'Outstanding' sprinter Minzaal to join Derrinstown Stud's roster for 2023

Shadwell has announced the addition of brilliant Haydock Sprint Cup winner Minzaal to its Derrinstown Stud roster in County Kildare for the 2023 breeding season.

Minzaal was bred by Ringfort Stud and sold to the late Hamdan Al Maktoum's operation for 140,000gns from Glenvale Stud at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, having sold to Peter and Ross Doyle for 85,000gns from the December Foal Sale.

The son of Mehmas went into training with Owen Burrows and shelved his maiden tag at the second attempt at two with a near four-length win at Salisbury, before an emphatic success in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at York. He finished the season with a fine third in the Middle Park Stakes to Supremacy.

Placed on both starts at three, including when third in the British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot, he won the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes this term before a fine second to Highfield Princess in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.

He then produced a three and three-quarter length triumph in the Haydock Group 1, producing a career-best Racing Post Rating (125) and official rating (121) in the process, but was found to have fractured his left knee and was subsequently retired.

Sheikha Hissa said: “Minzaal has been an outstanding sprinter for our operation for the past three years. I believe Owen, Jim [Crowley] and I agree that we have never met a sprinter with such a remarkable temperament, and I hope his progeny in the future will reflect the qualities we have seen and admired in Minzaal.

"I would like to thank everyone at Owen’s, Shadwell, and Derrinstown for their expertise in training and taking care of Minzaal. I would also like to thank Ringfort Stud for breeding an excellent colt that we took a great deal of pleasure in racing – and now proudly stand as a stallion in our operation."

Shadwell's European bloodstock manager Stephen Collins added: “Minzaal ticks all the boxes for the commercial breeder. He was a speedy, precocious two-year-old who developed into a Group-1 winning four-year-old.

"He was also Group-1 placed at two, three and four. He is Mehmas’s top-rated racehorse in his first three crops of racing age, but more importantly he is currently the top-rated sprinter in Europe with an official BHA rating of 121.

Owen Burrows (far right) with Minzaal at HaydockCredit: Grossick Racing

"A versatile good-looking colt with a wonderful temperament who acted in all ground conditions, he is a great addition to the Shadwell stallion roster.”

Burrows also paid tribute to his Group 1 winner and said: “As a two-year-old, he’d do it every time if you asked him. There were a few bits of work that really got the heart pumping. We went to the Gimcrack and I never like to be too confident – you’re more hopeful than confident. But it didn’t surprise me in the slightest when he did what he did at York. It was an exceptional performance.

"Minzaal is easily the fastest I’ve trained. He was a very athletic horse who moved well and covered the ground. When he went up through the gears it was a sight to behold.”

Minzaal's fee for 2023 will be announced at a later date.

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