The adventures of the globe-trotting Highland Reel are far from over.
In a boost to Australia's stallion ranks, Swettenham Stud has announced the champion son of Galileo will stand in Victoria this spring. Highland Reel retired at the end of 2017 to stand the 2018 season at Coolmore Ireland. Among his wins are the 2016 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) and 2015 Secretariat Stakes (G1T), the 2017 and 2015 editions of the Longines Hong Kong Vase (G1), the 2016 QIPCO King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1), the 2017 Prince Of Wales' Stakes, and that year's edition of the Investec Coronation Cup (G1).
"Swettenham Stud is extremely excited to have secured Highland Reel from Coolmore Stud for stallion duties in the Southern Hemisphere," Swettenham Stud principal Adam Sangster said. "And while he might be standing at our Nagambie base, Highland Reel's appeal is truly global."
Highland Reel will join the Swettenham roster at an introductory fee of $15,000 plus GST.
"With his tremendous race record and what is clearly a stallion's pedigree, I'm highly confident he will attract broodmare owners from all states, particularly at such a competitive fee," Sangster added.
Highland Reel was a group 2 winner as a 2-year-old and took his seven group 1 victories between the ages of 3 and 5. He campaigned at the highest level in seven countries—including a third behind champion Winx in her 2015 William Hill Cox Plate (G1)—and won nearly €9,500,000 (US$12,526,459), more than any other European-trained horse in history.
"An incredible horse with pace and courage and tactical speed ... he has everything," trainer Aidan O'Brien said of Highland Reel in a Swettenham release.
The release emphasized the appeal Highland Reel will have for Australian breeders, noting he is bred on the same potent Galileo/Danehill cross as Frankel and Teofilo. Highland Reel is out of the group 1-placed, Australian-bred Danehill mare Hveger, who also produced Highland Reel's full brother Idaho, a dual group 1 winner, and his half brother Valdemoro, runner-up in group 1 company.
Hveger is out of the AJC Australian Oaks (G1) winner Circles of Gold, a genuine blue hen and one of Australia's most influential broodmares.
Highland Reel is also closely related to champion sprinter and leading sire Starspangledbanner (AUS), who campaigned successfully in both hemispheres and has produced group-winning juveniles in Europe and Australia.
Pedigree expert Brian Messner added, "His bloodlines on his dam's side have at least 80% in common with the most successful proven stallions in this part of the world, such as Redoute's Choice and I Am Invincible."
