Champion Sire Dansili Dies at 25

Juddmonte Farms announced Dec. 22 the passing of champion sire Dansili  at his birthplace Banstead Manor Stud following a short but aggressive illness. He was 25.

Bred by Juddmonte, the son of Danehill was the first foal out of Hasili, who went on to become a blue hen of considerable note as the dam of seven graded/group stakes winners that include grade/group 1 winners Champs Elysees , Intercontinental , Banks Hill , Cacique , and Heat Haze . Champs Elysees, Intercontinental, and Banks Hill also became champions.

Dansili may not have won a group 1 but he was grade/group 1-placed six times, including seconds in the Dubai Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas, G1), Champagne Lanson Sussex Stakes (G1), and Prix de la Foret (G1) and third in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T). He went on to become a larger influence as one of the leading British-based sires and broodmare sires of his generation.

Trained in France by Andre Fabre, Dansili won his first and only race as a 2-year-old, and a four-length win in his debut at 3 to make him the leading favorite for the French Two Thousand Guineas in 1999. Fifteen runners went to post, which was one of the largest fields in the race's history, and Dansili found only Sendawar too good. He ran four more times that season, winning the Prix Messidor (G3) and placing in the Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois (G1) behind Dubai Millennium and the Emirates Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (G1).

A tough and consistent campaigner, Dansili returned at 4 to win the Prix Edmond Blanc (G3) and Prix du Muguet (G2) and placed three further times at the highest level, including running second to the "Iron Horse" Giant's Causeway in the Sussex at Goodwood and third to War Chant  and North East Bound in the Breeders' Cup Mile by a neck and a nose, the fastest closing quarter in Breeders' Cup history.

Dansili retired with a 5-4-3 record from 14 starts and earned $570,686.

Soon afterward, Dansili returned to his birthplace at Banstead Manor Stud to start a new chapter as a stallion. Dansili went on to sire 151 black-type winners worldwide, which include 89 graded/group winners and 23 grade/group 1 winners. He started at a fee of £8,000 and rose to a peak of £100,000 due to siring outstanding horses such as Flintshire  , Harbinger , Rail Link , Proviso , Queen's Trust , Dank , and The Fugue . Dank and Queen's Trust are Dansili's Breeders' Cup World Championships winners to date, having captured the 2013 and 2016 editions of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T), respectively. Flintshire was his most successful runner in North America, where he won three grade 1 stakes and was second twice in the 2014 and 2016 editions of the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T). Flintshire earned $9,589,910 in career earnings. He was also named Eclipse champion grass horse in 2016.

Dansili became champion sire in France in 2006 and has become an exceptional broodmare sire of the likes of group winners Nezwaah , Cliffs of Moher , Darley Irish Oaks (G1) heroine Chicquita , Time Test , Snow Sky , Agent Murphy , Astaire , and Juddmonte stallion and Breeders' Cup Mile winner Expert Eye .

Dansili was pensioned from stud duties in 2018 at the age of 22. His influence will be felt at Juddmonte for many years to come through his daughters in the broodmare band and via current Juddmonte sire-son Bated Breath , whose career has closely echoed that of his sire to date.

Simon Mockridge, Juddmonte general manager (UK) said of Dansili: "As a racehorse, he was durable, genuine, consistent, and expertly handled by Andre Fabre throughout his career. Although he deserved a group 1 victory on the racecourse, having been placed in six, that somehow always managed to evade him. During his 17 years at stud, he played an intrinsic role alongside Oasis Dream  in establishing the reputation of the Juddmonte roster. A truly wonderful, reliable, and uncomplicated character as a stallion he was a firm favorite of the stallion team and Juddmonte as a whole. He will be greatly missed."