High-flying but little seen Acrobat to stand at Coolmore Australia

Coolmore will break from its well-founded model by standing lightly raced colt Acrobat, the son of the stud’s own champion sire Fastnet Rock, with those behind the one-start Inglis Nursery winner convinced the retired stallion prospect had what it took to be a sprinter of the highest order.

Tom Magnier confirmed that the one-time Golden Slipper favourite Acrobat, whose racetrack career was cut short after he suffered a hock injury which was exacerbated by a subsequent infection, would join the Coolmore roster this year and Magnier was adamant that the colt possesses the right credentials to succeed at stud.

The Coolmore Australia principal declared that there was “no better value sire prospect retiring to stud in 2022” than Acrobat, the second first season sire announced by the stud in as many weeks, at his introductory service fee of A$13,750 (all fees inc GST).

“He’s the fastest two-year-old ever by legendary sire and sire-of-sires Fastnet Rock - rated higher as a two-year-old than even Fastnet Rock’s Group 1 Blue Diamond winner Catchy,” Magnier said.

“He’s from a mare by champion sprinter and leading broodmare sire Stravinsky, from a brilliantly fast Australian two-year-old speed pedigree. His dam Hips Don’t Lie won a Golden Slipper lead-up, the Group 2 Reisling Stakes and has produced not only Acrobat but also Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes-winning juvenile Ennis Hill and Group 1 Golden Slipper and Blue Diamond placegetter Lake Geneva.

“He was valued at A$1 million as a yearling and is one of the best-looking Fastnet Rock colts I have ever seen.”

The standing of Acrobat is a shift away from Coolmore’s usual policy of proven racetrack performance, with the rising four-year-old joining the roster which features champions Fastnet Rock, So You Think, Pierro and international stars Justify and Wootton Bassett, among others.

Last week, Coolmore also announced it would shuttle world champion three-year-old, the European five-time Group 1 winner St Mark’s Basilica. His southern hemisphere fee is A$44,000.

Coolmore reasons that the untapped Acrobat, who smashed the clock with a scintillating 56.02-second Inglis Nursery victory at Randwick, is worthy of his place on the Hunter Valley farm’s roster.

A number of shareholders have already bought into the colt, ensuring he will receive strong support in his early years at stud.

“Acrobat was always extremely natural and fast, from the day he was broken-in at Coolmore until his unfortunate career ending accident at a time where he was one of the favourites for the Golden Slipper,” Coolmore racing manager Rob Archibald said.

“There is no doubt in our minds that he would have reached great heights on the track and it is a great shame that he could not realise his immense potential.”

Acrobat’s early trackwork and Inglis Nursery performance, in which he ran a faster time than Extreme Choice did in winning the same race in 2015, led co-trainer Ciaron Maher to compare the eye-catching colt favourably to another son of Fastnet Rock in former stablemate Merchant Navy.

Also on the Coolmore roster, Merchant Navy was an unbeaten juvenile who took out the Coolmore Stud Stakes at three and landed the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot later that season.

“Acrobat was an extremely talented horse and, with the times he ran, you could see that he had untapped ability,” Maher told ANZ Bloodstock News.

“We had a pretty good Fastnet Rock in Merchant Navy and he was very similar to him ability wise and Acrobat had as much ability as any two-year-old I’ve had anything to do with.”

Maher said he would have no hesitation in buying Acrobat’s offspring when they hit the yearling sales in 2025.

“Acrobat had an impact injury [which occurred on a walking machine], it wasn’t an injury caused by a conformational fault [which led to his retirement],” Maher said.

“He was very sound and he had a great temperament.”

Out of Reisling Stakes winner Hips Don’t Lie, whose seven foals to race have all won, Acrobat is a brother to Group 3-winning juvenile Ennis Hill and the Group 3-placed juvenile Memphis Rock and valuable broodmare Sia, also a winner at two.

Acrobat’s half-sister by I Am Invincible, the Mick Price and Mick Kent Jnr-trained Humming, sold for A$1.95 million at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

As well as Merchant Navy, Fastnet Rock also has Group 1-producing stallion sons Foxwedge, Smart Missile and Rothesay at stud this year, as well as Heroic Valour, the sire of five first crop winners this season from his Raheen Stud base in Queensland.

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