'He's given us some of our best days' - Bayside Boy retired to Ballylinch Stud

Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Bayside Boy will not run again this year and will retire to Ballylinch Stud for the 2023 covering season, where he will stand alongside his sire New Bay.

Bayside Boy was raced in partnership by Teme Valley Racing and Ballylinch Stud, and Richard Ryan of Teme Valley said: “Bayside Boy was an exceptional yearling and he has given us some of our best days in racing.

"He was a top-class two-year-old but it was his brilliant turn of foot that stole the show on Champions Day. Very few horses can accelerate like that in Group 1 races and his Queen Elizabeth II win was one of the most exciting performances I’ve seen.”

It was Ryan who signed for the now three-year-old at 200,000gns at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2020, where he was consigned by his breeder, Ballylinch Stud.

The colt is out of the Anabaa mare Alava, and is a half-brother to four winners, notably the dual Group 2 Huxley Stakes winner Forest Ranger, by Lawman, and Listed-race third Home Cummins, by Rip Van Winkle.

Trainer Roger Varian said: “Bayside Boy was a strong, mature two-year-old who boasted excellent juvenile form. He won impressively on debut and proved that he was one of the best two-year-olds of his generation with his win in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes before going close in both the Dewhurst and the Futurity Trophy.

"He is an exceptionally good-looking colt and was very sound to train. He possesses a lot of natural speed and his turn of foot in the Queen Elizabeth II showed the public what we always saw at home."

Ballylinch Stud's managing director John O'Connor said: “We are delighted to welcome Bayside Boy back to his birthplace in Ballylinch. He has all the attributes we look for in a stallion prospect, a top-class two-year-old and a Group 1-winning miler with an exceptional turn of foot.

"His sire New Bay is one of the very best stallion sons of Dubawi, and his stakes-winning and Group-producing dam is from a high-quality family.

"He was a gorgeous yearling and I’m sure that breeders will be very impressed with both his looks and his action."

Bayside Boy retires having won four of his ten starts, with three further placings, and more than £850,000 in win and place prize-money.

He earned a career-best Racing Post Rating of 122 at Ascot last month when winning the QEII under Tom Marquand by a length and a quarter from this year's Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Modern Games.

Bayside Boy’s stud fee will be announced shortly and a limited number of shares will be made available to breeders.

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