Minzaal to stand at Derrinstown Stud in 2023

PA Sport Reporters
October 25, 2022 12:38 pm

Shadwell sprinter retired after Sprint Cup success.

Group One-winning sprinter Minzaal will stand at Derrinstown Stud in 2023 as he joins Shadwell’s stallion roster.

The son of Mehmas won four times in an 11-race career for Owen Burrows, with the colt retired from racing following injury sustained in his sole top-level victory in September’s Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock.

He was a winner of the Hackwood Stakes at Newbury earlier in the year, before chasing home Highfield Princess in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.

He just blew them away 🤯
MINZAAL is a Group 1 winner! 👏
(via @RacingTV) pic.twitter.com/Mi9kDxWpUd

— Champions Series (@ChampionsSeries) September 3, 2022

Bought for 140,000 guineas as a yearling in 2019, he was a winner of the Gimcrack Stakes at two and went on to be placed in Group contests in each of the three years he was in training.

Owner Sheikha Hissa said: “Minzaal has been an outstanding sprinter for our operation for the past three years.

“I believe Owen, Jim (Crowley, jockey) and I agree that we have never met a sprinter with such a remarkable temperament, and I hope his progeny in the future will reflect the qualities we have seen and admired in Minzaal.

“I would like to thank everyone at Owen’s, Shadwell, and Derrinstown for their expertise in training and taking care of Minzaal. I would also like to thank Ringfort Stud for breeding an excellent colt that we took a great deal of pleasure in racing – and now proudly stand as a stallion in our operation.”

Angus Gold, racing manager for Shadwell added: “Minzaal was amongst the top two-year-olds of his generation, winning the Gimcrack Stakes very impressively and finishing the season with a good third in the Middle Park Stakes,”

“He had a hold up in the spring of 2021 which kept him off the track most of his three-year-old career, but he ran a fantastic race to be third in the British Champion Sprint Stakes in the middle of October.

“He came back better than ever as a four-year-old and rounded out his career with a very well deserved and decisive Group One win in the Sprint Cup.

Minzaal ridden by Jim Crowley on their way to winning the bet365 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury racecourse (Zac Goodwin/PA)

“Minzaal was blessed with an outstanding temperament. And that attitude, combined with his speed and very good looks, are sure to make him a very attractive proposition to breeders on his retirement to Derrinstown Stud.”

Burrows said: “As a two-year-old, he’d do it every time if you asked him. There were a few bits of work that really got the heart pumping.

“Minzaal is easily the fastest I’ve trained. He was a very athletic horse who moved well and covered the ground. When he went up through the gears it was a sight to behold.”