A great nick?
When unbeaten filly Golden Lilac won Sunday’s G3 Prix de la Grotte (a leading prep for the French 1000 Guineas), she became the latest group/graded winner sired by Galileo out of a Danehill mare. Previous top horses bred like this include ruling Quipco 2000 Guineas favourite Frankel, G1 winner Roderic O’Connor and the promising first crop sire (and champion 2yo) Teofilo.
But is this nick quite as potent as first glance suggests? To date, Galileo has been represented by 69 registered foals of racing ages out of Danehill mares. At the time of writing, 10 (6.9%) of these foals have won stakes races, and another three are G1 placed.
In comparison, Galileo is siring six percent stakes winners to foals, suggesting that when mated to Danehill mares, the chances of his producing a stakes horses are certainly improved (although whether to the same extent that the hype suggests is another question altogether).
What is interesting about this “nick”, however, is that six horses by Galileo out of Danehill mares have been imported to South Africa. Of the six, five have won, four have been stakes horses and two were stakes winners. Two of the four stakes horses were G1 performers (Galileo’s Destiny and The Assayer respectively)
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Sunday dominance continues in 2000 Guineas
When Orfevre (Stay Gold) won Sunday’s Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) he maintained the dominance that his male line has exerted on the Japanese classic. Astoundingly, the first eight seven home in the classic were by sons of Sunday Silence – the fiery horse whom nobody wanted! Twelve of the 18 horses competing in the Satsuki Sho are descendants of the 1989 Kentucky Derby winner.
Since 2001, eight of the runnings of the Satuski Sho have been won by a Sunday Silence horse.
Last year’s victor, Victoire Pisa (a son of Sunday Silence horse Neo Universe) went onto land this year’s Dubai World Cup. Neo Universe, himself winner of the race in 2003 , is also the sire of 2009 Satsuki Sho victor Unrivaled.
Sunday Silence himself sired no fewer than seven Satsuki Sho winners, and his descendants are clearly continuing to excel in the ten furlong classic
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Aussie sires overseas
Whilst shuttling stallions from the Northern Hemisphere to the South has long become an accepted part of the international breeding industry, reverse shuttle of sires from Australia to Europe, or North America, is much less practiced. This year, however, the young Australian bred sire, All American (Red Ransom), became a rare shuttle horse from Australia to North America. A G1 winner in Australia (where he won the Emirates Stakes), All American will shuttle to Darby Dan Farm, which previously stood the stallion’s grandsire, Roberto, with notable success.
The practice of shuttling sires from Australia to the Northern Hemisphere has had mixed success. Former Horse of the Year Octagonal (Zabeel) shuttled from Woodlands Stud in Australia to . Not a great stallion in his home country, Octagonal nonetheless managed to leave multiple G1 winner Laverock (Prix D’Isaphan, Gran Premio del Jockey Club) from his stint in Europe.
Another Aussie bred to shuttle was Zabeel’s half-brother, Baryshnikov. Like Octagonal, Baryshnikov shuttled to France. A poor stallion, Baryshnikov (Kenmare) made no real impact in France, despite being afforded better opportunities than many of his Australian counterparts.
Oddly enough, far better Australian based stallions that Octagonal, such as Flying Spur and Danzero, both shuttled to the Northern Hemisphere in the early part of their stud careers without siring a horse in the class of Laverock. Both stallions, consistently successful Down Under, sired Group winners with Flying Spur being represented by G3 July Stakes winner Mister Links and Danzero by the very smart 2yo Soar (Princess Margaret Stakes).
Recently Australian bred stallions to shuttle include the Coolmore horses Encosta de Lago, champion sire in Australia, and one of Australia’s most promising stallions, Fastnet Rock.
Fastnet Rock is yet to be represented by runners in the Northern Hemisphere, but Encosta de Lago’s first crop, currently 3yos, have made a fair showing, at the time of writing, without reaching the heights that he has achieved in the Southern Hemisphere.
To date, Encosta de Lago’s first Northern Hemisphere crop includes just a handful of winners, but they number amongst them the smart filly Empowering (G3 Leopardstown 1000 Guineas Trial). Empowering is nominated for both Sunday’s G1 Quipco 1000 Guineas and the G1 Etihad Airways Irish 1000 Guineas, and a good run in either classic would no doubt add to her sire’s appeal to European breeders.
Encosta de Lago’s chief rival to the title of Australia’s best stallion is Redoute’s Choice (Danehill). Whilst the latter has never shuttled to Europe or North America, in 2006 he was bred to a small book of mares, on northern time. The resulting progeny were exported to Europe. To date, Redoute’s Choice (twice champion sire in Australia) has been represented by just four runners in Britain. Of the four, one has run just once, and two others have won. They include Elzaam (who was a close second in the 2010 G2 Coventry Stakes) and the very promising 3yo,Tazahum (winner on Saturday of the Esher Cup). All four of Redoute’s British runners are owned by Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum.
It is difficult to make a fair assessment of shuttling Southern Hemisphere stallions to Europe. Few are given similar opportunities to the more established Northern Hemisphere stallions, and many cover smaller books of mares. However, based on their overall record, it’s hard to consider that the top Southern Hemisphere horse can compare with their Northern counterparts, as sires of equal merit.
