Not This Time strikes with Royal Ascot winner

Not This Time, who has distinguished himself as an elite stallion in recent years, was the only U.S.-resident stallion to record a winner at the Royal Ascot meeting last week. He was part of a solid week for the sireline of the late Giant’s Causeway, himself a star on both sides of the pond.

Not This Time, who stands at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., was represented by Shareholder, who won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes on June 20 to remain unbeaten in two starts. The colt was bred in Kentucky by Skyfall Thoroughbreds and now races for Wathnan Racing after selling at the Keeneland September yearling sale and then the Arqana May breeze-up sale.

Not This Time, a homebred for the Albaugh Family Stable, won the Grade 3 Iroquois as a juvenile and then was a close second to divisional champion Classic Empire in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. A soft-tissue injury forced the colt into early retirement, but he proved equally precocious in his second career. He finished third by earnings on the 2020 freshman sire list while leading by winners; he led 2021 second-crop sires by earnings.

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Not This Time had his breakout season in 2022, with Eclipse Award champion Epicenter propelling him to 10th on the general sires list. He showed his versatility with another champion last year, this time Up to the Mark on the turf, to check in eighth on the list. Not This Time was 15th in this year’s general sire standings through Sunday, with his runners this season including record-setting Grade 1 Jaipur winner Cogburn; Grade 2 winner Arzak, who was second in the Jaipur; Grade 3 winner No More Time; standout marathon stakes winner Next; and Sibelius, previously a Group 1 winner in Dubai who is a stakes winner this season. Overall, he is the sire of six career Grade/Group 1 winners.

Not This Time has emerged as the heir in the United States to Giant’s Causeway, who died in 2018. That stallion, by the great Storm Cat, was foaled at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky and raced as a homebred for that outfit, primarily in Europe. He won six Group 1 races on that continent – then, in his only start on dirt in the United States, finished second by a hard-fought neck to Tiznow in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Classic. He was subsequently named European Horse of the Year.

Giant’s Causeway retired to Coolmore Stud in Ireland, but moved home to Ashford after one season. He sired 11 champions worldwide – including 2019 Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar – and earned three North American leading sire titles.

Unsurprisingly, many of Giant’s Causeway’s best sons stood in Europe or were snapped up to stand elsewhere overseas – such as Bricks and Mortar, who began his stud career in Japan in 2020. Not This Time has emerged as the standout among just three sons remaining in Kentucky for the stallion, with the consistent First Samurai, sire of three Grade 1 winners since entering stud in 2007, at Claiborne Farm, and Irish Surf at Chesapeake Farm. The stallion has many other sons standing in regional marketplaces around North America.

Meanwhile, the late European champion Shamardal, who died in 2020 at Darley’s Kildangan Stud in Ireland, emerged as Giant’s Causeway’s heir in Europe, and that branch of the line looked alive and well at Royal Ascot.

Shamardal, produced in Giant’s Causeway’s first crop while standing in Kentucky, is the sire of eight champions and 95 career graded/group stakes winners to date. He was represented at Royal Ascot by Inisherin, winner of the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.

Shamardal’s sons at stud include successful stallion Lope de Vega (Ballylinch Stud), who sired King George V winner Going the Distance; and the promising Blue Point (Darley), who, from his first crop, was represented by Group 1 St James’s Palace winner Rosallion. Lope de Vega’s sons Belardo and Phoenix of Spain also represented the line with Royal Ascot winners.

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