Top-Class Trio to Shuttle to Darley Australia

World champion miler Palace Pier , champion 2-year-old Pinatubo ,  and the unbeaten group 1-winning juvenile Victor Ludorum  will all shuttle to Darley Australia as the powerhouse breeding operation expands its enviable international offering to Australasian breeders in 2022.

The first season trio, who will all stand at Darley's Hunter Valley operation Kelvinside, will provide breeders access to elite bloodlines in 'sire sensation' Kingman  and the irrepressible Shamardal.

Five-time group 1 winner Palace Pier and Pinatubo will both be introduced at AU$55,000 (US$41,225), while Victor Ludorum will stand for an introductory fee of AU$24,750 ($18,551) (all fees inc GST).

A 600,000gns ($824,859) 2018 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale purchase by his trainer John Gosden, Palace Pier quickly established himself as an elite horse, winning his only two starts at two, before returning at three to take out the St. James's Palace Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot and the prestigious Prix du Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard Jacques Le Marois (G1) at Deauville, a race he would also win as a 4-year-old. 

Palace Pier added two more group 1s to his CV as a 4-year-old when he was triumphant in the Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes (G1) and the Queen Anne Stakes (G1) and he eventually retired a winner of nine of his 11 starts.

Darley Australia's head of sales Andy Makiv inspected Palace Pier, who is out of Nayef mare Beach Frolic , at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket last month and he said he was in awe of the impressive stallion.

"Alastair Pulford and I were lucky enough to travel to the UK a couple of weeks ago to have a look at him and others. He has got a lot of 'wow factor'," Makiv told ANZ Bloodstock News. 

"He's very good-looking, has quality, a great top, presence, good hip, he's athletic—he has everything that you could ask for in a thoroughbred.

"We are extremely excited to have him coming to Kelvinside. We love that he is by Kingman, love that he is a champion, love that he was an unbeaten 2-year-old and a five-time group 1 winner. It is an honor and a privilege to get him to Australia and stand him at Kelvinside."

Kingman is the sire of 43 stakes winners, headed by four group 1 winners and Palace Pier will become the second son of Juddmonte's sire to shuttle to Australia with Coolmore having brought down group 2 winner Calyx  for the past two southern hemisphere breeding seasons.

"Kingman is what we describe as a sire sensation and, as such, he is a highly sought-after stallion in Europe and to have his best son shuttling is fantastic for the Australian market," Makiv said. 

"His race record speaks for itself, but physically he is a horse that fills the eye and a horse that Australians will like and he is a horse who will suit Australian mares, so we're pretty confident that he is the right horse for this part of the world."

Makiv was also thrilled to confirm, 12 months after it was first announced Pinatubo would shuttle to Australia, that the highest-rated European juvenile in 25 years would finally spend the southern hemisphere spring at Kelvinside. 

Crowned Horse of the Year after an unbeaten six-from-six 2-year-old season, including a nine-length romp in the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes (G1) at the Curragh, the three-time group 1 winner's 2021 southern hemisphere trip was ruled out due to an eye injury.

"It is a bit of a delayed start, but an exciting horse all the same. I was lucky enough some years ago to be in Ireland and the St. Leger meeting and the National Stakes was on," Makiv recalled. "I was there as a racing enthusiast as much as a Godolphin employee and it just happened to be the day that Pinatubo won the National Stakes by nine lengths. He was phenomenal. 

"I had a look at him in the mounting yard that day and I thought 'what a colt' and then I saw him win by nine. When you see a horse win by nine live in a proper group 1 it is a pretty phenomenal experience." 

After inspecting Pinatubo, who was trained by Charlie Appleby to win seven of his ten starts at two and three, Makiv was equally as impressed last month at Dalham Hall as he was at the Curragh in 2019.

"He is everything that you'd want in a stallion prospect. He's by a great stallion, physically he's extraordinary, his juvenile record is summed up in his physical appearance as well," he said.

"I anticipate that he will be mind-blowingly popular. Our biggest problem, I think, is being able to provide as many people who want to use him the access that they want. He is just a really exciting prospect."

Pinatubo is out of Lava Flow , a stakes-winning mare in France, who in turn is a daughter of the stakes winner Mount Elbrus.

The third first season Darley shuttler heading to Kelvinside is Victor Ludorum, also an unbeaten 2-year-old who claimed the 2019 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere-Grand Criterium (G1) before returning at three to take out the Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains (G1) in track-record time for trainer Andre Fabre.

Inbred 3x3 to elite mare Helen Street , the dam of Street Cry , Victor Ludorum himself is out of stakes-placed mare Antiquities  and his second dam Historian was also a stakes winner in France.

"What we like about Victor Ludorum is that he's by Shamardal, he's from the family of Shamardal and he won the same group 1 as Shamardal, so you can describe him as the next Shamardal," Makiv said.

"Alastair and I made the trip to Haras du Logis in France to visit Victor Ludorum. Physically, he was very impressive, a great top, good hindquarter, excellent mover, all strength, very much like his sire.

"He was three from three at two and trained on at three to win the Guineas. He was a gun colt of his generation."

Darley has a plethora of high-caliber stallions by Shamardal with Blue Point  set to return to the Victorian operation Northwood Park for a third season in 2022 and Earthlight  for his second.

Standing Pinatubo and Victor Ludorum at Kelvinside was part of "balancing" the Darley roster, says Makiv, with the sons of Shamardal split across the New South Wales and Victoria farms at varying service fees.

"This crop from Shamardal was outstanding, siring three unbeaten group 1-winning 2-year-old colts, Victor Ludorum, Earthlight, and Pinatubo," he said. 

"They were all freakish talents and they're all at stud here in Australia."

Darley is expected to confirm its full 2022 Australian stallion line-up and service fees for its Kelvinside and Northwood Park rosters, which include champions Exceed And Excel  and Lonhro  as well as Street Boss   and Bivouac, by the end of this month.