Cosmic Crusader was a memorable Cox Plate winner for so many reasons and one of them is pedigree given he has an NZ suffix, but no actual Kiwi bloodlines and while that tail female line is Aussie, it’s taken the injection of NH bred stallions to create a Cox Plate legend.
Last week we reflected on the pedigree for Everest queen Tempted and made the point that shuttle stallions had been the catalyst for her emergence as the best sprinter in the land and the pedigree for Cosmic Crusader offers similar food for thought.
The first thing you notice about his pedigree is the complete lack of any lines of Danehill blood which is a rarity in this part of the world.
His sire Maurice (Jpn) is a regular shuttler to Arrowfield, who saw the potential of a Danehill free outcross sire that is also very physically different to the stock in trade speedy squibs that populate stallion rosters all over the country.
Maurice is tall, statuesque and blessed with good bone, there is nothing fragile about a horse whose nickname when racing was ‘The Beast from the East’.
He won 11 of 18 starts and was Horse of the Year, Champion Sprinter & Champion Miler in Japan in 2015 with some of his career highlights including the HK International Mile (1600m) and the HK International Cup (2000m).
Cosmic Crusader is a second generation homebred for Bob Peters, who also bred his dam Cosmic Storm, a G3 winner up to 2000m sired by Street Cry’s champion son Street Sense (USA), who won a Kentucky Derby and shuttled to Darley Australia for five seasons.
Cosmic Storm is a half-sister to another Peters bred Victorian G1 winner in Superstorm being from exceptional producer Stormy Nova, a G3 winner up to a mile sired by Metal Storm (Fr), who was a champion sire for WA.
WA breeders were impressed with the deeds of Arrowfield shuttler Kenmare (Fr) (he arrived in Australia for the first time in 1988) and Metal Storm was deemed the best thing they could afford in order to access that Grey Soverign sireline that had already produced a champion sire for WA in Beau Sovereign, who dominated through the 1980's.
Metal Storm duly delivered the goods with a string of WA SW’s including G1 winners Covertly and Old Fashion.
Third dam of Cosmic Crusader is Pro Challenge, a stakes-placed winner up to 1700m, sired by another imported WA sire in Protos (USA), a son of legendary sire Mr Prospector from an all US female family.
Beyond that going back in time it’s a pretty unremarkable Aussie female family that has no doubt taken huge benefit from the introduction of diverse world class bloodlines.
