Coolmore looking to Galileo’s Churchill to make mark in Australia after flying European start
Dual Group 1-winning juvenile adding ‘speed and precocity’ to mares having recently sired a 12th individual winner for season
Following 11 straight sires’ championships in Britain and Ireland and 12 in total, it looks like the recently deceased world’s best sire Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) will have to give best to his finest racing son Frankel in this year’s sire championship.
However, it is another son of the great champion that has Coolmore Australia’s nominations and sales manager Colm Santry buzzing about the future.
Churchill sired his 12th individual winner from his first northern hemisphere crop when the William Haggas-trained Hamaki landed a six-furlong maiden at Pontefract last week, while the Johnny Murtagh-trained Ladies Church was an early season stakes winner over five furlongs.
“Galileo has had 20 sons now leave Group 1 winners and none of them have sired more two-year-old winners at this early stage than Churchill,” said Santry to ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He has got off to a great start in Europe, overall. He’s had a 1000-metre stakes winner which is very important for Australia and Australian breeders.”
Mark Byrne, nominations for Coolmore Ireland, when also speaking to ANZ Bloodstock News, noted that a half-sibling to Hamaki will be somewhat familiar to the Australian racing scene, while the juvenile is further evidence of the imprint Churchill can have with his mares.
“Hamaki’s half-brother Ventura Storm won the Moonee Valley Gold Cup over 2500 metres as a five-year-old,” he said.
“And of Churchill’s other progeny, Donnacha O’Brien has a very good two-year-old Unconquerable whose mother was best over two miles.
“So, straight away you can see that Churchill has a massive influence for speed and precocity.”
Galileo’s Group 1-winning sons have propelled the sire line’s success to a new level.
Sons of the stallion that did not record a two-year-old Group 1 win during their racing career are operating at a 3.7 per cent stakes winners to runners strike-rate with their progeny in Australia, however, when taken to consider stakes winners to runners for sire sons who were Group 1 winners at two, including Frankel, New Approach and Teofilo, this figure leaps to 11.7 per cent, a number superior to each of the top four stallions in last season’s leading sire table, with Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) striking at 9.7 per cent, I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) 7.7 per cent, Written Tycoon (Iglesia) 4.9 per cent and Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) 7.5 per cent.
Churchill won the Vincent O’Brien National Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) and the Dewhurst Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) on his way to being crowned champion juvenile, while he is the only son of Galileo to score at Royal Ascot as a juvenile, a meeting which features early on the European calendar in June.
“The way racing is programmed in Australia requires stallions to get five or six furlong two-year-olds, otherwise the market here is resentful towards them,” Santry added. “What sets Churchill apart is his precocious speed. If he can get plenty of five, six, seven furlong two-year-olds and they can win our best races, it will turn him into an extremely commercial stallion.
“Fourteen of his first crop yearlings sold for upwards of $150,000, at an average of $102,000, more than the likes of fellow first crop sires like Pariah, Invader and Impending, so this all bodes well for the future.”
Indeed, Churchill’s early season success in the northern hemisphere does not come as a surprise to Byrne, with his dam line possessing plenty of fast, precocious riches.
Out of two-year-old stakes winner Meow (Storm Cat), a runner up in 2010 Queen Mary Stakes (Gr 2, 5f) at Royal Ascot, Churchill is a sister to Cheveley Park Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) winner Clemmie, while his second dam Airwave (Air Express) was a champion two-year-old in Britain.
“His full sister Clemmie was arguably one of the fastest ever Galileos, while his mother Meow was super quick over five furlongs.” said Byrne.
“And, of course, he’s such a beautiful horse. Any breeder in Australia should make the effort to go and see him. He’s an absolute beast and he really stamps his stock as well. If you look at any of them that are running they are generally in the mould of him,” Byrne added.
Although making a strong start with his first season runners, Byrne suggested his next crops may well be stronger still.
“In recent years Galileo was obviously getting older and covering smaller books. This year, especially, the talk was so strong about the Churchills that he was a major beneficiary, picking up mares that would otherwise have gone to Galileo.
“Good stallions take their chances and he’s certainly taken his chances so far.”
Shuttle stallions ‘a no-brainer’
Speaking to ANZ Bloodstock News in the wake of his stallions Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) and Capitalist (Written Tycoon) dominating the freshman sire table, Newgate Farm principal Henry Field made mention of the success of the local, colonial sires in both the first season and general sires classifications, with the top 16 stallions in the country all Australian or New Zealand-bred.
However, both Byrne and Santry hit back at suggestions that northern hemisphere shuttlers represent a less attractive product.
“The shuttle stallions that Coolmore, and Darley as well, bring to this part of the world are great opportunities for breeders to access at what are very reasonable fees,” Santry said.
“They are covering far less mares than the locals and winning our major races, as their progeny train on over time and distance. Their stakes winners to runners (percentage) is excellent.”
Byrne highlighted the distinct advantage for southern hemisphere breeders of being able to get a first glimpse of shuttle stallions’ first northern hemisphere crop ahead of covering their fourth crop.
“I’d love to be able to use a first season sire where we’ve already seen their progeny racing for six months somewhere else and to know that this guy could be the real deal. It’s serious free knowledge to have, especially when the likes of Churchill are standing at $20,000 plus GST, whereas in Ireland he’s €30,000,” he said.
“You might not get that value again and you’ll kick yourself for not getting involved. For me, it makes it a no-brainer.”