WHAT needs to be said about Paddington, one of the stars among the newly-retired stallions in Europe for 2024?

A horse with a magical name, Paddington displayed no end of magic on the track, and last year he won four hugely competitive Group 1 races in just 68 days.

Coolmore’s belief in Siyouni (Pivotal) is unshakeable, and Paddington is the third son of France’s leading sire to go to stud in Tipperary, where he joins Sottsass and St Mark’s Basilica. Paddington’s rise to the top took a somewhat unorthodox route, though it is clear he was always held in the highest regard by Aidan O’Brien.

At two he travelled to Ascot to make his debut, but it was at the Curragh in mid-October that Paddington first tasted victory in a seven-furlong maiden. His sophomore debut was in the historic Madrid Handicap at Naas, which he won, and that was to be his last start over seven furlongs.

He set himself up for a classic challenge when he stretched to a mile in the Listed Coolmore Stud Blackbeard Irish EBF Tetrarch Stakes.

Then began those magical two months of Group 1 success, starting with the Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas. The opposition stepped up considerably in class at Royal Ascot in the St James’s Place Stakes where he faced Chaldean, the 2000 Guineas winner, but Paddington upped his game and the outcome was an almost four-length win.

There was short break for Paddington before making his fifth start of the season, and he beat Emily Upjohn to capture the 10-furlong Eclipse Stakes.

Back to a mile for the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, Paddington showed that he thrived with racing, and he again beat older horses to win, with Facteur Cheval in second place. After the race, jockey Ryan Moore tried to put the performance in perspective. He said: “It’s a hard thing to say, but Paddington gives you the feel that he might be as good a horse as I’ve ridden. He’s exceptional.”

Two more starts completed Paddington’s busy season and his racing career, and the better of these saw him saw him finish just over a length behind Mostahdaf in the Group 1 Juddmonte International, with Nashwa diving them. He displayed great toughness to run as often as he did at three, and to run up a sequence of seven straight victories.

Bred by Dayton Investments, Paddington was purchased as a yearling for €420,000 at Arqana. John Gosden, who saddled the first two home in the Juddmonte, said of Paddington: “He’s a gorgeous horse, very good-looking, very laid back. A lovely horse and a proper stallion prospect.”

Few stallions have as good a performing female line as Paddington. His dam, Modern Eagle (Montjeu) won three times at three in France, including a listed race. She is a daughter of Millionaia (Peintre Celebre) who was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks.

Paddington’s third dam Moonlight Dance (Alysheba) won the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary, one of the races won by her dam Madelia (Caro), the brilliant unbeaten winner also of the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas and Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks.