The dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) will make one final appearance in the Japan Cup on November 24 before retiring to stand at Coolmore Stud in Ireland.
The four-year-old son of Japan's breed-shaping stallion Deep Impact (Jpn) has won at the highest level in each of his seasons in training, landing the Vertem Futurity after his initial black-type success in the G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes.
At three, despite disappointing in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas on his seasonal debut, he put together a formidable CV of four Group/Grade 1 wins, beginning with the Derby and Irish Derby, and then bouncing back from a flop in the King George to win the Irish Champion Stakes before ending the year with victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar.
This season, Auguste Rodin has added the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot to his list of wins, and he has also finished runner-up in the Tattersalls Gold Cup and, most recently, behind Economics (GB) in the Irish Champion Stakes.
“Auguste Rodin is an exceptional racehorse and stallion prospect with the blend of class, speed and pedigree that only the best possess,” said Coolmore's MV Magnier. “He is a very special horse for us, and I truly believe he ranks up there with the best middle-distance racehorses and sires that we have stood here before him like Sadler's Wells, Galileo, Montjeu, Caerleon and Camelot. Physically, he fills the eye so well as he has extra quality and movement, so I can't wait to see his first crop in Ballydoyle in 2028. We are going to do all we can to give him the best possible opportunity to follow in his illustrious predecessors' footsteps.”
One of those predecessors, Galileo (Ire), appears as the damsire of Auguste Rodin, who was the first foal of the treble Group 1 winner Rhododendron (Ire), herself a sister to the brilliant mare Magical (Ire). Their dam Halfway To Heaven (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) was bred by Trevor Stewart and was also a three-time Group 1 winner. Moreover, she in turn is out of Stewart's influential matriarch and top-class sprinter Cassandra Go (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}).
Auguste Rodin is from the final small crop of Deep Impact, who was the 11-time champion sire in Japan, a reign which continued beyond his untimely death in 2019 at the age of 17. His Japanese-Derby winning son Kizuna (Jpn) was leading first-season sire in Japan in 2019 and currently heads the country's general sires' list.
Ryan Moore, who has been in the saddle for all bar one of Auguste Rodin's 15 races, said, “He's been an unbelievable horse for us. We have always thought the world of him. He has everything you'd want. He has so much pace. He could kill horses for speed, and he was able to stretch that out over 12 furlongs. Horses like him are so hard to find. An incredible horse.”
Reflecting on a racing career that has so far netted a prize-money haul just shy of €6m, his trainer Aidan O'Brien added, “Auguste Rodin is out of Rhododendron, one of the best Galileo mares, and by Deep Impact, Japan's best stallion. He connects two of the most powerful breeding lines in the world. He has been a pleasure and a privilege to train. He is just a very unique horse and we're very excited to see what he will achieve at stud. We will be supporting him with our own mares.”
Kanichi Kusano, manager of the Japan Racing Association's London office, is charged with attracting runners for the Japan Cup. The country's major international race was named Longines World's Best Horserace in 2023 following the victory of superstar Equinox (Jpn).
Kusano said that Tokyo racegoers will be extra pleased to welcome a son of Deep Impact from overseas, making it a homecoming of sorts for Auguste Rodin.
“I think that is the reason that it is most special to the Japanese fans,” he noted. “To have one of his last progeny coming to race in Japan and then retiring to stud is a great joy for the Japanese racing industry as well.
“With all his career, his performance and his popularity as a great racehorse, but again the fact that Auguste Rodin is from the last crop of Deep Impact, we are really excited to have him for the Japan Cup and just hope that he travels safely and runs safely and then has a good retirement at stud.”
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