December 26, 2024

Adelaide, Prince Bishop, African Story retired

Last updated: 4/23/15 6:25 PM


Adelaide (Galileo), a Grade/Group 1 winner in the United States and Australia
last year, has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Coolmore
Australia later this year.

The winner of his lone start at two, Adelaide won or placed in five different
countries last year under the care of trainer Aidan O’Brien. He took the
Gallinule S. (Ire-G3) at the Curragh in May prior to finishing second in the
King Edward VII S. (Eng-G2) at Royal Ascot, then was runner-up in the Belmont
Derby (G1). He earned his first win at the highest level in the Secretariat S.
(G1) five weeks later, and was a hard-luck third in the Prix Niel (Fr-G2) in
France a further four weeks after that.

Adelaide then shipped Down Under to beat 10 Group 1 winners in one of
Australia’s most important races, the A$3 million Cox Plate (Aus-G1), against
older horses, after which he was transferred to trainer Chris Waller for an
Australian campaign. Adelaide made a belated seasonal debut in the April 12
Queen Elizabeth S. (Aus-G1) over soft ground that wasn’t to his liking and
checked in eighth in what would be his final career start. He retires with a
Timeform rating of 128, better than any colt in Australasia this season.

“It’s been a pleasure to be associated with a horse of this caliber,” Waller
said. “He’s a horse with an awesome change of pace and we’ve seen him do some
spectacular things in his trackwork with us. It’s a shame the ground went
against him in the Queen Elizabeth S., since which he hasn’t been 100 percent.”

It had been previously outlined that Adelaide would return to O’Brien for a
European summer campaign, including a tilt at Royal Ascot.

“He was all class,” O’Brien said. “On fast ground he was a brilliant horse
and I don’t think we ever really got to see the best of him. I was very
confident of having a big summer with him in Europe this year.”

A fee will be announced at a later date.

Also retired to stud in Australia is dual Group 1 winner Hallowed Crown
(Street Sense), who will stand his first season at Darley’s Kelvinside Stud.

Unbeaten in two outings as a juvenile for co-trainers Bart and James
Cummings, including the Kindergarten S. (Aus-G3), Hallowed Crown took the Run to
the Rose (Aus-G3) and Golden Rose S. (Aus-G1) in his first two outings as a
three-year-old. This season he added the Hobartville S. (Aus-G2) and Randwick
Guineas (Aus-G1), and was third in the Rosehill Guineas (Aus-G1). He was last
seen finishing 10th of 20 in the Doncaster Mile (Aus-G1) April 6.

Out of the Group 3 winner and Golden Slipper runner-up Crowned Glory,
Hallowed Crown is from the family of champion sire Zabeel. A stud fee will be
announced at a later date.

In other prominent retirements announced Thursday, Prince Bishop (Dubawi) and
African Story (Pivotal), the winners of the last two Dubai World Cups (UAE-G1),
have been retired from racing, according to Godolphin.

“They have both been remarkable racehorses over the years,” said John
Ferguson, bloodstock advisor to Sheikh Mohammed. “Both are eight-year-olds, they
have both run on Dubai World Cup night each of the past four years. They have
both won the biggest prize in world racing.

“They retire having given the Maktoum family many days of great pride and
enjoyment. Sheikh Mohammed felt it was the right thing to retire them from the
racetrack but not to abruptly end their involvement in day-to-day activity in
the stable, which they enjoy immensely.

“I am not sure of the logistics as yet, but they will be in one of the
Godolphin stables and in all probability will be ridden every day in the
immediate future,” he added of the geldings.

Prince Bishop and African Story both started their careers in France with
trainer Andre Fabre and later transferred to Saeed bin Suroor. Prince Bishop,
who gave the Maktoum family back-to-back runnings of the world’s richest race
when carrying the silks of Sheikh Mohammed’s son, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed,
this year, won two group races at Longchamp, most notably besting Cirrus des
Aigles (Even Top) in the Prix du Conseil de Paris  (Fr-G2)in 2010.

The chestnut was also a Group 3 winner in Britain and did his best running at
the Meydan carnival the last two seasons. He won the Maktoum Challenge Round 3
(UAE-G1) over the Tapeta last year, and despite displaying an apparent dislike
for that track’s new dirt surface this year, dropping out to last and under the
whip early in all three of his starts, Prince Bishop finished second to African
Story in the Maktoum Challenge and came with a remarkable late run to take the
World Cup.

African Story won five pattern races at Meydan, including the 2012 Godolphin
Mile (UAE-G2) on World Cup night and the main event last year over the Tapeta.
Like Prince Bishop, he appeared to dislike the dirt initially, but rebounded to
best his stablemate in this year’s Maktoum Challenge Round 3 before finishing
sixth in the World Cup.

“They were very tough and reliable racehorses,” bin Suroor said. “Both
geldings, they could adapt quickly to their environment no matter where in the
world they were taken to race. The fact that they could each compete in top
races on Dubai World Cup night four years on the trot says a lot for their class
and durability.”

Prince Bishop and African Story earned a combined $14.9 million on the
racetrack.



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