Justify, the champion American stallion and sire of Storm Boy, won't be returning to stand at Coolmore's Hunter Valley property this spring.

Coolmore Australia's Tom Magnier confirmed that Justify would remain at Ashford Stud in Kentucky and serve select mares to southern hemisphere time later this year.

Magnier said Justify already serves around 180 mares during the American breeding season and the decision not to send him back to Australia this spring was designed to manage the stallion's workload.

"We feel Justify is on his way to becoming one of the all-time great stallions,'' Magnier said.

"The horse is extremely busy in the northern hemisphere, the demand for him is very high. But we also know that Justify has made an incredible impact in Australia so we will be sending some of our best Australian mares up north and some of our clients here will have the opportunity to send their mares to the stallion as well.

"It's a similar situation to Frankel in England where they serve mares to southern hemisphere time.

Magnier said he hoped the decision to retire last year's Golden Slipper winner Shinzo to stud might partially fill the void left by Justify.

"We only announced Shinzo's retirement a couple of days ago, the plan is to have more than 150 mares visit him this spring and already his book is pretty much full,'' Magnier said.

The Fastest Golden Slipper-Winning Colt This Century Retires to Coolmore.
Snitzel's only Golden Slipper-winning colt and last season's Champion two-year-old Shinzo will stand at Coolmore in 2024…. https://t.co/i9eKfFkABkpic.twitter.com/WeuwNpQdXa

— Coolmore Australia (@CoolmoreAus) April 21, 2024

Justify, the only American triple crown winner to retire to the breeding barn unbeaten, is proving a sensation at stud, siring this season's outstanding two-year-old colt Storm Boy (Magic Millions, Skyline Stakes) and brilliant three-year-old filly Learning To Fly (Inglis Millennium, Reisling Stakes, Widden Stakes).

In the northern hemisphere, Justify has already sired five individual Group 1 winners from his first two crops including the freakish City Of Troy, unbeaten winner of the Dewhurst Stakes last year and favourite to become the first horse since the legendary Nijinsky in 1970 to win the English triple crown comprising the 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and English St Leger.

The Coolmore-owned City Of Troy is due to resume racing in the Guineas at Newmarket on May 4.

"Aidan (O'Brien, trainer) has told me they have had shocking weather back home and City Of Troy hasn't had much chance to work on the grass,'' Magnier said.

"But we are really looking forward to his return in the Guineas. On the same day, we have Sierra Leone lining up in the Kentucky Derby so it could be a big weekend for our colts.''