Staff Writer |
Juddmonte Farms announced on Dec. 22 the passing of champion sire Dansili at his birthplace Banstead Manor Stud following a short but aggressive illness. He was 25.
Bred by Juddmonte, the son of Danehill was the first foal out of Hasil, who went on to become a blue hen of considerable note as the dam of seven graded/group stakes winners that include grade/group 1 winners Champs Elysees, Intercontinental, Banks Hill, Cacique, and Heat Haze. Champs Elysees, Intercontinental, and Banks Hill also became champions.
Trained in France by Andre Fabre, Dansili won his first and only race as a 2YO, and a four-length win in his debut at 3 to make him the leading favorite for the French Two Thousand Guineas in 1999. Fifteen runners went to post, which was one of the largest fields in the race's history, and Dansili found only Sendawar too good. He ran four more times that season, winning the Prix Messidor and placing in the Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois behind Dubai Millennium and the Emirates Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.
A tough and consistent campaigner, Dansili returned at 4 to win the Prix Edmond Blanc and Prix du Muguet and placed three further times at the highest level, including running second to the "Iron Horse" Giant's Causeway in the Sussex at Goodwood and third to War Chant and North East Bound in the Breeders' Cup Mile by a neck and a nose, the fastest closing quarter in Breeders' Cup history.