Stone Age (IRE)

Although winless in five starts as a juvenile, Stone Age showed plenty of promise with three runner-up finishes and one third. His best effort was a second-place finish in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud in October 2021, and he also was runner-up by a head in the Group 2 KPMG Champions Golden Fleece Stakes in September in Ireland.

The bay Galileo colt opened his 3-year-old season with back-to-back wins, the second coming in the Group 3 Derby Trial Stakes May 8, 2022, at Leopardstown. After an unplaced finish in the Group 1 Cazoo Derby in Memory of Lester Piggott, trainer Aidan O’Brien shipped Stone Age to New York for a pair of races. Stone Age finished third by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 1 Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes July 9, and four weeks later he finished fifth, beaten by three lengths, in the Grade 1 Caesars Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. He subsequently was fifth in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

Stone Age then returned to the U.S. for a start in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf Nov. 5 at Keeneland. He finished a solid second behind rallying winner Rebel’s Romance for O’Brien and Coolmore.

Stone Age was produced by the winning Anabaa mare Bonanza Creek, a full-sister (same dam [mother], same sire [father]) to multiple group stakes winner Board Meeting and a half-sister (same dam, different sire) to French Oaks winner Bright Sky.