Kildare, Ireland: On a misty autumn afternoon in the heart of Irish horse country, big Teo has come in from his lush paddock early to meet an Australian admirer.
He still has a cocky strut about him, clomping about on the cobblestones, even at his more mature age of 20. It’s been a long time since he was a champion on a racecourse – unbeaten from just five starts – but his handler Jamie Smith says this horse knows he still has star power.
Teofilo, a champion Irish stallion, has earned his place among Melbourne Cup legends as a the sire of three of the past six winners. Credit: Darley
“He’s a bit of a cheeky bugger,” Kildangan Stud’s stallion man says. “He’ll act up a bit when he sees people are around, but if you respect him, he’ll respect you. He’s the boss around here. Everyone else knows their place around him.”
Teofilo – by Galileo from Speirbhean by Danehill from Saviour by Majestic Light – is a Melbourne Cup icon despite having never stepping a hoof on Flemington’s famous turf. You might not have heard of him, but you’ve almost certainly heard of his sons.
No stallion has sired more Cup winners than him in modern times. When Without A Fight stormed to a two-length victory last November, Teofilo joined the greats of Sir Tristram, Monsun and Zabeel in siring three different Melbourne Cup winners, after Cross Counter in 2018 and Twilight Payment in 2020.
Named in honour of the great Cuban heavyweight and triple Olympic champion boxer Teofilo Stevenson, the handsome bay colt who grew to be 16.2 hands high rules at Kildangan, which since 1986 has been home to the Irish-based stallions of the Darley-Godolphin breeding and racing empire.
Trainer Charlie Appleby with Cross Counter at the 2018 Melbourne Cup.Credit: Getty Images
In a sport which rarely places romance ahead of economics, his status owes much more to just winners and returns. That’s because six years ago Teofilo delivered a momentous first, in the shape of a first Cup for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a previously elusive prize that the ruler of Dubai and vice president of the United Arab Emirates had been chasing for four decades.
“He very much has pride of place here,” says Kildangan’s nominations manager Eamon Moloney, my enthusiastic guide around a farm extends to almost 600 hectares, which accommodation for more than 400 horses. “He means a lot to all of us.”
Moloney is a big fan of Teofilo, having worked with him for many of his 17 years spent continuously here, where he still grosses at least $2 million a year in stud fees and his global impact continues to grow. He has now sired just shy of 800 winners of nearly 2300 races worldwide, including around 120 winners of 240-odd so-called “black-type” or group/grade and listed races.
“He’s the most extraordinary horse and I still wish he got the credit he deserves. Although I think that’s beginning to happen now through his Melbourne Cups,” Maloney says.
“He’s a big, substantial and tough sort of a horse, but there’s a gentle giant behind it.”
Bred and trained by legendary Irish trainer Jim Bolger – a mentor to modern-day master Aidan O’Brien – Teofilo blazed a trail in his juvenile season winning the best races for two-year in Ireland and England as a two-year-old, racing solely at 1400m. A subsequent injury in the spring of 2007 meant that racing fans could only guess at what he might have achieved at aged three and beyond.
Moloney says he’s still a quality lover, even he doesn’t quite have the stamina of his youth. Teofilo’s stallion fee remains at €30,000 ($49,641.00). Unlike some stallions, it hasn’t fluctuated that much over the years.
Happy Clapper is one of Teofilo’s famous Australian sons. Credit: bradleyphotos.com.au
“At his peak, we would try to cover about 140-150 mares and we would consider that as a full book. As time has gone by, and he’s got a little bit older, we’ve had to mind his fertility a little bit. So he’s now back to covering 80 mares and he’s highly successful at that.”
He even shuttled to Australia, spending five seasons at Darley studs from 2009 to 2017, producing a suite of top-class runners, notably $7 million winner Happy Clapper and group 1 winners Kermadec, Palentino and Humidor.
Helder Ferriera, who accompanied him to Australia, remembers while he was a good traveller, he hated the Australian heat. “He’d do his job and do it well, but he’d love to just lie in front of a massive fan at the back of his box when he was done,” he says.
Of his 116 global group winners, 22 of them have been in Australia including a Caulfield Cup, Australian Cup, George Main Stakes and Australian Guineas. His eight per cent group/listed winners to runners in Australia matches strides with his own sire Galileo.
Part of his growing legacy includes his group 1-winning and producing son Kermadec, standing at Darley’s Northwood Park in Victoria. Half of Kermadec’s stakes winners are at group 1 level, including the Chris Waller-trained Montefilia.
Teofilo won’t have a runner at Flemington on Tuesday, but his progeny can be found in the formguides at Echuca and Mildura. But Maloney thinks he still has another Cup in him.
“You wouldn’t put it past him,” he says. “He’s just a ripper.”
