‘Powerful and mature’ Storm Boy to stand at Coolmore Australia for $16,500

Four-time stakes winner Storm Boy will join the Coolmore Australia roster for the 2025 southern hemisphere breeding season, where he will stand at an introductory fee of A$16,500 (£7,889/€9,256).

Unbeaten on his first four racecourse appearances, the son of Justify – who Ballydoyle maestro Aidan O'Brien described as "very fast" – scored wins in the B.J. McLachlan Stakes, Skyline Stakes, and the $3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic.

Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Storm Boy's easy two and a half-length victory in the 2YO Classic was described by Waterhouse as him “basically toying with them, he was really really impressive. He annihilated them, it was just so dominant.”

Following his opening quartet of wins, the colt then ran third in the Golden Slipper – where a slow start did nothing to aid his chance, while he followed that performance up with a fourth in the Inglis Sires'.

Returning as a three-year-old on August 31 last year, Storm Boy dominated proceedings in the San Domenico Stakes, before a third placing in the Run To The Rose and fourth-placed effort in the Golden Rose, where he was beaten 0.7 lengths by winner Broadsiding.

Coolmore Australia's principal, Tom Magnier, said: “We are delighted to welcome Storm Boy back to Coolmore Australia for the 2025 season. His early performances on the track really had to be seen to be believed.

"He was jaw-dropping, much like his sire Justify, he broke his opponents’ hearts. He won five of his first seven starts in a really dominating fashion and was unlucky not to include a Golden Slipper in that tally."

Gai Waterhouse (pictured) and Adrian Bott trained Storm Boy to five wins including four stakes victoriesCredit: Edward Whitaker

Sold through the draft of Coolmore (acting as agent for Morning Rise) at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Storm Boy was purchased for A$460,000 by Waterhouse and Bott and Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds.

Coolmore would go on to purchase a controlling stake in the horse in a massive deal in February, 2024 that at the time potentially valued the horse in the region of A$50 million.

Coolmore's nominations and sales manage, Colm Santry, said: "What's also particularly gratifying is the fact we have come full circle with Storm Boy. He was born and raised here at Coolmore Australia.

"By the best young stallion in the world and out of a daughter of one of Australia's greatest broodmare sires, Fastnet Rock. He went through our draft at Magic Millions for A$460,000, after which we were happy to have bought him back for many multiples of that price.”

With his final Australian start being a solid eighth in The Everest, where he ran in the slot of Coolmore, Storm Boy was then sent over to Ireland to be trained by Aidan O'Brien with a view to taking in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

A debut ninth placing in the Greenlands Stakes for O'Brien was followed by a tenth-placed finish in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at the royal meeting last Saturday.

"We took Storm Boy to Europe with the plan of winning the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot," Magnier said.

"But unfortunately we haven't been able to give him the ideal prep. We felt we were getting back to where we needed to be with him, but he was found to be quite lame since returning to Ballydoyle on Saturday."

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 09: Tom Magnier from Coolmore Stud looks on as Irish horse US Navy Flag competes in a Canterbury Park track work session on October 9, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. US Navy Flag is a runner in the $13 million Everest, the world's

Tom Magnier: 'We are delighted to welcome Storm Boy back to Coolmore Australia for the 2025 season'Credit: Mark Evans

Despite the European plan not working out, O'Brien was still taken with both Storm Boy's physical prowess and ability.

"He was very fast, a lovely horse to train and a very powerful and mature horse. I wish we'd have gotten him earlier," O'Brien told ANZ News.

"His runs at the back of his career in Australia were on soft ground but he was not a horse who liked that ground. We knew that here pretty soon he was a fast-ground horse.

"When Ryan Moore rode him down there in the Golden Slipper [when third] he said the ground was just a little too soft for him."

O'Brien has had experience with Australian recruits coming to Ireland to target high-profile races, notably Starspangledbanner, who landed the 2010 Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot and the July Cup on his following outing. Comparisons were drawn between him and Storm Boy.

"He was a very relaxed horse and easy to train, a hardy boy. He wasn't soft, but very good mannered and easy to deal with," O'Brien told ANZ News of Storm Boy. "That's a typical Justify thing really.

"He is likely to get very early and mature horses which would suit the market down in Australia; I'd say they'll be fairly powerful.

"Starspangledbanner was very fast as well, but this lad would probably have been quicker on fast ground."

Storm Boy will become the second son of Justify to stand at Coolmore Australia, following last year's Epsom Derby hero and four-time Group 1 scorer City Of Troy' who will cover his first book of mares in 2025 at a fee of A$49,500.

“Being a son of Justify is a huge positive for us. What we're witnessing from Justify the world over is incredible," Tom Moore, of Coolmore's marketing and nominations, said.

"He'll stand alongside Justify's Champion 2YO and World Champion 3YO, City Of Troy who is already fully booked for the coming season. It's imperative that we stand the best sons of Justify globally and we're very excited to see what Storm Boy can do in this next chapter.”

Storm Boy is out of the winning Fastnet Rock mare Pelican, herself a half-sister to the Group-placed winner Divan being out of multiple Group 1-winning mare Seachange.

He is one of six stakes winners, five Group scorer and two Group 2 winners by Justify out of a Fastnet Rock mare, joining Reisling Stakes heroine Learning To Fly, who won her opening three starts.

"We think he's going to be the next coming," O'Brien told ANZ News of Justify, who has 48 individual stakes winners, eight of those Group/Grade 1 winners, and 300 winners from 493 starters.

"His statistics are pretty much off the Richter scale with his first few crops. He's like a stallion that's been there a long time, he's won so many big races with his progeny already, which is very unusual."