Top-class galloper retired to stud

Press, 4 September 1980, Page 20

Top-class galloper retired to stud

NZPA . Sydney Mighty' Kingdom, winner of '■ the Caulfiel d Clip last vear, is to stand at stud to replace his injured sire, Planet Kingdom. " . The four-year-old chestnut from the mare, Madam 'Borough, is to stand this season at Mr Lloyd Foyster’s famous Guntawong Stud at Guigong in New ■ South Wales. Mighty . Kingdom had his last .race at Sandown on Saturday in the • J. J. Liston . Stakes, running second to Grey Sapphire and just beating the New Zealand star tM v Brown Jug, known in New Zealand as ’ Little Brown Jug. The. placnig brought his tally to 10 firsts, four seconds and a third from 20 starts. - -, i In his racing career Mighty ' Kingdom earned $337,410 in stakes. His trainer and part-owner iT. J. (Tommy) Smith rej vealed after the Liston that : Mighty Kingdom would be ' going to stud to replace _the i badly-injured Planet King- ; dom.

: .planet Kingdom, a repre- ■ sentative of the all powerful • Star Kingdom sire line, has ; so far sired winners of more • than $2 million. i Other than Mighty Kingi dom, Planet Kingdom’s i major winners have included Gypsy Kingdom, .Ming Dy- ! nasty, Just Ideal, Caledonian ! Planet, Command Module, (King of the Stars and Galaxy King." ; .• - But the great sire is now fighting for . his., life after suffering a compound fracture of • the ■ hind cannon bone and veterinary experts plan to-put Planet Kingdom in a Especially constructed flotation .tank- in a bid to save the horse. ..... Because of the uncertainty surrounding Planet. Kingdom, the ■ decision was taken to retire Mighty Kingdom to .stud. . • ,• The value of Mighty Kingdom as ; a stallion can be judged by the’fact that an . American offer of $2 million • was turned' down by the horse’s owners.last Friday.. .

. As a two-year-old Mighty i Kingdom won the Sires’ Pro- I duce Stakes at Flemington and followed that in the aut- • umn when a three-year-old, ) by setting a track record to 1 take out the Chelmsford States (1800 m at Randwick. : Mighty Kingdom then , headed south again to : Caulfield where on October I 13 he led throughout to J score a convincing win over i Shivaree and the now dead Arbre .Chene „in the 1984 m! Caulfield Stakes. 1 'A week later, he shot < away on the turn to score a ; great length-and-a-quarter ; victory over Warrie Symbol , in the 2400 m Caulfield Cup. However, Mighty Kingdom ■ could not keep up the wip- i

ning streak and finished fourth behind Big Print, Kingston Town and Runaway Kid in the Victoria Derby (2500 m at Flemington. In the space of a month and a half at Ascot in West Australia at the end of. the year Mighty Kingdom won the W.A. Derby, the Marlboro $50,000 and ran third in the Australian Derby. This year, in his build up for a second crack at the Caulfield Cup, Mighty Kingdom had won the Bundamba Stakes (1200 m and was a disappointing sixth in the Freeway Stakes (1200 m at Moonee Valley before his second on Saturday. .