Palace Music, Cigar's sire, pensioned

Palace Music, sire of two-time Horse of the Year Cigar, has been pensioned from stud in Australia at age 24, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Palace Music, by The Minstrel, began shuttling from North America to the Southern Hemisphere in the late 1980's. In 1991, he became a permanent resident of Australia at Segenhoe Stud in the Hunter Valley. He stood most recently at Rangal Stud in Victoria.

Palace Music, a Group 1 and Grade 1 winner, is best known in the United States as Cigar's sire. A homebred for Allen and Madeleine Paulson's Brookside Farms, Cigar was named Horse of the Year and champion older male in 1995 and 1996. He equaled Citation's 16-race winning streak and achieved international stardom by taking the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996.

Sire of 15 graded or group winners, Palace Music was bred in Kentucky by Mereworth Farm and was out of the unraced Prince John mare Come My Prince.