Another long-term investment sees Coolmore homebred Whirl nail the Nassau Stakes

For the second time this week, Coolmore landed a Glorious Goodwood Group 1 with a runner from one of the Irish firm’s long-nurtured families. 

On Tuesday the Goodwood Cup went the way of Scandinavia, a son of Justify and Fabulous, a daughter of Mariah's Storm. That particular blue hen became part of the Coolmore herd when she was purchased by John Magnier during the 1996 Keeneland November Sale. There have been few moments since when her $2.6 million price tag has not looked like money well spent. 

On Thursday it was the turn of Whirl, who proved a cut above her four rivals to claim the Nassau Stakes by five lengths. That was the three-year-old filly’s second Group 1 triumph after defeating Kalpana in the Pretty Polly Stakes last time out. 

Whirl is from the first Coolmore-conceived crop of Wootton Bassett and is out of Salsa, a winning daughter of Galileo and Beauty Is Truth. This particular family came into Coolmore ownership when Beauty Is Truth was purchased privately at the end of her racing career in 2008. 

The daughter of Pivotal, who was bred by Kilfrush Stud and descends from the farm’s foundation mare Mill Princess, won the five-furlong Group 2 Prix du Gros-Chene in the white and green striped silks of Richard Strauss.

Hermosa: the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner is a sister to Whirl's dam, Salsa Credit: Racing Post

Coolmore’s kingpin sire Galileo clicked with fast mares with uncommon regularity throughout his stud career, and so it proved when the 12-time champion was paired with Beauty Is Truth. The mating produced three Group/Grade 1 winners, namely Hermosa, Hydrangea and The United States. 

The siblings' combined five top-level victories are not the only instances of Group 1 form being added to the pedigree. Hydrangea bred the Listed-winning Wingspan, who finished runner-up to Kalpana in the British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes last year, while Hermosa is the dam of Trinity College, winner of the Hampton Court Stakes and a short-head runner-up in the Grand Prix de Paris. 

Salsa may not have been able to match Hermosa and Hydrangea’s talents on the track, with her sole success coming in a Thurles maiden, but she has already proved a well above-average producer. Whirl is her first foal and she has been mated with Wootton Bassett on two more occasions. 

Her Coolmore-bred two-year-old brother Kepler was withdrawn from this year’s Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale, where he had been due to be offered by Mocklershill, while the mare produced a sister to Whirl who is now a yearling. Salsa was exported to the US in 2024, according to Weatherbys' records. 

Immortal Verse sells for 4,700,000gns at Tattersalls in 2013

Beauty Is Truth is not Coolmore’s only route into the Kilfrush foundation family. The outfit also paid a then-record price of 4,700,000gns for Immortal Verse back in 2013. Although the Coronation Stakes and Prix Jacques Le Marois winner took a little while to warm to her task as a broodmare, she has now bred five winners. 

These include Caravaggio’s dual Group 1-winning daughter Tenebrism and Henri Matisse, the son of Wootton Bassett who landed last year’s Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and the most recent running of the Poule d'Essai des Poulains. He was last seen finishing third in the muddling running of the Sussex Stakes won by Qirat on Wednesday. 

Whereas Coolmore’s pricey broodmare buys were once zapped with the sirepower of Galileo, his daughters are now proving the perfect bedfellows for the roster’s current heavyweight stallions. 

Whirl is one of 63 Group/Grade 1 winners Galileo has supplied as broodmare sire, and one of two bred on the Wootton Bassett-Galileo cross along with Al Riffa. The nick has also been responsible for the Group 2 scorer Green Impact and the Group 3-winning and Group 1-placed Maranoa Charlie. 

Galileo has led the broodmare sire standings by progeny earnings for the last five seasons, and has built up a seven-figure lead over Dansili at the head of affairs this time around. 

Wootton Bassett is also on course to claim a maiden champion European sire title as he is more than €1.5m clear of Night Of Thunder in this department. Whirl is one of three European Group 1 winners sired by Wootton Bassett in 2025, along with Prix du Jockey Club victor Camille Pissarro and Henri Matisse. 

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