Auguste Rodin to retire after Japan Cup swansong

PA Sport Reporters
September 27, 2024 1:19 pm

Last year’s Derby hero will stand at Coolmore in 2025.

Dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin is set to retire to stud following a final run in the Japan Cup in November.

The son of Deep Impact is a six-times Group/Grade One winner, landing the Futurity Trophy as a juvenile before securing Derby glory at both and Epsom and the Curragh last year.

He subsequently claimed the Irish Champion Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Turf at three before winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot earlier this summer.

It is fitting he will return to the country in which his sire made his name for his final on-track appearance before commencing stallion duties for the 2025 season at Coolmore’s base in Ireland.

Auguste Rodin beat King Of Steel at Epsom (Tim Goode/PA)

“Auguste Rodin is out of Rhododendron, one of the best Galileo mares, and by Deep Impact, Japan’s best stallion,” said Aidan O’Brien, who has overseen the colt’s career.

“He connects two of the most powerful breeding lines in the world. He has been a pleasure and a privilege to train.

“He is just a very unique horse and we’re very excited to see what he will achieve at stud. We will be supporting him with our own mares.”

Auguste Rodin has been ridden in all but one of his races by Ryan Moore, who added: “He’s been an unbelievable horse for us. We have always thought the world of him. He has everything you’d want.

“He has so much pace. He could kill horses for speed, and he was able to stretch that out over 12 furlongs. Horses like him are so hard to find. An incredible horse.”

Coolmore’s MV Magnier is excited to see Auguste Rodin join the stallion ranks, rating him alongside some of the very best sires to stand at the stud.

Auguste Rodin was a top-level winner at Ascot in June (David Davies/PA)

He said: “Auguste Rodin is an exceptional racehorse and stallion prospect with the blend of class, speed and pedigree that only the best possess.

“He is a very special horse for us, and I truly believe he ranks up there with the best middle-distance racehorses and sires that we have stood here before him like Sadler’s Wells, Galileo, Montjeu, Caerleon and Camelot.

“Physically he fills the eye so well as he has extra quality and movement so I can’t wait to see his first crop in Ballydoyle in 2028. We are going to do all we can to give him the best possible opportunity to follow in his illustrious predecessor’s footsteps.”