‘Harry Angel is going super – he’s obviously a very, very promising sire’
Another weekend, another stellar result, and it’s easy to see why Darley and Australian breeders are growing increasingly wild about Harry Angel (Dark Angel).
A week earlier, Private Harry (Harry Angel) proved himself one out of the box with his fourth win in four starts in the inaugural $3 million slot race The Sunlight (1200m), at the Gold Coast meeting transferred to the Sunshine Coast.
And when the action finally got under way at the Gold Coast on Saturday – for an hour or two at least before rain called time on the meeting – amid the three races that were possible Harry Angel produced another powerful hand.
In the first event, the $250,000 Magic Millions Maiden (1100m), the eight-year-old sired the quinella, with the Marcus Wilson-trained Heavenly Impact nosing out Gary Portelli’s King Of Dragons on the line.
Those and other results, including another new metro winner at Murray Bridge on Saturday in maiden victor Noetzie, have pushed Harry Angel to a career-high seventh on the Australian general sires’ list.
That’s a remarkable achievement for a sire with only three crops running, and whose service fee went from an initial $22,000 (inc GST) to $16,500 (inc GST) from 2020-2022. It reached a still reasonably modest $38,500 (inc GST) for the past two seasons, but looks set for a deserved bump this year.
Certainly, Harry Angel’s spot on the standings has been inflated by Private Harry’s $1.2 million boost from The Sunlight, amid the stallion’s earnings this term of $6.59 million.
Still, amid today’s dizzying prize-money, and the plethora of rich new races, all sires have the chance of such windfalls. Plus, Private Harry is not the stallion’s top earner. That honour still belongs to Tom Kitten and his $1.58 million haul so far this season, including $900,000 for running third in one of those money-fests, Rosehill’s $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m).
It’s also noteworthy that Harry Angel is, in some respects, outstripping his far more vaunted Darley teammate Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), the sire who’s become too darn good to shuttle anymore as of last year, after four seasons at the caper.
In Australia, Harry Angel has 66 winners from 112 runners, at 58.04 per cent. Too Darn Hot has 34 from 72, at 47.22 per cent.
Too Darn Hot does have six Australian stakes winners to Harry Angel’s five, and they come at a distinctly superior runners ratio of 8.33 per cent to 4.46 per cent.
Worldwide, Harry Angel has 17 stakes winners from 306 runners at 5.55 per cent, and Too Darn Hot 19 from 255 at 7.45 per cent.
Too Darn Hot is currently many rungs below Harry Angel on the general sires’ list at 29th, but with only two southern crops running.
With a few different results, often a matter of centimetres, Harry Angel could well be nudging the titan directly above him on the table – none other than triple champion sire I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).
Tom Kitten ran second in the $1.5 million Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) and fourth in the $5 million King Charles III Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
Arkansaw Kid is one of Harry Angel’s two stakes winners for the season but has also run three black type seconds – including by 0.02 lengths and 0.15 lengths – and was beaten 0.06 lengths into second in Pakenham’s $1 million slot race, The Supernova (1400m).
“Harry Angel is going super – he’s obviously a very, very promising sire well on his way up the ranks,” Darley’s head of stallions Alastair Pulford told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He just keeps getting good horses, it seems, which is very pleasing. And they’re off mares who came to him at a very reasonable service fee.
“Harry Angel started at $20,000 and went to $15,000 [not including GST], so most of his results haven’t been off high, high quality mares. That means he’s improving his mares. He’s doing the job.
“When they’re improving their mares, it’s a great sign. I Am Invincible started off a pretty low fee [$11,000] and you can see what he started to do later off better mares. Hopefully Harry Angel can work his way up to somewhere near that level.
“In the last couple of seasons, after his initial results, the quality of Harry Angel’s book got better and better. That will continue, so we expect his results will also get better and better.”
Pulford said the fact Harry Angel compared well to Too Darn Hot was indicative of the former’s abilities, since Too Darn Hot stood his four Australian seasons at $44,000 (inc GST).
