Newmarket Handicap (G1)-winning sprinter Cylinder, a high-class 2-year-old who won two key Golden Slipper (G1) lead-ups and was runner-up in the feature, will stand at Darley's Victoria operation in 2024.
The decision to retire the 3-year-old colt comes after last month's career-defining Newmarket performance in defeating champion mare Imperatriz and soon after the pensioning of his own champion sire Exceed And Excel, who won the same race 20 years earlier.
Cylinder, who won the Silver Slipper Stakes (G2) and Todman Stakes (G2) as a juvenile, will provide Victorian and interstate breeders with access to a commercial son of Exceed And Excel in the southern state where he will stand alongside Brazen Beau, the only other Newmarket-winning stallion to reside in Victoria in the past 25 years.
Darley stands 2020 Newmarket Handicap winner Bivouac and group 1-winning 2-year-old Microphone, both sons of Exceed And Excel, at its Hunter Valley stallion operation Kelvinside, thus Cylinder's placement at Northwood Park.
Darley Australia's head of sales Andy Makiv said the timing is right for Cylinder to retire as the winner of five of his 14 starts. All but his debut run and last year's Everest fifth were at stakes level.
"We announced Paulele last year and no new horse the year before, so I am really excited about the addition of Cylinder to the (Victorian) farm," Makiv told ANZ Bloodstock News.
"We have Bivouac and Microphone in NSW, so it seemed a logical fit for the spectacularly well-performed son of Exceed And Excel with a great pedigree to stand at Northwood Park.
"It was what our business is about, to produce outstanding colts trained in a really good environment by a good trainer, then for them to join the roster.
"It's what Anamoe did, it's what Bivouac and Microphone did and now Cylinder is joining that list. Obviously, Exceed And Excel's defining moment was his Newmarket win and for Cylinder it was his defining moment, too, so there's nice synergy there."
Cylinder is the second new stallion confirmed for Victoria recently, with Woodside Park Stud announcing exclusively in ANZ Bloodstock News last week that dual-hemisphere group 1 winner Benbatl, a son of Dubawi, would shuttle to Tylden farm in 2024.
A service fee for both stallions is yet to be confirmed.
Cylinder is a half brother to dual group 3-winning mare Parisal, by Astern, being out of the group 3-winning mare Circular, herself a daughter of Darley's influential sire Street Cry.
"Street Cry's influence in Australia has been phenomenal ... he's a wonderful broodmare sire as well and there's a lot of Darley in Cylinder's pedigree," Makiv said. "He's by Exceed And Excel out of a Street Cry mare from the family of Lonhro, it's an amazing collective of three great stallions that we've stood in Australia over the past 20 years.
"He's a strongly built, good-looking 15.3 hands and a very typical, early and sharp 2-year-old sprinting type, so he's hopefully going to produce yearlings that the market is going to adore by throwing speed and precocity into his stock, which is what the Australian industry thrives on."
