Record-breaking son of champion sire Frankel to stand at Woodside Park
Group 3 winner Delaware joins Vancouver and Foxwedge on roster of five at Victorian farm
A juvenile-winning, track record-breaking son of Frankel (Galileo) will stand at Woodside Park Stud in Victoria later this year, arguably the first commercial prospect by the unbeaten champion European racehorse to stand in Australia.
Owner Eddie Hirsch will retire Delaware, a four-time winner in France and the US from 1200 to 1600 metres who raced at Golden Gate Fields in the US yesterday, to his Victorian farm Woodside Park at an introductory fee of $9,900 (all fees inc GST).
The sire son of Frankel will join Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Vancouver (Medaglia D’Oro), Foxwedge (Fastnet Rock), Rich Enuff (Written Tycoon) and Tosen Stardom (Deep Impact) on the Woodside roster in 2022.
Vancouver, whom Hirsch bought from Coolmore earlier this year, will stand for a fee of $15,400 in his first season in Victoria while Foxwedge will remain at an unchanged fee of $11,000.
Rich Enuff, the sire of Wonderful Warrior and Scotch Tycoon in Hong Kong and the promising debut Ballarat two-year-old winner Bubble Palace last month, also stays unchanged at $8,800 and Tosen Stardom, whose first crop are two-year-olds, will also stand for an unchanged fee of $7,700 this year.
Woodside Park Stud’s Mark Dodemaide said Delaware, who Hirsch purchased privately in the US last September, demonstrated speed and precocity during his racing career, important traits for the Australian market.
Like almost all racing fans, Hirsch became captivated by the champion racehorse Frankel and was on course at Ascot in the UK in October 2012 to witness the Sir Henry Cecil-trained horse’s 14th and final race start, a victory in the Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f).
“Frankel is up to 90 stakes winners already. He’s the quickest horse to get to 50 but I reckon he’s going to be the quickest to get to 100 stakes winners the way he is going,” Dodemaide told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“The thing is in this country, normally a horse like him who is a champion sire in Great Britain, there’d be half a dozen sire sons in Australia already, but because most of his stakes winners are winners over 2400 metres and further, they don’t really appeal to this market.
“But Delaware was able to win a 1200-metre two-year-old race at Deauville, he won a Listed and Group 3 race over a mile in the lead-up to the Prix du Moulin by racing on the speed and giving a really good kick.”
A six-year-old stallion who is due to arrive in Australia in July, Delaware holds the Aqueduct track record for a mile on the turf, running 1:33.67 seconds when claiming the Danger’s Hour Stakes (Listed, 8f) in April last year.
Bred and initially raced by Juddmonte, who then sold him at the Keeneland sales in November 2020, Delaware is out of Zatsfine (Oasis Dream), a half-sister to four-time Grade 1 winner Proviso (Dansili), Royal Ascot Group 1 winner Byword (Peintre Celebre), Listed winner Baratti (Frankel) and the imported Finche (Frankel), who ran fourth in the 2018 Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) for trainer Chris Waller.
“To find a fast sprinter-miler by Frankel, it’s easier said than done, and he is out of an Oasis Dream mare and we all remember him when he upset Choisir in the July Cup. Oasis Dream is also the broodmare sire of Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet and Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment.”
Frankel also has Last Kingdom, a stakes winner in France who later raced in Hong Kong, standing at Kooringal Stud in southern NSW and Frankel My Dear standing at Bombora Downs in Victoria.
Dodemaide has also been pleased with the reception to Vancouver – the sire of stakes winners Vangelic, Overpass and Canadian Dancer in Australia this season – since ANZ Bloodstock News in February revealed the Slipper winner would relocate to Woodside Park.
“Everyone knows he was unbeaten and won the Golden Slipper but the thing is, his oldest are only four and he is up to nine stakes winners and five of those have won Group 2 races,” he said.
“While he was a Golden Slipper winner who will get a running two-year-old, he also has Canadian Dancer, who is a Queensland Oaks filly, and British Columbia won over a mile on Thursday night at Pakenham for Grahame Begg.
“I think he will be a ripping Vobis horse for breeders and he appears to be working with Danehill-line mares. Overpass is out of an Exceed And Excel mare, Yaletown, who won the Tulloch Stakes, is out of a Darci Brahma mare and Mount Pleasant, a really good horse over in South Africa, she’s out of a Fastnet Rock mare.”
Foxwedge, who Hirsch bought from Newgate Farm in 2019, has also been a solid investment for the Melbourne-based businessman with the stallion covering more than 100 mares in his past two seasons.
“In this game there’s a lot of hot air that goes around, but with Foxwedge, if you just stick to the facts, and they are that he’s a very good looking horse, a top-priced colt at Easter, and he was a really good racehorse, winning the William Reid where he defeated Buffering and Hay List, and he goes to stud and he’s already up to 24 stakes winners and he has five Group 1 winners.
“When Foxwedge came to Woodside he had 11 stakes winners and now he’s up to 24.”
Rich Enuff, the highest Timeform rated son of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) at 122, is also starting to make an impression in the sales ring and on the racetrack with a number of promising young horses racing in Australia and Hong Kong.
“He is the kind of horse where it’s up to him now, but all I can say is that they’ve sold really well this year. One made $200,000 at Classic, one made $170,000 at Premier and another made $140,000 in Adelaide,” Dodemaide said.
“They’ve sold well, so the trainers are quite keen on them. Someone rang up this morning and booked in a mare as they’ve got a couple already that they love.
“When you keep getting the feedback and the trainers keep putting their hands up at auction to buy them, there’s obviously some positivity out there.”
Rounding out the roster is Tosen Stardom, the 2017 Toorak Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) and Mackinnon Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) winner, whose first crop juveniles includes the talented Stardom Awaayts who ran home strongly to finish fourth in the $1 million Showdown (1200m) at Caulfield.
“Stardom Awaayts looks above average to me and Matty Williams said in a text, ‘I think he’s going to be a really good miler as a three-year-old’,” Dodemaide said.
“Last year I thought it was going to be a bit tough for him but he ended up with 87 mares and that was largely on the back of trainers telling breeders that they liked what they’d seen from his first crop so far.”
Woodside Park Stud stallion roster
2022 2021
Vancouver (Medaglia d’Oro) $15,400 $22,000
Foxwedge (Fastnet Rock) 11,000 unchanged
Delaware (Frankel) 9,900 new
Rich Enuff (Written Tycoon) 8,800 unchanged
Tosen Stardom (Deep Impact) 7,700 unchanged
*all fees inc GST