Monday, 6 November 2017: Derby Day at Flemington was a triumph for Coolmore stallions past and present.
Coolmore’s flagship sire
Fastnet Rock claimed a G1 double, young star Pierro had a G3 winner and two sons of the late
High Chaparral were responsible for a Group double including the G1 Victoria Derby.
Coolmore’s list of winners were Merchant Navy (
Fastnet Rock) in the G1
Coolmore Stud Stakes; Shoals (fastnet Rock) in the G1 Myer Classic; Ace High (
High Chaparral) in the G1 Victoria Derby; Cismontane (
High Chaparral) in the G3 Lexus Stakes; and Levendi (Pierro) in the G3 Carbine Club Stakes.
MERCHANT NAVY 
:
The three-year-old colt Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock x Legally Bay by Snippets) became a hot stud prospect after scoring the biggest win of his short career in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m).He has been beaten only once in five starts, winning his first four outings in Victoria including the G3 HDF McNeil Stakes before he was beaten in the G1 Golden Rose at Rosehill on September 23.
Plans to run him in the Caulfield Guineas (1600m) were shelved in favour of fresehening him for the drop back in distance for Saturday’s G1 sprint with blinkers added to his gear.
Merchant Navy produced a powerful closing sprint to win by a head from the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained filly Invincible Star (I Am Invincible) with Formality, another
Fastnet Rock product, third.
He is the second G1 winner in the last month for trainer Aaron Purcell, who took over the training of Merchant Navy and Oaks favourite Aloisia after their former trainer Ciaron Maher was suspended in late September.
Merchant Navy is raced by a syndicate that includes Segenhoe Stud general manager Peter O’Brien,
Coolmore’s Demi O’Byrne and Michael Kirwan, Duncan Grimley, the colt’s breeders Chris and Jane Barham and Seymour Bloodstock’s Darren Thomas.
O’Brien has always held Merchant Navy in high regard from when he was a foal and snapped up a share in the colt after he was sold by Segenhoe for the Barham’s at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale in 2016 to Ciaron Maher for $350,000.
“I wanted to stay in so I retained a share and here we are on Derby Day winning the
Coolmore. This is what dreams are made of,’’ O’Brien said.
“He was a special colt from the day he was born. Not only was he well-bred and a great looker, he just had this unbelievable demeanour. He was everything I look for in a horse.’’
Fastnet Rock is now the sire of 31 G1 winners among his 123 individual stakes winners.
Merchant Navy (
Fastnet Rock x Legally Bay by Snippets) has amassed prize money earnings of $809,450 and is a multi-million dollar stud prospect following his Group One success.
He is the sixth winner from seven to race out of G3 Sweet Embrace Stakes winner Legally Bay, making him a brother to G2 Roman Consul Stakes winner and G1
Coolmore Stud Stakes runner up Jolie Bay.
His dam Legally Bay won three races and was placed in the G1 Oakleigh Plate and G1 Australia Stakes. She is a half-sister to G12 Myer Classic winner Bonaria (Redoute’s Choice), G3 winner Time Out (Rory’s Jester) and stakes producer Chatoyant (Flying Spur).
Chatoyant is the dam of the G3 winners Tessera (Medaglia d’Oro) and Montsegur (New Approach).
Legally Bay has an All Too Hard yearling colt and is due to foal by
Fastnet Rock this month.
SHOALS :
The Anthony Freedman-trained three-year-old Shoals (Fastnet Rock x The Broken Shore by Hussonet) added to her considerable value with her maiden G1 victory in the Myer Classic (1600m) when she became the second successive three-year-old filly to win the $500,000 race.
 | | Shoals wins the Myer Classic | |
|
She is raced by her breeders Arrowfield Stud and Jonathan Munz’s Pinecliff Racing syndicate and is the first foal out of The Broken Shore, a mare purchased by Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock for $1.9 million at the 2014 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale as part of the Teeley Dispersal in foal to
Fastnet Rock.
The Broken Shore recorded just one win but she is a half-sister to champion sire Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) and fellow G1 winners and sires Platinum Scissors (Danehill) and Manhattan Rain (
Encosta De Lago).
The Broken Shore has since produced a 2YO sister to Shoals by
Fastnet Rock and a yearling full brother in 2016. She is in foal to Medaglia D’Oro.
Unbeaten at her first four starts including the G2 Percy Sykes Stakes as a two-year-old, Shoals returned as a 3YO with a victory in the Listed Atlantic Jewel Stakes and was then runner-up in the G2 Tranquil Star Stakes and G1 Thousand Guineas.
