Dual Group 1 stakes winner Alkaased (Kingmambo), whose withdrawal from
the
Hong Kong festival was revealed Thursday, has been retired to stand at Darley
Japan. A stud fee
will be announced at a later date.
The progressive five-year-old, winner of the
Grand Prix de
Saint-Cloud (Fr-G1) in June, capped his career with a victory in last Sunday’s Japan
Cup (Jpn-G1) at Tokyo
Racecourse. He set a world record of 2:22.1 for the 2400-meter event.
“Alkaased
is a very
exciting
prospect for three reasons,” said John Ferguson, Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock
advisor. “He’s a world-record breaker, he’s by arguably the world’s best
stallion and he’s a great
looking individual.”
Finishing behind him in the Japan Cup were Japanese Horse
of the Year
Zenno Rob Roy (Sunday Silence), 2004 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1)
heroine Ouija Board (GB) (Cape Cross [Ire]), last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1)
king Better Talk Now
(Talkin Man), and 2004 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1)
hero Bago (Fr) (Nashwan).
Bred in Kentucky by Clovelly Farms, the bay sold to Shadwell for
$325,000 at
Keeneland September. He broke his maiden in Shadwell’s blue and white colors at three before selling
for 42,000 guineas at Tattersalls Autumn. After finishing first or second in each of
his starts last year
for owner M. R. Charlton and trainer Luca Cumani, Alkaased kicked off 2005 with
a victory in
the Jockey Club S. (Eng-G2) in May. He ran second in the Coronation Cup (Eng-G1)
on June 3
before posting
his Saint-Cloud triumph three weeks later.
The five-year-old was produced by Chesa Plana (GB) (Niniski),
who was the
highweight older mare in Germany, where she placed in multiple Group 1 events. Alkaased heads to the breeding shed with a record of 16-6-7-0 and earnings of
$2,801,580.