Group One performer new to Mapperley Stud

[Wandering Eyes]

Mapperley Stud is excited to announce they have secured the high-class racehorse Armory who will commence stallion duties at their Matamata property in 2022.

Mapperley Stud has joined forces with Windsor Park Stud to acquire the Group One-performed and multiple Group-winning son of champion sire Galileo. 

Armory retires to stud a winner of five races from his 16 starts, amassing more than A$1.7 million in stakes and accumulating a number of champion accolades.  

A precocious two-year-year-old, Armory won three of his first four starts including the Gr.2 Futurity Stakes (1400m) at the Curragh and the Gr.3 Tyros Stakes (1400m) at Leopardstown. 

He was then tested at the highest level in the Gr.1 National Stakes (1400m) where he finished second to Champion Two Year-Old Pinatubo, who stands his first season at Darley, Kelvinside for A$55,000.  

Armory’s seven start two-year-old season concluded with placings in both the Gr.1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (1600m) and Gr.1 Criterium International Stakes (1400m) in France.  

A Classic campaign that commenced with a luckless fourth in the Gr.1 Irish 2000 Guineas (1600m) and concluded in a runner-up finish in the Gr.1 W.S Cox Plate (2040m) resulted in Armory being crowned Champion Three-Year-Old in Ireland and Joint Champion Three-Year-Old in Europe in the Intermediate category.  

In a thrilling edition of the Cox Plate, Armory finished runner-up to Sir Dragonet, beating Group One winners Russian Camelot, Arcadia Queen, Fierce Impact, Probabeel, Kolding and Humidor as well as All-Star Mile hero Mugatoo.  

“We are thrilled to have secured Armory with our good friends at Windsor Park. We have a great history of working together and both our studs are looking forward to getting behind this high-class son of Galileo,” Mapperley Stud principal Simms Davison said.  

“We are strong believers that the Cox Plate form represents the best of the best, especially for stallions retiring to stud in New Zealand as we’ve seen with Champion Sire Savabeel. 

“It’s the ultimate weight-for-age test and in his only Australian start, Armory demonstrated his brilliance and Group One ability to beat many of the best horses in the Southern Hemisphere.”  

Returning to England, he won the Gr.2 Huxley Stakes (2100m) at Chester in his first-up appearance as a four-year-old before running third in the Gr.1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes (2000m) at Royal Ascot behind star mare Love. 

Armory achieved a Timeform rating of 122 as both a three-year-old and a four-year-old, further demonstrating his outstanding quality.   

Crowned Champion Older Male in Ireland in 2021, an Australian consortium of high-profile owners moved quickly to secure the entire and he was transferred to the care of leading trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.  

Maher and Eustace quickly announced he would be targeted towards the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) in the Autumn with another tilt at the Cox Plate also on the cards in October, however, injury curtailed the entire’s racing career. 

“When you first look at Armory, he has the real Galileo style, real ease of movement and he’s very athletic,” Maher said. 

“Having a bit to do with him in the stable, he’s very clean winded and has a beautiful set of lungs. He was a pleasure to train, a beautiful mover, the way he covers the ground, he’s a very impressive horse.”

Mapperley Stud and Windsor Park have shared success in the past, previously partnering together to stand Volksraad, the winner of eight Champion Sire titles. 

The two historic New Zealand studs continue to share a close association and jumped at the opportunity to partner again to secure an internationally performed, outstanding stallion prospect for the New Zealand breeding industry.   

“Rodney Schick (of Windsor Park Stud) and I are committed to making him a success and we will support him with many of our best mares,” Davison said.

“He is a strong and striking son of Galileo, with a lovely shoulder and rear-end to match. The huge walk on him drew me to him straight away.”

Schick jumped at the opportunity to partner with Mapperley Stud in standing the young son of Galileo. 

“Armory is a top-class racehorse with a high cruising speed who operated in the best company as a two, three and four-year-old. It’s a sire line we have had plenty of success with and one that is well adapted to the Australasian racing style. We are excited to partner with Mapperley Stud in standing him at stud,” Schick said.

Armory is out of the multiple Group-placed two-year-old winner After, a daughter of Danehill Dancer, who also ran fourth in the Gr.1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas, 1600m).

From a high-class and internationally successful family, Armory’s granddam is the Group One performer Noahs Ark, who also hails from the family of America’s Champion Turf female Wandesta. 

Galileo over Danehill Dancer mares has produced no less than seven individual Group One winners, while the cross operates at 23 percent stakes winners to runners, with Armory sure to provide breeders with access to the influential bloodline.

A service fee for the 2022 breeding season will be announced shortly.

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