Exceptional broodmare Shastye has died aged 21 on the day that she produced a Dubawi colt at Newsells Park Stud.
The Hertfordshire operation said the daughter of Danehill “succumbed to a sudden and devastating haemorrhage but mercifully passed away very quickly.”
Shastye’s yearlings made over £15 million at auction and they included the full brothers Japan and Mogul, sons of Galileo that won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris in successive years for the Aidan O’Brien stable and Coolmore partners, having been sourced for 1,300,000gns and 3,400,000gns respectively.
Japan, now standing at Gestut Etzean in Germany, also scored a dramatic win in the 2019 Juddmonte International while the year younger Mogul, currently resident at the Beeches Stud in Ireland, captured the 2020 Hong Kong Vase.
Secret Gesture, also produced to a mating with the great Galileo, won the Group 2 Middleton Stakes. She passed the post first in the Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes at Arlington but was subsequently demoted to third.
Her appearance in the ring at Keeneland following the conclusion of her racing career brought a bid of $3,500,000 from John Ferguson acting on behalf of Godolphin.
Another of Shastye’s sons, Sir Issac Newton, also by Galileo, was a Group 3 winner and successful at Royal Ascot.
Bred by Skara Glen Stables, Shastye, a dual winner on the track, boasted an illustrious pedigree. By Danehill out of the Sagace mare Saganeca, her half-brother Sagamix (by Linamix) won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1998, while her half-brother Sagacity (by Highest Honor) took the Criterium de Saint-Cloud in 2000.
John Warren purchased Shastye for 625,000gns following the conclusion of her racing days in 2005, after which she settled into life as a broodmare at Newsells Park Stud, first for Klaus Jacobs and later for Graham Smith-Bernall.
In a statement, Newsells Park Stud said: “When the stud was put up for sale at the end of 2020, it was Shastye that stood out more than any other mare to prove what was achievable.
“Shastye put Newsells Park Stud back on the map, made the stud commercially successful and helped to attract a new, considerate, enthusiastic and passionate owner in Graham Smith-Bernal to take on the custodianship of the stud for another generation.
“Rest in peace you wonderful, wonderful lady.”