Deep Impact has spent his stud career at Shadai Stallion Station and had to be euthanised after it was found he was unable to stand due to a cervical fracture found by X-ray early on Tuesday morning. Earlier this year he was withdrawn from service due to neck pain.
A seven-time Group I winner on the track, Deep Impact was even more successful as a sire following in the footsteps of his champion sire Sunday Silence.
He was twice a winner of the Japanese Horse Of The Year (2005-2006) and was Japanese Champion Sire for seven consecutive years from 2012 to 2018, siring 42 Group I winners worldwide including Saxon Warrior (Jpn), Tosen Stardom (Jpn), Real Steel (Jpn) and Mikki Isle (Jpn), who will all stand in Australia this spring and featured in a recent Breednet story, read it here.
Deep Impact is currently leading the Japanese Sires List by earnings for 2019 and his young sire sons dominate the first season sires list holding the first three places and include Real Impact (Jpn) (who has shuttled to Arrowfield Stud for the past three seasons), who leads by winners.
Deep Impact has a small number of Australian bred progeny that were conceived in Japan and foaled here to Southern Hemisphere time. Four of them were sold at the 2019 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale for up to $1.7 million and you can click here to see them.
He had seven foals born here in Australia last spring including a filly from Group I MRC Thousand Guineas winner Stay With Me, a daughter of Miss Finland.