Darley has taken Shamardal out of service at its Hunter Valley stud.  The Giant’s Causeway stallion has injured his withers and will sit out the rest of the southern hemisphere breeding season.

Shamardal will return to Europe with the rest of the Darley shuttlers in time for the northern hemisphere and is expected to make a full recovery.

The injury comes at a time when the Shamardals are flying.  He sired a stakes winning double last week starting at Randwick with a Listed quinella in the AJC Breeders’ Plate when Run for Wilson defeated Jogsaws.

In Melbourne, Shamoline Warrior won the Listed VRC UCI Stakes in the lead-up to the G1 Victoria Derby on October 31.

Shamardal has been represented by 17 individual winners in his first northern crop so far this year.  They include Curragh G3 winner Arctic and French colt Lope De Vega who won at Deauville and Longchamp before finishing fourth in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on Arc day.

Shakespearean propelled Shamardal to the top of the UK-Ireland first-season premiership when he won the rich Goffs Million Mile at the Curragh a fortnight ago.  The Sheikh Hamdan owned colt had won the G3 Solario Stakes at Sandown in August.