THE last of the 73 Group 1 winners sired by the multiple champion sire Sadler’s Wells, Ask was a stout stayer who also possessed a formidable turn of foot. Trained at Newmarket by Sir Michael Stoute, he had the stamina and the class to win the Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom, the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak at Longchamp, the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup and three other group races from 10 furlongs upwards.

Retired in 2011 to The Beeches Stud in Co Waterford, one of the Coolmore National Hunt studs, Ask had at least 85 foals from his first crop and they were sufficiently good looking for the number of mares sent to him in his second season to increase to over 200. A gelding from that first crop sold for £40,000 as a three-year-old at Doncaster last spring, with 10 others fetching prices ranging up to €45,000 at the stores sales in Ireland.

Ask got off the mark by seven lengths in a Chepstow maiden as a three-year-old, then ran fourth in the Group 1 Doncaster St Leger. Reappearing in 2007 in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes at Chester, Ask scored by two lengths from the Group 1 winner Scorpion, but then injured a foot and could not race again until September, when he won the Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot, again by two lengths. His only other start that year came in the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine, where he was beaten a short head.

After starting 2008 with a win over 10 furlongs in the Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown Park, Ask was a close sixth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, with Duke Of Marmalade and Papal Bull behind him.

In his final season as a six-year-old he won three of his four starts, starting with the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup, which he won by six lengths. Then he went to Epsom for the Group 1 Coronation Cup where he produced good finishing speed to score from Youmzain. In the Group 1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, Ask was a close third and then ended his racing career by winning the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak at Longchamp. For the second time Timeform rated Ask on 126.

Though primarily a multiple champion flat race stallion, Ask’s sire Sadler’s Wells has played an important part in National Hunt racing, with his sons King’s Theatre (champion), Old Vic, Accordion, Oscar, Milan and Kayf Tara regularly high in the leading National Hunt sires’ list.

Request, the dam of Ask, is a half-sister by Rainbow Quest to Blueprint. a triple Group 2 star at Newmarket and in California.

The next dam Highbrow was second in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot and her group-winning half-sister Height of Fashion was dam of the successful sires Nashwan, Unfuwain and Nayef.

Won seven races, £812,085, from 1 mile 2 furlongs to 1 mile 7½ furlongs, 3 to 6 years including, Investec Coronation Cup, Epsom, Gr.1, Prix Royal-Oak, Longchamp, Gr.1, Yorkshire Cup, York, Gr.2, Gordon Richards Stakes, Sandown, Gr.3, Ormonde Stakes, Chester, Gr.3, Cumberland Lodge Stakes, Ascot, Gr.3, also placed second in Canadian International Stakes, Woodbine, Gr.1, and third in King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1.

Retired to stud in 2011; first crop are now four-year-olds

Stands at: The Beeches Stud, Lismore, Co Waterford, Ireland

Enquiries: Bobby or Robert McCarthy

Telephone: +353 (0) 58 56254

Email: info@coolmore.com

Website: www.coolmore.com

Fee: €3,000.