Champion Sire Dansili Passes At 25, Leaving Lasting Legacy For Juddmonte

Following a short but aggressive illness, champion sire Dansili has died shortly before his 26th birthday at his birthplace, Banstead Manor Stud, in Newmarket, England, Juddmonte announced with great sadness on Wednesday.

Bred by Juddmonte Farms, the son of Danehill was the first foal out of the Listed stakes winner Hasili, a daughter of Kahyasi who went on to become a “blue hen” of considerable note as the dam of six consecutive Graded stakes winners including five individual Group or Grade 1 winners.  Dansili may not have won his Group 1, but he made up for this by becoming one of the Leading British-based sires and broodmare sires of his generation.

Trained in France by André Fabre, Dansili won his first and only race as a 2-year-old, and his racecourse debut at 3, making him a leading contender for the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) in 1999. Fifteen runners went to post – one of the highest numbers in the race's history – and Dansili found only Sendawar too good. He ran four more times that season, winning the Group 3 Prix Messidor and placing in the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois (won by Dubai Millennium) and Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.

A tough and consistent campaigner, Dansili returned for a 4-year-old season in which he won both the Group 3 Prix Edmond Blanc and Group 2 Prix du Muguet and placed four additional times at the highest level, including running second to the “Iron Horse,” Giant's Causeway, in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and third to War Chant and North East Bound in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile by a neck and a nose, the fastest closing quarter in Breeders' Cup history. Soon afterwards, Dansili was returned to his birthplace at Banstead Manor Stud to start a new chapter as a stallion.

Dansili went on to sire 22 Group 1 winners, starting at a fee of £8,000 and rising to a peak of £100,000 thanks to some outstanding horses such as Flintshire, Harbinger, Rail Link, Proviso, Queen's Trust, Dank and The Fugue; and was Champion Sire in France in 2006. He was also an exceptional broodmare sire of the likes of Nezwaah, Cliffs Of Moher, as well as Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita, Time Test, Snow Sky, Agent Murphy, Astaire and Juddmonte stallion Expert Eye. He was pensioned from stud duties in 2018 at the age of 22.

Dansili's influence will be felt at Juddmonte for many years to come through his daughters in the broodmare band and via current Juddmonte stallion Bated Breath, whose career has closely echoed that of his sire to date.

Simon Mockridge, general manager (UK) shares the following tribute: “As a racehorse he was durable, genuine, consistent and expertly handled by André Fabre throughout his career. Although he deserved a Group 1 victory on the racecourse, having been placed in six, that somehow always managed to evade him. During his 17 years at stud he played an intrinsic role alongside Oasis Dream in establishing the reputation of the Juddmonte roster. A truly wonderful, reliable, and uncomplicated character as a stallion he was a firm favourite of the Stallion Team and Juddmonte as a whole. He will be greatly missed.”

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Group 1 Sire Dansili Dead

Dansili (GB) (Danehill-Hasili {Ire}, by Kahyasi {Ire}), a high-class racehorse and excellent sire and broodmare sire, has died at his birthplace, Juddmonte's Banstead Manor Stud, just short of his 26th birthday following a short illness. Dansili, the sire of 23 Group 1 winners and the broodmare sire of 13 Group 1 winners, had been pensioned since 2018.

Dansili was the first foal out of Khalid Abdullah's Broodmare of the Year and blue hen producer Hasili. Entrusted to trainer Andre Fabre, Dansili won his lone start at two under Olivier Peslier and picked up where he left off with a Chantilly conditions score the following spring. Assigned joint favouritism for the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains in his first stakes start next out, Dansili found only the Aga Khan's Sendawar (Ire) too tough, setting the stage for a career that would see him always mixing it at the very top level but suffering a string of near misses in Group 1s.

Fabre stepped Dansili up to 1800 metres for the G1 Prix Jean Prat next out, but after a fourth-place finish the dark bay would never again go that far. He scooped the G3 Prix Messidor by four lengths when dropped back to a mile, and wrapped up his 3-year-old campaign with third-place finishes behind Dubai Millennium in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois and Sendawar in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.

