Holy Roman Emperor & Teofilo's Rivalry

Few seasons have seen a more dominant pair of juveniles than the 2006 campaign when Teofilo (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) (Danehill) both excelled in Europe. They were well ahead of their peers, collectively sweeping the board with each winning two of Europe's biggest juvenile championship events. Teofilo won the top juvenile race in both England and Ireland, taking the G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket and the G1 National S. at The Curragh as the highlights of his unbeaten five-race campaign. Holy Roman Emperor was second to him both times, beaten only a head in the Dewhurst, and when Teofilo wasn't around he generally found winning easy, as he demonstrated in both the G1 Phoenix S. at The Curragh and the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp.

The Dewhurst S. had been everything that a championship contest should be. It confirmed that Teofilo and Holy Roman Emperor were easily the best juveniles in Europe, and that Teofilo was marginally the superior. It also ensured that the following year's 2000 Guineas would be eagerly anticipated.  The season's first Classic would be the re-match between the two colts, who each impressed as potentially an outstanding 3-year-old. Even in a sport where we know that things rarely go to the script, though, it still came as a pair of twin bolts from the blue that neither horse ever ran again.

Chapter One of this Tale of the Unexpected came on Mar. 10, 2007. All appeared to be going particularly well at Ballydoyle, where Holy Roman Emperor reportedly put in a splendid gallop that morning, giving Aidan O'Brien plenty of encouragement that it might be third time lucky when the dapper little colt next met Teofilo. Things were less satisfactory over at Coolmore Stud, though. The previous year's G1 2000 Guineas hero 'Gorgeous' George Washington (Ire) (Danehill) had made a busy start to the new stud season, in which his first-season fee was €60,000. The early pregnancy tests of his first mares were coming in thick and fast. That morning the next batch of results arrived. Forty mares had now been tested, and none was in foal.  Every day's delay was one delay too many as the mares were lining up, ready to be covered, preferably by a top-class son of Danehill. The decision was taken immediately that Holy Roman Emperor would fill the void. He came straight out of training, and reportedly he covered his first mare later the same day.

Holy Roman Emperor's abrupt exit seemed to leave the stage clear for Teofilo.  However, a scare in mid-April suggested that the powerful colt might have some soreness in his off-fore knee.  Positive reports, however, continued to come out of Jim Bolger's stable but, to widespread consternation, when declarations were published for the 2000 Guineas, Teofilo's name was missing. It transpired that his knee was still bothering him, and he never ran again. Having been bought by Darley, he began covering at Kildangan in 2008 at a fee of €40,000, which was €5,000 more than the fee being asked down in Tipperary for Holy Roman Emperor in what was the latter's second season.

Teofilo and Holy Roman Emperor were not merely well-matched rivals carrying over their racecourse rivalry to stud. They can be seen as combining to illustrate the changing of the guard on the stallions' rankings. Danehill had succeeded Sadler's Wells as Champion Sire of Great Britain and Ireland in 2003, but he had done so posthumously, having died in May that year. His final crops were his best ones, as he had been covering some terrific mares; and these horses (including Holy Roman Emperor, who came from his last crop) helped him to collect a further three sires' premierships. As he was dead, though, obviously his reign couldn't last indefinitely. While Holy Roman Emperor was merely one of several of his sons to join the Coolmore roster (and one of these sons, Danehill Dancer (Ire), became champion sire in 2009) it turned out that the successor to Sadler's Wells and Danehill as Europe's dominant stallion was Galileo (Ire) (Sadler's Wells). And it turned out that Galileo's best results were coming with Danehill mares (which is easy to understand as right from the outset he has covered so many high-class daughters of Danehill). While Holy Roman Emperor represented the outgoing Danehill era, Teofilo (by Galileo from a listed-winning Danehill mare) was at the vanguard of the new order.

Holy Roman Emperor and Teofilo have now been at stud for a decade, and they are still each other's big rival. Remarkably, they ended up side by side on TDN's table of European-based stallions judged on worldwide earnings during 2017, Holy Roman Emperor faring marginally better in 14th position. Each has an advantage in this table as they have both been regular shuttlers to Australia. Holy Roman Emperor in particular was a natural to shuttle from the outset, with Danehill having been Australian Champion Sire nine times on the way to building a rock-solid local reputation as a sire (and now grandsire) of sires. Furthermore, Holy Roman Emperor comes from one of the most internationally successful and respected families in the book, a family which has yielded the top-class Australian racehorses and sires Flying Spur (Aus) (Danehill) and Encosta De Lago (Aus) (Fairy King).

