Rich Hill Stud will have a full hand to play in the coming breeding season after securing the dual Group One winner Ace High to join their stallion roster.
The high-class son of High Chaparral will
be retired immediately and head to the respected New Zealand nursery to stand
alongside Proisir, Shocking, Satono Aladdin and Vadamos for the 2019 breeding
season.
Ace High will be the last Group One winning three-year-old sired by breed shaping sire influence High Chaparral to retire to stud anywhere in the world.
Ace High, who was trained throughout his career by Rosehill conditioner David Payne for leading owner John Cordina, was an outstanding racehorse. He showed good ability as an early two-year-old, running second on debut to Champagne Cuddles over 1100 metres at Rosehill before running fourth in the Gr.1 Champagne Stakes and winning over 1400 metres. However as a spring three-year-old he went to another level and dominated his opposition.
He won the Gr.3 Gloaming Stakes before winning the Gr.1 Spring Champion Stakes, a race previously won by leading sires Savabeel and Dundeel. He then headed to Melbourne where he was victorious in the Gr.1 Victoria Derby.
He subsequently went within a whisker of also adding the Gr.1 Australian Derby to his CV, beaten a nose in a head bobbing finish. The last three-year-olds to win this Derby double were outstanding gallopers Mahogany and Dulcify, with sire High Chaparral himself a dual English and Irish Derby winner.
As a four-year-old, Ace High won the Gr.2
Hill Stakes, ran second in the Gr.2 Chelmsford Stakes and ran fourth behind the
champion Winx in the Gr.1 George Main Stakes. He was a galloper who relished
firm tracks and during his career he was undone on several occasions by heavy
tracks. He retires sound after three seasons as the winner of more than AUS$2.2
million.
Rich Hill Stud's John Thompson believes Ace High has all the ingredients to make a successful stallion.
"He had two-year-old speed, he won the sire making Gr.1 Spring Champion Stakes and he developed into an outstanding classic three-year-old. He is a son of sire-of-sires High Chaparral and his dam is by Redoute's Choice and his grand-dam by Sunday Silence. His female family features two of the greatest sires in history in Northern Dancer and Danehill."
A $130,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling sale graduate, Ace High is out of Come Sunday, a daughter of champion sire Redoute's Choice. Come Sunday is out of multiple winner and stakes performer Sunday Service who is a daughter of breeding legend Sunday Silence.
Ace High's female family is saturated with black type, but more importantly his fifth dam Spring Adieu is the grand-dam of Danehill and his sixth dam is none other than Natalma, dam of the all-time great Northern Dancer.
Ace High is currently being syndicated with a number of leading New Zealand breeders already committed.
The syndicate behind Ace High already includes the likes of Cambridge Stud, The Oaks, Nearco Stud, Seaton Park, Blandford Lodge, Pencarrow Stud and John Cordina who raced the horse will also be involved.
"There are still some shares available in the Ace High syndicate. It is an exciting time for the New Zealand breeding industry with a lot of young Group One winning stallions retired over the last three seasons. Ace High is a big strong horse with plenty of presence and he has great connections to our major market Australia," Thompson said.
"Ace High has a race record that compares favourably with another son of High Chaparral in Dundeel, who is shaping as a major sire success and some of High Chaparral's greatest achievements were in New Zealand where the likes of So You Think, Shoot Out and Dundeel were conceived."
Ace High will stand at Rich Hill Stud for the 2019 season at an introductory fee of NZ$10,000 + GST.
