Coolmore’s Platinum Aussie
Royal victory for Home Affairs would provide valuable boost to stud’s global operation
Nineteen years ago, the much revered Choisir (Danehill Dancer) shocked the European elite when the Paul Perry-trained colt scored a stunning Royal Ascot double for Australia in the King’s Stand Stakes (Gr 2, 5f) and Golden Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 6f), the precursor a successful stud career at Coolmore in both hemispheres.
In the intervening period, the likes of Takeover Target (Celtic Swing), Miss Andretti (Ihtiram), Scenic Blast (Scenic) and Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) have ventured north from Australia and conquered. After Nature Strip’s wide-margin demolision of his rivals in Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes (now a Group 1 race again), no one is shocked anymore.
Coolmore also has a wealth of experience to draw from its Australian-bred colts to have won at Royal Ascot and embark on dual hemisphere stud careers. These include Starspangledbanner, a son of Choisir, and Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock).
It’s in the context of Choisir, and his exploits in siring 102 stakes winners across the world over the last two decades until his death a mere six months ago, that the significance of today’s Platinum Jubilee Stakes is not lost on Coolmore and its global operation, with Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) out to launch what his studmasters will hope to be another successful dual-hemisphere stallion career.
“There’s a lot about him that’s similar to Choisir and [Saturday] represents an important day for us,” Coolmore’s Mark Byrne told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Home Affairs won the same race [Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m)] as Choisir did as a three-year-old and now he comes over here.
“Choisir has been a brilliant stallion here and we’ve had Starspangledbanner to win this race as well who’s been an important stallion in both hemispheres and he showed us his prowess again on Wednesday when his son State of Rest won the Princes Of Wales’s Stakes.
“It’s going to be great to see Home Affairs and hopefully he jet propels tomorrow. We’re very excited about it.”
Home Affairs, the current 2-1 favourite, and his compatriot Artorius (Flying Artie), who races in the Newgate Farm and China Horse Club colours for Anthony and Sam Freedman, will take on 25 rivals in Royal Ascot’s most sought after sprint prize.
While Home Affairs has drawn higher in 17, Artorius, who finished a running-on sixth to beat Home Affairs in the Newmarket (Gr 1, 1200m), has drawn in barrier two, with former British and Irish Champion Jockey Jamie Spencer taking the ride.
A victory for either would cap an astonishing week for Australian-bred, sired, owned and trained horses at the royal meeting, after the Waller-trained Nature Strip wowed racegoers on Tuesday and Starspangledbanner’s Newgate-owed colt State Of Rest won Wednesday’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f), plus a brace of winners for the Aussie-born Newmarket-based trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam.
On Thursday, Australian-based Darley shuttler Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible) sired the Norfolk Stakes (Gr 2, 5f) winner in the shape of two-year-old colt The Ridler, which represented another timely reminder as to the prowess of Australian sprint stallions and the Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) sireline in the northern hemisphere.
“It’s very important, [Home Affairs] is an outcross but at the same time the Invincible Spirit sireline we know very well up here and I Am Invincible’s son Brazen Beau sired the Norfolk winner on Thursday,” Byrne said.
“Home Affairs ticks a lot of boxes for us, Tom Magnier talks about him with such passion and why wouldn’t he. He was an expensive yearling and is a brilliant racehorse with a stallion’s pedigree and is a great looker.”
“We think we have good sprinters [here], but then we all saw what Nature Strip did on Tuesday, he blew them away.
While the likes of Coolmore and Darley, among others, have shuttled the best of European blood to the southern hemisphere for several years, examples of stallions heading in the other direction are much fewer and farther between.
Coolmore’s Australian stalwart Fastnet Rock (Danehill) – also a winner of the Lightning Stakes as a three-year-old – is perhaps the most notable, along with Exceed And Excel (Danehill), while recent stallions to shuttle north include Brazen Beau and Widden’s Zoustar (Northern Meteor), who stands the northern hemisphere season at Tweenhills Stud.
Home Affairs is already announced to be standing for an eye popping fee of $110,000 (inc GST) in his first season at stud in Australia, and would further enhance his value and appeal to the northern hemisphere market with success today.
Byrne believes that should Home Affairs add to the spectacular success of Nature Strip on Tuesday, it could spark a trend of more of Australia’s sprinting stallion prospects to be sought after to shuttle to Europe.
“It’s the most international show in the world. The whole industry is becoming so global now to try and get the best blood into the market and that’s what breeders want,” Byrne said.
“It’s like St Mark’s Basilica for us down in Australia, he’s going to prove extremely popular down there and why not, he’s a world champion. It all links into the fact that people want the best and they want to breed to the best.
“We got [Home Affairs] from the home of speed [Australia], and with Covid the last couple of years we’ve forgotten just how good the Australian sprinters were but we got a very good reminder on Tuesday and hopefully we get another good reminder tomorrow.”
Home Affairs may not be the only talented Coolmore-owned colt to enhance his stud credentials today, with the breeding giant set to run the potently-bred two-year-old Alfred Munnings (Dubawi) in the Chesham Stakes (Listed, 7f), a horse that ‘could be anything’.
A four-and-a-half-length debut winner at Leopardstown last month, Alfred Munnings is out of Group 3 winner Best In The World (Galileo), making him a half-sister to the ill-fated 16-length Epsom Oaks (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner Snowfall (Deep Impact).
“Overall the stallions have had a great week,” Byrne said. “What No Nay Never has done this week is incredible with two top class two-year-old performances and hopefully we will see another good juvenile performance tomorrow with Alfred Munnings.
“When you listen to MV Magnier and Aidan O’Brien speak about him, you would get genuinely excited. If he won on Saturday, being a Royal Ascot-winning two-year-old is a massive achievement for his stud prospects.
“Galileo is up to 94 Group 1 winners now, while Starspangledbanner continues to produce elite-level Royal Ascot winners, and the week isn’t even over yet.”