Group 1 winning three year old Exosphere has been retired to Godolphin’s Darley Stud and will stand his first season in the upcoming Spring.
Exosphere, above, has been retired and will join the stallion roster at Darley Stud. Photo by Steve Hart.
Exosphere under the guidance of trainer John O’Shea proved to be the number one three year old during the 2015 Sydney Spring Carnival with a win in the Group 1 $1m De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill.
O’Shea described Exosphere as “a magnificent individual, with enormous natural talent,” but his failure to come up in two runs in the Autumn this year accelerated his departure from the race track to the breeding barn.
Exosphere was sent out as one of the favourites in the Group 1 $750,000 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) at Flemington on February 20 before running fourth to Chautauqua.
O’Shea then switched the Lonhro colt back to Sydney where he was well supported to start the favourite in the Group 1 $2.5m Darley T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on the first day of ‘The Championships’ on April 2.
The flashy colt was always well back in the run and was found to be slightly lame after finishing eleventh to the Team Hawkes trained Chautauqua again.
O’Shea had intended to get Exosphere back to peak fitness for the Group 1 $600,000 Schweppes All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday, but that plan was aborted over the weekend.
Exosphere is the winner of five of his ten race starts with over $1 million in prizemoney to his credit and Godolphin’s managing director Henry Plumptre said there is no doubt that he will develop into a stallion of the future.
“Exosphere retires with an extraordinary race record. Because of his unusual size and bulk, he had training issues, but he managed to put together a string of outstanding performances,” Plumptre said.
“He is an exciting stallion of the future. No fee has yet been set, but we expect him to be popular.”
Exosphere won races in both his two year old and three year old season and proved to be one of the stars of the 2015 Autumn Carnival in his juvenile year when he carried the Godolphin royal blue colours to victory in the Group 2 $175,000 Pro-Ride Skyline Stakes (1200m) at Warwick Farm.
The flashy colt was then sent out as one of the top fancies in the Group 1 $3.5m Tooheys New Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill before finishing at the tail of the sixteen horse field.
Exosphere then resumed in the Spring to score a first up win in the Group 2 $175,000 MTA NSW The Run To The Rose (1200m) at Rosehill before going to win the Golden Rose Stakes.
The classy colt then went on to make it a hat trick of wins when he easily beat the field in the Group 2 $300,000 Canterbury BMW Roman Consul Stakes (1200m) at Randwick.
But Exosphere’s winning run came to an end when, as an odds on favourite, he missed a place when fourth to the Chris Waller trained Japonisme in the Group 1 $500,000 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington during the 2015 Melbourne Spring Carnival.
