The Oldsmobile Toronado was the first modern front-wheel drive car manufactured in the United States, and coincidentally, 2015 was both the 50th anniversary of the car and the year that Toronado (High Chaparral-Wana Doo, by Grand Slam) retired to stud as a dual Gr1 winner.
By Renée Geelen
Fast forward eight years, and Toronado has sired five Gr1 winners among his 37 stakes winners. “All of Toronado’s current Australian success has been off service fees under $25,000 with his current yearlings the first to come from a $45,000 service fee,” said Swettenham’s General Manager of Operations and Nominations, Sam Matthews. “We feel this is quite a difference to most of Australia’s other leading stallions who have been supported at higher fees.”
Three of Toronado’s five Gr1 winners have won two of Australian sprint majors, being the William Reid Stakes, and the Galaxy Handicap.
Masked Crusader (Toronado-She’s Got Gears, by Invincible Spirit) won seven races and over $4.4million including the 2021 Gr1 William Reid Stakes. A tough campaigner, he first raced as three year-old winning three of his first four starts and was still racing in 2023 as six-year-old. Masked Crusader also placed in the Gr1 TJ Smith Stakes, Gr1 Canterbury Stakes and The Everest (second to Champion Sprinter Nature Strip).
Mariamia (Toronado-Quinta Lago, by Encosta de Lago) won eight races including the 2023 Gr1 Galaxy Handicap and over $1.2million. Winner on debut as a late two year-old, Mariamia is a tough race mare, running 39 times from 2019 to 2023.
Toronado’s other winner of the Gr1 Galaxy Handicap is Shelby Sixtysix (Toronado-Storm Kite, by Honours List).
Bois D’Argent
He gained a huge fandom in the autumn of 2022 when he came from Highway Class, bouncing into a win in the Gr3 Maurice McCarten and the Gr1 Galaxy Handicap. All up, he has won five races, placed 12 times, in 45 starts for earnings over $880,000.
A new find for Toronado in the 2023/24 season has been Hong Kong sprinter Victor The Winner (Toronado-Noetic, by Cape Cross). The 2018 born gelding won the 2024 Gr1 HKJC Centenary Sprint Cup, then travelled to Japan to take on their best sprinters, running third in soggy conditions in the Gr1 Chukyo Takamatsunomiya Kinen. With plenty more to come, Victor The Winner has seven wins from 15 starts with over A$4million.
In the northern hemisphere, Tribhuvan (Toronado-Mahendra, by Next Desert) from Toronado’s first crop won two Gr1 races in the USA and over US$1million among six wins, and he is out of an unraced half-sister to French Gr2 winner Macleya and French Gr3 winner Montclair.
Bred in Ireland by Paul Nataf, Toronado is the fourth live foal for his winning dam, Wana Doo (Grand Slam-Wedding Gift, by Always Fair). He was sold as a weanling at the 2010 Arqana December Foal Sale, consigned by Haras d’Ommeel and sold for €40,000, purchased the British Bloodstock Agency (Ireland). 2010 was the same year that Wana Doo’s half-brother Casamento (Shamardal) was one of the best two year-olds in Ireland, winning the Gr1 Racing Post Trophy in October, only a couple of months before Toronado was sold as a weanling.
Toronado went back to the Arqana sales as a yearling, this time selling to bloodstock agent Amanda Skiffington for €55,000, and he was syndicated into an ownership group called “Carmichael Humber” who put him into training with Richard Hannon.
Unbeaten in three starts at two, including the Gr2 Champagne Stakes over 1400m, Toronado was purchased privately by Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al Thani at the start of his three year-old season. Initially aimed at the Classics, he won first up in the Gr3 Craven Stakes, then was beaten into fourth in the Gr1 Two Thousand Guineas. A month later he ran second in the Gr1 St James’s Palace Stakes, beaten a head by Dawn Approach. He got his revenge in his next start, winning the Gr1 Sussex Stakes with Dawn Approach in second.
After four starts as a three year-old at the mile for two wins and a second, Toronado was asked to stretch out to 2100m in the Gr1 York International S, but faded into last place. He underwent corrective surgery for a displaced palate and that was the end of his Classic season.
