Justify to shuttle to Coolmore Australia

Undefeated Triple Crown winner Justify will shuttle to stand at Coolmore Australia during the Southern Hemisphere breeding season, which begins Sept. 1.

Justify, a son of the late Scat Daddy, is in the midst of his first Northern Hemisphere season at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, where he is standing for an advertised fee of $150,000. The 2018 Horse of the Year will head to Australia this summer before returning at the end of the year. His fee for his initial Southern Hemisphere season is listed as private.

“Justify was a phenomenal racehorse who re-wrote the history books through his achievements on the track," Coolmore Australia's Tom Magnier said in a release. "It is an absolute privilege to stand him at Coolmore Australia alongside our other U.S. Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, who has already been so well supported by Australian breeders."

American Pharoah became the first American Triple Crown winner to stand in Australia when he began shuttling for the 2017 season, with Justify now set to join him in a fitting accomplishment for the international Coolmore group. Coolmore was an early pioneer in the practice of building dual-hemisphere careers for stallions, and the practice took off when its prolific sire Danehill shuttled from Ireland to Australia for the 1990 season. The concept took root with other major operations throughout that decade. But by then, the two Triple Crown winners active at stud in Kentucky, Seattle Slew and Affirmed, were nearing the end of their stud careers; they died in 2002 and 2001, respectively.

“History tells us the best racehorses make the best sires," Coolmore Australia’s sales and nominations manager Colm Santry said. "Justify is a horse of incredibly rare ability, and to stand him alongside fellow U.S. Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Hunter Valley is a huge show of faith in the strength of the Australian industry by the Magnier family."

Scat Daddy, who died in late 2015 when his star was still on the rise, was an internationally successful sire for Coolmore. He sired champions in the U.S. and Europe, as well as Chile, where he shuttled.

Coolmore shuttles the Scat Daddy sons No Nay Never, whose oldest foals are 3, and Caravaggio, whose first foals are arriving now, from its Irish headquarters to Australia. No Nay Never was Europe's leading freshman sire last season, with runners including Group 1 winner Ten Sovereigns.