Perfect for Private Harry in the Galaxy as Darley shuttler Harry Angel sires new Group 1 winner

Darley’s dual-hemisphere stallion Harry Angel sired his second Group 1 winner on Saturday as his son Private Harry confirmed his status as a top-tier sprinter when extending his perfect record to five in The Galaxy at Rosehill.  

The Dalham Hall Stud resident, who shuttles between Newmarket and Darley’s Kelvinside base in New South Wales, now has 18 stakes winners to his credit, with six of those coming in Australia where he is quickly gaining a reputation as a stallion on the rise.  

The son of Dark Angel is currently the leading third-season stallion and is seventh on the general sires’ table by earnings, with his progeny, headed by 49 winners, having amassed $10,495,579 (£5,097,360 / €6,053,512) in prize-money so far this season.

With his Galaxy win, Private Harry joined Tom Kitten as Harry Angel’s other elite-level winner. A dual scorer at the top level, the Godolphin gelding also raced at yesterday’s Rosehill meeting, finishing fifth behind Gringotts in the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes. 

Meanwhile, Stretan Angel, a Group 2-winning daughter of the stallion, came home fourth in the Group 1 William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley. However, Harry Angel still managed to bag a double on the day when his progressive stakes-placed son Ouroboros added a third win to his record in handicap company at Eagle Farm.

“Harry Angel’s rise shows no signs of slowing,” Darley Australia’s head of stallions Alastair Pulford told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He is Australia's youngest top ten sire and he's proven it again with Private Harry’s dominant win in The Galaxy.”

Pulford praised the stallion’s capacity to produce top-level horses, with Private Harry the latest of four stakes winners for him this term, adding to Tom Kitten’s Group 1 All-Star Mile win, Angel Capital’s victory in the Group 2 Autumn Stakes and Arkansaw Kid’s Group 2 Bobbie Lewis Handicap triumph. 

“He’s producing elite horses and today [Saturday] is proof of that – not just with Private Harry, but with Tom Kitten and Angel Capital too,” he said. “This is what it’s all about.”

Despite having never been tested at stakes level before Saturday, Private Harry had already established himself as a standout three-year-old colt when he took out his first city win at Rosehill in December just as stylishly as his first two minor victories at provincial tracks the month before. 

His rapid rise was underlined in January when he produced a scintillating display in the Sunshine Coast’s inaugural $3 million slot race, the Sunlight Stakes, defeating Group 1 Golden Slipper winner Lady Of Camelot by two and a half lengths.

Harry Angel: Darley shuttler sired his second individual Group 1 winner in Australia

In the hands of regular rider Ashley Morgan, Private Harry was sent off the A$3.50 favourite for Saturday's Group 1 and once again he delivered, issuing his challenge early in the home straight, before asserting to beat last year's third Front Page by three-quarters of a length in the 1100-metre contest.

The win marked a Group 1 first not only for the colt, but also for Morgan, his trainer Nathan Doyle and his Kurrinda Bloodstock syndicate of owners.

Doyle is now eyeing a crack at the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes on April 5 with Private Harry and is also hopeful the valuable colt will gain a slot for the world’s richest race on turf – the Group 1 Everest – later in the year.

"Ka Ying who?" Doyle joked in reference to Hong Kong’s star sprinter Ka Ying Rising, the current Everest favourite. 

"No, this is where you want to be, taking on the big boys and I think he deserves his opportunity. So he'll go to the TJ in a couple of weeks and I'd say he'll be back in the paddock and hopefully go to an Everest."

The Newcastle-based trainer was thrilled to achieve his biggest success in combination with Welsh-born jockey Morgan. 

"We've come a long way," he said. "To stick with him and see where he has ended up, Australia's home to him now and we're his family. 

“To win a Group 1 with Ash, the staff, Kurrinda, it means so much. I said we were only scratching the surface with him [Private Harry], and we still are.”

Bred by Rheinwood Pastoral out of three-time winner Happy Pilgrim, Private Harry was a $115,000 purchase for Nathan Doyle and Kurrinda Bloodstock at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in 2023. A daughter of Congrats, Happy Pilgrim herself was purchased by Bill Mitchell and Rheinwood for $75,000 out of Willow Park Stud’s 2018 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale draft, and on Saturday her son became the latest of 13 stakes winners and four Group 1 winners to have been produced by Willow Park sale graduates this year.

Harry Angel is currently standing at Dalham Hall for a fee of £10,000.

Saturday was also a fine day for fellow Dalham Hall Stud resident Too Darn Hot. Australia’s leading second-season sire was represented by six runners across the country and bagged three wins, the highlight coming courtesy of his now four-time Group 1-winning son Broadsiding. 

The Godolphin-owned colt – twice victorious at the highest level as a two-year-old – bolstered his Group 1 win tally when taking the Golden Rose Stakes on his three-year-old debut in September. 

After finishing third in the Group 1 Cox Plate that Spring, Broadsiding returned with a Group 2 win in February but was denied by Linebacker in the Group 1 Randwick Guineas earlier in the month.  

An extra two furlongs saw the colt back in the winner’s enclosure under James McDonald, with the pair able to repel the challenge of the fast-finishing filly Aeliana.

Meanwhile at Moonee Valley, Too Darn Hot’s talented three-year-old son Shanwah confirmed his place in the Group 1 Australian Derby when sealing a second Group 2 win in front-running fashion in the Group 2 Alister Clark Stakes, while his three-year-old daughter Too Darn Lizzie just missed out on her second Group win when she finished second in the Alexandra Stakes.

The promising Heat Missile rounded out his winners for the day, capturing her second win from three starts in handicap company at Kembla Grange.

Rosehill’s card was headlined by the Group 1 Golden Slipper which was won by the Emirates Park-owned Marhoona, while Yulong’s star mare Via Sistina, landed her second Ranvet Stakes and eighth Group 1 win overall. 

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