Tendon issue forces Vandeek out for southern hemisphere breeding season

Injury has ruled Arrowfield’s unbeaten dual Group 1-winning shuttle stallion Vandeek out for the 2026 southern hemisphere breeding season.

The Group 1 Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes winner, a half-brother to top two- and three-year-old Gstaad, suffered a tendon injury during quarantine in Melbourne.

Although the son of Havana Grey out of Exceed And Excel mare Mosa Mine is on the road to recovery, Vandeek will not undertake his second Australian season in the Hunter Valley.

The grey sprinter, who ran third in the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket in one of just two starts at three, covered 151 mares at Arrowfield Stud in 2025 at a fee of $22,000 (inc GST).

Vandeek is currently under the watchful eye of Arrowfield veterinarians at Scone until he is deemed well enough to return to the UK.

Arrowfield founder John Messara described the loss of Vandeek for the season as “a blow to us”, but said the stallion’s welfare was the number one priority.

“We had a growing book of mares going to him, including quite a lot of our own mares, and we’re obviously disappointed,” Messara told The Straight.

“There was nothing we could do about it. It happened in quarantine, and we don’t quite know how because there aren’t any obvious marks at all. 

“It’s on a hind leg, and there aren’t any obvious marks, and we want to give him time to recuperate.”

Vandeek stands at Cheveley Park Stud, Newmarket’s oldest thoroughbred stud, with his northern hemisphere shareholders made aware of the situation as soon as it was identified more than a week ago.

“During the serving season, there’ll be a lot of pressure on his hind legs, and we just don’t want to take any chances,” Messara said. 

“He’s a valuable stallion prospect, and we basically want to give him a full opportunity to recover.

“The feeling is amongst the owners and ourselves that he should not be put at risk.”

With his first crop of southern hemisphere-bred foals being born, Vandeek’s absence will halt his momentum but Messara is adamant that he’d like to see the sprinter return to stud duties next year.

“We have a lot of faith in the horse. This is his first crop, and we’re having some lovely foals born at the moment,” he said. 

“It makes the thing even more poignant, the loss even more poignant than it can be because he’s having some lovely foals.”

It’s not the first time such an instance has occurred, with fellow shuttler Maurice unable to stand at Arrowfield because of the pandemic in 2020 and The Autumn Sun missed the 2024 breeding season due to a pelvis injury.

Darley’s Street Boss was unable to shuttle to Australia in 2010, in what would have been his second season, due to injury.

Arrowfield Stud will shuttle Juddmonte’s Lead Artist, a Group 1-winning son of Dubawi, this year while Maurice is also back from Japan for another season.