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Stewart riding crest of wave of Coolmore partnership with Giant Sequoia
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Wed 1 Jul 2026
John Stewart always had the ambition of becoming “one of the lads” and now thanks to the supremely talented Giant Sequoia he is riding the crest of the wave of a partnership that is already inspiring Derby dreams for the American businessman.
It was back in 2023 that the Kentucky native gave birth to his Resolute Racing enterprise and set about purchasing blue-blooded mares determined to make his mark on an industry many have tried and failed to infiltrate.
One of the first to come into his hands was the then Coolmore-owned Oaks runner-up Pink Dogwood, the dam of Giant Sequoia, the high-class son of Frankel who after opening his account in style at the Curragh on Saturday, is topping the betting for next year’s premier Classic.
“For our first homebred from the farm to be running for Aidan O’Brien and to be partners with Coolmore and to now be favourite for the Epsom Derby is surreal,” said Stewart, who owns the colt alongside the Coolmore partners and Westerberg.
“We’re dreaming of Epsom and when you race your horse in Europe, Aidan O’Brien is one of the first trainers you think of. It’s unbelievable and this is a horse out of one of the mares I bought from Coolmore over the thanksgiving holiday when I first got into the business.
“He was nicknamed Frankie on the farm and our farm manager Noel Murphy who is from Ireland said if you are going to have a Derby winner it is this horse here and we would love nothing more to see that happen.
“It’s obviously a long way away but he’s got off to a great start and he’s with the best trainer in the world.
“To be partners with Coolmore is unbelievable. I always told MV Magnier I wanted to be a ‘lad’ and I love it when they talk about ‘the lads’ – I guess if I’m partners with the lads then that makes me a lad?”
Giant Sequoia finds himself 14-1 for next year’s Derby after his Curragh success and for Stewart, his emergence in the infancy of his racing ownership journey is vindication of his often critiqued big-spending at the sales, as he relishes every second of being a part of the Ballydoyle fold.
He went on: “I didn’t think we would be here at this point and I thought it would be years down the road before we had something of this calibre coming off the farm – if ever. But for it to happen this early is beyond our wildest expectations.
“It’s a testament to the quality of horses I bought when I initially made the investment in the industry three years ago.
“We’ve made a real investment in our farm team and they know how to raise these horses. We bought Pink Dogwood from Coolmore and they saw Giant Sequoia as a yearling on the understanding that they would always have first refusal on horses that came from their stock.
“They wanted to partner on the horse and that’s how Aidan ended up training him. I’ve visited Ballydoyle a few times and it has always been a dream to have a horse trained there. It’s phenomenal and unbelievable
“To have our first starter with Aidan was again a complete validation of what we have done and I hope in time others in the industry will respect our strategy and know we’ll be around for a long time.”
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