National Service For Cockney

Dual 2000 Guineas winner Cockney Rebel will take up stallion duties at the National Stud in Newmarket next season.

The three-year-old, who ran the third-fastest Guineas of all time, will stand at a fee of £10,000, alongside his sire, Val Royal.

After his Guineas triumphs in Newmarket and Ireland, the Geoff Huffer-trained colt fractured his pelvis when finishing fifth in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Unfortunately, he suffered a further setback when being prepared for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and was immediately retired.

Cockney Rebel ran in the colours of Phil Cunningham, who has since sold 50% of the horse to Mrs Mette Campbell Andenaes.

Andrew Parish, chairman of the stud, said: 'It obviously gives me enormous pleasure to have secured a dual Classic winner of Cockney Rebel's stature to stand at the National Stud.

'I am most grateful to Phil Cunningham and to Mette Campbell Andenaes for their joint determination to bring this magnificent horse to the stud, and to Paul Jackson, a long-standing supporter and client of the stud, for the central part he played in brokering the deal'.

Cunningham added: 'I am delighted Cockney will be standing at the National Stud.

'Andrew Parrish, Tina Dawson and David Somers have made both me and my family feel very welcome since my first visit to the stud last year and I am appreciative of the deal, helped by Paul Jackson, that has been put together in order to make the whole thing possible.

'I feel it only fitting he will stand not far from his greatest performance and only a short drive from his current home at Geoff Huffer's Grange House Stables.

'During his racing career, Cockney Rebel became one of those horses that was owned by the public and we are delighted that via the National Stud's visitor programme he becomes accessible to everyone. The dream lives on!'

(C) PA Sport