Extreme success writing its own history

Only very few stallions have sired 2-year-old Group 1 winners from each of their first two crops, a select club that Extreme Choice joined with She's Extreme's thrilling win over star filly Fireburn (Rebel Dane) in the Champagne S. It’s a record built despite fertility challenges which limited his first two foal crops to just 48 and 29 respectively.

Small sample sizes are prone to producing fluke results but with every top-quality horse by Extreme Choice, it is apparent that he is succeeding at exceptional heights despite having fertility challenges. To date he has seven stakes winners from 38 runners, an amazing success rate of 18.4 per cent.

"His figures, when it comes to the number of runners-to-stakes winners and now with two Group 1 winners, with only 38 to have raced, surpass anything to have come before," Newgate's Director of Stallions, Tony Williams points out.

"There was a horse called Adraan in Adelaide who had exceptional figures, but Extreme Choice's figures surpass anything that has stood at this stage for the numbers he has had."

It is that stakes winners-to-runners stat which stands up so well compared to many of Australia's leading stallions of the past 50 years, even those in his own rich sireline.

At the same point of his career, his own sire Not A Single Doubt had yet to produce a stakes winner, while his grandsire Redoute's Choice had produced 14, although at a rate of 11.9 per cent as he already had 118 runners.

In terms of elite performers, Redoute's produced three 2-year-old Group 1 winners from his first two crops, but they were all from his second crop, meaning Extreme Choice has already achieved something his grandsire never did.

You have to go back another generation to the legendary Danehill (USA) to find a stallion in that line which can boast having Group 1-winning juveniles from his first two crops. Danehill's record with his Australian-conceived progeny at this point of his career stood at a marginally superior nine stakes winners from 44 runners (20.5 per cent).

This is the same Danehill who has proved the most influential sire in Australia in the late 20th century and arguably the most influential ever, especially when it comes to current Australian bloodlines. That's the company that Extreme Choice currently keeps.

More than just a freak

The two 'freak' sires that Extreme Choice has drawn comparisons to outside his own bloodlines are Adraan (GB) and Without Fear (Fr), both of whom stood in South Australia and who produced stunning results from their early crops.

Adraan, who stood at Narrung Stud, only served one book in Australia before his death in 1982 but left a huge mark with his 22 foals to the track resulting in seven stakes winners.

However, at the same point of their careers, Extreme Choice has a superior stakes strike rate to Adraan (18.4 per cent to 18.1 per cent (four from 22)). Adraan also produced just the one Group 1 winner, however he never had the opportunity of a second crop.

Going back to Lindsay's Park Without Fear, who had an astonishing 30 2-year-old winners in his first crop, siring one more stakes winner (eight) than Extreme Choice at the same point, but with 101 winners for a stakes winners-to-runner rate of 7.9 per cent. Among that first crop was one horse, Desirable, who achieved Group 1 glory as a 2-year-old.

While not exhaustive, the list above is definitive in many ways and speaks to the extraordinary impact Extreme Choice has been able to make just over 18 months since his first runners hit the track.

Versatile, yet sub-fertile

It is also worth noting his versatility as a stallion. Those seven stakes winners have emerged from broodmares by seven different damsires, they are split fairly evenly four to three across colts and fillies and his progeny have won stakes races from 1100 metres up to 1600 metres.

"He appears to mix with everything that is out there with respect to broodmares and their sirelines. No matter what is out there, he mixes will with them," Williams said.

"He's had stakes winners up to 1600 metres, so they aren't just one-track ponies, in terms of being just sprinters, they are sprinter milers. He's seriously versatile in that respect."

His fertility challenges have made him unique proposition in the stallion landscape and getting access to him is far from a sure thing. Williams said it’s an ongoing management challenge for the Newgate team.

"The unfortunate thing for Newgate is that his fertility and libido is what it is. Everything has been looked at, and we have tried different things, but it is what it is and we are limited to what we can do with him. We just need to make the most of him," he said.

"Jim Carey and Jackson Beirs and the stallion team manage him extremely carefully. His fertility, as has been well-documented, is not good and his libido is not good, but they take care of him really carefully. On the whole, he is limited to one mare a day through the season and restricts the numbers he can cover."

Success into succession

Williams said there is no guarantee of what Extreme Choice may be capable of, in terms of the size of his book, from year to year, and that has ensured Newgate has a strong succession plan in place.

"Where we are fortunate is that we have two of his sons standing here this year in Stay Inside who won the Slipper, and Tiger Of Malay, who won the Sires' in Queensland and was third in the JJ Atkins," he said.

"His sons will prove to be seriously hot property anywhere they stand."

His Group 3-winning son Extreme Warrior is also set to stand at Rosemont Stud in 2022, putting in place the next generation just five years after he first entered stud himself at Newgate.

Then there are his daughters, headed by Saturday's heroines, his first Group 1-winning daughter She's Extreme and the one many expect to be his next Group 1 winner, Espiona.

The limited nature of the production line puts an even grater premium on his stock and while She's Extreme is likely to be retained by her owner, noted breeder Robert Crabtree, at the end of her racing days, Espiona, owned by syndicator Star Thoroughbreds, will most likely go through the broodmare sales at some stage.

The high likelihood is these top-performed daughters of Extreme Choice will end up in Australia's best broodmare bands, giving them every chance of furthering the legacy.

Gallery: Extreme Choice's sire sons heading to stud in the 2022 season

But before we hail the next generation, Williams is keen to emphasise that Extreme Choice continues to produce pure quality himself, even if he lacks for quantity.

Of his 29 foals from his third crop, 21 were sold through the select yearling sales this year averaging $346,429. There are also 57 members in his current weanling crop, his biggest yet.

"With limited numbers you wonder if the next crops will be as good, but his second crop is already defying any of that on the track and he seems to upgrade everything he covers," Williams said.

"Anyone with stock by Extreme Choice would be nothing but excited. He is proven himself to elite plus."