Following news of his death at the age of 28, Timeform list their six best horses produced by Cheveley Park Stud's top stallion Pivotal
Farhh (Timeform rating 131)
The Godophin-owned Farhh took a most unusual route to the top with a stop-start beginning to his career. He raced only once in his first two seasons, but won impressively at Newmarket on both occasions, recording a six-length success in a maiden on the July Course at two and then landing a handicap over the Rowley Mile in the autumn of his three-year-old season. When he finally made his third start, a further seven months later, it came at the unlikely setting of Thirsk, where he trounced a field of experienced handicappers in the Thirsk Hunt Cup, winning by six lengths.
For the remainder of that four-year-old campaign, Farhh was able to stand his racing well and he acquitted himself admirably in the face of what were to prove some stiff tasks. Having narrowly gone down to Nathaniel in the Eclipse Stakes, Farhh came up against Frankel in both the Sussex Stakes and the Juddmonte International before losing out close home to Moonlight Cloud in the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp on his final outing that season.
With Frankel retired, Farhh ended his run of Group 1 seconds on his five-year-old reappearance in the Lockinge at Newbury, beating outsider Sovereign Debt by four lengths. While the strength of that particular Group 1 was called into question at the time, Farhh’s next and final success confirmed him a top-class performer, when, after a five-month absence, he beat Cirrus des Aigles and Ruler of The World in a pulsating finish to the Champion Stakes at Ascot. Saeed bin Suroor
Addeybb (129)
Already gelded before making his debut at the age of three, Addeybb has enjoyed a lengthy career at the top level for William Haggas and recently completed another successful campaign which showed him to be thriving, and still capable of high-class form, at the age of seven. Having climbed the handicap ranks at three, it was on his four-year-old reappearance in the Lincoln that Addeybb landed his first prize of note when relishing the heavy ground to beat another future globe-trotter Lord Glitters with plenty in hand.
From then, Addeybb left handicap company behind and registered a Group 2 success in the Mile at Sandown on his very next outing. Like many by his sire, Addeybb proved well suited by ground softer than good and in 2019 he registered his first victories over a mile and a quarter before ending the season by running Magical close in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.
In search of his optimum conditions, Addeybb was sent to Australia for the first time in the early months of 2020 where his trainer’s enterprise was rewarded with a pair of Group 1 victories at Rosehill and Randwick, while back home later in the year soft ground proved ideal for him in the Champion Stakes in which he went one better than the year before with Magical back in third. Addeybb completed a similar campaign this season and beat the subsequent Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant when winning his second Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick. William Haggas
Kyllachy (129)
Much more in the mould of his sire than Pivotal’s other top performers, Kyllachy began his career at two with victory in a maiden at Chepstow in 2000 and, clearly blessed with plenty of speed, he was campaigned exclusively over five furlongs for the remainder of his career. A five-length success in a handicap company at Sandown on his three-year-old reappearance first suggested that Kyllachy had the potential to develop into a top sprinter and, though he failed to win again that season, he never finished outside of the frame, a record which he kept for his whole career.
It was at four when Kyllachy really began to flourish, a season in which Jamie Spencer became his regular partner, and the pair ended up winning four of five starts that year. Kyllachy took the step up to Group company in his stride in the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket and followed up in the Temple Stakes at Sandown but had to settle for third, after not the best of runs, when bidding to emulate his sire’s success in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.
That in itself had been some rise through the ranks but, on Kyllachy’s next and final outing, he followed in his father’s footsteps by winning the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, beating Malhub to confirm himself as the top sprinter in Europe at the time. An injury in that race ended his season and he went on to prove one of Pivotal’s leading sire sons, standing alongside him at Cheveley Park until 2017. Henry Candy
African Story (128)
Like Addeybb, African Story proved to be another gelding who enjoyed longevity to his career after a relatively late start to racing. Originally with Andre Fabre, African Story won two of his first three starts, with his second success on his reappearance at four coming on the all-weather at Deauville which was an early sign of the direction his career was to take.
But kept largely to turf initially, African Story showed smart form in Group company without ever getting his head in front. However, transferred to Saeed bin Suroor for the 2012 Dubai Carnival, African Story immediately showed marked improvement on his first start on the synthetic surface at Meydan.
In fact, he won three of his four starts there, culminating in a four-length victory in the Godolphin Mile on the Dubai World Cup card, African Story quickly established himself as a high-class all-weather performer with a couple more victories that spring, including a four-length romp in the Godolphin Mile. He then became a Carnival regular in subsequent years, winning at Meydan in each of the next three years as well, notably in the Dubai World Cup itself in 2014 when breaking the track record in the process. He gained his final success a year later at the age of eight in Round 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge. Saeed bin Suroor
Immortal Verse (126)
The highest-rated filly Pivotal produced, Immortal Verse enjoyed a purple patch during the summer of her three-year-old campaign but, having made a winning debut at Deauville at two, she let herself down on her first intended start in Britain when playing up in the stalls and having to withdrawn from the 1000 Guineas.
After making little impression in the French equivalent, Immortal Verse soon got her career back on track with success in the Prix de Sandringham at Chantilly and, just 12 days later, fared much better on her next trip to England when beating another French filly, Nova Hawk, in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. That was a substandard renewal of the Coronation Stakes, but Immortal Verse produced a career-best effort next time, showing a potent turn of foot to take the scalp of Goldikova in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville.
While she managed a creditable third place behind Frankel in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, Immortal Verse was well below her best subsequently, including when bidding to win at Deauville again the following year. Pivotal has a well-established reputation as a broodmare sire, and Immortal Verse has contributed to that record herself as dam of the recent Cheveley Park Stakes winner Tenebrism. Robert Collet
Somnus (126)
Having reportedly been a nervous sort at home and not easy to train, Somnus was gelded before his racing career began. However, that didn’t stop him making great strides as a two-year-old once he’d got the hang of things. In fact, he won his last four starts that season, culminating in victory in the Two-Year-Old Trophy at Redcar and ending the year as the leading two-year-old money earner of 2002.
The following year Somnus proved competitive at a higher level, including when successful in a Listed race at Newbury, and on his first start in a Group 1, he lowered the colours of Oasis Dream and Airwave in the Sprint Cup at Haydock when encountering ground softer than good for the first time in his career.
Somnus enjoyed his best season as a four-year-old, and while he was beaten a short head by Tante Rose when attempting to win the Sprint Cup again, he gained two more Group 1 successes either side of that in France in the Prix Maurice de Gheest and Prix de la Foret. He remained in training until the age of eight (when trained by John Quinn) having gained the tenth and final success of his career in a minor event at Haydock as a six-year-old. Tim Easterby