Kept in training at four, Dansili was the comfortable winner of the G3 Prix Edmond Blanc and the G2 Prix du Muguet before venturing abroad to Royal Ascot, where he took the lead late on in the G2 Queen Anne S. only to be headed in the dying strides by the Aga Khan's Kalanisi (Ire), who would go on to win that season's G1 Champion S. and GI Breeders' Cup Turf.

Sent to Goodwood thereafter to face the G1 St James's Palace S. and G1 Coral-Eclipse S. winner Giant's Causeway in the G1 Sussex S., Dansili closed to within a head of the Iron Horse a quarter mile out but ultimately had to settle for second once again.

Returning home to France, Dansili put in a rare below-par effort when sixth in the Prix du Moulin, but bounced back to be second in the G1 Prix de la Foret, earning a ticket to the 2000 GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Turning for home that day at Churchill Downs, Dansili found himself buried in traffic on the rail and well out of reach of the leaders. When at last able to extract himself, he made such a powerful move under John Velazquez that, despite finishing three-quarters of a length third, he was three lengths ahead of the winning War Chant within a few strides of the gallop out.

By the time Dansili was covering his first mares at Banstead Manor Stud in the spring of 2001, his dam Hasili had four more foals on the ground. All four-Banks Hill (GB), Heat Haze (GB), Intercontinental (GB) and Cacique (Ire)-would go on to be Group 1 winners, and Hasili would later add a fifth, the multiple American and Canadian Grade I winner Champs Elysees (GB). And while all of Hasili's Grade/Group 1 winners have made their marks at stud, none of them have achieved the level of success that Dansili has.

As he had done himself, Dansili hit the ground running with his first 2-year-olds, registering 18 winners and one stakes winner-the G3 Prix la Rochette victor Early March-in his first season with runners. It was in Dansili's third year with runners in 2006, however, that he really jumped to the top level, notching his first three Group 1 winners and two additional pattern-race winners. Remarkably, Dansili's first-ever Group 1 win as a sire came in Europe's greatest race, the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, courtesy the Juddmonte homebred Rail Link (GB). The following month, Price Tag (GB) won the GI Matriarch S. and Passage Of Time (GB) the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. Both were Juddmonte homebred fillies, and Passage Of Time's was to the fore again this year through her multiple group-winning son Time Test (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was among Europe's leading first-crop sires.

Dansili's fee jumped the following season to £30,000 from £12,500. While the black-type winners continued to accumulate, it would be 2010 by the time Dansili enjoyed another year like 2006, and this time it was courtesy the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II S. winner Harbinger (GB)-the world's highest-rated horse that year-G1 Phoenix S. winner Zoffany (Ire), who would go on to a very successful career at stud, and the four-time American Grade I-winning filly Proviso (GB).

The year 2012 proved a memorable one for Dansili fillies, with Giofra (GB), The Fugue (GB) and Fallen For You (GB) all winning Group 1s. That season also featured Bated Breath (GB), who won the G2 Temple S. and was placed, like his sire, in the King's Stand S. and also in the G1 Sprint Cup (twice) and the July Cup before joining Dansili at Banstead Manor, where he still stands today in the midst of a productive stud career.

By the time the calendar flipped to 2013, Dansili was up to £80,000, and six Group 1 winners that year-Dank (GB), Laughing (GB), Foreteller (GB), The Fugue, Flintshire (GB) and Winsili (GB)-saw him climb to £95,000 for 2014. Dansili's G1 1000 Guineas winner Miss France (GB) led a parade of five top-level winners in 2014, with We Are (GB) joining the ranks and Flintshire, The Fugue and Foreteller adding to their tallies. In 2015, Dansili stood for a career-high £100,000.

Over the ensuing seasons, Dansili has proven a continuous source of class. Queen's Trust (GB) won the 2016 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, and Dansili was still going strong in 2021, scoring a Grade I double at Keeneland with Juliet Foxtrot (GB) in the Jenny Wiley S. at the spring meet and Blowout (GB) in the First Lady S. at the autumn meet. As a broodmare sire, Dansili has had two winners of the Breeders' Cup Mile, Uni (More Than Ready) and Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}), whose first foals are two next year. Classic-winning fillies Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) and Channel (Ire) (Nathaniel {Ire}) are likewise out of Dansili daughters, as is last year's G1 St Leger scorer Galileo Chrome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and the G1 Mackinnon S. victress Magic Wand (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Dansili, to date, has 151 stakes winners as a sire and 97 as a broodmare sire.

