Hipodromos y caballos - Racetracks and horses BloodStockReview2013 | Page 19

DALHAM HALL AND KILDANGAN

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TOP GUNS
THE QUALITY OF STALLIONS ON OFFER TO BREEDERS AT SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S EUROPEAN STUDS HAS
NEVER BEEN HIGHER AND IS TESTAMENT TO THE OPERATION’S HARD WORK BY MARTIN STEVENS
HAT a difference a decade has
made for Darley’s European
stallion squad. In 2003 the two
most expensive members of the roster at
£30,000 were Halling, who would have
to wait another six years before he was
represented by his first Group 1 winner,
and Fantastic Light, who was covering
his second book of mares in a stud career
that fell well short of what his former
racecourse rival Galileo achieved. Elder
statesman Machiavellian commanded a
private fee but the son of Mr Prospector
– who left a lasting influence on Darley’s
Kentucky roster through his son Street
Cry – was to succumb one year later to
the laminitis that blighted his later years.
Fast-forward ten years and Sheikh
Mohammed’s operation has an
embarrassment of riches in its stallion
boxes at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket
and Kildangan Stud in County Kildare.
Dubawi went from strength to
strength with four top-level winners in
2013, including standout Al Kazeem, and
the exciting two-year-olds Al Thakhira,
Kiyoshi, Night Of Thunder and Piping
Rock to look forward to in 2014.
New Approach continued the
outstanding start to the stallion career
he made in 2012 when he supplied three
Royal Ascot winners from his first crop,
including subsequent champion juvenile
Dawn Approach, by siring two Classic
winners – Dawn Approach in the
2,000 Guineas and Talent in the
Oaks.
The headline acts have a
strong supporting cast too,
with Shamardal and Teofilo

Pictures: JOHN REARDON

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churning out Group 1 winners, Exceed
And Excel being crowned champion sire
in Australia and proving himself one of
the best dual-hemisphere stallions by also
supplying Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf
winner Outstrip, and Authorized, a new
recruit to Haras du Logis in Normandy,
siring his first three top-flight winners
including British Champion Fillies and
Mares heroine Seal Of Approval.
Darley’s stallion ranks have been
bolstered by the addition of Dawn
Approach, 2012 Prix Morny and Middle
Park Stakes hero Reckless Abandon and
Australian Group 1 winner Epaulette to
Kildangan, and Lockinge and Champion
Stakes winner Farhh to Dalham Hall.
“Dubai might have been built
in a day but Rome wasn’t,” Darley’s
director of stallions Sam Bullard says
of the transformation of the operation’s
fortunes. “It’s down to a combination
of factors – getting the right horses and
gaining the confidence of the marketplace
to send us their best mares.
“There’s no book on how to optimise
stallions and it should be remembered
we’ve had success along the way
with the likes of Ouija Board
and Sea The Stars [both by
Cape Cross, entering his 15th
year at Kildangan Stud in 2014]
– but I suppose the roster is a
lot better now and we’re
just satisfied we have got
here in the end.”
Bullard, who joined
Sam Bullard: “No horse
in the history of the
Pattern has made as
good a start as Dubawi”

Darley in 1999, is particularly rhapsodic
on the subject of Dubawi. “No horse in
the history of the Pattern has made as
good a start as he has,” he says. “No
horse can boast a relation of stakes
winners-to-runners of 14 per cent that
Dubawi can. At this stage of his career
[oldest crop are six], no other stallion
has had 11 Group/Grade 1 winners. He’s
setting the bar higher than ever before.”
Dubawi is particularly close to Sheikh
Mohammed’s heart, as he hails from the
sole crop of ill-fated Darley icon Dubai
Millennium and carried the Godolphin
silks to three top-level victories.
“Dubai Millennium was what the
operation is all about and for Dubawi to
be trained by Godolphin and then join
Darley’s r