Highland Reel all set for shuttle trip to Sangster's Swettenham Stud

The Australian stallion ranks have received another boost with the globetrotting Highland Reel to shuttle from Coolmore's Irish base to Adam Sangster's Swettenham Stud in Victoria, where he will stand at a fee of A$15,000 (£8,180/€9,430).

"Swettenham Stud is extremely excited to have secured Highland Reel from Coolmore for stallion duties in the southern hemisphere," said Sangster. "And while he might be standing at our Nagambie base, Highland Reel's appeal is truly global.

"With his tremendous race record and what is clearly a stallion's pedigree, I'm highly confident he will attract broodmare owners from all states, particularly at such a competitive fee."

An exceptional racehorse, Highland Reel was a Group 2 winner as a two-year-old and won seven Group/Grade 1 races during busy campaigns at three, four and five.

He possessed the constitution to perform at the highest level in seven countries - including a third behind wondermare Winx in the 2015 Cox Plate - and he also won over £7.5 million (over A$15 million) in prize-money, making him the highest-earning European-trained horse in history.

In 2016, as a four-year-old, Highland Reel campaigned in Dubai, Hong Kong, Britain (winning the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes), Ireland, France and the US - where he won the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Highland Reel was a firm favourite of his trainer Aidan O'Brien, who described the son of Galileo as: "an incredible horse with pace and courage and tactical speed - he has everything."

Bloodstock agent and former Godolphin chief executive John Ferguson was another industry figure to share his admiration for the horse, saying: "Highland Reel won his maiden as a two-year-old by an incredible 12 lengths and nearly four years later, the horse was still at his peak, ending his career with an emphatic victory in the Hong Kong Vase.

"It’s worth noting too that his first Hong Kong Vase victory, in 2015, was only weeks after his third behind Winx when he was still effectively only a three-year-old. A tremendous racehorse."

Moreover, Highland Reel's race record and iron constitution are backed up by a pedigree that will be familiar to many Australian breeders.

He is a son of the all-conquering Galileo, sire of 70 individual Group/Grade 1 winners, and is bred on the same potent Galileo-Danehill cross as the likes of Frankel and Teofilo.

Highland Reel is out of the Group 1-placed Australian-bred mare Hveger, whose other runners include his brother Idaho, a dual Group 2 winner who also reached the frame in the Derby and the Irish equivalent, and the Encosta De Lago mare Valdemoro, who was runner-up in the Group 1 VRC Oaks and Vinery Stud Stakes.

Hveger is out of the Australian Oaks winner and blue hen Circles Of Gold, whose other offspring include multiple Group 1 winners Haradasun and Elvstroem.

Further back in the family is champion sprinter and leading sire Starspangledbanner, who campaigned successfully in both hemispheres and has produced Group-calibre performers in Europe and Australia since retiring to stud.

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