Juddmonte General Manager Simon Mockridge said, “As a racehorse he was durable, genuine, consistent and expertly handled by Andre Fabre throughout his career. Although he deserved a Group 1 victory on the racecourse, having been placed in six, that somehow always managed to evade him. During his 17 years at stud he played an intrinsic role alongside Oasis Dream in establishing the reputation of the Juddmonte roster. A truly wonderful, reliable, and uncomplicated character as a stallion he was a firm favourite of the stallion team and Juddmonte as a whole. He will be greatly missed.”

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Dubai Warrior Holds Off Regal Reality To Take Betway Quebec Stakes At Lingfield

Dubai Warrior rediscovered his best form to register a fourth course success at Lingfield Park in Lingfield, United Kingdom, in the Listed Betway Quebec Stakes Saturday.

The son of Dansili enjoyed an excellent record at the track for his previous trainer John Gosden, winning three of his four starts including this race in 2019 and the 2020 Group 3 Betway Winter Derby.

Now trained by David Loughnane, Dubai Warrior was last on his debut for the stable in the G3 Diamond Stakes at Dundalk in County Louth, Ireland, in September but shaped much better in fifth behind Pyledriver in the Listed Betway Churchill Stakes at Lingfield Park on November 13.

Richard Kingscote deployed more positive tactics today and positioned Dubai Warrior in behind front runners Garden Paradise and Palavecino in the early stages. The duo was relegated to fifth at the four-furlong pole before making a decisive move widest of all approaching the home turn.

Dubai Warrior, sent off a 13/2 chance, led at the top of the straight and dug in gamely as Regal Reality closed all the way to the line. The winning distance was a nose, with 5/2 favorite Felix two lengths further back in third.

Loughnane said: “Dubai Warrior is a class horse and very good around here. It is brilliant to get a winner on the board for his owner [Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum].

“He is a very easy horse to train and maps out his own races. We don't have to do too much with him.

“He had a setback and then was gelded. He used to get a bit worked up and sweaty before his races but that can be typical of his sire's progeny, but he is a happy horse now and happy horses win races.

“We just think the eye-shields help him put his head down. Richard gave him a great ride and, once this horse gets rolling, it takes a good one to go with him.

“The aim now will be the Winter Derby and then Finals Day itself will be a long-term target. I would think he will come back here for the Winter Derby Trial as well.”

Kingscote said: “It probably wasn't the smoothest race for Dubai Warrior. He needs to get rolling early, which meant I had to get myself out and come too wide.

“I thought coming to the half-furlong pole, my momentum was just finishing and Ryan [Moore] was coming on the second, but Dubai Warrior really stuck his neck out.

“He is a smart horse, particularly around here, and there should be more pots in him going forward.”

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Art of Almost Takes Ontario Matron At Woodbine

In a short field of six, Art of Almost and jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson went from back of the pack to the front of the line to win the Grade 3 Ontario Matron Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

Breaking from the first post, the 5-year-old daughter of Dansili was taken back early, setting in sixth a half-mile into the 1 1/16-mile stakes behind front runners Crystal Glacier and Juxtapose. On the far turn, Wilson angled the Casse trainee out, going three-wide as the field entered the stretch.

Down the center of the Woodbine straight, Art of Almost made her bid for the lead in the race's final furlong, hitting the wire a length and a quarter in front. Skygaze passed Juxtapose to grab second. Crystal Glacier, Saratoga Vision, and Afleet Katherine rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the G3 Ontario Matron was 1:43.99. Find this race's chart here.

Art of Almost paid $19.80, $4.90, and $3.40. Skygaze paid $2.40 and $2.10. Juxtapose paid $4.90.

Bred in Kentucky by Fred Seitz, Dr. Ted Folkerth, J.R. Ward Stables, and Jon Kelly, Art of Almost is out of the First Defence mare Reimpose. Consigned by Brookdale Sales, the 5-year-old mare was purchased by owner D.J. Stables for $290,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. With her win in the Ontario Matron, Art of Almost has two wins in six starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of five wins in 25 starts and career earnings of $357,434.

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