Bungle Inthejungle.
The Wow Signal was the champion two-year-old colt in France in 2014 when he won the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville. He was trained by John Quinn in Yorkshire and he began his racing career in May at Ayr, where he cantered home nine lengths clear of all his rivals in a maiden race over six furlongs.
That performance brought The Wow Signal to the attention of Al Shaqab Racing, who purchased him and so it was in their colours that he next appeared at Royal Ascot in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, again at six furlongs. He was up against a high-class field, but he won impressively by a length and three quarters from Cappella Sansevero, who had won his three previous races and had been bought for £1,300,000 the previous evening at the Goffs London Sale.
After that The Wow Signal was aimed at the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville in mid-August and he completed his hat trick by catching the speedy American colt Hootenanny inside the last furlong and beating him by half a length, with the previously unbeaten French filly Ervedya third. Hootenanny had also been an impressive Royal Ascot winner in the Windsor Castle Stakes. The Wow Signal raced once more, in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, and his defeat there was excused by a subsequent veterinary examination. Timeform’s Racehorses of 2014 assessed him as one of the six best two-year-olds of that year on 118.
Both The Wow Signal’s sire Starspangledbanner and grandsire Choisir were also champions and winners at Royal Ascot.
Starspangledbanner was a champion sprinter in Australia before coming to Europe, where he won the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Group 1 Darley July Cup. He is already sire of four group winners from just two crops of racing age, including Anthem Alexander who won the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot, Home Of The Brave and Of The Brave, the last named in Australia.
Muravka, the dam of The Wow Signal, is a half-sister by High Chaparral to dual Irish listed winner Tolpuddle, while their dam Tabdea also won two listed races, was placed in the Prix de l’Opera and is a half-sister to Ta Rib, successful in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and a successful broodmare.
Champion 2yr old colt in France in 2014. Won three races, £238,915, over 6 furlongs, at 2 years including, Darley Prix Morny, Deauville, Gr.1, Coventry Stakes, Ascot, Gr.2.
Retired to stud in 2015 in Australia, and in 2016 in France.
Stands at: Haras de Bouquetot, 14130 Clarbec, France
Contact: Benoit Jeffroy or Audrey Leyval
Telephone: +33 (0) 2 31 32 28 91
Email: contact@alshaqab-racing.com
Website: www.alshaqab-racing.com
Fee: €8,000