Aidan O’Brien star Delacroix retired to stud after Champion Stakes defeat
The winner of the Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes will stand at Coolmore after finishing fourth at Ascot on Saturday behind Calandagan
Aidan O’Brien’s star three-year-old colt has been retired to stud following his Champion Stakes defeat. Delacroix boasts an exceptional pedigree, being by superstar stallion Dubawi out of Tepin, the US champion who won the Breeders’ Cup Mile and the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Beaten a nose in a Group 1 as a two-year-old he was to start favourite for the Derby at Epsom in June but finished well beaten behind stablemate Lambourn. He bounced back at Sandown in July where he produced an astonishing finishing burst to defeat Ombudsman by a neck.
“What he did at Sandown, you don’t see horses do that,” said O’Brien. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a horse do what he did.”
The Godolphin horse turned the tables at York in August before Delacroix captured the Irish Champion Stakes. He met Ombudsman a third time in the Champion Stakes at Ascot but was beaten into fourth in the race won by Calandagan.
O’Brien blamed the surface for the display and said: “They had drained the track and there was a lot of sand in the slots. He got a little lost and ended up getting a bit back. Some horses find it hard to get traction and he was a little bit at sea on it.”
At Leopardstown, Delacroix emulated Sadler’s Wells, Giant’s Causeway, Sea The Stars and St Mark’s Basilica in completing the Eclipse-Irish Champion double.
“Delacroix is a gorgeous horse, undoubtedly the best-looking son of Dubawi we’ve ever seen,” said Coolmore’s David O’Loughlin.
“He’s out of one of America’s greatest racemares of recent times and was an exceptionally sound, tough and talented racehorse with a lethal turn of foot. Dubawi’s sons like Night of Thunder, Too Darn Hot, Zarak and New Bay are all excelling at stud and Delacroix was higher-rated than any of them. "