Group One performer Hilal to Grangewilliam Stud

[Wandering Eyes]

Australian Group Two winner and multiple Group One performer Hilal will commence stud duties at Mark and Jane Corcoran’s Grangewilliam Stud at Waitotora this spring.

The impeccably bred son of Fastnet Rock was prepared predominantly by Team Hawkes in a career that spanned three seasons.

Bred and raced by Emirates Park, Hilal boasts victories in the Gr.2 Stan Fox Stakes (1500m) and A$1 million Bondi Stakes (1600m) at three, but his elite talent was noticeable from the outset.

Hilal debuted with a Kensington maiden win over 1100m in February of his juvenile year, when defeating King Of Sparta before finishing runner-up in the Gr.2 Skyline Stakes (1200m).

After a close-up seventh in the Gr.3 Pago Pago Stakes (1200m), Hilal handled a rise in grade with aplomb, finishing second to Anamoe in the Gr.1 Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m). He was also runner-up in the Gr.1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) when narrowly beaten by Captivant, with Converge back in third.

As a spring three-year-old Hilal excelled on good ground when winning the Stan Fox Stakes and Bondi Stakes. During his autumn campaign he was beaten a neck by nine-time Group One winner Anamoe when second in the Gr.2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m) and finished third behind Converge and Anamoe in the Gr.1 Randwick Guineas (1600m).

The entire again proved he was right up with the best when fourth in the Gr.1 Winx Stakes (1400m) at four, again chasing home champion Anamoe, with Fangirl and Profondo filling the minor placings and Group One winners Hinged, Icebath, Forbidden Love and Mo’Unga trailing him home.

By Fastnet Rock, sire of a remarkable 43 individual Group One winners to date, Hilal is out of the blue-blooded Encosta de Lago mare Salma, who has also produced the South African stakes winner Trojan Harbour (Harbour Watch) and the Queensland Listed winner Salateen (I Am Invincible).

Salma is an unraced daughter of Group Three winner Salameh, a half-sister to Emirates Park’s Group One winner and sire Al Maher.

Hilal stems from the family of Dancing Show, most famous for the Shantha’s Choice branch responsible for Group One winners such as Redoute’s Choice, Manhattan Rain and Shoals, the latter by Hilal’s sire Fastnet Rock.

Hilal will stand at an introductory fee of $7,500+GST, with a limited number of lifetime breeding rights also available at $15,000+GST.

“We’re delighted to secure Hilal for stud duties and believe he will prove a strong addition to the New Zealand stallion ranks,” Mark Corcoran said.

“He has a fantastic pedigree and was a high-class racehorse who matched it at the elite level over three seasons.

“The fact he was a precocious sprinter-miler by a champion sire and out of a mare by a champion sire and broodmare sire really appeals.

“I’d encourage breeders to go back through his race record and look at the calibre of horses he not only competed with but defeated. He’s an imposing type with a great turn of foot and was probably a bit unfortunate to be the same vintage as Anamoe, who we know was a champion.

“At $7,500+GST, he represents terrific value for breeders who are going to be the beneficiaries of the many positives in the New Zealand racing and breeding industry right now.”

The TAB NZ-Entain strategic partnership has already resulted in significant prizemoney increases in New Zealand this season, with prize money up by $20.3 million to $90.8 million or 29 percent.

Further boosts have already been earmarked for the coming seasons, with the new summer racing calendar to feature an increase of $12.7 million in total stakes over the next two seasons, including races like the NZB Kiwi (1500m), the Southern Hemisphere’s richest 3YO race, which has inaugural prizemoney of $3.5 million next year.

“Hilal is an ideal horse to target a number of the new inducements in New Zealand,” Corcoran said. “His progeny should suit the NZB Kiwi and the Karaka Million 3YO (1600m) and a host of other targets.”

Breeding rights have been used successfully to help garner long-term commitment for new stallions and Corcoran revealed that Emirates Park have retained breeding rights in Hilal and will be supporting the horse.

“Emirates Park don’t stand stallions themselves anymore and although they have a fair bit of the family, they are keen to support him,” Corcoran said.

“He was a particular favourite of the family and that is why they retained him to race.

“We are offering a limited number of breeding rights, which allows the owner to send two mares each season for the first four breeding seasons and one mare per year thereafter.

“We’d like to think those that help give Hilal the right launching-pad for his career in the breeding barn get rewarded in the longer term.

“He has all the right attributes to be a successful stallion.”

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