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Dual Group 1-winning Champion 2YO Puerto Rico to Retire to Castlehyde Stud

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Puerto Rico winning the Gr.1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère
Puerto Rico winning the Gr.1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère

Coolmore has announced that dual Group 1-winning Champion 2YO Puerto Rico has retired to stand at Castlehyde Stud for the 2027 breeding season.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien, the outstanding juvenile sparked a dominant and flawless autumn hat-trick by defeating European Champion 2YO Gewan in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster. He proceeded to capture the Gr.1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère over seven furlongs, besting dual Gr.1 and Classic winner Rayif by two and a half lengths, and doing so in a faster time than his late sire, Wootton Bassett. Surpassing his sire’s own race record, Puerto Rico then completed back-to-back French Group 1 victories with a straightforward win in the Gr.1 Critérium International over a mile at Saint-Cloud.

From an outstanding family of Champions and multiple Group 1 winners, Puerto Rico is out of the Group 2-placed Galileo mare April Showers, a full-sister to four-time Group 1 and Classic-winning Champion 2YO Misty For Me and Prix Marcel Boussac heroine Ballydoyle. It is the immediate family of multiple Group 1 winners Roly Poly and unbeaten European Champion Two-Year-Old Fasliyev.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien highlighted Puerto Rico’s resemblance to his sire: “Wootton Bassett himself had tremendous speed, and this colt has just as much of it. He reminds me a lot of him. He’s a lovely, big, powerful, mature horse.”

Welcoming the Champion 2YO to the roster, Castlehyde Stud Manager Paddy Fleming emphasised: “Puerto Rico is the best two-year-old by Wootton Bassett, and the reality is that he was a better two-year-old than him. He brings incredible 2YO form and one of the best pedigrees in the stud book to the roster. His fee will be announced this week and breeders can anticipate exceptional commercial value from a horse of this calibre.”

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Lifetime Breeding Rights to Sovereignty, Knightsbridge, and Nyquist Added to Fasig-Tipton November Sale

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November 1, 2026

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Sovereignty leads the field home in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on October 31, 2026
Sovereignty leads the field home in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on October 31, 2026.

The Fasig-Tipton November Sale added three exciting entries today, with lifetime breeding rights to Sovereignty, Knightsbridge, and Nyquist supplemented to tomorrow’s auction. Sovereignty and Knightsbridge will begin stud duties in 2027 at Darley America in Lexington, Kentucky.

Sovereignty Lifetime Breeding Right (hip 165): One lifetime breeding right to Sovereignty, who will enter stud at Darley America in 2027 for $150,000 live foal, stands and nurses. He won yesterday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) to become just the seventh horse in history to win both the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). His remarkable career now includes five Grade 1 victories, the Kentucky Derby, Belmont S., Travers S., Whitney S., and Breeders’ Cup Classic. He is the only horse in history to win all five races, and his career earnings now stand at $10,516,550. A son of seven-time leading sire Into Mischief, he is out of Crowned, by Bernardini. His female family includes Grade 1 winners Mushka and Lakeway. Consigned by Darley Stallions.

Knightsbridge Lifetime Breeding Right (hip 180): One lifetime breeding right to Knightsbridge, who will enter stud at Darley America in 2027 for $75,000 live foal, stands and nurses. He captured this year’s Pacific Classic S. (G1) by a widening six and a quarter lengths. A five-time graded stakes winner from seven furlongs to a mile and a quarter, he won this year’s Monmouth Cup (G3) with a 122 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest earned by any horse in 2026. He finished third, beaten just two and a quarter lengths, in yesterday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), boosting his career earnings to $2,153,155. Knightsbridge is a son of Champion and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Nyquist, out of Tyburn Brook, by Bernardini. He is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner and promising young sire Speaker’s Corner and hails from the family of Grade 1 winners Round Pond, Highland Falls, and Black Minnaloushe. Consigned by Darley Stallions.

Nyquist Lifetime Breeding Right (hip 195): One lifetime breeding right to Nyquist, who will stand for $225,000 live foal, stands and nurses in 2027 at Darley America. The Kentucky Derby winner and Eclipse Champion Two-Year-Old Male is the sire of 13 Grade 1 winners and 16 million-dollar yearlings. In 2026, he is the sire of Grade 1 winners Nysos, Knightsbridge, and undefeated two-year-old filly Emphatic, winner of Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). He is also the sire of a $3.2 million session topping yearling at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga this year.

These latest entries may now be viewed online and will also be available in the equineline catalogue app. Print versions will be available on the sales grounds.

The Fasig-Tipton November Sale will take place tomorrow, November 2, in Lexington, Kentucky. The sale begins at 2 pm.

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