Ultra Thoroughbreds – Page 2 – Sean Buckley Racing

May 7, 2014

Shamus Award has been retired and will stand at Widden Stud

SURPRISE Cox Plate winner Shamus Award has been retired from racing and will stand at Widden Stud in Australia next season for a fee of A$27,500 (£15,080/€18,360).

The son of young sire Snitzel defied odds of 20-1 when breaking his maiden in the Group 1 event, besting such top-class runners as Foreteller, Fiorente, It’s A Dundeel and Seville in the process. The Danny O’Brien-trained colt returned later in the season to land the Australian Guineas – becoming the first horse to complete the double.

On Thursday, O’Brien tweeted: “Very pleased to announce Shamus Award off to Australia’s leading Stud. Over to you Widden!”

Widden Stud, in New South Wales, will stand 11 stallions for the coming season. Making the announcement, stud owner Antony Thompson said: “Shamus Award is the first three-year-old ever to win the Cox Plate/Australian Guineas double and we are thrilled to have him join our roster alongside our other new addition, the brilliant dual Group 1-winning sprinter Zoustar – who also made history as the first three-year-old to win the Group 1 Golden Rose/Coolmore Stud Stakes double.

“To be honest, it feels a little like déjà vu, starting off two young stallions together that we believe are the best sire prospects in the land.

“We did it a few years ago with Sebring and Northern Meteor, which proved incredibly successful, so I had no hesitation in seizing the opportunity to do the same again this year.”

Click here to continue reading the article about Shamus Award

Sean Buckley: Culminate

Culminate is originally from New Zealand, owned by Sean Buckley and trained by Darren Weir is an 11 year old bay or brown mare (female).

In 2010 she raced into group 1 calculations with a determined victory in the Tristrarc Stakes at Caulfield. Culminate hugged the rails and cut the corner in the Tristarc while her rivals plotted a wider path but none were able to peg her back in the run to the line.

Jockey Michael Walker rounded off a winning double and thanked Buckley for his loyalty and belief in his ability.

”It’s been a long time coming, this win. Since I’ve come to Melbourne I’ve been riding for Sean and even though we had a few hiccups with this one having her injury, so this will pick us up,” Walker said.

”I knew that she wouldn’t have the speed to lead but she tricked me a bit today because she was a lot more forward than she was at Flemington.

”She pulled quite hard which took a bit of sprint out of her and she was on the worst ground but I just knew that she was a group 1 performer.”

One of New Zealand’s most consistent mares in recent years, Culminate also recorded a Group 1 placing at her first Australian campaign when runner up behind Typhoon Tracy in the 2009 Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill.

Sean Buckley: Perfect Promise

Perfect Promise racked up another series of firsts in taking the C.F. Orr Stakes (Aust-I) at Caulfield Feb. 11 2006.

Most significantly, the 6-year-old mare’s consummate victory in the $300,000 (Australian funds) feature saw her become the first South African-bred horse to win a group I in Australia or New Zealand.

The 1 1/2 length winner provided the first group I success for jockey Craig Newitt, and was having her first start for her owner Sean Buckley and trainer Lee Freedman.

Sean Buckley paid $725,000 for the daughter of Nureyev horse Caesour at auction in Sydney two months earlier to disperse the horses raced by the Written Bloodstock Syndicate of Mark Peters and Larry King.

It was one of a string of distaffer purchases made in 2006 by Buckley, CEO of the car care franchise company UltraTune. Grahame Begg prepared Perfect Promise for the previous owners. She became the first of her nationality to win an Australian group race in taking the Emancipation Stakes (Aust-II) in April, 2000 from the Freedman barn’s Uprize.