IT is a pity that the ground came up heavy at Newmarket for the 2012 July Cup as the Australian raider Sepoy was unable to demonstrate his considerable talent.
Juvenile champion in his native land, and the top-rated three-year-old sprinter in the world, he won 10 of his 14 starts, by an aggregate of over 21 lengths, and retired to stud as a multi-millionaire and four times Group 1 star.
His foals made up to 95,000gns in Newmarket in November and the southern hemisphere half of his global first crop set the ring alight at last month’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in Australia, averaging over Aus$286,000 for 26 sold including the Aus$1.2 million sale topper and an Aus$800,000 filly.
Clearly Sepoy is expected to make a big impact at stud and as he is one of the best sons of Elusive Quality (by Gone West), and from the immediate family of Canny Lad, that is hardly a surprise.
The Elusive Quality stallions include the classic sire Elusive City, the dual classic winner and successful pattern and Grade 1 sire Smarty Jones, and last year’s US champion freshman sire Quality Road, the multiple Grade 1 star whose first juveniles featured the Grade 1 scorer Hootenanny.
Raven’s Pass, the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic hero whose 2014 juvenile crop included three stakes winners, is another of the Elusive Quality stallions, as is last year’s leading French freshman sire Evasive, and there are others among his sons who have also got stakes winners of their own.
Sepoy is out of Watchful (by Danehill), he is a half-brother to the Group 2 scorer Mulaazem (by Dubai Destination), who began his stallion career at Emirates Park Stud in 2013, and his dam is a full-sister to the Group 1 Queenland Derby heroine Camarena.
That mare’s Group 1-winning daughter Camarilla (by Elusive Quality) could be described as being a sister-in-blood to Sepoy, and she is already the dam of the multiple Group 1 star Guelph (by Exceed And Excel) and of the Group 2 scorer Ghibellines (by Shamardal).
Camarilla is also a full-sister to the listed scorer and Group 1 Victoria Derby runner-up Induna, while Camarena and Watchful’s full-brothers include the blacktype sires Untouchable and Scandal Keeper.
Sepoy’s grandam Canny Miss (by Marscay) was unraced, as was his third dam Jesmond Lass (by Lunchtime), but she is a half-sister to the multiple Group 1 stars Canny Lad (by Bletchingly) and Canny Lass (by Bletchingly).
The latter is the dam of a couple of stakes winners and grandam of the Group 2 Queensland Guineas winner and Glenlogan Park Stud stallion Rothesay (by Fastnet Rock), whose first yearlings made up to Aus$150,000 in 2014.
Canny Lad, who died last year at the age of 26, was a dual Group 1-winning juvenile champion and his long list of stakes winning progeny features 10 Group 1 stars including the multiple Group 1 scorer He’s No Pie Eater, the Australasian Oaks winner Small Minds and the prolific blacktype filly Elite Belle who won the Group 1 Railway Stakes in November.
Sepoy was a brilliant racehorse, he represents the Gone West sire line, and he comes from the immediate family of the leading sire Canny Lad, all of which suggests that he could become a Group 1 sire of the future.
SEPOY (AUS)
Race Record: Winner of 10 races, from 2-3 years, over 5-6f inc Golden Slipper Stakes, Gr.1, Ascot Vale Stakes, Gr.1, Blue Diamond Stakes, Gr.1, Manikato Stakes, Gr.1, Danehill Stakes, Gr.2, Caulfield Sprint, Gr.2, Blue Diamond Prelude, Gr.3, Blue Diamond Preview, Listed, Maribyrnong Trial Stakes, Listed, Vain Stakes, Listed, 2nd Todman Slipper Trial, Gr.2, etc. Champion 2yo in Australia in 2010/11. Champion 3yo sprinter in 2011/12.
Stud Record: Retired to stud in Australia in 2012 & England in 2013. Foals made up to 95,000gns in 2014. Australian yearlings made up to Aus$1.2 million in 2015.
Stands at: Dalham Hall Stud, Duchess Drive, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 9HE, England
Contact: Dawn Laidlaw, Franziska Schaertlin-Coffey, Sebastien Desmontils or Lucie Botti on +44 (0)1638 730070
Email: hello@darley.co.uk
Website: www.darleystallions.com
Fee: £15,000 1st Oct SLF