IN THE NEWS: Shuttle stallions out to prove Too Hot for home contingent

Darley shuttle stallions Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) and Blue Point (Shamardal) will seek to take the fight to the best of the homegrown challenge as the battle for first–season sire supremacy begins in the Magic Millions sale ring today. 

The European-based champion racehorses, who’ve never raced on Australian soil, are two of the most anticipated first–season shuttle stallions of recent years, with Darley’s long-serving head of sales Alastair Pulford labelling the duo ‘as good as we’ve ever brought out here’. 

They’ll be faced with a home contingent of first–season sires that possesses no standout, but an array of quality nevertheless, including Aquis Farm’s Pierata (Pierro), Zousain (Zoustar), Everest (1200m) winner Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) as well as Exceed And Excel (Danehill) sons Microphone and Exceedance. 

Blue Point, who is the only horse to have ever won three Group 1 sprints at Royal Ascot, two of which came in the same week when the dynamite son of Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway) backed up to win the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 6f), following victory in the King’s Stand Stakes (Gr 1, 5f) four days earlier, has a collection of 19 juveniles on offer at the Magic Millions this week, with his shuttling counterpart Too Darn Hot possessing one more. 

The son of Dubawi (Dubai Millennium), an unbeaten Group 1-winning juvenile, is out of three-time Group 1-winning mare Dar Re Mi (Singspiel), and possesses one of the most potent pedigree pages to be found anywhere in the world. 

“We were unsure as to which would be the more popular of the two, but they’re just as popular as each other, albeit different types of horses,” Pulford told ANZ Bloodstock News.  “Blue Point is very much a sprinter and in the mould of his sire Shamardal, who’s a big, muscular, burly horse. The Shamardal type is well–known and well–liked in Australia. 

“Too Darn Hot, by Dubawi, is a much finer horse. A very beautiful, elegant horse. John Gosden (trainer of Too Darn Hot) described him best as a Ferrari/McLaren type, and that’s as good a description of the horse as I’ve ever heard, because that’s exactly what he is. He’s just a beautiful, high–class horse; a racing machine.”

Acceptance is not something easily won when you’re a shuttle stallion. A scepticism of the unknown means just one stallion of northern origin in the past 17 years has been named champion Australian sire – that being a Winx-fuelled Street Cry (Machiavellian) in 2016. Yet breeders appear to have latched on Darley’s burgeoning northern hemisphere pair. In their first three years at stud, Blue Point attracted 377 mares, while Too Darn Hot covered 389, making the pair the most popular European shuttle stallions in their first three years since northern hemisphere great, Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), who first shuttled in 2002. 

While breeders flocked to the two stallions in strong numbers, Pulford is confident buyers will do likewise throughout this week. 

“The market accepted them really well. The first year they came was the first year of Covid, so it was a year where breeders were very tentative in the marketplace, but the breeders immediately recognised what good horses they were,” Pulford said. 

“Blue Point, having won at Royal Ascot, Australians were very aware of him, and Too Darn Hot didn’t take much explaining because he’s just such a beautiful horse and so well bred, that it didn’t take long for people to get their heads around. 

“I just love his pedigree. He’s a Group 1 winner by a Group 1 winner and out of a Group 1 winner. We did a bit of research on that, and when you go back, horses that are bred like that include Dubawi, Galileo, Deep Impact, Kingman, Street Cry and some of the great stallions in the history of the breed. And then you get back to his next generation, all four of his grandparents are Group 1 winners, and I couldn’t find that in any other stallion. It gives him a huge opportunity just on pedigree, but he’s got the performance and looks as well.” 

Among Blue Point’s first yearlings on offer at the Gold Coast this week is the half-brother to Western Australian sensation Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni), who capped her relentless upgrading of the pedigree with victory in the Northerly Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) at Ascot last month. 

The colt is offered as Lot 690 within the stellar Segenhoe draft, while another star attraction for Blue Point comes tomorrow, with the colt out of Sistonic (Bel Esprit), offered by Bhima Thoroughbreds as agent for Dorrington Farm. 

Catalogued as Lot 393, he is a half-brother to juvenile stakes winner Semillion (Shalaa) and emanates from the rich Robert Crabtree-bred family of Scandinavia (Snippets), the colt’s third dam, from whom derives Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), All Too Hard (Casino Prince) and Magnus (Flying Spur). 

Too Darn Hot, meanwhile, will be represented by a filly out of the stakes placed Miss Foxwood (Fastnet Rock). Catalogued as Lot 129, she is offered by Segenhoe Stud, notable backers as breeders of progeny by both Blue Point and Too Darn Hot.

The stallions’ supporters include champion Victorian trainer Ciaron Maher, last year’s Book 1 leading buyer having spent $13.335 million on 35 lots. 

“I like Blue Point and Too Darn Hot. I think they were quality racehorses and can’t wait to see what they can do,” Maher told ANZ Bloodstock News.