The ongoing success of Street Cry's offspring continues to act as the best possible advertisement for two young Darley sires currently standing at Aberdeen this spring: Street Sense and Shamardal.
Street Sense made sure that Street Cry’s stud career got off to a flyer: a member of his father’s first crop, Street Sense was a brilliant racehorse, as his unprecedented Breeders’ Cup Juvenile / Kentucky Derby double testified. It is now clear that siring top-class gallopers is par for the course with Street Cry, as his other US Grade One winners Zenyatta, Street Boss, Street Hero and Cry And Catch Me – plus Majestic Roi and Tomcito, winners at the highest level in Britain and South America respectively – testify. This spring, Predatory Pricer and Whobegotyou have reminded Australian racegoers of Street Cry’s ability to sire stars.
It is, therefore, unsurprising that Street Sense and Shamardal (pictured) have both proved so popular in Australia. Street Sense not only gives Australian breeders a rare opportunity to patronize a Kentucky Derby winner, but is also his sire’s first son to retire to stud. Shamardal, on the other hand, gives breeders access to Street Cry from the other direction, as they come from the same family: Shamardal’s dam Helsinki is a full-sister to Street Cry, both being by Mr Prospector’s top-class son Machiavellian from the G1 Irish Oaks-winning Troy mare Helen Street.
A son of the outstanding Storm Cat stallion Giant’s Causeway – known during his racing days as the ‘Iron Horse’ because of his toughness – Shamardal can boast top-class form at both two and three, and won from 1200m to 2100m. Unbeaten on turf throughout his career, Shamardal made an immediate impact, winning a 1200m maiden by eight lengths on debut in midsummer of his two-year-old season before stepping straight into Group company, winning the G2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood (beating subsequent Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Wilko) and the G1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, in which he came home 2.5 lengths in front of the runner-up Oratorio.
At three he stretched his turf winning run by taking a further three consecutive Group One events, the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (1600m) at Longchamp, the Prix du Jockey-Club (2100m) at Chantilly and Royal Ascot’s St. James’s Palace Stakes (1600m). In the latter race he won by an emphatic two-and-a-half lengths from Ad Valorem and Oratorio, while in the Prix du Jockey-Club – traditionally referred to as the ‘French Derby’ – he beat subsequent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Hurricane Run.
Shamardal’s first European offspring are now yearlings. Unsurprisingly, they are proving very popular at the current round of sales. Up to the start of the Goffs Million Sale – ie with the cream of the crop yet to come under the hammer – 15 Shamardal yearlings had been sold at an average of €110,238 (A$195,500) and a top price of €350,000 (A$620,800). Already being discussed as a likely contender for next year’s European first-season sires’ crown, Shamardal looks to be on the verge of an exciting dual-hemisphere stud career.
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