Dewhurst Winner and Italian Champion Sire Mujahid Dies at 30

[Wandering Eyes]

Mujahid, who enjoyed his career highlight when winning the G1 Dewhurst Stakes in 1998, has died at Allevamento di Besnate in Italy. He was 30.

The Shadwell homebred was trained by John Dunlop and ridden by Richard Hills in each of his 12 career outings. He won three of his four starts at two, culminating with a two-length defeat of Auction House in the Dewhurst, while his best performance as a three-year-old came when finishing third behind Island Sands in the 2,000 Guineas.

Mujahid began his stallion career at Shadwell's Beech House Stud, before moving to Allevamento di Besnate in 2008. He is the sire of 32 individual stakes winners, including the multiple Group 1 scorer Danleigh, who was conceived during his time shuttling to Widden Stud in Australia, and the G2 Jebel Hatta winner Balius. The son of Danzig was also crowned champion sire of Italy on seven occasions.

Paolo Crespi of Allevamento di Besnate said, “He became a big gain for Italy. He is also a very, very good broodmare sire and did very well in Australia in the few years he shuttled. His horses could run forever, every second week, and if you had a racehorse by Mujahid you would never be let down.

“His progeny could be running in Group, Listed, handicap or even selling races – they would be competitive and totally affordable. He was like that himself, always aggressive, eager to cover a mare or to eat a tonne of hay. He was the same every day, until his last one. He was our friend.”

Throughout his life Mujahid remained in the ownership of Shadwell, who added in a statement, “The operation would like to extend its sincere gratitude to Paolo Crespi and his team for the care, attention and diligence shown throughout his time in Italy.”

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