European sire Cape Cross pensioned from stud duty

Cape Cross, one of Europe’s leading sires, has been pensioned due to fertility issues.

The 22-year-old son of Green Desert stood the Northern Hemisphere season at Darley’s Kildangan Stud in Co. Kildare, Ireland, where he was advertised in 2016 for a fee of $17,836 (20,000 Euros). He also shuttled to Darley’s Australian base for the Southern Hemisphere season.

"We are approaching the end of March and he has failed to get a mare in foal, so it has been decided that he should be retired from stallion duties,” said Sam Bullard, Darley's director of stallions. "Breeders have been kept informed throughout.”

Cape Cross retired to stud in 2000, and has sired 15 crops of racing age, with 1,014 winners and combined progeny earnings of more than $100.4 million.

He sired three European Horses of the Year – Sea the Stars, Ouija Board, and Golden Horn. Ouija Board also earned Eclipse Awards as champion turf female in 2004 and 2006. Other champions by Cape Cross include two-time New Zealand Horse of the Year Seachange, Hong Kong champion Able One, Turkish champions Kalimdor and Dream Keeper, and Saudi Arabian champion Caprivi.

In total, Cape Cross has been represented by 58 graded or group stakes winners. He was the leading sire in England and France in 2009.

Bred in Ireland by Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, Cape Cross won 5 of 19 starts, led by wins in the English Group 1 Lockinge Stakes, and the Group 2 Queen Anne Stakes and Celebration Mile. He was also graded-placed in France and stakes-placed in the U.A.E.

Sons of Cape Cross at stud in Europe include Sea the Stars, Golden Horn, Confuchias, Crosspeace, Jet Away, Moohaajim, and Native Ruler. Elsewhere in the world, his sire line goes on with Turkish stallions Halicarnassus and Out of Control, and in Japan with Behkabad.