Duke of Marmalade to stand in South Africa

European champion Duke of Marmalade has been sold to Drakenstein Stud in South Africa, and will stand there in the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season, Racing Post reports.

The 10-year-old son of Danehill previously stood at Coolmore Stud in Ireland, where he entered service in 2009. Duke of Marmalade has sired three crops of racing age, led by Group 3 winners Venus de Milo, Quaduna, and Lady Cumquat.

Bred in Ireland by Southern Bloodstock, Duke of Marmalade won six of 16 career starts, earning $2,777,768 for the Coolmore partnership and trainer Aidan O’Brien. He earned Europe’s champion older male honors in 2008 with a campaign that included Group 1 scores in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Prince of Wales’s Stakes, and Juddmonte International Stakes in England; the Prix Ganay in France; and the Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland.

"I am absolutely delighted that a horse of the quality and caliber of Duke Of Marmalade is coming to Drakenstein to stand alongside Trippi, Horse Chestnut, Philanthropist and What A Winter,” Gaynor Rupert, owner of Drakenstein Stud, told Racing Post "We went to see the horse last week at Coolmore Stud and we loved him. He started quarantine yesterday and he will ship to Cape Town next month ready for the next Southern Hemisphere covering season.”

Duke of Marmalade is out of the Grade 3-placed Kingmambo mare Love Me True, whose five winners from six foals to race also include Group 1 winner Ruler of the World and Grade 3-placed Countess Lemonade.