‘He was an incredibly kind and intelligent horse’ – Coolmore announces the death of star racehorse and sire So You Think
So You Think (High Chaparral), a ten-time Group 1 winner turned successful Coolmore sire, has died after succumbing to a short illness while receiving world-class care from the team at Scone Equine Hospital. He was 19.
Coolmore Australia, where he had been standing since 2012, announced the news on their social channels on Monday morning.
The farm’s principal Tom Magnier said: “When people visit Coolmore, more often than not the stallion most of them really want to see is So You Think. He was an absolute gentleman, an incredibly kind and intelligent horse and this is a sad day for all the staff that have looked after him so well at Coolmore since he retired in 2012.
“We are so lucky to have had him and watch him develop into one of the country’s truly elite sires.”
So You Think’s breeders Mike and Helen Moran and Piper Farm in New Zealand sent Triassic, their Group 3-winning daughter of Tights (Nijinsky) to Windsor Park’s influential shuttle stallion High Chaparral. The colt was then sent for sale at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale in 2008, selling to Duncan Ramage for $110,000.
Sent into training with the legendary Bart Cummings for owner Dato Tan Chin Nam, So You Think made a lowkey debut at Rosehill in the May of his two-year-old season, winning by 1.3 lengths. His stakes breakthrough came in the Gloaming Stakes (Gr 3, 1800m) at Rosehill, which he backed up with a fifth in the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).
The announcement of So You Think’s death comes a few days before the Cox Plate is due to take place at Moonee Valley, with the stallion having landed the iconic race twice, most famously on only his fifth start as a three-year-old.
After adding another two Group triumphs to his record with mind-blowing wins in the Memsie Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) and Underwood Stakes (Gr 1, 1800m) as a four-year-old, So You Think embarked on what would become one of the best spring campaigns, beginning with the successful defence of his crown in The Valley’s marquee event. He backed that up with a victory in the MacKinnon Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) a week later and showed his iron constitution with a brave third-placed finish behind Americain (Dynaformer), shouldering a colossal weight, in the Melbourne Cup three days later.
Following his successful spring carnival, Coolmore purchased So You Think in a big money deal and he was transferred to Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stables and made an instant impact with a ten-length demolition in the Mooresbridge Stakes (Gr 3, 1m 2f), before chalking up the first of his five northern hemisphere Group 1s in the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Gr 1, 1m 2.5f).
He then finished an agonising neck second to Rewilding in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) at Royal Ascot, before getting back to winning ways with ultra impressive scores in the Eclipse (Gr 1, 1m 2f) and Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f).
So You Think then went on to finish fourth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) and second in the British Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f), beaten three-quarters of a length by Cirrus des Aigles (Even Top), before signing off his season with sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr 1, 10f), one of only two times he finished out of the first four in his 23-start career.
Kept in training the following year, he finished fourth in the Dubai World Cup (Gr 1, 2000m), before successfully retaining his Tattersalls Gold Cup crown. However, arguably his career defining moment came when providing Joseph O’Brien with his first Royal Ascot win in the saddle in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, which proved to be So You Think’s final start of an illustrious career.
Paying tribute, O’Brien said: “What can I say, he was great racehorse and a great stallion. It is always sad news to hear. He was a special horse and he gave us special memories, particularly when Joseph won the Prince Of Wales’s on him at Ascot.”
Magnier added: “He provided me with so many great memories on racetracks throughout the world as both a racehorse and a stallion. I will never forget the day he sired three Group 1 winners in a day at Randwick in 2022, but equally the day he provided Joseph O’Brien with his first Royal Ascot winner as a jockey in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in 2012.”
Described by Cummings as ‘perfection on four legs, you don’t get any better than him, he is the finest, most genuine horse I have ever trained’, So You Think leaves behind an important legacy through his exploits as a stallion.
A dual Australian sires’ premiership runner-up, his record includes 66 stakes winners which are headed by 12 elite-level winners, including dual top-flight winner Think About It, who won The Everest (1200m) in 2023 before it had been granted to Group 1 status.
So You Think entered stud in 2012 at a fee of $66,000 (inc GST) and commanded a career high of $99,000 (inc GST) in 2023 when he covered 164 mares. Last season he covered 105 mares at a fee of $77,000 (inc GST).
So You Think reverse shuttled to Coolmore Ireland for four seasons early in his career, resulting in four northern hemisphere-born stakes winners, the best being the imported Knights Order, whose victory in the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) made up one third of an impressive trifecta of Group 1 winners in an afternoon at Randwick for the stallion.
The stallion’s daughters are ensuring his influence on both sides of the pedigree. So You Think mares have produced eight stakes winners, headed by Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) and Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Fireburn (Rebel Dane) and Prix Jean Prat (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Puchkine (Starspangledbanner).
This news comes after a tragic few months for Coolmore Australia, with the operation having to enthanise their breeding-shaping sire Fastnet Rock (Danehill) and star shuttler Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), whose death was announced last month.