Shamardal To Begin Stallion Career in Australia

Godolphin's champion Shamardal, who was retired from racing the eve of the July 2 Coral-Eclipse Stakes (Eng-I) because of a leg injury, will begin his stallion career at Darley Australia in the Hunter Valley region of Australia this year. The 3-year-old champion son of Giant's Causeway   out of the Machiavellian mare Helsinki will stand for $55,000 (approximately $41,000).

Bred in Kentucky by Brilliant Stable, Shamardal earned a Cartier Award as Europe's best 2-year-old male and was England's champion juvenile male. This year, he won the Prix du Jockey-Club (Fr-I), Gainsborough Poule d'Essai des Poulains (Fr-I), and St. James's Palace Stakes (Eng-I). His sole career loss in seven starts came on dirt in Dubai this year.

Oliver Tait, general manager of Darley Australia, said. "Shamardal has been a real champion in Europe, and has won all his races on turf--the last four of them at group I level. He's won two classics in France, the last time foiling Hurricane Run, and his St. James's Palace triumph, eased down by three lengths, was his best performance yet. In spite of his achievements, it's still so disappointing injury has cut his career short but it's a fair measure of his quality that he had Eclipse winner Oratorio almost five lengths back last time out. Shamardal is every bit his father's son--tough, talented, and exceptionally resolute. He's from a spectacularly successful female family, too. His dam is a full sister to Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) winner Street Cry, who is also a Darley stallion."