Shoals has now won five of her seven starts for prize money of $1,067,150.
The Broken Shore is also a half-sister to Sliding Cube (Rock Of Gibraltar), the dam of G2 winning stallion Rubick (
Encosta De Lago), and Listed-winning stallion Echoes Of Heaven (
Encosta De Lago).
Second dam Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad) produced Redoute’s Choice and is a three quarter sister to G1 winner He’s No Pie Eater (Canny Lad) and half-sister to Umatilla (Miswaki) and Hurricane Sky (Star Watch).
ACE HIGH :
The David Payne-trained Ace High (High Chaparral x Come Sunday by Redoute’s Choice) made it back to back G1 wins when he demolished his rivals in the $1.5 million Victoria Derby (2500m).He overcame a wide run to win the classic by two lengths, coming after the son of
High Chaparral led throughout to win the G1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick last month.
 | | Ace High wins the Victoria Derby | |
"We’ve been planning the Derby for him since he was a two-year-old, not long after we put him into work. It doesn’t usually work out but it has this time,” Payne said.
Ace High is only the fourth horse to complete the Spring Champion Stakes-Victoria Derby double, joining Monaco Consul (
High Chaparral), Nothin’ Leica Dane (Danehill) and Stylish Century (Double Century).
Payne took a shine to Ace High at last year's Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale where he went to $130,000 to secure him from the draft of Bell River Thoroughbreds.
Long-time friend and client John Cordina was with Payne at the sale and immediately snapped up the colt.
Bred by Bruce Reid, Ace High has since earned over $1.4 million for Cordina's Summertime Thoroughbreds with four wins from his 12 starts.
Ace High is one of 106 individual stakes winners including 19 at G1 level by the former champion sire
High Chaparral, who stood in both New Zealand and Australia. His other Australasian-bred stars include
So You Think, Shoot Out, Descarado, Tivaci, Fenway and Montoya's Secret.
Ace High’s dam was the unraced Redoute's Choice mare Come Sunday, a three quarter sister to stakes performer Rezyana and half sister to stakes winners Kneeling (
Encosta De Lago) and That's a Good Idea (Flying Spur).
Come Sunday, from a stakes performed daughter of Sunday Silence, produced only two more foals - a
High Chaparral filly and Hallowed Crown colt - before passing away last spring.
The now two-year-old sister to Ace High was sold to Gus Wigley for $44,000 at the 2016 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale. The Hallowed Crown yearling was sold to Pinhook Bloodstock for $2000 at this year’s Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.
High Chaparral, a son of Sadler’s Wells, died not long after Ace High was born in 2014. His last Southern Hemisphere crop are now two-year-olds having 116 foals born in 2015.
Ace High’s third dam is the South African-bred and raced stakes winner Lady’s Delight, who is the dam of G3 runner-up Rezyana and Listed winner Express Power (Snitzel).
The family includes stakes-winning sires Youthful Legs (Explodent), Diatribe (Brief Truce) and Al Samer (Redoute’s Choice).
CISMONTANE :
High Chaparral sired his second Group winner on Derby Day when the Gai Waterhoiuse and Adrian Bott-trained Cismontane won the G3 Lexus Stakes (2500m).The NZ-bred 5YO gelding from the Volksraad mare Viviane needed to win the Lexus Stakes to secure a start in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.
He became the 106th stakes winner for
High Chaparral beating Geelong Cup winner Vengeur Masque (Monsun) by a head.
Cismontane was bred by Windsor Park Stud from Viviane, a half-sister to G1 winners Sirstaci (Silver Dream), Nimue (Star Way) and Smiling Like (Star Way).
He was purchased at the 2014 NZB Karaka Premier Sale by Gai Waterhouse and James Harron Bloodstock for $200,000 and has now won five races and $424,425 for a syndicate that include’s Waterhouse’s daughter Kate.
LEVENDI : The Peter Gelagotis-trained three-year-old Levendi (Pierro x Lipari by Redoute’s Choice) became the fourth stakes winer for his sire by winning the G3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m).
Levendi was a Magic Million Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase for Gelagotis Racing from Widden Stud in 2016 for $140,000.
Former champion two-year-old Pierro is also the sire of G3 winners Tulip and Pinot and recent Listed Gimcrack Stakes winner Satin Slipper from his first two crops.
 | | Levendi wins the Carbine Club Stakes | |
