Group 2 winner and proven sire Adaay on the move to Iran

Dr Hamid Khalili has announced the purchase of dual Group 2 winner and proven black-type-winning sire Adaay, who will now stand in Iran. 

Adaay landed the Sandy Lane and Hungerford Stakes for Shadwell and William Haggas before his retirement to Whitsbury Manor Stud in 2017. The now 13-year-old spent the next five seasons there before transferring to Allevamento di Besnate in Italy.

The son of Kodiac is responsible for triple American Grade 3 scorer Balnikhov, as well as American Grade 2 scorer Dicey Mo Chara and the dual Listed winner Adaay In Devon. 

Khalili, a senior lecturer at the Manchester School of Architecture and a trustee for the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket who has an involvement with the Iranian racing industry, said: "We're still pinching ourselves that we have managed to bring in a horse of his calibre. We're genuinely very grateful to Shadwell for being so kind and for letting him come to us on such a generous deal. I would also like to thank Dr Paolo Crespi, who looked after Adaay brilliantly during his time at his stud.

"He's done everything you would hope for from a proper stallion: a very healthy number of Group winners and black-type performers, a winners-to-runners rate above 50 per cent, and remarkable versatility. His stock have won and placed in black-type races internationally, from major racing nations such as the UK, the US and France, right through to exciting emerging jurisdictions like Bahrain. He's sired horses who excel on different surfaces and over a range of distances, and they show both precocity and longevity, which is a real plus for us.

Adaay In Devon: smart daughter of AdaayCredit: GROSSICK RACING

"He's an extremely elegant, well-balanced and correct horse, with a lovely walk, great movement, proper size and very good bone quality, and he has one of the most attractive heads you will ever see. He also suits the surface conditions in Iran very well. The ground can be quite firm and uneven, so you want a medium-sized, tough, durable horse, not too big and not too light, and he fits that profile perfectly."

Adaay looks set to replace Counterattack, who was purchased by Khalili in October. The Group-winning and Group 1-placed son of Redoute's Choice sadly died after developing shipping fever. 

Khalili added: "Earlier in the year, we had purchased Counterattack, a horse we were very fond of, but unfortunately, he developed severe shipping fever and, despite every effort, we lost him. It absolutely floored us. 

"Then, as so often happens in this game, [agent] Federico Barberini stepped in like a saving angel and helped us secure Adaay to make sure we still had a stallion for the season. In a way, it felt as though one door closed and a bigger one opened."

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