West Australian nursery Waterford Stud announced the arrival of Therock to its Waroona base earlier this week and the latest addition to its roster is Group 1 sprinter Cardinal Virtue.

Waterford Stud is owned by Peter Thomas and Sue Goodwin and is an 800 acre dedicated horse facility located a 15 minute drive south of Pinjarra.

Cardinal Virtue (5h Elusive Quality – Valourina by Snippets) was last seen finishing third in the G1 The Galaxy (1100m) at Randwick on April 16.

He has been consistent as clockwork in Sydney this season winning at Randwick and being placed in the G2 Premiere Stakes, LR Lightning Hcp, LR Carrington Stakes, G3 Southern Cross Stakes and G3 Sebring Stakes.  

He also travelled to Flemington in January and finished third to straight course specialist Grand Duels in the LR Kensington Stakes.

Darley bought Cardinal Virtue for $260,000 out of the Twin Palms Stud draft at the 2007 Inglis Easter yearling sale.  He was originally trained by Lee Freedman and won by six lengths on debut at Morphettville in May 2008.  

He crossed the border again in February 2009 to nail Augusta Proud by a nose in the LR Redelva Stakes.

A syndicate headed by Melbourne based Michael Sharkie bought him this time last year and, after a short stint with Trevor Bailey, was sent to David Payne for his final and most successful season of racing.

Cardinal Virtue is by former Darley shuttler Elusive Quality who has enjoyed something of a renaissance this season with champion colt Sepoy.

His half-sister Media (Gilded Time),was a G2 winner of the STC Magic Night Stakes and G3 AJC San Domenico Stakes.

Another half-sister Timbourina (Timber Country) was a G2 winner of the VRC Wakeful Stakes and she was also runner-up to Niello in the 2004 G1 Canterbury Guineas.

Cardinal Virtue will stand his first season at a fee of $7,000 (+ gst).