Darley

Darley's Kelvinside Stud. Oh, a place to die for. And to think we spent almost four glorious days there. It is exquisite. The staff are wonderful. And the horses. The horses!!!! Just another delirious Darley trip....

Below: Bernardini (AP Indy - Cara Rafaela). A beautiful, beautiful boy. Beautifully balanced. You CANNOT take a bad photograph of this horse, it's just not possible. The most exquisitely natured stallion I've come across. We adored him, and I cannot wait to see the babies appearing on the track, as this fellow was a superstar on the track, with the looks to match.




Below: Commands (Danehill - Cotehele House). Stalwart of the Darley stable, and a full brother to another very successful sire in Danewin. Terrific horse. He's the sire of Skilled, Undue, Paratroopers and Purple to name a few.


Below: This image is now a little bit famous, after featuring on September 3, 2010, on the front cover of the SMH's "The Form" section. It is of Denman (foreground: Lonhro - Peach), Lonhro (centre: Octagonal - Shadea) and Octagonal (rear: Zabeel - Eight Carat). These three very famous and incredibly popular horses are now standing alongside each other at Kelvinside. The public reaction to this image has been remarkable, and is a testament to the huge fondness the racing public held for all three horses.


Below: Denman enjoys his free time in the paddock. Having only just arrived at stud he's yet to 'let down', but he looked terrific.






Below: Lonhro does things his own way, and is not given to hysterics. He also looks great.





Below: Medaglia d'Oro (El Prado - Cappucino Bay), or "the Golden One" as they call him. He's gloriously beautiful. And he's the sire of the great Rachel Alexandra. Loved him! And fed him carrots....





Below: the great Octagonal. He needs no further introduction. Still a star...





Below: Street Cry (Machiavelian - Helen Street). Sire of the mighty US mare Zenyatta, winner of 19 of her 20 starts (sigh..). And in Australia he's the sire of Shocking (2009 Melbourne Cup winner) and Whobegotyou, winner of the 2008 Caulfield Guineas and the 2009 Caulfield Stakes. A big horse (deceptively so). Fantastic horse.


Below: Exceed and Excel (Danehill - Patrona).


Below: Shamardal (Giant's Causeway - Helsinki). Sire of Faint Perfume, and his dam is a full sister to the might stallion and racehorse Street Cry (see above).


Below: Teofilo (Galileo - Speirbhean). He was a lot of fun to photograph, and was certainly full of himself.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Legacy of Eight Carat: From the Vault Volume I

Image
We have been back in lockdown here in Victoria. Lockdown 5.0 to be precise and as a result it made us go back to feeling like sad sacks.  After having seen off Lockdown 4.0 a teeny tiny bit triumphantly, where we saw off both Delta and Kappa variants (evil beasts that they are - curse you stinky COVID - curse you), we had literally only just gotten back to work before being very suddenly plunged back into Lockdown 5.0 after the visit of those very nice removalists.   'Thanks very much!!!!' we all shouted indignantly!!!!  A key difference with Lockdown 5.0 was that half the country also into lockdown at the same time which made us feel slightly less sad.  The Victorian Government doesn't muck about anymore when it comes to outbreaks.  Their reaction is swift and severe and not at all namby pamby.  I just wish the same logic would be applied to Sydney which continues to deteriorate, much to my dismay.  This week we took our first tentative steps out of ...
Read more

Vale Sadler's Wells - champion stallion dies in Ireland.

Image
One of the most important racehorses, and later stallions of our time, the great Sadler's Wells died in Ireland on the evening of Tuesday 26 April 2011.  He died at Coolmore's Tipperary Stud in Ireland, his home since his retirement in 1984.  The stallion was retired from breeding in 2008. His legacy worldwide is immense.  He has left sons and daughters,  and three of his stallion sons, in Galileo, Montjeu and High Chaparral, are leading stallions in the Northern Hemisphere.  In Australia, Galileo and Montjeu had less success, however the impact of High Chaparral was immediate, and immense.  While the horse still has to repeat the success he achieved with his New Zealand bred runners, from which the Group 1 winners, and champion So You Think, were conceived, High Chaparral is still leading the Australian General Sires Title with only a couple of months of racing left. In Europe, Montjeu and Galileo have both sired Epsom Derby winners, in Authorized and Ne...
Read more

The physical drain of riding horses

Image
Most people agree that the life of a jockey is a difficult one.  There are a handful that rise to the top, and do extremely well out of the Sport of Kings.  The vast majority however struggle with their weights, and do their best to avoid and/or overcome injury.  Anyone who has ever been pelted off a horse would know that it doesn't tickle!  And of course the older you get, the more it hurts!  We used to fang around on our ponies, bareback, in headstalls and leadropes, never wearing a riding hat.  Completely fearless, and I am sure that on the odd occasion I parted company with my horse, I used to bounce.  In fact I rarely used to fall off, unless the horse came down as well, I guess all those years of galloping around bareback meant my balance and ability to swing my body with the horse was pretty good.  I'd like to say that I could still ride the same, but age and the maturing mind catches up, and you start thinking of the consequences of 'what...
Read more