Holy Roman Emperor's first proper star came from his second Irish crop. The diminutive Homecoming Queen didn't look particularly special on many of her runs, but at her best she was superb, as she showed with a nine-length triumph in the G1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in 2012. That year the stallion completed an unusual 1000 Guineas double when Rollout the Carpet (Aus) landed the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas. A horse superior to Homecoming Queen emerged from Holy Roman Emperor's third Irish crop: Designs On Rome (Ire), a champion in Hong Kong from 2014 to '16 inclusive. The same crop also contained the Group 1-winning French juvenile Morandi (Fr). Many very good horses have followed in Designs On Rome's footsteps to Hong Kong, including 2016 G1 HK Mile winner Beauty Only (Ire) as well as the top sprinter Rich Tapestry (Ire). The latter made a particularly far-reaching contribution to his sire's CV by taking the GI Santa Anita Sprint Championship when sent from Hong Kong on a raid to California in October 2014. The depth of Holy Roman Emperor's success in Hong Kong is shown by the fact that he is the reigning Champion Sire there.

Easily the best son of Holy Roman Emperor conceived in Australia (where the horse initially stood at Coolmore in New South Wales and more recently has been standing at Aquis Farm in Queensland) has been Mongolian Khan (Aus) who completed the G1 New Zealand Derby /G1 AJC Australian Derby double in 2015 and then followed up the following season by taking the G1 Caulfield Cup. A more recent Group 1 winner for Holy Roman Emperor at Caulfield has been Sheidel (Aus), winner of the G1 Oakleigh Plate H. last season. Notable Indian Classic triumphs have come for the stallion courtesy of the Irish-conceived trio Be Safe (Ind), Smashing (Ind) and Mrs Patmore (Ind); while Roman Legend (Ire) landed the Qatar Derby in 2014. Holy Roman Emperor is a truly prolific, truly cosmopolitan stallion, the extent of whose success is best illustrated by the fact that he came in fifth in 2017 among all European-based stallions as regards individual winners worldwide. Dubawi (Ire) topped this table with 160 winners, ahead of Kodiac (Ire) (157), Exceed And Excel (Aus) (147), Dark Angel (Ire) (142), Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) (139) and Galileo (Ire) (138). Of these half-dozen high-achievers, Holy Roman Emperor came in second on a winners-to-runners percentage, his figure of 44.59% bettered only by the 52.63% registered by Dubawi.

The rivalry between Holy Roman Emperor and Teofilo even runs deep in this specific respect. Not only are they adjacent of the international earnings' table for 2017, but their winners-to-runners percentages are very similar: Teofilo's figure for the year was 44.59%. With smaller representation (222 individual runners in 2017, set against Holy Roman Emperor's total of 308) Teofilo has put together a similarly broad sweep of international glory. His first Irish crop contained both a champion 2-year-old and a (quasi) 'Classic' winner: G1 Dewhurst S. winner Parish Hall (Ire) and G1 Irish St Leger victrix Voleuse De Coeurs (Ire). His second crop also contained a juvenile Group 1 winner and a Classic winner, both trained (like their sire and like Parish Hall) by Jim Bolger: G1 Criterium International winner Loch Garman (Ire) and G1 Irish Derby winner Trading Leather. Bolger also produced another star from Teofilo's fourth crop when he trained Pleasach (Ire), whom he had bred, to take the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas and G1 Yorkshire Oaks in 2015. Another top 3-year-old for Teofilo had been his second-crop son Havana Gold (Ire), winner of the G1 Prix Jean Prat in 2013 and now established as one of Europe's most successful first-season sires of 2017.

Like Holy Roman Emperor, Teofilo has come up with some top horses in Australia, where he stood last season at Kelvinside Stud in New South Wales at a fee of A$44,000. His first star there was 2014 G1 Queensland Derby winner Sonntag (Aus) and subsequently Kermadec (Aus), Palentino (Aus), Humidor (NZ) and Happy Clapper (Aus) have also scored in Group 1 company. Of these more recent Group 1 winners, only Happy Clapper (winner of this season's G1 Epsom H. at Randwick as a 7-year-old on his 28th start) has merely one Group 1 victory to his name. As this suggests, it is the norm for Teofilo's stock to be very tough and durable. The 5-year-old gelding Humidor, winner last season of the G1 Australian Cup, is a perfect example, having put up his best run to date on his 21st start when failing by only half a length to deny Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) a third G1 Cox Plate triumph at Moonee Valley in October. Similarly progressive among Teofilo's Irish-bred stock have been Ajman Princess (Ire), Special Fighter (Ire) and Quest For More (Ire) who recorded their first Group 1 triumphs at ages respectively of four, five and six. The real tragedy is that Teofilo's top 3-year-old of 2017 Permian (Ire) won't be around to enhance his record further, following the heart-breaking fatal accident which the super-tough G2 Dante S. and G2 King Edward VII S. hero suffered at the finish of the GI Secretariat S. at Arlington Park last August.

Teofilo and Holy Roman Emperor have been going neck and neck over the past 12 years, firstly on the racecourse and now at stud. Both proved popular in the sale-ring again last autumn. Teofilo's yearlings fetched up to the 280,000gns which the colt out of Amber Silk (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) realised at the Tattersalls October Sale; while Holy Roman Emperor's yearlings were headed by the colt out of Midnight Partner (Ire) (Marju {Ire}) who brought 210,00gns at the same sale. It is looking likely that the two stallions will both be rivalling each other worldwide again during 2018.