NEWS
Royal Academy will not shuttle back to Ashford Stud
Posted: Friday, December 28, 2007 3:14 PM
by Jeff Lowe
Royal Academy, the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) winner and sire of 148 stakes winners, will remain in Australia instead of returning to Ashford Stud in Kentucky for the Northern Hemisphere season.
The 20-year-old Nijinsky II horse out of Crimson Saint, by Crimson Satan, was scheduled to stand for $15,000 at Ashford in 2008. He covered 94 mares at that fee in 2007 and stood for approximately $24,000 for the Southern Hemisphere season at Coolmore Australia.
“It’s just giving him a break; he’s been at it a long time,” Ashford manager Dermot Ryan said. “For a stallion of his age, he’s not in bad health. At the same time, he is of a senior age.”
Ryan said, to his knowledge, Royal Academy would continue to cover mares in Australia in 2008.
Coolmore stood Royal Academy in Ireland and Japan before moving him to Kentucky in 1998. He shuttled to Australia the last six years after two seasons in Brazil, where he was leading sire in 2005 and ’06.
In 14 crops of racing age, Royal Academy has sired 1,045 winners from 1,542 starters who earned $92,197,747 through Thursday.
Royal Academy’s leading runners include 2001 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) winner Val Royal (Fr), 1996 and ‘97 Jefferson Smurfit Memorial Irish St. Leger (Ire-G1) winner Oscar Schindler, 2005-'06 Hong Kong Horse of the Year Bullish Luck, Group 1-winning full siblings Ali-Royal and Sleepytime (Ire), and multiple Australian Group 1 winner Bel Esprit.
In 2007, Royal Academy ranks seventh on the North American general sire list with $8,040,801 in progeny earnings. Grade 2 winners Molengao (Brz), Oprah Winney and Naughty Rafaela (Brz) and Grade 3 winners Art Master and Danzon are among his top performers this year.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
