Age Just A Number For Leading Sires

It is a fact of human nature that we take what we have for granted while being seduced by the apparent potential of the unexplored. As they say, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” One of the many ways in which this truism finds form in the bloodstock world is the marginalisation of good stallions simply because they are getting older, as the allure of untried youngsters blinds breeders to the proven merit of the older brigade. As one experienced observer of the scene wryly remarked after touring various Hunter Valley studs in advance of the past breeding season and hearing how heavily the PR men were promoting the new recruits, “It appears that Australia currently has the best bunch of stallions it has ever had–and none of them has ever sired a winner.”

The victory, therefore, of Preferment (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) in the G1 Australian Cup at Flemington Saturday has come as a useful reminder of the potential folly of overlooking proven stallions simply because they have reached the stage where they seem part of the furniture. Zabeel, 15-time winner of the Dewar Trophy for leading NZ-based sire judged on Australasian earnings, lived to the age of 29 before passing away in his paddock at Cambridge Stud in September 2015. He had remained not merely fertile, but also fully effective into his mid-20s.

Zabeel was aged 25 when Preferment, winner now of three Group 1 races, was born. In this respect, Zabeel followed in the footsteps of some of the other great sires.

Until Northern Dancer (Nearctic) changed the face of the bloodstock world from the 1970s onwards, the 1933 Derby winner Hyperion (GB) (Gainsborough {GB}) was widely regarded as the most influential sire of the 20th century. Hyperion retired to stud as a 5-year-old in 1935, and his first crop included Heliopolis, twice champion sire in the U.S. Thereafter, the excellent stallions continued to come for Hyperion. Alibhai, Stardust, Helios, Owen Tudor and Selim Hassan were all born before the outbreak of war in 1939. Khaled, Gulf Stream, Rockefella, Ruthless, High Peak and Empyrean were all born during the hostilities, while Aristophanes was born in 1948. Subsequently dual GB/Ire champion sire Aureole was born in 1950 when Hyperion was aged 20; Hornbeam (sire of St Leger winner Intermezzo) and Gun Shot (sire of American champion Gun Bow) were born when Hyperion was 23; and High Hat (sire of one English and two Irish Classic winners) was born when Hyperion was 27.

Star Kingdom (Ire) (Stardust {GB}) was one of the most influential Hyperion-line stallions. His branch of the line also emphasised that a good stallion remains a good stallion for as long as he is fertile. Star Kingdom died at Baramul Stud in New South Wales in April 1967 aged 21. Remarkably his final crop, born a few months after their father had died, contained no fewer than four high-class stallions: Planet Kingdom (Aus), Osmunda (Aus), Red God (Aus) and Tattenham (Aus). Two of the very best Star Kingdom stallions–Biscay (Aus) and Kaoru Star (Aus)–had been born only two years earlier. Biscay's best son, Bletchingly (Aus), continued the tradition, producing the champion 2-year-old and top-class sire Canny Lad (Aus) when he was 17. Canny Lad was aged 27 when Elite Belle (Aus) became his latest (and almost certainly last) Group 1 winner by taking the Railway S. in Perth in November 2014.

Northern Dancer's stud career followed a similar pattern. He retired to Windfields Farm in Canada (where he spent his first four seasons before moving to Windfields Farm in Maryland) as a 4-year-old in 1965. His first foal was Vice Regal, who was Canada's Horse of the Year as a 2-year-old in 1968 before enjoying a successful stud career which yielded 34 stakes winners. Northern Dancer's second crop then contained both Vice Regal's full-brother Vice Regent and Nijinsky. The former was only lightly raced but became a superb stallion (siring 60 stakes winners from 400 foals at a 15% ratio, a feat which saw him inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame) while the latter propelled Northern Dancer to international stardom by winning the British Triple Crown in 1970. Nijinsky enjoyed a lengthy stud career, with Royal Academy, one of the best racehorse and best stallions whom he sired, being born when his father was 20. Northern Dancer was the same age when Sadler's Wells was born (and one year older when Sadler's Wells's brother Fairy King was born) and Sadler's Wells too proved almost ageless: he was 17 when Galileo (Ire) was born, 18 when High Chaparral (Ire) was born, 20 when Yeats (Ire) was born, and 22 when both Septimus (Ire) and Ask (Ire) were born.

Mr. Prospector, incidentally, came from the same mould: he produced Northern Prospect in his first crop, Fappiano and Straight Strike in his second and Miswaki in his third; and then came up with Smart Strike when he was 22 and Fusaichi Pegasus when he was 27.

Twenty minutes before Preferment and Awesome Rock (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) passed the post together in the Australian Cup, Peeping (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}) had won the day's Sydney feature, the G1 Coolmore Classic at Rosehill. By comparison, her sire is a youngster: Redoute's Choice was aged only 15 when she was born. However, time passes, and Redoute's Choice (now aged 19) has packed so much into his life that he can almost be viewed as the doyen of Australia's sire ranks.

Redoute's Choice is fully established as a sire of sires as well as a sire of racehorses, with his proven sons including the current leader of Australia's general sires' premiership, Not A Single Doubt (Aus) as well as Snitzel (Aus), Stratum (Aus), Nadeem (Aus) and the ill-fated Beneteau (Aus). The opening race on Flemington's Super Saturday card, the G3 Thoroughbred Breeders' S., was a good reminder of his influence, the quinella filled by Thyme For Roses (Aus) and Emphatically (Aus), daughters of Redoute's Choice and Not A Single Doubt, respectively.

Stallions, as we have observed, can become overlooked as they reach their 20s. However, Redoute's Choice is clearly going every bit as strong as ever–and, as Preferment has reminded us, there should be plenty of chapters still to be written in his annals over the coming years.