Harbinger sold to Japanese stud
Harbinger, who was rated the best racehorse in the world until sustaining a career-ending injury last month, has been sold in a deal that will see him stand as a stallion in Japan.
The colt will stand at the Shadai Stallion Station is in Shiraoi on the island of Hokkaido. The farm was started in the late 1970s by the late Zenya Yoshida and is now run jointly by his sons Katsumi and Teruya. The current roster of stallions standing at Shadai includes Deep Impact, Agnes World, Falbrav and War Emblem.
John Warren, director of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, who handled the negotiations, said in a statement on behalf of the owners: "There were a number of top stud farms from both home and abroad involved in the negotiations and there was a very strong bid to keep the horse in England. Unfortunately for the British bloodstock industry the final bid from the famous Shadai Group, where Sunday Silence stood, was far too strong to be able to compete.
“The owners of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing's Admiral Rous syndicate grew extremely close to the horse. They would dearly have loved Harbinger, widely regarded as 'the best horse in the world', to have retired to stud in the UK. However, he will be in excellent hands and we hope he is as big a success at stud for the Yoshida brothers as he was on the racecourse for us. It has been a privilege to have been involved with such a great horse."
Referring to Harbinger's ongoing recovery Warren said: “Harbinger is recovering well and is a model patient. He should be sound enough to travel within a few months. The required tests for export are ongoing but at an advanced stage.”
There are no official figures on the sale but it is reported that the deal values the colt as one of the highest-priced transactions in recent years.
The four-year-old burst onto the international racing scene when he won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes by 11 lengths in a record time at Ascot in July. Phil Smith, the BHA’s head of head of handicapping, awarded Harbinger a rating of 135 for his King George victory and at the time explained where that put the colt in terms of historical perspective. “Looking back you’ve got Montjeu 135, Peintre Celebre and Generous 137 and El Gran Senor 138. And if you go back you’ve got Alleged and Shergar on 140 and Dancing Brave on 141.”
It was a performance that even had his trainer, Sir Michael Stoute, grappling for a way of putting the victory into context. It was hoped that Harbinger would be able to do just that in the major races of the second half of the season, with Stoute quietly believing that this would be the horse who could end his near 30-year quest to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October.
However, such dreams were cruelly shattered just a fortnight later when the colt sustained a fracture to his near-fore cannon bone on the Limekiln gallops at Newmarket as he was being prepared for a run in the Juddmonte International at York.
Having successfully come through surgery to have two screws inserted into the fracture, he is expected to make a full recovery and was already marked as one of the most sought-after new stallions when his owners, the Admiral Rous syndicate, were left with no option but to retire him from racing.
Harbinger won six of his nine career runs, five of those victories coming in Group races, earning in excess of £770,000 in prize money.
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