In the past week, young jumps stallion Milan has added six winners to his burgeoning tally for the 2011/12 season, which sees him lying in ninth place in the National Hunt sires’ table, and sixth among active stallions in Britain and Ireland.
Promising National Hunt sire Milan
At Grange Stud, which forms part of Coolmore’s National Hunt wing, he has been well supported of course but nevertheless, when one considers that his eldest runners have only recently turned seven, his 55 winners of 79 races for the season to date form an impressive record.
A 650,000gns yearling, Milan, who is bred on the popular Sadler’s Wells/Darshaan cross, was purchased by John Magnier from Luca Cumani’s Fittocks Stud, and, whether it was intentional or not, was named after Cumani’s native city. His sole run at two was a winning one, after which he went on to be third in the now defunct Prix Lupin and won the Great Voltigeur Stakes followed by the St Leger.
Now 14, Milan retired to stud in 2004 and is currently one of six sons of Sadler’s Wells in the jumps sires’ top ten. In the last year he has really started to make a name for himself within jumping circles, with his top performer to date being the 149-rated Duke Of Lucca, while recent winners include his exciting first-crop son Real Milan, who brought up 100 winners for the season for his trainer Donald McCain and has now won three of his four racecourse starts.
Milan also had three of the first four home in Fairyhouse’s two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle on Sunday and there’s no doubt that we will be seeing plenty more of his sons and daughters in the winner’s enclosure in years to come.
