Date posted August 18, 2010 | Posted by Brian Russell | Filed under
Racing and Breeding A MOUTH watering collection of sires are to be a show window for the Hunter valley in the last week of August with four of the leading studs, Widden, Vinery, Darley and Coolmore, holding stallion parades for invited guests.
Widden, a stud who will be parading on five consecutive days, is to lead the way with the first of them on Thursday August 26. Among those attending on this day will be Hall of Fame trainers Gai Waterhouse and David Hayes. Hayes trained and part owned Widden’s new sire Nicconi (by the Danzig sire Bianconi) and Gai prepared Sebring, a More Than Ready Golden Slipper winner who started his sire career last year.
Sebring will be one of two Slipper winners paraded at Widden, the other being 2009-10 champion juvenile and first crop sire Stratum. Among the others on show will be Dreamscape, a newcomer by Starbanglesbanner’s sire Choisir, and the mercurial Encosta de Lago colt Northern Meteor, one who like Sebring entered stud last season. Sebring looked after 190 mares and Northern Meteor 198.
Northern Meteor’s two times champion sire Encosta de Lago will be one of fifteen on show at the Coolmore parades. They also include the Australia and northern hemisphere Group 1 winners Choisir, Haradasun and the world class High Chaparral (USA) (Sadler’s Wells; won English and Irish Derby, American Breeders’ Cup Turf – twice), Dylan Thomas (IRE) (Danehill; six Group1s included the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Ascot King George V1 & Queen Elizabeth Stakes) and Henrythenavigator (USA) (Kingmambo; four Group1 wins at a mile at three, including the English and Irish Two Thousand Guineas). Both Henrythenavigator (144 mares) and Duke of Marnalade (119) paid their first visits in 2009.
The biggest collection in the Hunter Valley on show will be that at Darley’s Kelvinside stud near Aberdeen. They have 17 sires listed for use this year, including locals Lonhro, Commands, Exceed and Excel, Canny Lad, Nadeem and Shaft.
The Darley shuttlers include Street Cry (USA) (Machiavellian; Dubai World Cup winner, sire winners Kentucky Derby, Breeders’ Cup events, Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Guineas), his son Street Sense (USA) (champion at two, Kentucky Derby at three), Teofilo (IRE) (Galileo; unbeaten champion European 2YO), Shamardal (USA) (Giant’s Causeway; world champion 2YO, champion European 3YO miler) and Medaglia d’Oro (USA) (by Sadler’s Wells sire El Prado; won four Group1s, sire of Rachel Alexandra, winner of 13 of 18 starts and earner of US$3,4million).
The most talked about sire on show in the Hunter Valley this spring is new American visitor Big Brown, a son of the Danzig sire Boundary and the Nureyev mare Mien. On the sire roster at Vinery, he is acclaimed as the greatest overseas racehorse to shuttle and the most brilliant American classic performer of recent years. The only time he lost in his eight starts was when he went amiss in the Belmont Stakes and did not finish the journey. He won the Kentucky Derby by 4-3/4 lengths and the Preakness Stakes by 5-1/4 lengths. Big Brown is one of ten sires standing at Vinery this year.
Three of the others are three of the best sires in Australia today, the shuttler More Than Ready and the locals Testa Rossa and Mossman.
