Impending is a horse who arrived in the world accompanied by an immense supply of hope and expectation.
And he more than lived up to all of it.
A son of Lonhro, the champion racehorse of his era in Australia and a stallion who is one of the country’s most reliable producers of winners and a sire-of-sires, from the Encosta De Lago mare Mnemosyne, whose six wins included the G1 Flight Stakes and G1 Thousand Guineas, Impending was clearly bred for success.
Mnemosyne is one of seven winners from as many foals produced by her dam My Juliet (Canny Lad) and has herself produced three Stakes winners.
It is a family that also includes the outstanding racemare Better Draw who at stud produced the G1 Golden Slipper winner Full On Aces and his brother Top Of The Pack.
Darley Australia Head of Sales Alastair Pulford described Impending as a horse who delivered everything his pedigree promised.
“When you send a Group One winning mare like Mnemosyne to a champion racehorse and sire like Lonhro you hope for a result like Impending,” Pulford said.
“He’s the product of two colonial-bred, Danehill-free champions, he’s a great athlete and a great physical specimen whose record reflects a great pedigree.”
Impending went to stud in 2018 with a racing record that included two G1 victories $2.5m in the bank, and the looks and style of a ready-made stallion.
“From any point of view there is a lot to like about Impending,” said James Cummings, who trained him to the second of his G1 wins in the Kingsford Smith Cup at Doomben.
“He has so much to pass on, he’s such a strong, well-built colt with a wonderful temperament, a great desire to win and a blistering turn of foot.”
As a racehorse Impending showed his talents from the beginning, winning at his first start as a two-year-old and then stacking up Stakes placings at his next three starts before winning the G2 Stan Fox Stakes in the spring of 2016.
After a brief, three-year-old autumn, he was kept in work for a Brisbane campaign that produced his breakthrough G1 success in the Stradbroke Handicap at Doomben in June, 2017, becoming the first three-year-old in a decade to win the race.
Impending was prepared for that win by Darren Beadman, a seven-time champion rider in Sydney and a long-time assistant trainer with Godolphin.
The win had special significance for Beadman who had also scored G1 victories as a jockey on Impending’s dam Mnemosyne, his sire Lonhro and his grandsire, Octagonal.
“My history with Impending and his family goes back a long way ….. to train him as a G1 racehorse was the ultimate, a highlight of my career,” Beadman said.
Impending began his four-year-old year in the spring of 2017 under the care of Cummings, with the best of his only two runs a third placing in the G1 Darley Classic at Flemington.
He missed the Sydney autumn and kicked off his final campaign by winning in the G2 Victory Stakes at Doomben and followed by an unlucky second in the G1 Doomben 10,000 before his brilliant success in the G1 Kingsford Smith Cup.
Impending in the final 300m of the G1 Stradbroke Handicap, 2017
Impending, whose first crop will be in the sales ring in 2021, covered full books in his first two seasons at stud.
Among the mares to visit him in his first season at stud were the G1 Caulfield Cup winner Jameka, Hell It’s Hot, the dam of dual G1 winner In Her Time and Miss Right Note, the mother of Pierro and Ambience.
Impending has 7 yearlings catalogued at January’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale, including:
Lot 198: a filly from city winner Cullemy’s Diamond (Street Boss). Closely related to G2 Danehill Stakes winner Doubtland and multiple Stakes winner Ville Verde and also Pretty Fast. From the Kulani Park draft.
Lot691: a filly from Recoinage who only two foals to race are both winners. Second dam Sovereign Duchess is a half-sister to NZ Champion Filly in 2006-07, Princess Coup who is the dam of HK Stakes winner Thewizardofoz. Consigned by Lime Country Thoroughbreds.
Lot 863: a colt from Swiftly Red. From the family of the high-class gallopers Jetball, Marwina and General Truce. Also closely-related to G3 winner Arctic Command. Offered by Valiant Stud.
