National Defense To Miss Shuttle

National Defense winning the Lagardere | Scoop Dyga

Sun Stud's National Defense (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}-Angel Falls {GB}, by Kingmambo) will miss his intended shuttle trip to Australia for the 2018 season after picking up an injury at the Irish National Stud, where he had recently completed his first season. Raced by the Australian entity Sun Bloodstock with trainer Criquette Head, National Defense won the 2016 G1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. He stood in Ireland alongside his sire for €12,000, and was set to stand for A$11,000 at Sun Stud. The popularity of the sire line Down Under has been buoyed by the success of Invincible Spirit's son I Am Invincible (Aus).

“It's a real blow coming this close to the start of the season,” Sun Stud's Managing Director Danielle Cheng said. “Thankfully, it's not a career-threatening injury, but National Defense's health is paramount to us and the decision was made by leading vets in both Ireland and Australia to not take the chance of flying him at this stage. Not surprisingly, National Defense has been popular with Australian broodmare owners and every effort will be made to accommodate those breeders who have already booked for this spring.”

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