“Too Darn Hot would’ve covered better mares than Harry. He stood at twice the fee, for a start,” Pulford said. “So that’s a good indication.”
Harry Angel was the top-rated sprinter on the World Thoroughbred Rankings in 2017, and was a dual top-tier winning sprinter in the UK, of Haydock’s Sprint Cup (Gr 1, 6f) and Newmarket’s July Cup (Gr 1, 6f). Being by Dark Angel (Acclamation) and Danehill-free, he also shaped as a speedy outcross sire for Australia’s broodmare band.
Still, he initially wasn’t the easiest of sells in Australia. Darley is confident that corner has been well and truly turned.
“We were confident enough when we brought him out here, and we thought there was no reason he wouldn’t work here,” Pulford said. “He was a superstar racehorse himself, and the highest rated sprinter of his time in the world.
“But we had to get the market to come to grips with a Dark Angel sireline. That took a bit of persuasion in some cases. It had had success in the northern hemisphere, and generally as a quick sireline, but it was pretty much unknown in Australia.
“As a dual Group 1 winner, had he been by Dubawi or Shamardal, he would’ve kicked off at a higher fee. But being by Dark Angel, we had to get the market’s head around it.
“I think that’s been achieved now. Plus, he’ll open the door for others. We’re often looking for an outcross, and a fast outcross for the Danehill line is fantastic to have.”
Commensurate with his progeny’s results, Harry Angel has just completed his strongest Book 1 result at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling sale. His four lots averaged $256,000, up from $176,000 through five yearlings sold in 2024 and $235,000 from four lots the year before. He has five lots to sell in Book 2 on Monday.
“The buying market is taking him a lot more seriously,” Pulford said. “Again, his mare quality is getting better and better, and as the better mares comes through, so the prices improve.
“The function of the mare is very important to the price at yearlings sales of course, and that will improve in years to come, so long as the results keep going the right way.”
Harry Angel’s results in Australia have significantly outstripped those back home. He finished 31st on the British general sires’ list for 2024, with three crops running, though he’s had a healthy 71 winners from 131 runners there at 54.19 per cent, just below his Australian rate of 58.04 percent.
Pulford noted that aside from gelling with Australia’s broodmare band, Harry Angel wasn’t competing in Australia against super sires such as “Dubawi, Frankel, Kingman and horses like that, so maybe it’s a little bit easier down here at the moment”.
On that note, he said, the opportunity was strong for Harry Angel to cement a place for himself in the upper echelons of the Australian general sires’ list.
He’s clearly the youngest in the top seven at present. Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry), the outlier leader thanks to The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Bella Nipotina, is 12 years old, while second-placed Zoustar (Northern Meteor) is 14. From there, the list features 22-year-olds Written Tycoon (Iglesia) and Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), the retired 23-year-old Fastnet Rock (Danehill), and I Am Invincible, who’s 20.
“Zoustar’s got a bit of time on his side, but ultimately the other high end brigade are 20 or over,” Pulford said. “There’s certainly the opportunity there for another one to step up. Hopefully Harry is it.
“With the success he’s having here, he’ll keep shuttling for a long, long time. He’d need to keep going the way going, but the indications are pretty positive.”
From a peak of 175 mares as his first runners were making waves in 2022 – his last season at $16,500 (inc GST) – Harry Angel covered 119 at $33,000 (inc GST) in 2023 and 99 last year at $38,500 (inc GST).
“He’s covered a full book in the season just passed,” Pulford said. “They were better quality mares, though at $35,000 they’re not the elite mares in the country, but I imagine more and more people will be starting to take him seriously, so I’d hope that 2025 would be his best year yet, book-wise.
“And at Godolphin, we’ll keep supporting him strongly. We’ve increased our support for him year on year, and I imagine our clients will do so too.
“Proven stallions are hard to find these days, and he’s a horse that’s very much on the rise.”