At four, Toronado did not race until June, but he debuted in the Gr1 Queen Anne Stakes over a mile and won that before heading to defend his Sussex Stakes crown where he ran second to Kingman. Toronado then went to France
where he ran second in another Gr1 mile, the Gr1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (to Charm Spirit), before travelling to America for the Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Mile. He faded in the running, ending up mid-field and was retired to stud.
Initially Toronado stood at the National Stud in 2015, with bloodstock agent John Warren saying at the time, “Looking closely at both Toronado’s pedigree and conformation, he is hugely exciting. Being by the international leading sire High Chaparral out of a mare from the Gone West line, he looks perfect for a wide range of mares, including those that descend from the Danzig line. Having the powerful build of a very fast horse and being a group-winning unbeaten two year-old, Toronado will really appeal to the commercial market. As a European champion miler, he will also be important to owner/breeders who are aiming to breed a Classic prospect.”
When Toronado retired, High Chaparral was only beginning to make his mark as a sire, but now he has cemented himself as a sire of sire with sons such as So You Think (56 stakes winners), Toronado (37), Dundeel (26), Redwood (14), with many young horses coming through like Tivaci, Wrote, Ace High, and Alpine Eagle.
Toronado also first shuttled to Australia in 2015. In 2018, he moved his Northern Hemisphere base to Haras de Bouquetot. He stopped shuttling in 2022, staying at Swettenham.
“He was really popular in the Northern Hemisphere and covered a lot of mares
this year, but when he is standing for $8000 in one Hemisphere and $88,000 in the other, it doesn’t take a lot of calculations to work out what it takes to make it worthwhile and you also have to take into consideration insurance, travel costs,” Swettenham Stud’s Sam Matthews told TDN AusNZ in 2022.
“Essentially, Toronado loves Danzig and Danehill – which is great news given the dominance of Danehill sons in Australia – and he doesn’t mind being bred back to his own sire line either.”
The yearling markets have begun to clue into Toronado’s success on the track, in particular his ability to sire tough sprinters and strong Hong Kong winners, and his 2024 yearlings sold up to $600,000; with all 72 yearlings offered in 2024 averaging $161,665 with a median of $120,000 (off a $49,500 service fee).
“We are looking forward to the current crop of weanlings hitting the market (whether as weanlings or yearlings) and also looking forward to standing a son of Toronado in years to come, especially out of one of the top mares that has visited him in the past three seasons,” said Matthews.
Looking across Toronado’s 37 stakes winners, several pedigree patterns emerge. Each of his five Gr1 winners is out of mares by different stallions, indicating his versatility and it is a similar story across his stakes winners with his 37 stakes winners representing 33 damsires. However, fifteen of the 37 are from the Danzig sire line (mostly sons and grandsons of Danehill); while another four have damsires representing the Green Desert branch of Danzig’s sire line. Another six are different Northern Dancer sire lines. All up, this makes 25 of his 37 (67%) stakes winners out of mares by Northern Dancer sire lines, which may not be a surprise given the prevalence of those sire lines in Australia.
The remaining eight stakes winners are out of mares representing the Mr Prospector line (5) while two are from the Try My Best sire line. Perhaps it is some surprise that there is only one Toronado stakes winner out of a Sir Tristram line mare, being Listed winner Beltoro (Toronado-Believabeel, by Zabeel), given the number of Zabeel-line mares in the population. The remaining four represent a mixed group of sire lines.
Both Gr3 winner Senor Toba (Toronado-Bahamas, by Teofilo) and Listed winner Jouza (Toronado-Razmiya, by Galileo) carry inbreeding to Sadler’s Wells with Senor Toba being 3mx4f to the Champion Sire and Irish bred Jouza being 3mx3f to him, while Mariamia carries a cross to Sadler’s Wells’ half-brother Fairy King via her damsire Encosta de Lago.
Essentially, Toronado loves Danzig and Danehill – which is great news given the dominance of Danehill sons in Australia – and he doesn’t mind being bred back to his own sire line either.
Toronado’s rise from a $22,000 stallion when he retired to the $88,000 he commands in 2024 has been sensational, and with better broodmares supporting him, his record looks set to improve further.
