London Thoroughbred Services has announced that SELKIRK (Sharpen Up [GB]) has
been withdrawn from stud duties at Lanwades Stud due to loss of fertility. With
only three of 19 mares scanned in foal so far this season, the 21-year-old
former champion miler is set for a series of tests which will include an
examination by leading equine fertility expert Dr. Dickson Varner.
“All the shareholders and mare owners have been informed,” James Wigan
explained. “He looks amazing — like a 15-year-old — and everything is normal
with him, however from the tests that we have carried out, we have found that
there is a complete absence of semen in his samples. It was decided that it was
best from everybody’s point of view to take a decision sooner rather than later,
so that other arrangements could be made.”
Winner of the 1991 Queen Elizabeth II S. (Eng-G1), Selkirk has been
represented by some 71 stakes winners, 10 of those at the highest level, and six
champions, including French and English highweight Sulk (Ire), and the 2006
Irish St Leger S. (Ire-G1) victor and multiple Irish highweight Kastoria (Ire).
A three-time leading sire in England, Selkirk’s progeny earnings from 14
crops to race are approaching $31 million.