What is the Stallion Spotlight you may ask? Well once a week (normally on Fridays), I will spotlight a stallion that I like and tell you a little bit about his foals. This week I will be talking about a relatively new stallion, the 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor.
Name: Invasor (ARG)
Stallion Register: Link
Year of Birth: 2002
Pedigree: Candy Stripes x Quendom (ARG)
Color: Bay
Stands at: Shadwell Farm
Stakes wins:
Uruguay: Gran Premio Nacional-Uruguayan Derby (G1), Gran Premio Jockey Club (G1), Polla de Potrillos- Uruguayan Two Thousand Guineas (G1), Clasico Ensayo (G3)
United States: Pimlico Special (G1), Suburban Handicap (G1), Whitney Handicap (G1), Breeder’s Cup Classic (G1), Donn Handicap (G1)
UAE: Dubai World Cup (G1)
Earnings: $7,804,070
Awards: 2006 Older Male Champion and Horse of the Year
Invasor (Spanish for invader), may be an Argentinean bred, but he’s Uruguayan through and through. Originally bought by three brothers, he took the Uruguay’s Triple Crown. He was then sold to Sheik Hamdan’s Shadwell Farm to race in America, but first a short detour to his new owner’s home country of UAE. He was going to be racing in the UAE Derby, as he was technically still a 3yo in the Southern Hemisphere (Although he was considered a 4yo here in the United States). He did not win that day as Discreet Cat who raced for Sheik Hamdan’s family stable, Godolphin, showed why he was highly regarded as a two year old. With Dubai now out of the way, it was time to head to the states, first off was the Pimlico Special where he came out of nowhere to take it. He then conquered the Suburban Handicap and had an thrilling Whitney Handicap where he ran down fan favorite Sun King. After missing the Jockey Club Gold Cup due to a fever, the showdown was set for the Breeder’s Cup. While most of the attention was focused on the UAE vs. USA, NY vs. CA showdown between Bernardini, a regally bred son of AP Indy who won the Preakness and Travers that year, who was owned by Sheik Mohammad, the ruler of Dubai, and the younger brother of Invasor’s owner Sheik Hamdan, and Lava Man, a former claimer by Slew City Slew, who would be come the richest claimer in history, owned by a father and son team, people where overlooking the Uruguayan horse. In the end, Lava Man was nowhere to be found and Invasor upset Bernardini to earn Horse of the Year. His final US win was in the Donn Handicap in 2007, his prep for the world’s richest race. It was the Dubai World Cup, on the only track, he had lost on. It also set up a rematch with Discreet Cat, who had fallen on tough times. The invader got his revenge as you can see in the following video.
Unfortanlly after that win, Invasor had suffered an injury that caused his retirement. While his foals have not hit the track yet, one of the biggest names that he got in his first book was Spun Sugar, a sister of fellow Shadwell stallion Daaher and a fellow G1 winner herself. He stands at Shadwell for $28,000 in 2009.
Next week: I'll let you guys take a guess, here are a few clues
a. He's a Derby winner
b. He went and came out of the Derby undeafted
c. He should have be a Triple Crown winner, but is not
That's all I'll say, sorry no prizes, but if this works out, maybe I'll do it again in the future.
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