Celestial Legend to join Woodside Park for 2025 at $27,500

Cover image courtesy of Woodside Park Stud

Woodside Park, owned by Melbourne businessman Eddie Hirsch since 2021, has a long history of standing quality stallions with Written Tycoon standing there for seven seasons, siring eight Group 1 winners in that time. In 2025, they swooped to purchase a 50 per cent share in Celestial Legend, a son of Dundeel {NZ}), from racing owner Bon Ho, and on Friday morning, they announced Celestial Legend will stand his first season at a fee of $27,500 inc GST.

A dual Group 1 with a turn of foot

One of eight Group 1 winners for young sire Dundeel (NZ), Celestial Legend is a dual Group 1 winner who will look to join Dundeel’s emerging sire sons Super Seth and Castelvecchio as talented stallions.

“Sometimes you find horses who are tough, sometimes you’ll get a horse who is brilliant, but it’s not often that you get both in the same horse. That Randwick Guineas of his is tough as nails, four wide, no cover all the way. And then the start after in the Doncaster, he was held up, nearly done, then comes right over the top, with an unbelievable turn of foot,” said Woodside Park’s nominations manager Mark Dodemaide.

“He’s got a strong Easter pedigree, his mum made $675,000 at Easter, and her two three-quarter-brothers both sold for big money at Easter. He’s just a great racehorse. He had a couple of little issues after the Doncaster, he ended up with a POD lesion in his off-hind joint and he just didn’t come right again. He was capable of winning another Doncaster, so they kept trying but it just wasn’t to be.

“Celestial Legend is 16hh, a really nice correct son of Dundeel, whose sons Super Seth and Castelvecchio are going good. He looks like he’ll be a sire of sires.”

Purchased by Bon Ho’s Legend Racing along with Avenue Bloodstock for $220,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale from Arrowfield Stud, Celestial Legend showed plenty early, running second on debut at two to $3 million colt Kandinsky Abstract (Zoustar), then winning at his second start.

Resuming at three, Celestial Legend ran second in the Listed Heritage Stakes to Ozzmosis, who would go on to win the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes. Returning in the autumn, Celestial Legend put together three wins in succession, and what a group they were. He won the G2 Hobartville Stakes, the G1 Randwick Guineas (beating Group 1 winner Militarize in a quinella for his sire Dundeel {NZ}), and the G1 Doncaster Handicap against a field that included Group 1 winners Militarize, Hinged (Worthy Cause), Another Wil (Street Boss {USA}), Think About It (So You Think {NZ}), Kovalica (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), and Lady Laguna (Overshare).

“This is some horse. I’ve had a lot of good horses, but this horse is unbelievable,” trainer Les Bridge said after Celestial Legend won the G1 Doncaster Mile.

“You get horses like this, I thought I’d get one in a lifetime — I keep getting them. He is a superstar. I didn’t think he could win and he just got out. For a 3-year-old in this era to win a Doncaster when they’ve got these compressed weights and all these good horses are so close to him in the weights, that was the only thing that made me worry a bit.

“I’m old-fashioned. You get these good, tough horses with the compressed weights, but this horse is just terrific.”

Injuries prevented him from finding the same form again and he retires with four wins from 13 starts and earnings over $3.4 million.

Celestial Legend brings a strong female pedigree to the equation as well, being out of unraced Sarraqa (Snitzel) whose dam is South African Horse of the Year National Colour (Saf) (National Assembly {Can}), winner of three Group 1 races and dam of two Group 1 winners in Champion 2YO Colt in South Africa Mustaaqeem (Redoute’s Choice) and his full brother G1 Turffontein Computaform Sprint winner Rafeef who is now a successful sire in South Africa.

Globetrotting Benbatl returns at unchanged fee

Benbatl (GB) returns to Woodside Park for his second season in 2025 at an unchanged fee of $22,000. The well-travelled son of Dubawi (Ire) raced in Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E, winning three Group 1 races being the G1 Meydan Dubai Turf, the G1 Caulfield Stakes, and Germany’s G1 München Bayerisches Zuchtrennen.

