A GROUP 1 winning miler by Pivotal, Virtual has recently transferred from Cheveley Park Stud to Woodlands Stud in Co Galway. He has had runners for only four seasons, but he has already sired many winners, notably Gilded Lace, who scored at Chantilly and Maisons-Laffitte in France, and Razor Quest, successful in two valuable races in Hong Kong. Another son, Theydon Thunder, scored four times in England in 2016, including a race at Newmarket.
Trained by John Gosden, Virtual was second in his only two starts as a two-year-old, both at Newmarket. He improved dramatically the next season, scoring first time out in a Newmarket maiden before adding a handicap at Doncaster over a mile. Virtual ended his second season by winning two listed races, first the Prix Le Fabuleux at Maisons-Laffitte and then the Ben Marshall Stakes at Newmarket.
Virtual was one of the best milers in Europe at four, running third to Paco Boy in the Group 2 Bet365 Mile at Sandown Park, then turning the tables when he won the Group 1 Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes over a mile at Newbury.
Sent to Deauville for the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois, Virtual was third to French champion Goldikova and Aqlaam, then three weeks later he returned to France and ran third to Aqlaam in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. Virtual retired to stud having been out of the first three only three times in 14 starts, and in Timeform’s Racehorses of 2009 he was assessed on 122.
Pivotal was a champion sprinter, winning the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes and the Group 2 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. This grandson of Nureyev has sired 132 individual black-type winners, with 25 Group 1 stars including champion sprinter Kyllachy.
Virtuous, a daughter of Machiavellian’s talented half-brother Exit To Nowhere, was third in the Listed Oaks Trial at Lingfield before becoming the dam of six winners. These included his three-parts brother Iceman who carried off the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot. Sadly, Iceman died after only two seasons at stud, but those two crops included Frederick Engels, winner of the Group 2 July Stakes at Newmarket.
The next dam, Exclusive Virtue, by the 2000 Guineas hero Shadeed, is a half-sister to Entrepreneur, a champion miler who took the Group 1 Newmarket 2000 Guineas and became a successful sire in Ireland and Japan, and the Group 1 Coronation Stakes victress Exclusive, dam of two outstanding fillies in Echelon and Chic. This family traces back to All Moonshine, whose son Mossborough sired Ballymoss and Noblesse, while she was a half-sister to the great Hyperion.
Won five races, £336,878, from 7 furlongs to 1 mile 1 furlong, at 3 and 4 years including, Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes, Newbury, Gr.1, Prix Le Fabuleux, Maisons-Laffitte, L, bet365 Ben Marshall Stakes, Newmarket, L, also placed third in P. Fresnay le Buffard Jacques Le Marois, Deauville, Gr.1, Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, Longchamp, Gr.1, Bet365 Mile, Sandown Park, Gr.2, Betfair Poker Heron Stakes, Sandown Park, L.
Retired to stud in 2010, and sire of the winners of 46 races and £607,041 and sire of the winners of 4 races, and £14,000 under N.H. Rules.
Stands at: Woodlands Stud, Coldwood, Craughwell, Co Galway, Ireland
Telephone: +353 (0)85 1371541 and (0)85 1370685
Email: woodlandsstud@ymail.com
Fee: €1,000