First Crop Of Circus Maximus Well-Represented At Tattersalls Ireland

A half-brother to Stakes winner Myconian (Magna Grecia) is among the first yearlings by Circus Maximus to go under the hammer at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.

Whitethorn House offer the aforementioned colt (Lot 437), whose Listed-winning dam Sirici has now produced two winners from two runners. Noralla Stud Farm consign another well-related son of Circus Maximus in the shape of Lot 169. The colt is a half-brother to Zoom Boom, whose hat-trick of wins earned him an official rating of 89, while the dam’s three-year-old previously sold for 92,000gns.

The quality pedigrees in Circus Maximus’s debut book of mares is also demonstrated by Lot 328 from Glenvale Stud. The bay colt is a grandson of Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Pas De Reponse, herself a half-sister to Green Tune. Lot 149 from Baroda Stud another who boasts a Group 1 winning grand-dam, in the shape of Epsom Oaks heroine Casual Look.

Galileo’s success with Pivotal mares was advertised by the likes of Magical and Love, and so, it comes as no surprise that breeders were keen to employ that same cross with Galileo’s multiple Group 1 winner Circus Maximus. Lot 316 from Castlehyde Stud is out of a Pivotal half-sister to Group 2 performer Moyenne Corniche.

Lot 48 is a Circus Maximus colt bred on similar lines to many a Group 1 winner, with his dam a granddaughter of Fastnet Rock, while Lot 401 from Beechlane Stables is out of a granddaughter of Danehill.

Circus Maximus himself is bred on the same cross as Minding and The Gurkha, to name just a few, and boasts further appeal as a son of Group 2 winner Duntle. She won three Group races in total and placed at the highest level on three occasions.

Circus Maximus finished a close fourth to Magna Grecia in the Group 1 Futurity Trophy as a juvenile, but appeared better than ever when winning the Listed Dee Stakes. Group 1 glory followed in the St James’s Palace Stakes and was repeated when beating Romaised in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin. Circus Maximus’s third top-flight success came on his four-year-old return in the Queen Anne Stakes, though he finished second in another two Group 1 races later that season.