Paddington and Auguste Rodin headline Windsor Park as Shamexpress earns a fee bump
Windsor Park have announced their stallion fees for 2025, with Champion European 3YO Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact) the latest addition to their stallion roster at an introductory fee of NZ$30,000 (plus GST).
A six-time Group 1 winner on the track for Ballydoyle, including as a juvenile, Auguste Rodin landed both the Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) and Irish Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) as a three-year-old, before adding the Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) and Breeders’ Cup Turf (Gr 1, 12f) to his CV later that same year.
Following his exceptional Classic season, the son of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) then added the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) during the 2024 Royal Ascot meeting to his record – his final Group 1 win.
Auguste Rodin is the first foal out of the three-time Group 1-winning mare Rhododendron (Galileo), herself a sister to seven-time Group 1 winner Magical and out of Group 1 scorer Halfway To Heaven (Pivotal).
“[Having Auguste Rodin is] hugely exciting, he’s world-class,” Windsor Park’s Rodney Schick said. “We are just so excited to have him.
“His race performances are very much like High Chaparral and he was just wonderful. He’s got an amazing pedigree and he’s just been so sought after from breeders.
“We’re on a wait list only so he has filled up very quickly. He’s a beautiful looking animal and has a very good sire line, so a perfect fit for New Zealand.”
Fellow Ballydoyle superstar Paddington (Siyouni) will shuttle to Windsor Park Stud again from Coolmore’s Irish base for his second season of covering in the southern hemisphere.
Having served a full book in 2024, the four-time Group 1 winner had in excess of 100 mares being tested in foal last season and will stand at an unchanged fee of NZ$35,000 (plus GST).
“Paddington’s been massively well supported,” Schick said. “He’ll serve a full book again this year and we’re really looking forward to his foals coming next season.
“He’ll have 90-odd foals on the ground this year, so I’m really looking forward to those. He was massively supported last year and it will be the same again this year.”
Having had a breakout season in 2025 with his Hong Kong-based son Ka Ying Rising – the world’s highest ranked sprinter – advertising his talent as a stallion, Shamexpress (O’Reilly) will stand in 2025 for an increased fee of NZ$20,000 (plus GST), having stood last year for NZ$8,000 (plus GST).
“[He has] Ka Ying Rising, obviously having one of the best sprinters in the world is a big thing but it’s not only that, he said Blue Sky At Night over here and Lims Saltoro and Grinzinger Belle. So from a smaller pool of horses, he’s done a great job and I think he really deserves the rising fee,” Schick said.
Group 1 winner Profondo (Deep Impact) will begin his third season at Windsor Park having served in excess of 350 mares in his first two seasons at the stud.
The son of Deep Impact will again stand for a fee of NZ$17,500 (plus GST), the same fee that Circus Maximus (Galileo) will command in his fifth season at Windsor Park.
The son of Galileo’s (Sadler’s Wells) first crop in Australasia include unbeaten filly Ha’penny Hatch, who has landed a brace of wins at Eagle Farm and could line up in the Calaway Gal (Listed, 1200m) back at the Queensland track on Saturday.
“[Profondo] has been probably one of the most popular stallions in New Zealand in the last two seasons serving 170 plus mares in his first and second season,” Schick said.
“He’s left a cracking line of foals and I’m pretty sure he’s going to have a decent book again this year. He’s left a beautiful line of horses and I think the amount of mares this year has reflected on the back of his foals, so he left such a great bunch of foals. He’s a very good looking horse himself and he’s certainly left that in his progeny.
“At this stage, he’s [Circus Maximus] got a couple of horses running in stakes races this weekend and a couple in the weekend after looking to run, so he’s got some exciting horses around him.
“He’s full-time in New Zealand now so we’re excited to see them as three-year-olds. [Ha’penny Hatch] runs in a stakes race this weekend so she’s really exciting.”
Windsor Park’s roster is completed by proven stallions Vanbrugh (Encosta De Lago) and Turn Me Loose (Iffraaj). The former has been represented by Group 1 performers Mustang Valley and Wild Night and his yearlings sold for up to NZ$130,000 at Karaka.
Turn Me Loose has sired 52 individual winners of 70 races and in excess of $2.6 million in prize-money so far this season, with Loose Sally the most recent stakes winner from the stallion. Both Vanbrugh and Turn Me Loose will stand for a fee of NZ$7,500 (plus GST).
“Turn Me Loose we’ve dropped his fee but he had another Group-placed horse on the weekend in Electron in the Easter Handicap,” Schick said.
“He is doing a really good job, he’s got good numbers but we’ve just put him back in price, so he should be well supported at that price.”
“Vanbrugh obviously can leave a high-class galloper and Group 1 winners like Mustang Valley and Group 1 placed Wild Night. So he’s very good value at that price.”