D’Argento being offered to stud farms
Group 1 winner D’Argento (So You Think) has been retired and could potentially join the stallion ranks next season – although where still remains to be seen.
Trainer Chris Waller and owners Star Thoroughbreds announced D’Argento’s retirement yesterday, after a planned return to racing was shelved. It followed news on Monday that Star’s stalwart Invincibella (I Am Invincible) had been retired, while the Group 1-placed Noire (Foxwedge) is set to go through the virtual Inglis sales ring at the auction house’s Chairman’s Sale on May 8.
“We were sad to see Invincibella retire and now, with some sadness, we know that D’Argento is retiring to stud as well,” Star Thoroughbreds principal Denise Martin told ANZ Bloodstock News last night. “They both should go to wonderful homes because they’ve been very talented horses.”
Until last weekend, D’Argento was So You Think’s (High Chaparral) highest earner at $1,103,525; he was passed on Saturday by So Si Bon after the Lindsay Park galloper’s victory in the Vobis Gold Mile (1600m).
The 2018 Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m) winner, D’Argento was also Group 1-placed in the Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) behind Hartnell (Authorized) and the Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) behind the mighty mare herself, his stablemate Winx (Street Cry).
“We’re looking to find a lovely home for him,” Martin said. “I think he’s a lovely stallion prospect, he was a very handsome colt and so very talented too. He had a presence and often classy horses have presence. I don’t think it was simply because he was a light grey and very easy to spot, but he had a very good turn of foot and he was precocious enough to win at two while he performed well as an older horse as well.”
The grey colt that came to be known as D’Argento was bought by Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds for $135,000 from the draft of Baramul Stud at the 2016 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
The fifth live foal out of Listed winner Fullazz (Redoute’s Choice), he comes from the family of Group 1 winner Sizzling (Snitzel) and Group 1 placegetter Loving Cup (Bluebird), while his year-younger half-brother Fullazaboot (Sepoy) finished second to Sunlight (Zoustar) in the 2018 Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m).
Martin recalled: “The late Steve Brem found a So You Think colt for me at the Magic Millions sales and I had remembered his dam racing in Victoria. I recall Fullazz as a talented Redoute’s Choice filly who had been syndicated by a team down there. When she retired, I always felt that I would like to have a look at her foals.
“When I saw this colt at Magic Millions some years ago, I always thought he was very handsome. He had real sex appeal, which I love very much in colts and it’s something I’m always looking for. I didn’t know whether he would be affordable but he passed all his selection criteria and vetting and luckily, I was able to buy him. We bought him for $135,000 and he sold very quickly in the partnership, as the grey horses often do.”
Given time to mature, D’Argento didn’t debut until well into his two-year-old season, only stepping out for the first time two weeks before he turned three.
“When he did race, we took him to Newcastle,” Martin said. “I recall that he came from well back in the field and powered home late and I remember thinking at the time, the late T J Smith used to say to me, ‘A horse that can win his first start in his life anywhere will be a horse to follow.’ D’Argento had done that.
“He then came to the city and he won again and I thought he was very eye-catching that day as well. Chris then gave him a spell, he came back for his third start in January of his three-year-old year and he won that as well. That was the last time he raced below Group 1 or Group 2 level.”
A third to Kementari (Lonhro) and Pierata (Pierro) in the Hobartville Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Rosehill suggested that he was more than capable of figuring against the better three-year-olds, a claim he franked two starts later back at the track by taking the Rosehill Guineas.
Either side of the Rosehill Guineas, though, he stepped out over the Randwick mile, finishing seventh in the Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) to Kementari before flying home for fourth in the Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) behind Happy Clapper (Teofilo).
On both occasions he drew wide and, both times, Andrew Adkins was called up as a late replacement rider; he replaced an injured Hugh Bowman in the Randwick Guineas, while he got the late call-up in the Doncaster Mile after Corey Brown was injured in the gates before the Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) earlier on the card.
“He won very decisively in the Rosehill Guineas and he beat a good field,” she said. “After that, we knew he had a Group 1 colt on our hands. Chris said that we had a weight-for-age horse for sure and he said that we should head to the Doncaster, because it’s often said that a very strong 2000-metre horse is well-placed in the Doncaster.
“It’s quite amazing though that lightning should strike twice, first with Hugh – he was injured after falling from Performer in the Todman Stakes – and then with Corey, who was injured aboard The Lord Mayor. Thankfully, Andrew was able to ride him both times.
“In the Doncaster, he drew gate 15 out of 16, he was nearly last on the turn and he flew home in a tremendous performance to finish fourth, it was a terrific effort.”
Perhaps his crowning performance came in defeat, when he finished second to Hartnell by a whisker in the Epsom Handicap. Sent to the lead by James McDonald up the rise, when he was exposed early, he looked home before Hartnell charged home out wide – under D’Argento’s regular rider Bowman.
“To this day, I can still remember looking at the big screen and I had in my mind that D’Argento had lasted,” Martin said. “When I saw Hartnell right on the line, coming hard – and with the slo-mo, it was exaggerated – it was Hughie coming to grab us.
“Hugh had ridden D’Argento to win the Rosehill Guineas but couldn’t make the weight in the Epsom and I just couldn’t believe that his regular rider had beaten him!
“When James came back that day, he said, ‘He’s run an unbelievable race. I just can’t believe he didn’t win it.’ He was quite numb for five seconds, he was staring into space in the unsaddling area.
“To make matters worse, our filly Fiesta had just been beaten by Tony McEvoy’s smart filly Oohood in the Flight Stakes 40 minutes previously. So we had two seconds by a nose in Group 1s in an hour!”
Four unplaced performances came after that, three at Caulfield, a track that Martin says never suited D’Argento. He was injured after his final run in the Peter Young Stakes (Gr 2, 1800m), spending most of 2019 out of training.
“He just didn’t get around Caulfield,” she said. “He finished fifth in the Caulfield Stakes behind Benbatl and then went to the Cox Plate. When he came back in the autumn, he had an issue after the Peter Young so he was out for some months.
“We tipped him out for most of 2019. Just before Christmas, he went through an extensive rehabilitation program that was looking very good, that he would be fine to come back.
“About a month ago, the issue marginally surfaced again and Chris said, he’s been such a good horse, I think we should retire him.”
Randwick Bloodstock’s Brett Howard has been entrusted with presenting D’Argento for stallion duties.
“I’ve spent considerable time watching D’Argento’s races and trials. He could have easily been a triple Group 1 winner,” he said. “D’Argento raced against the crème de la crème and just did not know how to run a bad race. He had a fabulous turn of foot and an abundance of courage.
“Once stud masters have reviewed his races, I will be surprised if they are not similarly in awe of just how good this horse really was.”
D’Argento is the second high-profile retirement this week to have sported the purple and white stars on the racetrack, with Invincibella also bound for the breeding barn.
“Invincibella won last year’s Tattersall’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) at Eagle Farm and was also a four-time Group 2 winner, while she won the $1 million Magic Millions Plate (1300m) in 2018 and the $1 million Magic Millions Fillies & Mares (1300m) event two years in succession.
“We decided when it initially came out that there would be no black-type racing in Queensland this winter that she could instead head to the Magic Millions sales ring,” Martin said.
“Then, when it looked like there would be a Tatt’s Tiara in July, we thought that would be an opportunity for her to have a swansong. Without that race there, we just decided that she’s been such a wonderful mare, she’s done everything that we could ever have wanted, she’s six and now is the time. She’s by I Am Invincible out of a Galileo mare, breeders love a horse like that.
“She’s the most beautiful mare, she’s wonderful to handle. She raced in three states at the top level and performed well all the time.”