RECORD-BREAKING champion and four-time group 1 winner Postponed will join his outstanding sire Dubawi at Dalham Hall Stud next season. Rated 130 when crowned Timeform’s Champion older horse in 2016, he will stand for £20,000 from October 1st special live foal.
An outstanding middle-distance performer for his owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, Postponed earned his highest rating when beating Highland Reel in the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes this time last year.
That victory came hard on the heels of another famous triumph when Postponed beat subsequent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Found by four-and-a-half lengths in the Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom. Golden Horn is the only colt ever to have beaten Found by further.
Postponed also had Highland Reel in arrears when setting a new track record in the 2016 Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic, with dual Japanese classic winner Duramente also among those defeated. Postponed had recorded his first group 1 success in the previous season when triumphing in a titanic battle for the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
A 360,000gns yearling purchase, Postponed won on debut at two before running second in the £500,000 Tattersalls Millions 2YO Trophy. He was Group 3-placed over a mile before landing the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at three.
Postponed’s trainer Roger Varian commented: “Postponed was an absolute pleasure to train and he possessed all of the attributes a trainer looks for in the very best racehorses – speed, power, stamina and the ability to travel like a machine.
“He is a beautiful physical specimen and was very straightforward to deal with. He was crowned a champion on the form book and displayed all of the characteristics you could expect in such a special talent - he had everything.”
Postponed is out of a daughter of champion two-year-old Bianca Nera, winner of the Group 2 Lowther and Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, and Postponed’s half-sister God Given won the Group 3 Prix Minerve at Deauville this month.
“Postponed was a real hero of a horse, who earned his Timeform rating of 130 with four magnificent Group 1 wins in some of the greatest races on the calendar. He proved himself typical of his great sire Dubawi as an extremely talented and durable performer, defeat-ing no fewer than 27 group 1 winners during his career,” said Sam Bullard, director of Darley stallions.
“With his grandam a champion juvenile, Postponed’s pedigree, race record and good looks give him great commercial appeal and he was very well received by breeders when shown at our recent stallion parade. We are delighted that he will be standing on the Darley roster.”