by Michael Burns

Prominent sire and European Horse of the Year Giant´s Causeway heads a list of eight Coolmore stallions shuttling to South America for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season.

Twelve-year-old Giant´s Causeway, sire of 66 stakes winners including European champion and French classic winner Shamardal, will shuttle for the second straight year to La Mission stallion station near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Giant’s Causeway stands for $125,000 at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky, the United States arm of Coolmore’s breeding operation.

Joining him will be returning shuttlers Johannesburg, Footstepsinthesand, and Catcher In The Rye, as well as first-time shuttler Majestic Warrior. Footstepsinthesand and Catcher In The Rye stand at Coolmore Stud in Ireland.

Other returning Ashford Stud shuttlers to South America are Van Nistelrooy, who will stand at Haras Firmamento in Argentina, and Thunder Gulch, who will stand for the first time at Haras Carioca in Chile.

Also, Ashford Stud’s Scat Daddy will stand the 2009 Southern Hemisphere season at Haras Paso Nevado in Chile.

Michael Burns is a South America-based correspondent for THOROUGHBRED TIMES