Vodafone Derby 2005

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High Chaparral To Stand At Windsor Park Stud In 2005
27/05/05

World-class racehorse to bolster New Zealand breeding industry.

It was announced today that Group One winning 2YO and English Derby winner High Chaparral is to stand his first southern hemisphere breeding season at Windsor Park Stud, Cambridge in 2005.

A World Series championship victor and dual Breeders’ Cup turf winner, High Chaparral twice won the prestigious Eclipse Award for Champion Male Turf Horse and remains the only horse ever to win both the English Derby and Breeders’ Cup Turf races in the same season.

Windsor Park principal, Nelson Schick is delighted with the acquisition of High Chaparral.

“High Chaparral has some unique achievements at the highest level and is a very exciting sire prospect for our breeding industry”, said Schick.

“His very high international standing was an important consideration and we are very appreciative to Coolmore for making him available to us”, Schick concluded.

There is little doubt that High Chaparral ranks among the best middle distance performers of the past decade. A Group One winner at two, three and four, at 8, 10 and 12 furlongs, High Chaparral won no less than 10 of his 13 starts, 6 at the highest level.  Indeed, in his outstanding career the furthest back High Chaparral finished in a race was when placing third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

High Chaparral’s major victories include that remarkable 2002 Epsom Derby, in which the Sadler’s Wells colt defeated his outstanding stablemate, Hawk Wing, by 2 lengths with subsequent Dubai World Cup winner, Moon Ballad, some 12 lengths away in third. From there, High Chaparral went to The Curragh and, significantly, emulated the other great Sadler’s Wells classic colts, Montjeu and Galileo, by taking out the Irish Derby with consummate ease.

High Chaparral wins the 2002 English Derby by 2 lengths from Hawk Wing.

At the end of a long year, High Chaparral was shipped to the States to contest the Breeders’ Cup Turf. In winning, High Chaparral achieved several milestones, notably becoming the first Epsom Derby winner to win in the USA for 34 years, and at the same time, with this one performance, the colt impressed hardened North American judges sufficiently to secure the prestigious Eclipse Award for Champion Turf Male.

His 3YO performances also created a deep impression on Nelson Schick.

“His natural speed and athleticism were seen to great effect in both the Breeders’ Cups races and European classics and his ability to win Group One races as a 2, 3 and 4YO, on any going speaks volumes”, noted Schick.

High Chaparral was as good as ever at four, defeating his great rival, Falbrav and four-times Group One winning mare Islington, in the Irish Champion Stakes over 10 furlongs, before annexing a second Breeders’ Cup Turf, this time on the tight Santa Anita circuit, when in dead-heating with Johar, he again relegated the redoubtable Falbrav to a minor placing. In winning, he picked up not only his second Eclipse Award but also secured the World Series championship title.

As Jon Lees writing in the Racing Post noted –
“Falbrav may have had strong claims of his own, but the title of the best horse in the world on grass belonged to High Chaparral after he joined the elite group of double Breeders’ Cup champions”.

High Chaparral defeats old rival Falbrav in the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Turf

Retiring to stud as the highest stakes earning son of the great Sadler’s Wells with winnings totalling US$5,391,888, High Chaparral was accorded a superior annual rating of 132 by the authoritative Timeform publication, who commented that High Chaparral was a
“… very rare bird indeed – an Epsom Derby winner who actually maintained, or even enhanced, his reputation as a four-year-old… ”.

High Chaparral’s sire, Sadler’s Wells, with a record 14 General Sires’ List titles to his name and a world record 66 individual Group One winners, is a modern day phenomenon, and with his dual Derby winning son Montjeu well on the way to establishing his own stallion reputation in both hemispheres, High Chaparral’s availability to breeders Down Under could not be better timed. Sadler’s Wells now has close to thirty sire-sons that have sired Group stakes winners, that list being headed by Champion U.S. sire El Prado, leading European sires Montjeu and In The Wings and leading South African sire FortWood.

High Chaparral’s female family is from the top drawer, developed over many decades by the Aga Khan. His dam, the Darshaan mare Kasora, is a half-sister to several stakes performers and was produced by the joint champion French 3YO filly, Kozana, a daughter of the Champion miler and Sire, Kris, and the French 1000 Guineas winner Koblenza.

High Chaparral is a representative of the hugely successful cross of Sadler’s Wells with Darshaan mares, already responsible for 8 Group One winners. This cross is an extension of Sadler’s Wells’ successful ‘nick’ with Mill Reef line mares, from which his leading sire-son to date, In the Wings, is a product.

Co-champion 3YO High Chaparral, who will shuttle to Windsor Park Stud for the 2005 breeding season.

Commencing Southern Hemisphere stud duties for the first time in 2005, High Chaparral’s service fee has been set at $22,000 + GST and given the widespread market acceptance of the fellow members of the Sadler’s Well’s Holy Trinity, Montjeu and Galileo, at this year’s round of yearling sales, High Chaparral seems certain to attract strong support from breeders.