Last week, Hawk Eye View focused on the remarkable Champions & Chater Cup won by Mr Medici in teeming rain.
That led to a message from Pakistan-based racing fan Salar Khan Jadoon, who sent through photos of Mr Medici looking fit and well at the age of 20. Incredibly, after 15 starts in Ireland, 52 starts in Hong Kong and two in Australia and a stint at Hedgeholme Stud in County Durham in the UK, he has now found himself at Shah Jewna Stud Farm, two hours west of Faisalabad.
He is now owned by Syeda Abida Hussain, the matriarch of horse racing and breeding in Pakistan’s Punjab province and a former politician and ambassador to the United States.
Mr Medici has also inspired Pakistan’s first female dressage rider, Aaleen Bokhari; she cites her relationship with him as the spark that inspired her to chase her international dreams.
While the thoroughbred world often revolves around Book 1 countries – those 17 jurisdictions at the forefront of the racing industry – racehorses can come from anywhere.
The International Stud Book Committee, which acts as the global arbiter of international thoroughbred breeding, currently recognises 72 jurisdictions across 74 countries as having active breeding industries that comply with global regulations.
Another four countries – Algeria, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan and Libya – have “emerging” stud books and are on the way to receiving approved status, while stud books that were once approved but have lost ratification include Costa Rica, Guatemala, Israel, Lebanon, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Top-class racehorses can end up anywhere in the world, especially if they are stallions or broodmares.
Some destinations are more prolific than others, like India or Turkey. The Turkish Jockey Club has proved especially prudent in their stallion selection in recent years; stallions like Daredevil and Authorized had significant success abroad after moving to Turkey, so much so that they returned to the United States and Ireland respectively.
However, some notable horses have ended up in even stranger locales.
One example is Melbourne Cup, Japan Cup and Arima Kinen runner-up Pop Rock, who has stood in the Czech Republic since his retirement in late 2010. He has only had between one and 10 foals registered each year but he has had winners across the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. He is now pensioned and resides in a paddock beside the Elbe River overlooking the Pardubice region.
Two Classic winners – 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes hero Galileo Gold and Victoria Derby victor Monaco Consul – now stand in Indonesia, on the island of Java. They are among 12 thoroughbred stallions in the country – another is Black Caviar’s brother Moshe – but Indonesia’s stud book remains unapproved and so any of their Indonesian progeny are considered non-Thoroughbreds.
A prominent case came to light after Giga Kick won The Everest in 2022. His sire Scissor Kick, a Group 3 winner in Australia, had been exported from France to Morocco in early 2022 and then was sent to Tunisia, primarily as a sporthorse stallion.
He has now returned to Morocco, where he stands at Le Haras National de Bouzika – halfway between Rabat and Casablanca – alongside French 2000 Guineas winner Style Vendome. Also on the Moroccan roster is Frankel’s old rival Excelebration, although he stands at northern Africa’s largest stud farm, Le Haras National de Meknes.
Scissor Kick is not the only sire of an Everest winner now standing abroad.
Last Sunday at Sha Tin, Rubick – sire of 2019 Everest victor Yes Yes Yes – attracted attention after one son Packing Hermod won the Class 2 River Verdon Handicap (1400m) and another son Rubylot finished second in the G1 Champions & Chater Cup (2400m). Other sons like Light Years Charm and Telecom Power had won in Hong Kong earlier in May.
Earlier this year, Rubick was exported from Australia to join Huang Qingcai’s Huayu Horse Industry operation in Hebei Province. Huang has imported many stallions in recent times, including Hong Kong winners Neorealism and Sweet Orange.
Other Group 1 performers in interesting locations include United Color – third to Sterling City and Rich Tapestry in the Golden Shaheen – in Iran, Kentucky Derby runner-up Firing Line in the Philippines and Australian top-flight winner Microphone in Brazil, near its southern border with Uruguay. ∎
