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Godolphin’s latest Group One winner Exopshere is another notable star for the increasingly popular cross of Lonhro over mares by Danehill and his many sire sons.
Golden Rose winner Exosphere may well prove the best example of this cross, whose representatives already include G1 winners Bounding (dam by Exceed And Excel) and Benfica (Danehill) and G2 winners Pinwheel (Danehill), Obsequious (Commands), Messene (Redoute’s Choice) and Wawail (Redoute’s Choice).
Exosphere is the result of the mating of Lonhro with Altitude, a short distance winner in Melbourne and Sydney bred by Arrowfield Stud using Danehill’s first crop Golden Slipper winner Danzero and Highest, a Marscay Sydney winner and third in the Widden Stakes.Lonhro, the 2003-04 Australian Horse of the Year and winner of 11 G1 races among his 26 wins, has consistently been one of Australia’s best sires since he had his first runners in 2007-08.
Lonhro was Champion Sire in 2011-12, the same year he also led the juveniles, and has been leading numerical sire 2013-14 and 2014-15. He is now leading this season’s general sires table by prizemoney $300,000 ahead of Fastnet Rock followed by Northern Meteor, Not A Single Doubt and Redoute’s Choice.Exosphere is his seventh G1 winner and his second Golden Rose Stakes winner, the first being the now successful young sire Denman in 2009.
Lonhro has added a new dimension to his credits as a successful international sire after standing three reverse shuttle seasons in America in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Six of his first US-bred crop, current 2-year-olds, have raced in Europe and four have won.Exosphere, a distinctive brown/black in the mould of his sire, has now won four of his six starts for prize money totalling $853,350.
Exosphere’s second dam Highest (Marscay) produced two winners and is a half-sister to the Listed winners Vibrant Virgo (Zabaleta) and Tell Me Straight (It Is True). Denman’s dam Peach is also a granddaughter of Marscay.The colt is also the second G1 winner for Danzero as a broodmare sire. December Draw was his first.
Exosphere’s dam Altitude slipped to Bernardini before producing a filly by that stallion last year. She then missed to Reset.Exosphere underlined his great talent by setting a new race record of 1.21.83 and was not far from the track record of 1.21.38, a performance that delighted his trainer John O’Shea, who rates the colt the biggest in his team weighting in at more than 600kg.
“You wouldn’t want him standing on your foot - it would make a dent - but he is growing into himself,” O’Shea said.“He is by a great sire Lonhro and he is in for a great season. A horse like Exosphere has great international appeal and you never know where he is going to end up.”
Exosphere had recorded previous Group wins in the G2 Skyline Stakes as a juvenile and the G2 Run to the Rose at his first 3YO start. He joins Denman, Epaulette and Hallowed Crown as Darley-sired winners of the Golden Rose.
