GHAIYYATH is expected to arrive at Kildangan Stud in the second week of December.

With a rating of 130, the son of Dubawi retires to stud as the highest-rated racehorse in the world. His stud fee has yet to be announced but Joe Osborne of Godolphin Ireland reports that breeders are already making enquiries about the four-time Group 1 winner and Earthlight, the dual Group 1 winner whose retirement to Kildangan was announced last week.

“Quality stallions bring quality mares to Ireland and that can only be good for the business in general,” Osborne said. “It’s great to have stallions of this calibre standing at Kildangan. Ghaiyyath, in particular, is a fantastic addition and there has already been plenty of interest in him. The plan is for him to be shown to breeders at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket during the December Sale and then for him to come here, where he can be inspected by appointment.”

Osborne says he is “cautiously optimistic” ahead of the new breeding season, given the strength of recent sales results and the fact that racing continues, both here and in Britain, despite Covid-19 restrictions. “I don’t think the delay to the foal sales will have a huge negative effect,” he said. “Once the yearling sales are over, breeders start to make plans. The higher-priced stallions tend to fill up first and the rest follow from there. I sense that people are cautiously optimisitc about the market. The fact that racing is carrying on, even behind closed doors, is a big help.”

Race record

Ghaiyyath retires with four Group 1 victories to his name, three of which he won this year: the Coronation Cup, the Eclipse and the Juddmonte International. Bred by Dermot Weld’s Springbank Way Stud, Ghaiyyath is out of Irish 1000 Guineas winner Nightime and was sold as a foal for €1.1 million. He was a Group 3 winner, both as a juvenile and at three, before reappearing as a four-year-old last year to win the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt. He won his first Group 1 in September 2020, taking the Grosser Preis von Baden by 14 lengths. This was the best performance in Germany this century.

This year Ghaiyyath kicked off his campaign with another wide-margin Group 3 win in Dubai, before completing a brilliant British hat-trick of Group 1 wins in the Coronation Cup, Eclipse Stakes and Juddmonte International. He made his final racecourse appearance when a valiant second in the Irish Champion Stakes to Magical, who was receiving 3lb.

His trainer Charlie Appleby reported that the plan had been to look towards the Breeders’ Cup but, in preparation for the race, after a piece of routine work at the weekend, the horse showed signs of soreness behind. After veterinary investigation, the horse was found to be muscle sore.

Appleby said: “Ghaiyyath has had a fantastic career winning nine of his 13 races. His high-class cruising speed and relentless style of galloping was a joy to watch and as I have said before, this year he came together both physically and mentally and looked the finished article. It is obviously disappointing not to be taking him to the Breeders’ Cup but the exertions of a long season, which started in Dubai in January, were starting to show and the decision has been made to retire him.”