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The Harrovian and Gino Severini add to Coolmore stallion’s tally.
Fastnet Rock's (Danehill) talents as a stallion were on show in Australia and New Zealand on Saturday as the ever-popular son of Danehill (Danzig) sired an across Tasman stakes double which saw the stallion's total stakes tally move to 164.
The brace of stakes wins was kicked off by the Irish-bred Gino Severini (6 g ex Green Castle by Indian Ridge) when he landed the Eagle Technology Stakes (Gr 3, 1600m) at Ellerslie.
The Bruce Wallace and Grant Cooksley-trained six-year-old gelding, who was having his 28th career start, showed a good burst of speed to prevail in a close finish to beat The Mitigator (Master Of Design) by head. Sultan Of Swing (Bachelor Duke) was another length and a half away in third.
"He always tries really hard and is normally thereabouts," Cooksley said.
"I think he can go on most tracks and over most distances but he does seem to like it at Ellerslie.
"It was a good win as the runner-up can be a very hard horse to get past.
"He goes well at Ellerslie so we might have a look at the Zabeel Classic (Gr.1, 2000m) on Boxing Day although there is also the Rich Hill Mile (Gr 2, 1600m) on New Year's day, so there are plenty of options for him."
Bought for 58,000gns by De Burgh Equine at the 2015 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 2 from the draft of Watership Down Stud, Gino Severini commenced his career in Ireland where he won one of his eight races before being exported to Hong Kong, where he performed below expectations in three starts there, having been sold for 200,000gns to Federico Barberini as agent for Asian Bloodstock at the 2017 Tattersalls July Sale.
The gelding is out of placed Indian Ridge (Ahonoora) mare Green Castle, making him a half-brother to Millisle (Starspangledbanner), who won the Cheveley Park Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) in 2019, while he is also a half-brother to Listed winner Ithoughtitwasover (Hurricane Run).
Gino Severini also counts stakes-placed Greenisland (Fasliyev) - the dam of Listed winner Shamshon (Invincible Spirit) - as a half-relation.
Later in the afternoon at Doomben, the Tony and Trent Edmonds-trained The Harrovian (7 g ex Harrow by Dehere) brought up the second stakes win of the afternoon for the stallion when he landed the Tatt's Recognition Stakes (Listed, 1350m).
The gelding came into the race having not been beaten in his nine prior starts and he made it the perfect ten when he defeated Red Chase (Red Element) by a length and a quarter, while Profit (Dundeel) was another head away in third.
The Harrovian is out of winning Dehere (Deputy Minister) mare Harrow, making him a brother to dual Group 3 scorer and Group 1 placed gelding We're Gonna Rock and a further four winners.
Harrow herself is out of Group 3-placed mare Antelliere (Salieri), who also produced elite-level-winning duo Bluebird The Word (Bluebird) and Porto Roca (Barathea) - the dam of 2012 Dubai World Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Monterosso (Dubawi).
Porto Roco is also the grandam of Silent Sedition (War Chant), who landed the 2017 edition of the William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) and Group 2 scorer Happy Galaxy (Nadeem).
Meanwhile, Porto Roco also produced the dam of Listed-winning duo Road Trippin' (Charge Forward) and Crack A Roadie (Charge Forward).
Harrow was served by Fiorente (Monsun) last month having missed last year to Toronado (High Chaparral).
Fastnet Rock stands at Coolmore for a fee of $165,000 (inc GST), making him the most expensive stallion on their roster and he has 18 lots catalogued at next year's Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, which gets underway on January 12.
