A Closer Look at a Rare Bird

The Group I Epsom Derby is not a race that Australian breeders see as having a huge influence on our breeding industry, but the reality is the winner of that race in 2002 is having a profound effect.

High Chaparral was a champion son of Sadler’s Wells that was a Group I winner at two, won the Epsom Derby at three and then smashed it out of the park at four

Retiring to stud as the highest stakes earning son of the great Sadler’s Wells with winnings in excess of US$5.3 million, High Chaparral was accorded a superior annual rating of 132 by the authoritative Timeform publication, who commented that High Chaparral was a

“… very rare bird indeed – an Epsom Derby winner who actually maintained, or even enhanced, his reputation as a four-year-old…”.

High Chaparral shuttled to Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand for his first four seasons, which included a year off as a result of Equine Influenza and then spent his last five years shuttling to Coolmore Australia before his premature death at the end of 2014.

High Chaparral has achieved notable success in Australia as a sire of sires through So You Think, Dundeel and now his imported son Toronado (IRE), his class, stamina and turn of foot proving valuable assets for breeders looking to explore Danehill free options.

We are now seeing his grand-sons heading off to stud including Group I winners Castelvecchio and Super Seth, by Dundeel, and Inference and D’Argento, by So You Think.

High Chaparral achieved success first in the Southern Hemisphere and then later in the Northern Hemisphere siring 130 stakes-winners worldwide, 68 of them from his years in Australasia and documented in the table below.