Danehill influence holds strong on Australian racetracks

Genetic diversity has been very much a hot topic in global thoroughbred discussions in the past few years and it was a major consideration behind the decision by The Jockey Club in the United States to impose caps on the amount of mares a stallion may serve in a season.

There are a variety of opinions as to whether a similar cap is needed in Australia, but the majority of industry figures spoken to by TDN AusNZ over this issue didn’t see genetic diversity as a concern. The overwhelming impression is that the market, as a rule, finds a solution.

There are a few ways to assess genetic diversity, but for the purposes of this article, we have opted to look at trends of the Australian Sires Table over the past decade, and in particular the sirelines of the current leading stallions.

The ultimate measure of a stallion is through the success or otherwise of their progeny on the racetrack. No method is perfect and analysing results in this way is probably more of a reflection of breeding strategies of the past five years than as they stand right now. But given how much racetrack success today often governs future breeding decisions, it also paints a picture of likely trends moving forward.

The way we have chose to do this is to take a snapshot of the Australia Sires Table 10 years ago, five years ago and as it stands right now to get an idea of the evolving trends, especially when it comes to the proliferation of successful sires from the Danehill-line.

In 2019/20, the Top 50 stallions in the Australian Sires Table are by 37 different sires, representing on the surface what looks an improved picture of genetic diversity.

In 2014/15, that number stood at 34, while five years prior, in 2009/10, it was 33.

Looking specifically at the dominance of Danehill, the influence of his sons may have diminished slightly in the past few years, but he is still the main sire of influence in Australian racetracks.

Table: Number of sons of Danehill (USA) in Top 50 Australian stallions

In 2009/10, 10 of his sons were inside the Top 50 sires, including three in the Top 10, while five years ago, he had 11 sons inside the Top 50 including three in the top five.

Given Danehill stood his final season in Australia in 2002, it is not overly surprising that his flow of stallion sons has stemmed in recent years, and as things stand right now, he has four of them inside the Top 50 in Australia, Redoute's Choice, Fastnet Rock, Exceed And Excel and Blackfriars.

However, Given Fastnet Rock (Coolmore) and Exceed And Excel (Darley) are still active, it is likely we will be seeing Danehill as a sire of a Top 50 stallion in Australia for some years to come.

Sons and grandsons continue legacy

Those sons are already leaving legacies of their own as influential sires of sires. Inside the Top 50 list for this season are four sons of Fastnet Rock - Hinchinbrook, Smart Missile, Rothesay and Foxwedge.

Redoute's Choice has two sons in the Top 50, Snitzel and Not A Single Doubt, currently placed first and fourth respectively, while Flying Spur also has two inside the Top 50 in Magnus and Casino Prince, as does Exceed And Excel with Helmet and Reward For Effort.

All in all, there are 15 stallions in that Top 50, (or 30 per cent), who are either sons, paternal grandsons or paternal great-grandsons of Danehill, giving somewhat of a clearer picture of where things stand.

In 2014/15, that number stood at 17, with Danehill having 11 and Redoute's Choice and Flying Spur both having three sons apiece inside the Top 50 list.

In 2010/11, Danehill himself had 10 sons in the Top 50 list and he also had two grandsons, Choisir and Stratum, making for 12 in all from his sireline.

Table: Sires with more than one son inside the Top 50 Australian Stallions 2019/20

The pattern based on this limited data set would indicate that his influence on sirelines has plateaued in recent times, with a focus on more 'outcross' sires.

This is backed-up by the list of new stallions to stand in Australia in 2020. Of the 22 announced to stand their first seasons in 2020, seven are descended from Danehill on the paternal line, or just under 32 per cent.

In 2015, 37 per cent of freshman stallions were from the Danehill sireline, while in 2010 it was 22.5 per cent.

Table: Confirmed new stallions in 2020 from Danehill sireline

The influence of the outcross

Moving outside the Danehill-line and we see the growing influence of other sirelines when it comes to Australian racing.

High Chaparral's (Ire) influence is growing as a sire of sires thanks to Dundeel (NZ) and So You Think (NZ), who both sit within the Top 20 in the Australian Sires Table. High Chaparral is 28th on the list himself, and is joined in the Top 50, by another son of Sadler's Wells (USA) in Galileo (Ire).

Similarly, Lonhro, himself 29th on the current table, also has two sons inside the Top 50 in Pierro and Denman.

Northern Meteor's stud career may have only been four seasons long, but his impact continues to be felt with two sons currently classified in the Top 50 stallions, Zoustar and Deep Field. Both of them will have sons themselves at stud in 2020.

All in all, eight of the Top 12 on the current Australian Champion Sires Table are from outcross sirelines, with five of them completely free of Danehill blood. That includes two of the top three sires in Pierro and I Am Invincible.

That makes sense when you consider the volume of high-quality Danehill-line mares available in Australia. It may have been 17 years since his death, but the stallion himself still sits ninth on the Australian Broodmare Sires Table for this year, while there are nine of his sons, and four of his grandsons inside the Top 50 on that list, including three of the top four in Redoute's Choice, Flying Spur and Fastnet Rock.