Hanseatic could be the top colt to continue Street Cry sire line
Godolphin homebred leads way but Darley sires also have strong Blue Diamond hand
Godolphin power brokers will have their eyes firmly cast on unbeaten colt Hanseatic (Street Boss) during the running of the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) but should the favourite strike trouble, their attention will quickly switch to his four Darley-sired rivals.
The Anthony Freedman-trained Hanseatic, one of a handful of yearlings Godolphin sends the Victorian stable’s way each year, leads the charge ahead of Ideas Man (Brazen Beau), Aryaaf (Epaulette) and Night Of Thunder’s (Dubawi) pair A Beautiful Night and Riverina Storm.
The feature Caulfield meeting, and that of Sydney’s premier meeting at Rosehill, promises to give a glimpse of not only Darley’s current enviable stallion roster but of what promises to come including stud prospect Hanseatic in the $1.5 million Blue Diamond.
“It is the first Group 1 of the season for two-year-olds and it is an important race for a number of reasons, but we’re obviously looking at it from a future stallion’s and our current stallions’ point of view,” Darley’s head of sales Alastair Pulford said yesterday.
“A good representation by our stallions is obviously very pleasing and Hanseatic would be our best result because we still own him and would become a future stallion, but equally, we’d be delighted to see an Ideas Man or an Aryaaf succeeding as well.”
The on-track deeds of Hanseatic this season clearly illustrates the justification for Darley’s decision four years ago to provide greater mare support to its diverse stallion roster including Victorian-based shuttler Street Boss (Street Cry).
Street Boss flew under the radar despite Group 1-winning sprinter The Quarterback emerging from his first southern hemisphere crop and Group 3 winner Petits Filous from his second, but in 2016 breeders took notice, as did Darley, who lifted his fee from $11,000 (all inc GST) to $27,500 that year, after starting his Australian stud career in 2009 at $16,500.
Pulford revealed that a pre-existing leg injury stopped him from returning to Northwood Park in 2010, a move that halted the upward trajectory of the Street Cry (Machiavellian) stallion.
“He had put his leg through the fence in America, so we were restricted in the number of mares we could cover with him and probably by that stage he was a first crop Street Cry and he hadn’t really hit his straps as a stallion,” he said.
“He didn’t get the support that he probably deserved and then he had to miss a year to recover from that injury because it took a long time to clean up his hock.
“He came back but we’d lost the momentum by that stage and, while he still got reasonable numbers, he didn’t ever get the quality. From his first crop he got the Newmarket Handicap winner The Quarterback and then along came Petits Filous, so he looked like being a pretty handy stallion who also had a couple of decent horses in America.”
That was when Darley, and fellow breeders, upped the ante with the quality of mares covered by Street Boss.
“We sent a number of high-class mares to him including Hanseatic’s dam Itameri but others as well.
“This is the first crop where he has stood at a decent fee – he stood at $25,000 (plus GST) – and he was very popular.
“A lot of good breeders supported him, including us, and we told everyone that in the past couple of years and we have continued that support. We have ten two-year-olds, ten yearlings and a number of foals by him and mares in foal still.
“We have really backed the horse in for the past four years because we know that he is certainly capable and has done it from a very slow start off limited opportunity.”
Hanseatic may well prove to be Street Boss’ best – and certainly most valuable – judging by the manner of his three victories to date, in the Merson Cooper Stakes (Listed, 1000m), the Blue Diamond Preview (C&G) (Listed, 1000m) and Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (Gr 3, 1100m) respectively.
His pedigree, being out of a three-quarter sister to Schillaci Stakes (Gr 2, 1000m) winner Wilander (Exceed And Excel) and from the same family as Magnus (Flying Spur), Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) and All Too Hard (Casino Prince), also excites Pulford.
“He is by a son of Street Cry and out of an Exceed And Excel mare, so he is ‘very Darley’, but he has already proven himself to be a high-class horse,” he said.
“He has got to step up to Group 1 level tomorrow but if it is not tomorrow, then I am sure it will be some time in the future because he does show an enormous amount of ability.”
Meanwhile, the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Inglis Banner (RL, 1000m) winner Ideas Man, a $575,000 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale purchase, also has the chance to increase his stallion currency and boost the credentials of his Darley-based sire Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible).
Another juvenile colt by Brazen Beau, $800,000 Melbourne Premier graduate North Pacific, also debuts in today’s Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) at Rosehill.
“These Brazen Beau two-year-olds, they look even better than his first crop at this stage,” Pulford said.
