Hurdy Gurdy Man retires to Moorookyle Park

Group 3 Street Cry winner Hurdy Gurdy Man has been retired to Moorookyle Park in Victoria.

In a deal brokered by Gavelhouse, he has been purchased by Caviar Bloodstock to stand at Moorookyle Park which is located at Smeaton north of Ballarat.

Hurdy Gurdy Man won the 2014 Victorian Country Racehorse of the Year award and, in a career spanning 37 starts, retired with earnings over $452,500.  He won a Hobart Cup, Woodend Cup, Hamilton Cup and Murtoa Cup and was also placed in the Ballarat and Werribee Cups.

The 2013 Hobart Cup credited Darley champion Street Cry with his 61st stakes winner.  Hurdy Gurdy Man settled on the fence but lost all momentum when badly checked searching for a gap.  He managed to get going again and chased down the leaders to win with ease.

“He had a lovely run but there was a scrimmage on the home turn,” jockey Glen Boss reported.  “He was able to come through it and I always felt there was a lot of horse underneath me.”

Hurdy Gurdy Man was trained by Darren Weir for breeders Ed and Robyn Shakespeare.  His dam Abalone (Bluebird) has a 100% record from four foals to race and her half-brother Perfect Paradise was a crack two year-old winning the LR Sir Edward Williams Stakes and going down a head in the G1 T J Smith Classic at Eagle Farm.

Another close relation Straight Clip won the 1995 NZ Magic Millions 2YO Classic and returned later that year to claim the LR Wanganui Guineas.

Champion Darley sire Street Cry, who was euthanized aged 16 last year, had been a cornerstone of Sheikh Mohammed’s racing and breeding operations since a Group 1 triumph in the 2002 Dubai World Cup.  He reigned at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Kentucky and had been a headline stallion with champions the calibre of Zenyatta and Street Sense.

He made a similar impact in Australia siring G1 Caulfield Guineas winners in Long John and Whobegotyou and Melbourne Cup winner Shocking.  His legacy as a sire of sires is already well established with Street Sense, Street Boss and Per Incanto already siring Group 1 winners.

Moorookyle Park will stand Hurdy Gurdy Man for a $4,000 (plus gst) service fee alongside Ceccoci, Ustinov, Widden Valley and Rockaroundtheclock.  Stud manager Nioka Wozny can be contacted on 0427 456 385.

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