Ghaiyyath, Pinatubo, Earthlight to Shuttle to Australia

World-class sprinter Bivouac remains a chance to travel to Royal Ascot in June in a bid to enhance his record before joining the Darley stallion roster later this year as one of four first-season stallions the Southern Hemisphere arm of Sheikh Mohammed's operation will launch in 2021.

Darley confirmed March 15 that Bivouac would retire to Kelvinside in the Hunter Valley at the end of his current campaign while also announcing that European champions Pinatubo, Ghaiyyath, and Earthlight would shuttle to Australia in 2021.

The first-season sire quartet have won a combined 12 group 1 races and have the credentials to make an impact Down Under, leaving Godolphin Australia managing director Vin Cox to declare that any stud farm "would have any of them in a heartbeat."

"You have got to be very careful if you are going to market with four horses because the market tends to want to drop one or two off but these four horses in their own right are legitimately credentialed, highly commercial, and attractive prospects for any stud farm," Cox told ANZ Bloodstock News Monday.

"When you do look at them in isolation and you say, 'why wouldn't you stand this horse?'

"When you've got four exciting prospects, then you go to market with four horses."

The imminent retirement of the James Cummings-trained Bivouac—the 2019 De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose Stakes (G1) winner defeating fellow high-profile stallions Yes Yes Yes and Exceedance—will bring the curtain down on a successful three-season career for arguably the most sought after first season stallion of his year.

"He is a scintillating horse. Some of his performances have been world class and they get cut-through on the world stage," Cox said. 

"You see him being written up and footage of him winning on all sorts of platforms right around the world and when you have got a horse doing that, you know he is an exciting prospect.

"He was a very good 2-year-old and, ultimately, he became a group 1 winner at 3 in the Golden Rose and going on to win the Newmarket (G1) at 3. To come back at 4 and win another group 1 (the Darley Sprint Classic Victoria Racing Club Stakes), he is a horse of high caliber over multiple seasons."

A dual stakes winner at 2, Bivouac was also runner-up to Exceedance in the Coolmore Stud Ascot Vale Stakes (G1) at Flemington and represented Godolphin in its The Tab Everest slot last year, finishing runner-up to Classique Legend before triumphing down the Flemington straight on Stakes Day last November. 

He ran fourth in the Heineken Canterbury Stakes (G1) March 6 after enduring a wide run and Cox revealed the T J Smith Stakes (G1) and a trip overseas remained on the agenda for the 4-year-old.

"He's always been a big horse who has matured and furnished into an exciting stallion prospect and, mentally, he's been able to cope with the rigors of training and he hasn't turned a hair," he said.

"The noise that we are already receiving is very, very strong, which suggests he is going to command a lot of respect in his years in the breeding barn.

"Our plan is to go to the T J Smith and, subject to what happens there, we will push forward to Royal Ascot. As far as we are concerned, we're making plans to go there, but those plans can change." 

Bivouac possesses a potent female family, being out of More Than Ready  mare Dazzler, who in turn is a half sister to champion four-time group 1 winning filly Guelph.

She is also a half sister to group 2-winning, group 1-placed Eureka Stud-based sire Encryption while the family also features The Other Woman Todman Stakes (G2) winner Ghibellines, Sepoy, and Mulaazem.

Bivouac is likely to reverse shuttle to the UK next year as a replacement for his own sire Exceed And Excel.

Cox said: "His father was by far and away the most successful reverse shuttle stallion of all time and he has recently come off the reverse shuttle roster. 

"He didn't go back this season and we would love for his legacy to continue and his best son is the obvious choice to do it.

"He draws in so many influential bloodlines and sire strength in the Australian industry, so he's got a lot to like about him."

Pinatubo to Make Impact Down Under

Shamardal's son Pinatubo, whose official 2-year-old rating was higher than joint 2010 juvenile champions Frankel and Dream Ahead, will stand alongside Bivouac at Kelvinside, while Ghaiyyath and Earthlight will stand at Northwood Park in Victoria.

Winning all six starts at 2, Pinatubo displayed his star qualities when putting nine lengths on his rivals in the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes (G1) at the Curragh before returning to Newmarket to round out his juvenile season in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes (G1) a month later.

"He's the ultimate 2-year-old machine from Europe. His win in the National Stakes was dynamic and it's the exhilarating speed that you want to see and that saw him become the highest-rating 2-year-old and rightly so," Cox enthused.

"In the reverse situation to Bivouac, he has cut through locally in the domestic market here in Australia. 

"It seems the local market is very aware of his ability and what he did on the racetrack at 2.

"Over the generations, horses who can quicken off a fast pace tend to be highly-performed stallions."

