Date posted April 13, 2010 | Posted by Michele Cullen | Filed under
Racing and BreedingA top-class international performer with a Gr.1 victory earned on one of the toughest stages in world racing has been secured for stud duty by Brighthill Farm in New Zealand.
The signing of Eagle Mountain (GB) by Nick and Anne-Marie King’s Tauwhare operation represents a major coup in the face of hot international competition.
“He was an outstanding racehorse around the world and we’re delighted to have the opportunity to offer him to New Zealand breeders,” Nick King said.
“He was an extremely talented galloper and diverse - he won in top company from 1200 to 2100 metres and was also placed in two Derbies.”
Eagle Mountain, who met and matched the best through six countries combines his elite level performance with good looks, temperament and a rich pedigree. He has been retired to Brighthill Farm on the outskirts of Cambridge with five wins and eight placings from 19 appearances. His career highlight was a Gr.1 victory in the 2008 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin in a stylish effort that came off the back of a runner-up finish in the Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Eagle Mountain winning the 2008 G1 Hong Kong Cup (pic courtesy of HKJC)
Eagle Mountain also has the distinction of holding the track record over the famed Rowley Mile course at Newmarket when he posted 1.34.07 to win the Gr.3 Joel Stakes.
By Danehill’s champion son Rock Of Gibraltar, holder of a world record seven consecutive Gr.1 victories, he began his career in Ireland with master trainer Aidan O’Brien. Eagle Mountain broke his maiden at his second start at the Curragh and followed up with Gr.2 seconds in the Futurity and Champagne Stakes. He then won the Gr.2 Beresford Stakes before weighing in at Gr.1 level in the Racing Post Trophy and English 2000 Guineas. Top-flight placings were to follow for Eagle Mountain when tried at 2400 metres in both the English and Irish Derbies.
He was subsequently dominant in the Gr.2 Royal Whip Stakes before a narrow defeat in the Gr.1 Champion Stakes at Newmarket. At the end of his classic year, Eagle Mountain was named Ireland’s Champion Middle Distance Three-Year-Old. He was subsequently purchased by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and transferred to leading international trainer Mike de Kock, who operates stables in South Africa and Dubai.
“Eagle Mountain is the arguably the best horse that I have ever trained,” de Kock said.
“He possessed amazing speed, whether he was running six furlongs or ten furlongs - he was always competitve against the best horses in the world.”
“Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum will retain a 60 percent stake in Eagle Mountain and the remaining shares will be available to New Zealand breeders. He is very confident in the direction of the New Zealand industry and this is the second stallion he is involved in,” Nick King said. “He has an interest in Perfectly Ready and is very positive and encouraged by the experience.”
A fractured pelvis put Eagle Mountain’s career on hold after his change of ownership but he made a blazing return to the racetrack in 2008 with his record-breaking victory in the Joel Stakes. He then went to America for the Breeders’ Cup and beat all but Conduit and defeated Gr.1 winners Dancing Forever, Soldier Of Fortune and Out Of Control in the process. The Gr.1 Hong Kong Cup triumph followed with top-flight title holders Linngari and Viva Pataca trailing in his wake.
A niggling injury restricted Eagle Mountain to just three more starts and included a creditable fifth in his HK Cup defence last year. The curtain fell on his career in February after he finished runner-up at the state-of-the-art Meydan racecourse in Dubai.
“I went to Dubai to see him during the international meeting and met Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and it was a fantastic experience,” King said. “I was really impressed with the horse - he’s a balanced type at just 16 hands and very athletic and correct with a great head. It’s easy to see why he was such a versatile racehorse who won at two and had the ability to star at a mile and further in the very best company.”
Eagle Mountain is a half-brother to four winners, including the top-class Gr.1 Marcel Boussac winner and Champion French 2 year old, Sulk. They are out of the winning Darshaan mare Masskana, herself a daughter of the Gr.1 French 1000 Guineas winner Masarika. Masskana is further a half-sister to the Gr.2 Gallinule Stakes winner and Gr.1 Irish 2000 Guineas placegetter Massyar and Gr.3 Arcadia Handicap winner Madjaristan.
It is a prolific international black-type family that has also made its mark in Australasia through Melbourne Cup placegetter Mourilyan.
Eagle Mountain (GB) will stand this season at NZ$12,000 + GST (with a live foal guarantee) at Brighthill Farm alongside Perfectly Ready and Patapan.
