NAVAL Crown embarks on his second career at Kildangan Stud at a fee of €15,000, and he has played a small part in making history for his sire, Dubawi (Dubai Millennium).

A week after Eldar Eldarov was victorious in the Group 2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot last year, becoming Dubawi’s landmark 150th group winner, Naval Crown became the stallion’s 50th winner at the highest level in racing.

Those numbers have grown since, to 53 Group/Grade 1 winners and 163 group winners. Meanwhile, there is another landmark in the offing, on the flat, as Dubawi’s next blacktype winner will be his 250th.

Naval Crown’s special win was in one of Royal Ascot’s most competitive races, the £1 million Platinum Jubilee Stakes. A year earlier Dubawi’s son Creative Force beat Naval Crown in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot, but in the Platinum Jubilee Stakes the roles were reversed, with Naval Crown just getting the better of his old rival. The Godolphin homebred Naval Crown held on for a neck triumph, but consider those that finished behind. They included Highfield Princess, Kinross, Alcohol Free, Minzaal and Campanelle.

At two, Naval Crown won the Convivial Maiden Stakes at York and was placed a number of times at group and listed level. He stretched to a mile at three and won the Listed Meydan Classic from Master Of The Seas, and was fourth behind Poetic Flare in the Group 1 2000 Guineas.

Naval Crown started his final season well and was successful in the seven-furlong, Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort at Meydan, while he came closest to another Group 1 triumph when chasing home Alcohol Free in the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket.

Naval Crown is the first foal out of the French stakes winner Come Alive (Dansili), and he is followed by youngstock by Lope De Vega (Shamardal), Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway) and Ghaiyyath (Dubawi).

Exceptional sire

With a stud fee of £350,000, there is no need to say how successful Dubawi has been at stud. Darley have plenty of his sons at stud, where they are being joined by Naval Crown, and the list includes Highfield Princess’ sire Night Of Thunder, Ghaiyyath, Too Darn Hot and Space Blues.

His sons New Bay, Al Kazeem, Time Test and Zarak stand elsewhere, while his emergence as the broodmare sire of Adayar, Homeless Songs, Nazeef and others heralds further influence on the breed.

Naval Crown’s dam Come Alive is the best of six successful offspring from the listed winner and group-placed Portrayal (Saint Ballado). Another of that mare’s daughters, Belle Boyd (Oasis Dream), was stakes-placed. The Group 3 winner, and influential matriarch, Truly Special (Caerleon), is Naval Crown’s fourth dam, and he is one of at least five Group 1 winners in his immediate family.

Among the others are the four-time Hong Kong Group 1 winner Wellington (All Too Hard), the most recent of which was the Hong King Sprint in December, dual Australian Group 1 winner Colette (Hallowed Crown), Irish Oaks winner and runner-up at Epsom, Moonstone (Dalakhani), and the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Cerulean Sky (Darshaan). Both of the latter mares are group-producers.

Race record

NAVAL CROWN (GB), Bay 2018. Top rated 3yr old miler in U.A.E. in 2021. Won four races, £978,311, from 6 furlongs to 1 mile, at 2 to 4 years including, Platinum Jubilee Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, Al Fahidi Fort, Meydan, Gr.2, Meydan Classic, Meydan, L, also placed second in July Cup, Newmarket, Gr.1, Jersey Stakes, Ascot, Gr.3, European Free Handicap, Newmarket, L, and third in Prix La Rochette, ParisLongchamp, Gr.3, Prix Thomas Bryon, Saint-Cloud, Gr.3, UAE 2000 Guineas, Meydan, Gr.3, Pat Eddery Stakes, Ascot, L.

At stud

Retired to Stud in 2023.

Information

Stands at: Kildangan Stud, Monasterevin, Co. Kildare W34 HR98, Ireland

Contact: Eamon Moloney, Anthony O’Donnell or Tom Fogarty

Telephone: +353 45 527600

Email: hello@darley.co.uk

Web: www.darleyeurope.com

Fee: €15,000