Nothing stands still in this business and now is another exciting time for Blue Gum Farm. We are delighted to announce that we have added the Champion and Classic winning sprinter/miler Astronomer Royal to our stallion roster in 2009.

From the final crop of Danzig, Astronomer Royal fulfills everything a breeder in Australia could ask for in a stallion. A Champion and Classic winner on the track, by a proven sire of sires and boasting a high-class female pedigree, Astronomer Royal is an outstanding physical specimen that did his racing on turf and drug-free.

Prepared by Aidan O’Brien at Ballydoyle, Astronomer Royal travelled to England as a two-year-old to win his Maiden over six furlongs at Newbury by two and a half lengths. From there on he raced only in the highest-class, at Group level every start.

It is a rare horse that can win a Classic at just his fourth racecourse appearance but that is precisely what Astronomer Royal was good enough to do. The Poule d’Essai des Poulains is the equivalent of the 2000 Guineas in France, run over Longchamp’s testing 1,600 metres. Last in the field of 14 at halfway, Astronomer Royal switched to the outside and then unleashed a powerful run to join the leaders and then quicken again in the final 200 metres to defeat the Jim Bolger-trained Creachadoir by a half-length.

Starting at 3/1 in a crack field of no less than eight individual group winners, Astronomer Royal had the likes of Group 1 winners Creachadoir, Excellent Art and Spirit One strung out behind him that afternoon.

Winning jockey Colm O’Donoghue said afterwards; “Astronomer Royal was where he was when I wanted, and he showed lots of speed in the straight. He is certainly a very good horse.”

Winners of the Poulains are highly sought by international breeders and for good reason. Recent winners of the race that have gone on to be influential stallions include Kingmambo, Linamix, Kendor, Green Tune, Soviet Star, Irish River, Blushing Groom, Green Dancer, Kalamoun, Riverman and Caro while historically winners include Relko, Right Royal, Buisson Ardent, Klairon, Djebel, Brantome and Sir Galahad III.

Astronomer Royal subsequently franked his form with a close up third behind Excellent Art and Duke Of Marmalade next time out in Europe’s most highly regarded three-year-old mile contest, the St James’s Palace Stakes (Gr 1) where he had Cockney Rebel, winner of the English and Irish 2000 Guineas, behind him along with Group 1 winners Dutch Art and Creachadoir. He finished his Classic year by being crowned the Champion Three-year-old male Miler in France.

Astronomer Royal had courage as well as class. Burdened with the welter-weight of 10 stone (63.5kg) - yes you read right, sixty-three and a half - in the six-furlong Greenlands Stakes (Gr 3) run on ground officially described as ‘firm’ at the Curragh as a four-year-old, Astronomer Royal swept through in the final furlong to score with four individual Group winners behind him including the Group 1 winner Myboycharlie.

His sire Danzig needs little introduction or embellishment. The Champion North American Sire for three consecutive seasons from 1991 through ‘93, Danzig was euthanased at the Hancock family’s Claiborne Farm in January 2006 at age 29 due to the infirmities of old age but his legacy is strong. His progeny include 19 Champions, 200 Stakes winners and 116 Group or Graded Stakes winners in 24 crops. In addition to the incomparable Danehill, Danzig’s Champion Sire sons include Anabaa, Green Desert and Chief’s Crown to name but a few.

The sire line has dominated racing in Australia in recent years and it is worth recalling the VRC Spring Carnival results of 2008 where a total of 24 black type races were run over four days at Flemington. Incredibly, 15 winners (or 62%) of the 24 races were from the Danzig male line.

Astronomer Royal is a half-brother to the North American Grade 2 winner Navesink River, their dam Sheepscot, a Listed winning daughter of Champion racehorse Easy Goer, a son of Alydar, and a half-sister to the Grade 1 Florida Derby winner and promising young sire, Vicar.

Class permeates through every generation of this pedigree. Astronomer Royal’s third dam Viva Sec is a Stakes winning daughter of Secretariat, indeed his first four dams are all Stakes performers and the first four maternal sires in Astronomer Royal’s pedigree; Easy Goer, El Gran Senor, Secretariat and Royal Note are all Group or Grade 1 winners.

For pedigree theorists, his tabulation opens up a world of opportunities. The Danzig / Easy Goer cross has produced the Group 1 sire Mull Of Kintyre while the Danzig / Mr Prospector cross is responsible for Flying Spur. Astronomer Royal’s granddam is by El Gran Senor, a grandson of Best In Show, so he looks tailor made for mares carrying Umatilla, Last Tycoon, Spinning World, Redoute’s Choice, Xaar, Try My Best or Masterclass in their pedigree.

His third-dam being by Secretariat opens up the prospect of duplicating Somethingroyal through Sir Gaylord and this is already proven in Australia through Grand Lodge, a grandson of Danzig.

Of course, all this paper and theory is fine, ultimately it’s the horse that counts and Astronomer Royal is an outstanding individual. Typical Danzig, robustly made, correct and with lots of presence, he has an intelligent head with a lovely bold eye and his sire’s white splash on the face. He stands almost 16.1 hands and retired perfectly sound.

Astronomer Royal’s service fee will be announced at the conclusion of the Easter Sales series along with the service fees of our other stallions. At Blue Gum Farm we continue the tradition of offering you, the broodmare owner, a selection of quality stallions rather than just a quantity of stallions. We believe that in Astronomer Royal, we have another quality stallion to offer and assure you that Blue Gum Farm will continue with another tradition, that of pricing its stallions fairly and competitively!