European champions Rail Link and Three Valleys have been retired from racing and will enter stud at Khalid Abdullah's Banstead Manor Stud near Newmarket, England. Both runners raced as Juddmonte homebreds.
Rail Link, who will stand alongside his sire, Dansili, at Banstead Manor, was a 2006 Cartier Award finalist and a French champion as a 3-year-old. He won last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Lucien Barriere (Fr-I), Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris (Fr-I), and two other stakes in his sole season of racing. An injury kept Rail Link from racing this year, and he was retired after suffering a tendon tear this summer.
Bred in Great Britain, Rail Link won five of seven races and earned $1,976,387. He is a half-brother to group winner Chelsea Manor and is out of the winning Theatrical mare Docklands, whose second dam is a half-sister to international champion Dahlia.
Three Valleys was a group winner in England and a two-time course-record setter in the U.S. As a 2-year-old, the Kentucky-bred son of Diesis captured the Coventry Stakes (Eng-III) and finished first in the Shadwell Stud Middle Park Stakes (Eng-I), but was disqualified after testing positive for clenbuterol.
Sent to the U.S. at 3, Three Valleys set course records in the 2005 Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. IIT) and the 2006 Oceanport Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Monmouth Park. He also ran third in two runnings of the Citation Handicap (gr. IT)
A 6-year-old, Three Valleys retired with five wins from 16 starts and earnings of $665,695. He is out of the stakes-placed Niniski mare Skiable, who is a half-sister to Juddmonte's blue hen mare Hasili, dam of champions Dansili, Banks Hill, and Intercontinental.
Fees for both stallions will be announced later.
