Present and past sires based in NSW headed by Arrowfield Stud’s Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) and Yarraman Park Stud’s I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) dominated Australian racing throughout the 2018/19 season giving owners and trainers every reason to buy their BOBS-eligible progeny at the sales next year.
Of the top 25 stallions at the end of June with a month of the season to run, only three stood in other states but sadly during the past 12 months we have lost three of them, superstar Redoute’s Choice (Danehill), Sebring (More Than Ready) and Hinchinbrook (Fastnet Rock) but the good news is that More Than Ready will again shuttle to Vinery Stud this spring adding to the great depth of proven stallions in the NSW sire ranks for the upcoming stud season.
Apart from Snitzel and I Am Invincible, also available are champion sires Fastnet Rock (Danehill), Lonhro (Octagonal) and Exceed and Excel (Danehill) not to mention Not a Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) and a number of rising stars such as Pierro (Lonhro),Smart Missile (Fastnet Rock), So You Think (High Chaparral), Zoustar (Northern Meteor), Nicconi (Bianconi), All Too Hard (Casino Prince) and Star Witness (Starcraft).
Further down the sires’ table for 2018/19 are two other young horses heading for greater glory, Arrowfield Stud’s Dundeel (High Chaparral) and Darley’s Epaulette (Commands) who is leaving major winners in Europe as well as in Australia.
During the 2018/19 Australian season some 74 Group 1 races were won by 58 individual horses with the incomparable Winx (Street Cry) taking seven of them, her nearest pursuers being exciting new Arrowfield stallion The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) with four Group 1 victories and Widden Stud-bred Sunlight (Zoustar), winner of three races at the highest level in a busy season.
Of the 58 horses to win Group 1 events last season 15 of them come from the Danehill male line which continues to dominated Australian breeding as this figure of 15 is almost double the number of elite 2018/19 season winners credited to the next most successful sire line, that of Mr. Prospector which provided Winx and Stradbroke Handicap winner Trekking, both by deceased Street Cry.
Danehill is a son of Danzig (Northern Dancer), another of whose sons is Green Desert, paternal grandsire of I Am Invincible who supplied winners of four Group 1 races in Australia last season.Another prominent stallion, Widden Stud’s Zoustar, sire of Sunlight, represents another branch of the Northern Dancer male line coming via Fairy King, Encosta de Lago and the short-lived Northern Meteor.
Yarraman Park Stud’s I Am Invincible, now Australia’s most expensive sire and chosen as the first mate for Winx, enjoyed a wonderful season, especially with his two-year-olds, in 2018/19.He had 21 individual juvenile winners to the end of June, the filly Loving Gaby being the star of his crop.
Even without a Group 1 winner, I Am Invincible was, by prizemoney, Australia’s champion sire of two-year-olds for the season.
Sire sons of Redoute’s Choice and a grandson had six Group 1 winners last season, Trapeze Artist (Snitzel), Kenedna and Qafila (both by Not a Single Doubt), Land of Plenty (by deceased Stratum), In Her Time (by now South Africa-based Time Thief) and Mr Quickie (by Snitzel’s son Shamus Award).
Other Danehill-line sires prominent during 2018/19 were Fastnet Rock, his sons Smart Missile and Hinchinbrook, Exceed and Excel and his son Sidestep.
Fastnet Rock is the sire of Prince Fawaz of whom much is expected in the new season while Smart Missile, now standing at Twin Hills Stud, Cootamundra, had a Group 1 winner when Maid of Heaven was too good for the males in the ATC Spring Champion Stakes.
Deceased Hinchinbrook is the father of the top class and consistent sprinter Spright, who scored a well deserved Group 1 success in Adelaide.
Darley’s veteran reverse shuttler Exceed and Excel is having great influence throughout the world through his winners, sire sons and broodmare daughters.He is the sire of one of Australia’s best two-year-old colts of the 2018/19 season in Godolphin’s Microphone, his son Sidestep is the father of the 2019 Golden Slipper winner Kiamichi while one of his stakes winning daughters is the dam of Anthony Van Dyk, winner of the 2019 English Derby.
Kiamichi’s earnings were great enough to ensure that her Queensland-based sire Sidestep became Australia’s leading first crop sire by prizemoney for 2018/19.
It was interesting to note that four of the season’s Group 1 winners – Alizee, Amphritite, Sunlight and Verry Elleegant – each have a double cross of Danehill in their pedigree backgrounds.
A feature of the 2018/19 season was the good showing of a number of first crop sires with their two-year-olds and once again several NSW stallions were among the leaders, notable among them Newgate Farm’s Deep Field (Northern Meteor) and Coolmore’s Rubick (Encosta de Lago), both ultra fast sprinters, while another Newgate-based horse, Dissident (Sebring), has also started off in promising fashion.
At time of writing in early July, Deep Field had 18 individual juvenile winners to his credit while Rubick had 14.Deep Field has two stakes winners, best of them Cosmic Force, while Rubick has been represented by black type winner Yes Yes Yes.
The 2018/19 season saw three times champion sire of winners Redoute’s Choice earn a first and well deserved title as champion broodmare sire in Australia, defeating reigning champion Encosta de Lago.
Daughters of Redoute’s Choice during the season had winners of more than $22 million with Extra Brut (Domesday) topping the tally with earnings of more than $1.6 million.
Article | Les Young – Thoroughbred Breeders NSW