“When you are rated 125 and in the top 10 horses in the world, you are a very serious horse. Benbatl is extremely good looking. Come and look at him. I think because he had the two starts in Australia where he won the Caulfield Stakes and was second to Winx in a Cox Plate, people think of him of a 2000 metres horse, but he was a miler who stretched to 2000 metres because he always tried so hard. He broke a track record at Aqueduct over a mile.

“He’s a multiple Group 1 winner, by a multiple Group 1 winner, out of a multiple Group 1 winner. Last year, only him and Too Darn Hot had that, and I went through the stallions register twice to make sure I hadn’t missed anyone!”

A group winner in each of his five seasons of racing, Benbatl represents toughness with a strong European pedigree. His sire, Dubawi, is a Champion Sire with 297 stakes winners to his name, and Benbatl is one of two Group 1 winners produced by Champion 3YO Filly in GB and dual Group 1 winner Nahrain (GB) (Selkirk {USA}).

Woodside’s other unproven sire is Delaware (GB) (Frankel {GB}), a Group 3-winning miler in France and America. His first crop are yearlings, but he has had nothing go through the ring so far in 2025. He returns for his fourth season at an unchanged fee of $7,700.

“I’ve had people ring me up and say they love the yearling they have by Delaware. I say to everyone come and look at him and the foals we have here. He’s obviously getting really good sorts, and he’s a son a Frankel. He wasn’t really a 2-year-old, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he gets a 2-year-old. Every week, someone rings me and tells me how good their yearling is breaking in. Most of his stock are owned by breed to race clients,” said Dodemaide.

“We think he’s our smokey in the joint.”

Delaware was a winner at two in France, who went to win the G3 Deauville Prix Daphnis at three. Sent to America, he won the Listed Aqueduct Danger's Hour Stakes over a mile in track record time, and retired with four wins (three at black type level) from 26 starts.

The proven brigade

Woodside will continue to stand their quartet of proven stallions, all priced to suit the Victorian market. Sire of 19 stakes winners, Shalaa (Ire) remains unchanged at $19,800 inc GST for 2025. In the last month, Jennilala won the G3 Matron Stakes, Eagle Nest won the G3 Maurice McCarten Stakes, and Invincible Papa won Japan’s Listed Nakayama Keiyo Stakes.

“He’s had six individual stakes winners this year. Shalaa always breeds a good looking horse, he’s the ideal VOBIS sires horse because you know what you’ll get. We bought him two years ago when he had 10 stakes winners and now he has 19.”

Written Tycoon son, Rich Enuff, remains unchanged at $13,200. The Group 2 winner has nine stakes winners with Abounding earning over $2.3 million and Oscar’s Fortune with over $1.2 million in racetrack earnings.

“He has nine stakes winners and an impressive winners to runners ratio of 72 per cent. He’s an interesting one as his fillies are probably better than his colts, but his colts sell better because he goes so well in Hong Kong.”

His best runner, to date, in Hong Kong is HK$8 million (AU$1.6 million) earner Wunderbar who has won six of his ten starts in Hong Kong.

Both Foxwedge and Vancouver are available in 2025 at $8,800, a small drop from $9,900 in 2024. “Foxwedge is the best value stallion in the country. He’s got 26 stakes winners, five Group 1 winners, and he was a very good horse who beat Hay List and Buffering. When you compare apples to apples, at that money, I don’t think you’ll do better,” said Dodemaide.

Foxwedge, at 17-years-old, has a solid record with five Group 1 winners and now his daughters are starting to shine with five stakes winners in that realm led by Group 3 winner Sweet Ride (Deep Field) and this season’s Group 1 placed juvenile Buffalo (Written By).

Gallery: Both stallions available in 2025 at $8,800, standing at Woodside Park Stud

Vancouver’s Overpass headlines his progeny with earnings over $10 million, and the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner has sired 12 stakes winners. “He’s got a star at the moment in Overpass who has won $10 million but people forget that he’s also got 12 stakes winners and is the sire of four Group 2 winners, so he hasn’t done a bad job. He’s a big strong horse who was a star racehorse and at that kind of price, you’re a chance to breed a nice horse.”

Table: Woodside Park's stallion service fees for 2025