Champions Series Stars to stud: round-up

Postponed edges out Eagle Top in the 2015 King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. Picture: Racingfotos.com

So far in this series we have concentrated on horses who have won at least one race in the Champions Series and been retired to stud for 2017 – the exception being six-time runner-up Found.

Today, we reflect on those who have gone to the breeding sheds without managing a Series triumph. Can their offspring put the record straight for them in the future?

No horse will come closer to winning a Champions Series race, without quite doing so, than Eagle Top – pipped a nose by Postponed in a gripping renewal of the QIPCO-sponsored King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2015.

The John Gosden-trained colt, a son of Pivotal, had won the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot the previous year.

He ran only twice in 2016 without troubling the judge and will take up stallion duties at Hedgeholme Stud in Darlington.

“He is a good-looking horse with a good mind on him and he was very much a top-of-the-ground performer,” Gosden told the Racing Post when the colt’s retirement was announced. “I thought his best performance was his win in the King Edward VII Stakes as the form worked out very well.”

Flintshire will probably be best remembered for twice finishing runner-up in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – behind Treve in 2014 and Golden Horn in 2015 – before excelling in America.

However, he also graced the Champions Series – finishing second to Cirrus Des Aigles in the 2014 Investec Coronation Cup at Epsom; then third to Pether’s Moon in the 2015 running.

He has been retired to stud near Lexington, Kentucky. His fee for 2017 will be $20,000.

Mizzou was a lightly raced stayer but, when he made it to the track, usually gave his supporters a good run for their money.

Last year he became the first back-to-back winner of the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes at Ascot since Double Trigger, 20 years earlier, and then he beat all bar Order Of St George in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.

He was also second in another Series race, when runner-up to Max Dynamite in the 2015 Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup.

“He was the easiest horse on earth to train,” Luca Cumani said. “He was very genuine, very generous and always puts his best foot forward.”

Awtaad provided Kevin Prendergast, his octogenarian trainer, with one of his best days when beating Galileo Gold in the Irish 2000 Guineas in May.

The Cape Cross colt was unable to confirm that form in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, when third to the same rival, and also disappointed when only eighth in the Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.

On his final start, before being retired to stand at Derrinstown Stud, he was a fine fourth to Minding in the QIPCO-sponsored Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Champions Day.

Speedy Boarding was also in action that memorable autumn afternoon, beating all bar Journey in the Fillies & Mares Stakes. She had previously won back-to-back Group 1 races in France and her future offspring should make for exciting viewing.

Air Force Blue and Shalaa did not come up to scratch in the Champions Series races they contested in 2016 but they shone as juveniles, in 2015, so do not be surprised if their sons and daughters make an impact for them down the line.

The Last Lion and Mehmas were among the speediest juveniles of 2016 but neither will get the chance to shine this year because the pair have already been retired to stud. Look out for their offspring in the 2020 Series.