'He really looked like a Dubawi' - globetrotting Benbatl to shuttle to Woodside Park Stud in Australia

Benbatl, a son of the globally influential Dubawi who gave Australia’s champion Winx a huge fright in the 2018 Cox Plate, will shuttle to Woodside Park Stud in 2024.

The Eddie Hirsch-owned Victoria-based farm has struck a deal with Japan’s Big Red Farm for the former Godolphin-owned three-time Group 1 winner to stand in Australia later this year.

The Saaed bin Suroor-trained Benbatl won 11 of his 25 races, from seven furlongs to a mile and a quarter, including the 2018 Caulfield Stakes before finishing runner-up to Winx in the last of her memorable four Cox Plate triumphs.

As well as his Group 1 victory in Australia, he also won at the highest level in the Dubai Turf at Meydan and the Bayerisches Zuchtrennen at Munich, while he landed the Joel Stakes twice and was a Royal Ascot winner in the Hampton Court Stakes.

In winning the Dubai Turf, he defeated Japanese horses Vivlos, Real Steel, a subsequent Arrowfield shuttler, and outstanding dual Group 1-winning mare Deirdre, a performance that put Benbatl on the radar of Japanese breeders.

Benbatl after winning the Hampton Court Stakes at Royal AscotCredit: Mark Cranham

In his first Joel Stakes success he defeated King Of Comedy, who now stands at New Zealand’s Novara Park Stud, and the recently retired Zaaki, a subsequent four-time Group 1 winner in Australia.

By the same sire as Darley’s shuttler Too Darn Hot, who has made a blistering start to his stud career in both hemispheres and created an instant impression in the south with six first-crop winners and four stakes horses, Benbatl is out of Britain’s 2011 champion three-year-old filly and dual Group 1 winner Nahrain, a half-sister to dual European Listed winner Baharah and a daughter of Group 2 winner and three-time Group 1-placed Bahr.

Benbatl’s fourth dam is the New Zealand Group 1 winner La Mer.

Woodside Park’s head of nominations Mark Dodemaide revealed that the stud had been searching far and wide, both domestically and internationally, for the right stallion to join its roster before landing on the Japan-based Benbatl.

He said: “What initially turned our heads was his physique. He really looked like a Dubawi, 15.3 hands, muscular, with a deep girth. 

Benbatl finishing second to Winx in the 2018 Cox PlateCredit: Vince Caligiuri (Getty Images)

“As a racehorse, he would sit on the pace and even lead if necessary and be able to produce a real fast turn of foot to put his rivals away. 

“He loved fast ground and was as tough as nails, as illustrated by his placing in the Saudi Cup on the dirt against all the best US dirt horses. 

“When you get to a rating of 125 and in the [world's] top ten, you are a pretty serious racehorse.”

Big Red Farm’s Hirokazu Okada agreed that Benbatl, who is in the middle of his third northern hemisphere breeding season in Japan, had the right credentials to be a success in Australia.

“He's a very muscular horse with a real will to win,” said Okada. 

“He loves fast ground so he appears a perfect fit for Australia. In his first crop he covered 108 mares, in his second in 2023 that number rose to 115, and currently he is covering another good book which includes 2020 Japanese champion filly Daring Tact.”

Woodside Park general manager Anthony Bueti was pleased to partner with a major Japanese stud to stand a stallion of Benbatl’s calibre. 

“Hirokazu and Big Red Farm have been great to collaborate with and it's been a pleasure working with them on this deal,” said Bueti. 

“Satomi Oka was a key liaison for both parties throughout the deal process. We look forward to Benbatl being a success in the southern hemisphere.” 

Benbatl joins a roster that includes ShalaaCredit: Al Shaqab

Hirsch added: “I've always been a fan of Dubawi. I actually raced a stakes winner by him in Royal Island. I've watched him progress to his current fee of £350,000 and become a breed-shaping sire.”

Benbatl will join dual Group 1 winner Shalaa, Golden Slipper winner Vancouver, Group 1-winning sprinter Foxwedge, Rich Enuff and Delaware on the Woodside stallion roster. His fee will be set at a later date.

Night Of Thunder, another son of Darley’s 2022 British and Irish champion sire Dubawi, shuttled to Australia for just one season, but from that crop of 51 foals for 46 runners he sired five individual stakes winners.  

Ghaiyyath has been shuttling to Darley’s Northwood Park for the past three seasons, with his first yearlings selling this year.

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