Pinatubo, Europe's champion 2-year-old of 2019 and equal leading 3-year-old male in 2020, won seven of his 10 starts. His dam Lava Flow (Dalakhani) was a listed winner in France while his second dam was also a stakes winner in Europe, Mount Elbrus (Barathea). 

Ghaiyyath​​​​​​​ to Make Northwood Park Home

Cox believes 2020 Horse of the Year Ghaiyyath, a dual group-winning 2-year-old who trained on to win three times at the highest level as a 5-year-old, presents breeders with a unique opportunity to breed to arguably the best son of one of the world's best stallions, Dubawi.

A group 1 winner at Baden Baden in Germany at 4, he came into his own last year when he won four races in succession—the Dubai Millennium Stakes Sponsored by Jaguar (G3) at Meydan, the Hurworth Bloodstock Coronation Cup (G1) at Newmarket, the Coral-Eclipse Stakes (G1) at Sandown when downing Enable, and the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) at York.

"He was an extremely expensive weanling (€1.1 million/US$1,180,850), so obviously he's got the looks and he transferred that onto the racecourse," he said. 

"So, being a son of one of the hottest stallions in the world and a good-looking horse … it is exciting for the Victorian market and exciting for Darley."

The best-performed son of Dubawi, Ghaiyyath's pedigree also offers the blood of one of the world's great sires, Coolmore's influential Galileo. A half brother to U.S. grade 1 winner and champion European mare Zhukova as well as the stakes-placed Sleeping Beauty, Ghaiyyath's mother is the Boylesports Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) winner Nightime (Galileo) and his second dam, Caumshinaun (Indian Ridge), was also a stakes winner in Ireland.

Mare owners wanting to breed a high-class miler should look closely at Ghaiyyath, according to Cox, now in his fourth year at the helm of Godolphin Australia.

"There's a definite appetite for horses with his credentials," he said.

"He's a good looking horse, by a good stallion, and he's got the race performance to attract significant mares and the best breeders."

Earthlight will join Ghaiyyath at Northwood Park and he will also be the second son of Shamardal at the Victorian farm alongside Blue Point, who covered 128 mares in his first shuttle season to Australia last year.

After an unbeaten five-run juvenile season, Earthlight was retired last year with a record of seven wins from nine starts including victories in the Darley Prix Morny-Finale des Darley Series (G1) and the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes (G1) at Newmarket.

"He was an undefeated champion 2-year-old in France who is by Shamardal and he fits right into the book we have down there in Victoria. We see that he will be quite popular," Cox said.

"Blue Point and Earthlight will have different price points. We are not going to announce fees at this stage, but ultimately we will, and we don't see either horse running over the top of each other."

He is the first foal to race out of the group 1 placed Winters Moon (New Approach), a half sister to group 1 winners in France, Mandaean and Wavering.

Shamardal, who shuttled to Australia in 2005 and 2006 and from 2008 to 2010, is the sire of 152 stakes winners worldwide, 27 of which were Down Under, the best being Hong Kong champion Able Friend and Crown VRC Oaks (G1) and Vinery Stud Storm Queen Stakes (G1) winner Faint Perfume.

Cox is confident the Shamardal sire line can continue to make an impact.

"Unfortunately, Shamardal didn't have many seasons here in Australia but he proved to be a stallion of significance and he's proving similarly or even better in Europe and proving to be a sire of sires," he said.

"There's no doubt he's an influence that we will see for a long time."

In launching four new stallions, Cox indicated Godolphin would again be supporting Darley's young stallions with a band of quality mares as the organization did with U.S. shuttler Frosted , whose first Southern Hemisphere crop includes dual listed-winning, Neds Blue Diamond Stakes (G1) runner-up Ingratiating and the stakes-placed fillies Frost Flowers and Cloudy.

"You have to give them that opportunity, give them that start on the racetrack. It has worked very well for us in launching a horse like Frosted," he said. 

"He was a horse who didn't really hit anyone's radar but he's well and truly on their radar these days.

"We've got a strong broodmare band and we've got good systems in place that allow us to get these horses to the racecourse and, therefore, be able to promote our horses via the racetrack."

Service fees for the four new Darley stallions and its entire Australian roster, which also includes last year's big-name first season sires Microphone and shuttler Too Darn Hot, will be announced in the near future.

"Look, we are going to be fairly modest in our approach to our service fees. We are not aggressive in pricing our stallions, but the market has been very, very strong on the back of what was a year of trepidation," Cox said. 

"Full credit to the industry and participants and everyone involved that we are in this fortunate position where the market is strong, racing is strong and it is an industry that is getting great cut-through as people are enjoying getting involved in racing and betting on it."