Exciting First Yearlings By Circus Maximus Feature At Goffs

A quartet of well-related colts with represent first season sire Circus Maximus at the Goffs Orby Sale on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Croom House Stud consign the first offering by the top-class miler as Lot 82. The March-born colt is out of an own-sister to Listed winner Mill Marin, who has also produced Group 1 winner Mendocino.

Woodtown House Stud’s Circus Maximus colt (Lot 89) boasts a page laden with black-type, with top-class miler Gold Away and Group 1 sire Galiway among those featuring under the second dam.

Dual Group 2 winner and twice Group 1 placed Banimpire (Holy Roman Emperor) was among the mares sent to Circus Maximus in his first season at stud and her resulting colt will be offered by The Castlebridge Consignment as Lot 241.

Completing Circus Maximus’s Orby offering is Lot 474 from Whitehall Stud. The bay colt is a half-brother to Technique, who was narrowly denied in four Stakes races and finished fourth in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes.

Circus Maximus boasts all the makings of a top stallion prospect, as demonstrated by his similarities to fellow Niarchos homebred Kingmambo. Both are three-time Group 1 winners over a mile, with Circus Maximus’s win in the St James’s Palace Stakes coming in a faster time than Kingmambo’s, as did his win in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin. They are also both by champion sires out of top racemares, with Circus Maximus being the first foal out of three-time Group winner and multiple Group 1 placed Duntle (Danehill Dancer).

The St James’s Palace Stakes also has a reputation as a stallion-making race, with past winners including Frankel, Giant’s Causeway, Kingman and Shamardal, to name just a few. Circus Maximus’s Moulin victory also held extra gravitas in that he beat Classic-winning milers Romanised, Olmedo and Phoenix Of Spain. His third and final top-flight success came in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, while notable performances in defeat included close seconds in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile and two runnings of the Group 1 Sussex Stakes.