“Ideas Man is already a stakes winner and there are a couple of others about the place. He has got a first starter in the Silver Slipper for the Hawkes team, so they just look like a pretty good crop. They sold very well and, while it is early days yet, certainly the results seem to be turning up on the racecourse as well.”
Brazen Beau did not return to the UK this year as Darley takes a conservative approach with an important stallion on its roster who faces fertility hurdles.
“Brazen Beau is not the most fertile horse in our barn, so we have to manage him very carefully, and because of that he doesn’t get big numbers but he is a sire who can get a very talented horse,” Pulford said.
“He hasn’t shuttled this year for the first time having been in England for the past three years. Whether that makes a difference or not, we don’t know. Previous history says that it doesn’t really affect fertility but we will see going forward.”
Another Darley stallion whose Australian stud career was curtailed due to a setback is Night Of Thunder who shuttled to Victoria for just one season in 2016 where he covered 96 mares, producing 58 live foals.
A back injury flared during that southern hemisphere season and prevented him from returning the following year.
From that one small southern hemisphere-bred crop, he has two winners – Blue Diamond Preview (F) (Gr 3, 1000m) winner A Beautiful Night and Riverina Storm – as well as the stakes-placed River Night.
Pulford said: “To have two runners in the Blue Diamond obviously says a huge amount for what Night Of Thunder is doing down here, but whether he gets the opportunity again I’m not sure as shuttling isn’t just a case of putting them on a plane.
“The horse has got to be right and his welfare comes first. We will determine whether he can return down the track and probably a fair way down the road in the northern hemisphere season before we even discuss it, let alone making any decisions.
“It has not been ruled out, but it is certainly not been ruled in either.”
Night Of Thunder is the sire of 31 first crop northern hemisphere winners including eight at stakes level, and if he did shuttle again it would provide Australian breeders with a second commercial option to access Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) blood alongside Swettenham Stud’s Akeed Mofeed.
The other Blue Diamond hope for Darley is Shadwell’s homebred Epaulette (Commands) filly Aryaaf, the Ottawa Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) winner who resumed with a second to Mildred (Hinchinbrook) in the MRC Chairman’s Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) on February 1.
Pulford believes Epaulette, who went to stud at the same time as Zoustar (Northern Meteor), Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo), Dundeel (High Chaparral) and Shamus Award (Snitzel), is performing well as a stallion.
That fact was also recognised by breeders, with Epaulette covering 138 mares in 2019, the most since his debut 2014 season when he served 170.
“Epaulette is competing against a really good group of stallions, but he is more than holding his own,” Pulford said.
“Aryaaf was bred by Shadwell who are obviously very close to our organisation with Sheikh Hamdan being Sheikh Mohammed’s brother.
“They send us a number of their mares every year and they have also bred the best Epaulette so far in Soqrat who is a champion in South Africa and Aryaaf, being out of a Shamardal mare, looks to be high class, too.”
Autumn to determine Group 1 winners’ future
While Hanseatic could confirm his place on Darley’s stallion roster with a victory today, Group 1-winning three-year-olds Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) and Microphone (Exceed And Excel) already have the CV to go to stud.
But Pulford stopped short of confirming whether the pair would both be retired at the end of their respective autumn campaigns, with Bivouac a leading contender in today’s Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) and last-start MRC Autumn Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) winner Microphone tackling the Hobartville Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Rosehill this afternoon.
“Our three most important colts are running on the same day with Hanseatic, Bivouac in the Oakleigh Plate and Microphone in the Hobartville, so it is a big day for Darley stallions and Godolphin,” Pulford said.
“The Blue Diamond is everyone’s focus for the day and it is proof that the Darley stallions can punch above their weight no matter what price level they stand at.
“It’s not Exceed And Excel and Lonhro this year, it’s Street Boss, Night Of Thunder, Brazen Beau and Epaulette, horses that everyone can afford.”
On Bivouac and Microphone potentially retiring to stud this year, Pulford said: “Their racing over the next few weeks will have a big determination on that.
“Obviously these decisions are made by Sheikh Mohammed and his advisors, so we have got six weeks of excitement to look forward to before we make any of those decisions I would say.”
It was confirmed on Thursday that Godolphin would once again retain an Everest slot in 2020 having secured the option last year after it was surrendered to Racing NSW by Damion Flower.
Presumably one, or both, of the three-year-old sprinters could race on next season to provide Godolphin with ammunition to target the $15 million Randwick race.
Godolphin’s UK trainer Charlie Appleby’s unbeaten dual Group 1-winning three-year-old Pinatubo (Shamardal), victorious at all six starts, was also yesterday hailed as a potential Everest candidate.