Group 1 racehorse and sire War Chant (USA) has left a lasting legacy from his years at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky and Yarradale Stud in Western Australia.
War Chant (Danzig), who died aged 27 in April, is the damsire of over 500 individual winners worldwide and among the best of them have been Shalaa (G1 Prix Morny) and Country House (G1 Kentucky Derby).
His first Australian-bred black-type winner was Chantski in the G3 Gimcrack Stakes (1100m) at Ascot in 2015. She was also runner-up in that year’s LR Supremacy Stakes and, in her only other loss at two, was run over by Lucky Street (Oratorio) in the RL Perth Magic Millions Classic.
Sadly, Chantski pre-deceased War Chant in January 2023 but her record at stud is three to race for three winners - Final Authority (Zoustar), Torpedoman (Street Boss) and Stormchaser (Impending) who flew home for a slashing victory in the Budget Car Rental Hcp (1200m) at Belmont on Saturday.
“Stormchaser was awesome under Clint Johnston-Porter today,” trainer Luke Fernie said. “That’s a great start to this preparation and now it’s onwards and upwards.”
Stormchaser cost $50,000 out of the Yarradale draft at the 2022 Perth Magic Millions and from just 11 starts he’s returned $316,000 including Westspeed Bonuses of $96,000 for a syndicate that includes Simon York and Yarradale.
They bred him in partnership using Godolphin Group 1 winner Impending (Lonhro) over Chantski whose final two foals are an unraced 2yo filly named Perfect Chant (Toronado) with Pearce Racing and a yearling filly by Earthlight. The latter was a $200,000 buy for Ryan Hill at the Swan Valley in February.
Yarradale had originally bought into the family when paying $35,000 for Chantski’s second-dam Livelihood (Rory's Jester). She was a Swettenham Stud homebred who had won the LR Dequetteville Stakes (1000m) in 1994.
Gingerbread Man (Shamardal) will stand at Yarradale for a $5,500 (inc GST) service fee this year. Stud manager Davy Hanratty can be contacted for bookings or further details on (08) 9574 6490 or 0429 326 904.
STORMCHASER / Photo: Western Racepix