Palace Pier Turf Monthly October 2022

PALACE PIER

ANOTHER DARLEY STAR

Palace Pier joins the Darley roster this season as another high profile prospect who deserves his place among the best the thoroughbred world has to offer. The quality of the Darley bloodstock is outstanding but overseas success has never been a measure to their suitability in Australia. In fact, I recall writing a piece some years back that suggested that shuttle stallions who were close to the top of the UK first season sire list were unlikely to figure in the top 10 in Australia at the same stage. Whether this still holds true is another question. None of this detracts from the potential of Palace Pier. A world champion miler, a five time Group 1 winner, unbeaten as a 2yo and perhaps the best son of a top stallion in Kingman; what is there not to get excited about on face value? But as we all know, racetrack performance is only one part of the puzzle, so what does Palace Pier have to offer Australian breeders?

The colt won two races at two, in a maiden and a novice at Sandown Park both over 1400m. He returned as a 3yo on 6 June 2020 winning another minor race on the all-weather surface at Newcastle over a mile. It was then a huge step up in class for the colt as he took on the best in the Group 1 St James Palace. He beat the hot fancy Pinatubo who is also travelling to Australia this season by a length to stamp his quality. Taken to France in August, Palace Pier won the Group 1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois again over a mile. Returning to the UK for the open Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, he finished a creditable third behind The Revenant and Roseman. He started the 11/8 on favourite but lost a plate during the running to give some excuse for his first defeat. After a spell, the lightly raced 4yo returned to win the Group 2 Bet 365 Mile at Sandown by a stunning eight lengths. Palace Pier then won the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury and the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Ascot, both times starting in the red. After a short break it was back to France for the Group 1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois, winning this time by only a neck from Poetic Flare. He was to have his last start in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in October. Again starting at odds-on, he tried gamely to fail by a neck to overhaul Baaeed, the unbeaten son of Sea The Stars who recently won his sixth straight Group 1 in the Juddmonte International by an impressive 6.5 lengths. Clearly Palace Pier was an outstanding galloper, and his successes saw him crowned the Champion miler. An interesting observation from his career is that he only ever started at 1400 and 1600m. His two starts at 1400m were as a 2yo, while at three he only ever raced over a mile. Whether this will impact his own performance at stud is another question although one point does need to be made. Unlike in Australia, there is rarely the prestige in winning some of the shorter races in the UK.

Palace Pier is by the top stallion Kingman. His son Calyx has shuttled to Australia since 2020 but has surprisingly not been all that well patronized by Australian breeders. Kingman stands at Juddmonte Stud for a fee of £150,000 which is indicative of his success in the rest of the world and he has sired stakes winners in the US and Japan. Kingman is a son of Invincible Spirit who has been something of a mixed bag in Australia. He shuttled here from 2003 to 2006 but despite his great overseas success, his crops here saw him underperform, producing only one Group 1 winner in the excellent filly, Yosei. His legacy though is assured through his son I Am Invincible who has been a sensation at stud. It is an interesting discussion as to whether the success of I Am Invincible is through the influence of his sire, or his remarkable local female line. Invincible Spirit we cannot forget is a son of Green Desert who produced Sunline in another unspectacular shuttle career, while he hails from the same female family that gave us the top colt, Pride Of Dubai. The female family of Palace Pier is no doubt going to play an important role in his success at stud under local conditions.

H is dam is the unraced Beach Frolic by Nayef, a US bred stallion by Gulch who raced in the UK winning the Juddmonte International, Prince of Wales and Champion Stakes. At stud he was only a moderate performer although he did produce multiple Group 1 winner Tamayuz who in turn produced the French bred Gallic Chieftain who raced in Australia winning the 2019 ATC Chairman's Handicap. Nayef is himself from an outstanding female family being a half-brother to Nashwan and related to horses like Deep Impact and Unfuwain. Beach Frolic is a half-sister to Joviality by Cape Cross who won multiple stakes races in the UK, and also Bonfire by Manduro. Bonfire had won the Group 2 Yorke Dante Stakes before being sent to race in Australia where his biggest win was in the Grafton Cup. The gelding ended his career in 2017 over the jumps. In turn, their dam was Night Frolic by Night Shift, a son of Northern Dancer who shuttled to Australia with some success including siring Align who won the AJC Sires Produce as a 2yo. The

family has had limited opportunity in Australia although one branch of it was to be resident at Woodlands Stud producing the likes of Hire (AJC Royal Sovereign and Theo Marks), Lease (Tulloch Wine Stakes) and Orsay (Kenway Stakes).

W here then does Palace Pier sit among our new stallions? Clearly his racetrack performance is the key to his opportunity, but what if any of our local mares is he likely to find his best success with. Interestingly, Night Shift is a good place to start. He is a son of Ciboulette, a mare that we know best in Australia for appearing in the female line of Flying Spur and Encosta De Lago. The simple presence of a name in a pedigree is no guarantee of success, and Flying Spur and Encosta De Lago both bring in lines of Mr Prospector, Northern Dancer and Sir Ivor which need to be treated carefully. In the case of Flying Spur, we see Danzig also present who is of course the sire of Green Desert. If we are keen to try and pursue the presence of Flying Spur, perhaps a stallion like Sebring who sees Flying Spur as his damsire, might be a good option.

The presence of Danzig in Danehill is going to make a lot of the Danehill line stallions problematic with Palace Pier. A stallion we did mention was Deep Impact and he might be one that will be highly sought after for Palace Pier. Importantly we need to remember that the stallion will stand at Darley who have access to a remarkable international broodmare band. While we do not see that many daughters of Deep Impact in Australia, we are now seeing more of his sons here and stallions like Mikki Isle and Real Impact might prove valuable. There are also emerging sons like Saxon Warrior whose daughters we will not see at stud for a few seasons yet. Ideally Darley will support Palace Pier enabling him to shuttle for long enough to take advantage of these types of mares.

Darley of course will send mares from their locally based stallions to Palace Pier. Lonhro is one of these that could do well, and in turn his sons including Pierro. Perhaps the presence of Sir Tristram in a pedigree will be a good strategy. As we saw with I Am Invincible, it looks to be these local lines that will make or break the stallion. Unfortunately, with I Am Invincible being by Invincible Spirit, this will largely exclude the most obvious source of local speed. We do not have the same issue with Written Tycoon, and he could be the one that makes the career of Palace Pier. He has a number of sons now at stud, and these too may well have daughters to suit the stallion. Darley also has access to many of their overseas lines. Mares by the likes of Teofilo, Shamardal, Street Cry and even Street Boss all have some attractions, but it is likely that the success rate with these types of mares may not be as high as breeders would like.

P alace Pier has an intriguing pedigree and an outstanding race record, but overall looks to be a prospect for relatively few breeders. There is little doubt that he will produce some outstanding progeny, but there is also the chance that many will not be suited to local conditions. At his fee, it is certainly not likely to be the hobby breeder that is the target market for the stallion, but then again, there are fewer of these in the market each year. A bigger question then remains as to how the yearling buyers will react to the progeny of Palace Pier.