Auguste Rodin set for Japan Cup swansong
Dual Derby winner and multiple Group 1 star Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact) is set to sign off his racing career in the Japan Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) on November 24 before taking up stallion duties at Coolmore Stud in Ireland for the 2025 season.
Bred in the purple as a son of Japanese leviathan Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) out of the three-time Group 1-winning mare Rhododendron (Galileo), Auguste Rodin has managed major-level successes aged two, three and four.
Aidan O’Brien saddled the colt to win the Futurity Trophy (Gr 1, 1m) at Doncaster as a juvenile before sweeping through the Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f), the Irish Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f), Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) and Breeders’ Cup Turf (Gr 1, 1m 4f) last year. He has added the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) at Royal Ascot this year and a press release from Coolmore reported he was earmarked to “take his bow” in Tokyo.
Coolmore’s MV Magnier said: “Auguste Rodin is an exceptional racehorse and stallion prospect, with the blend of class, speed and pedigree that only the best possess. He is a very special horse for us, and I truly believe he ranks up there with the best middle-distance racehorses and sires that we have stood here before him, like Sadler’s Wells, Galileo, Montjeu, Caerleon and Camelot.
“Physically, he fills the eye so well as he has extra quality and movement, so I can’t wait to see his first crop in Ballydoyle in 2028. We are going to do all we can to give him the best possible opportunity to follow in his illustrious predecessors’ footsteps.”
The rest of his connections also provided commendations on a fine career.
Jockey Ryan Moore said: “He’s been an unbelievable horse for us. We have always thought the world of him. He has everything you’d want. He has so much pace. He could kill horses for speed, and he was able to stretch that out over 12 furlongs. Horses like him are so hard to find. An incredible horse.”
Meanwhile, O’Brien added: “Auguste Rodin is out of Rhododendron, one of the best Galileo mares, and by Deep Impact, Japan’s best stallion. He connects two of the most powerful breeding lines in the world. He has been a pleasure and a privilege to train. He is just a very unique horse and we’re very excited to see what he will achieve at stud. We will be supporting him with our own mares.”
Most recently seen finishing a close second to Economics (Night Of Thunder) in the Irish Champion Stakes, Auguste Rodin has already earned £4,973,370 (approx. AU$9,641,900) in prize-money.