El Gran Senor - Stud Career

Stud Career

Throughout his stud career, El Gran Senor had low fertility and typically sired no more than 40 foals in any year - these days, most top sires and champions sire between 60 and 180 foals in a year. Over the course of his career, he fathered fewer than 400 foals. There were only 14 in his first foal-crop, but they included Al Hareb, who won the Racing Post Trophy (Gr1) over a mile in England. Al Hareb is at stud in Australia, and while his overall record is unremarkable, he did sire the top class sprinter Hareeba, a multiple Group 1 winning sprinter. El Gran Senor sired a total of 12 horses who won at the highest level - Group/Grade 1. These included South African classic winner Kundalini, top American fillies Corrazona, Spanish Fern and Toussaud, Breeders' Cup Sprint hero Lit de Justice, and multiple European Group 1 winner Rodrigo de Triano.

He was pensioned from stallion duty at the age of 19, but his tally of 55 stakes winners represented a rate of more than 14% stakes winners to named foals - 10%+ is the usually accepted sign of a very good stallion. His record as a sire of successful stallions has been disappointing. As a broodmare sire, however, he has done very well. His top-class daughter Toussaud ranks among a tiny handful of mares who have produced as many as four Group/Grade 1 winners. Her son Chester House (by Mr Prospector) won the Arlington Million (Gr1). Her daughter Honest Lady (by Seattle Slew) won the Santa Monica Handicap (Gr1). Another son, Chiselling (by Woodman), won the Secretariat Stakes (Gr1) before taking up stallion duties in South Africa. Her fourth Grade 1 winner is Belmont Stakes (Gr1) winner Empire Maker (by Unbridled). Empire Maker stood at his owner-breeder Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farm in Kentucky until November, 2010, when he was sold to Japanese breeders, leaving seven crops including foals of 2011. Eleven days earlier, his two-year-old daughter Royal Delta won her first start by 12 lengths. Champion Royal Delta sold for $8.5 million in 2011 in mid-career, leading an upsurge in Empire Maker's ranking as a sire.

El Gran Senor was euthanized in October 2006 at Ashford Stud in Kentucky.

EL GRAN SENOR (USA) - b.1981-2006 - Northern Dancer - Sex Appeal, 7 wins inc Irish Sweeps Derby (Gr1), General Accident Two Thousand Guineas (Gr1), William Hill Dewhurst Stakes (Gr1), BBA Goffs National Stakes (Gr2), P.J. Prendergast Railway Stakes (Gr3), Gladness Stakes (L). He was 2nd in the Ever Ready Epsom Derby (Gr1), his only loss. European Champion 2yo colt in 1983. Champion 3yo colt in 1984. Sire in USA. First foals in 1986. Retired in 2000.

SIRE OF 55 SW inc: Al Hareb (Gr1), Belmez (Gr1), Corrazona (Gr1), Helmsman (Gr1), Kundalini (SAf-1), Le Triton (Gr1), Lit De Justice (Gr1), Rodrigo De Triano (Gr1), Saratoga Springs (Gr1), Senor Tomas (Gr1), Spanish Fern (Gr1), Toussaud (Gr1), Candid Glen (Gr2), Dr Kashnikow (Gr2), El Angelo (Gr2), George Augustus (Gr2), Morgana (Gr2), Panama City (Gr2), Chanzi (Gr3), Crystal Gazing (Gr3), Flowing (Gr3), Navarra (Gr3), Saratogan (Gr3), Signorina Cattiva (Gr3), Stylish Senor (Gr3), Altamura, Amwag, Bright Candles, Colonel Collins, High Walden, Mudslinger, Rua d'Oro, etc.

BROODMARE SIRE OF PATTERN WINNERS INC: Chester House (G1W by Mr Prospector), Chiselling (G1W by Woodman), Empire Maker (G1W by Unbridled), Grand Slam (G1W by Gone West), Honest Lady (G1W by Seattle Slew), Ice Point (G1W by Roy), Le Vie Dei Colori (G1W by Efisio), Leadership (G1W by Selkirk), Poplar Bluff (G1W by Dowsing), Ramonti (G1W by Martino Alonso), Vicar (G1W by Wild Again), Decarchy (G2W by Distant View), Aynthia (G3W by Zafonic), Conroy (G3W by Gone West), Indygo Shiner (G3W by A P Indy), Olmodavor (G3W by A P Indy), Summertime Legacy (G3W by Darshaan), Tippity Witch (G3W by Affirmed), etc.

PATERNAL GRANDSIRE OF STAKES WINNERS INC: Erimo Excel (G1W by Rodrigo de Triano), Hareeba (G1W by Al Hareb), Caramba (G2W by Belmez), Grace Namura (G3W by Rodrigo de Triano), Hour Of Justice (G3W by Lit de Justice), Injustice (G3W by Lit de Justice), No Comprende (G3W by Compadre), Rodrigo Rose (G3W by Rodrigo de Triano), Spanish Falls (G3W by Belmez), Atlas Shrugs (by Compadre), Beautiful Prize (by Lit de Justice), Burnin' Memories (by Lit de Justice), Cumby Texas (by Lit de Justice), Emerald Earrings (by Helmsman), Knight Of Darkness (by Helmsman), La Gran Marylin (by Compadre), Lit A Fire (by Lit de Justice), Love Sting (by Lit de Justice), Millfleet (by Compadre), No Parole (by Lit de Justice), Officer Nasty (by Lit de Justice), Rare Friends (by Helmsman), Silver Bird (by Lit de Justice), Sir Edwin Landseer (by Lit de Justice), Tenderlit (by Lit de Justice), That's The Problem (by Lit de Justice), etc. plus pattern winners in Venezuela sired by leading sire George Augustus.