The Coolmore camp has plenty of reasons to celebrate in what has been a month to remember for the powerhouse operation. While their maiden Golden Slipper victory undoubtedly holds centerpiece, their exciting young sire Pride Of Dubai has enjoyed a recent run of success worth cheering about.

With just four crops of racing age in the books, the blue-blooded son of Street Cry (Ire) has flourished this autumn which has seen him rise to sixth place on the Australian General Sires' list with just over three months of the racing season remaining.

On the rise

Crowned Champion First Season Sire, his first crop which included the stakes-winning juvenile Tanker and eventual Group 1 winner Bella Nipotina, he was then leading second-season sire by winners and finished last season as leading third-season sire by earnings and stakes winners. Enjoying a rich vein of form in his fourth season, in the past month Pride Of Dubai has sired the winners of six black-type events including two at the elite level.

Racegoers were fortunate to witness a dominant display from the William Haggas-trained visitor Dubai Honour (Ire) who toyed with our top weight-for-age competitors when running away a 4.4l winner in the G1 Ranvet S. at Rosehill. If that wasn’t impressive enough, he backed it up with a dominant win in the ‘match’ race of the autumn, the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. on Day 2 of The Championships.

A 110,000gns (AU$215,000) purchase by Rabbah Bloodstock from Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, Dubai Honour was already a multiple Group 2 winner in France and runner-up in last year’s G1 British Champion S. He looks set to test himself in the G1 QEII Cup at Sha Tin later this month before a possible tilt at the G1 Eclipse S. at Sandown in July.

The ever-consistent Sirileo Miss added two black-type victories to her resume this month after back-to-back wins in the G3 Matron S. and G2 Sunline S. in Melbourne. Trained by Symon Wilde at his Warrnambool base, the now 5-year-old mare is yet another example of her sire’s ability to produce horses that thrive with age.

A winner on debut, she finished a gallant fifth in the G1 Australiasian Oaks before hitting her straps as a 4-year-old to win the first of two successive G3 Ladies Day Vases. Out of the winning Galileo (Ire) mare She’s Sirius, the $60,000 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale purchase has accumulated earnings upwards of $950,000.

In the west, the Daniel Morton-trained filly She’s Fit lived up to her name when providing her sire his 18th individual stakes winner courtesy of her Listed Natasha S. victory at Ascot. Just two weeks later, she ran away with the G3 WA Oaks over 2400 metres which provided her in-form sire his 12th individual Group winner. A maiden up until her Natasha S. victory, the 3-year-old filly has relished the rise in distance and looks to be in for an exciting career over the staying trips. Morton Racing forked out $50,000 to secure her at the 2021 Magic Millions Perth Yearling sale.

Narrow misses and emerging talents

It could have been an even bigger month for the exciting young sire, with two of his daughters falling just short of elite-level victories. Bella Nipotina came up just shy of a second Group 1 win when finishing a gallant second in the G1 William Reid S. behind the impressive Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) at The Valley. The tenacious Ciaron and David Eustace-trained mare is now set to represent Ladbrokes in the inaugural running of Western Australia’s newest slot race, the $4 million The Quokka, 1200 metres on April 15 at Ascot. If she happens to win the contest, it would take her earnings beyond $5.5 million or an incredible 68 times her purchase price ($80,000).

Earlier in the month, stablemate Pride Of Jenni fell just short of a maiden elite-level victory when a narrow second to Espiona (Extreme Choice) in the G1 Coolmore Classic. Already a two-time Group 2 placegetter, the consistent mare was only a stride away from breaking through at the top level.

It appears only a matter of time before imported mare Deny Knowledge (Ire) claims a feature carnival event after making a mess of her rivals in the $150,000 Country Oaks at Geelong last week. Already a winner of the G3 Belle of the Turf S. last December, the now Michael Kent-trained 5-year-old was having her first try at 2200 metres and clearly showed no signs of struggle when running out a 10l winner.

She defeated fellow Pride Of Dubai import Supagirl (Ire) who was having her second Australian start for her new trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott after a solid first-up performance in the G3 Epona S. in March. Deny Knowledge has headed for a spell before a likely tilt at some of the feature spring staying events.

Stakes performers at all distances and ages

An exceptional juvenile sprinter himself, Pride Of Dubai can produce horses at both ends of the spectrum. While his headline domestic horse Bella Nipotina is a short-course specialist, the majority of his most recent stakes performances have occurred beyond 1400 metres (nine), with five of those at 2000 metres and beyond.

While his progeny generally appreciate distance, they are often precocious enough to perform as 2-year-olds. Of his recent performers, Desert Lightning (NZ) and Maharba were both winners as 2-year-olds over 1100 metres while Bella Nipotina ran seven times as a 2-year-old, all at R. Listed or Group level.

Table: Pride Of Dubai's recent stakes performers

In what is yet another notable accolade, at least one horse from his first four crops of racing age are featured in his recent stakes performers. Three performers hail from his first two crops while he is also represented by a 2-year-old stakes performer in Maharba who was second in the G3 Pago Pago S. behind subsequent Golden Slipper winner Shinzo (Snitzel). The Grahame Begg-trained gelding was then a closing sixth in the G1 Sires' Produce before heading for a spell to prepare for a 3-year-old campaign.

While not a stakes performer as yet, Pride Of Dubai looks to have another promising 2-year-old on his hands in Miracle Garden. The Greg Eurell-trained filly was an impressive winner on debut in a Pakenham maiden when defeating subsequent Listed Redoute’s Choice S. runner-up, Apache Song (Sioux Nation {USA}) and streeting the rest of the field by over 5l.

She is from the winning Medaglia D'Oro (USA) mare Dhahab and was a $20,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase by her trainer and AAA Thoroughbreds. Headed for a spell, the talented juvenile appears one to keep a close eye on in the spring.

It’s in the blood

Taking a look further at his recent top performers, remarkably four of his nine (44 per cent) stakes performers in the past month are out of granddaughters of the great Sadler’s Wells (USA). The association appears to be no fluke either, Group-winning mare Splendiferous and exciting import Fancy Man (Ire) also share the same cross. From 24 runners, the Pride Of Dubai/Sadler’s Wells-cross features six individual stakes winners for an incredible 25 per cent stakes winners to runners rate.

Pride Of Dubai’s affinity with Sadler’s Wells comes as no surprise given his close relation Invincible Spirit (Ire) has produced 16 individual stakes winners or 13 per cent stakes winners/runners when mated with granddaughters of Sadler’s Wells.

They don’t cost a fortune

The average yearling price of his last month’s stakes performers is $125,875 with the most costly being Hypothetical who was a $310,000 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale purchase by Mitchell Bloodstock (FBAA). Four of his stakes-level performers cost $100,000 or less, including his most successful Bella Nipotina who set back her connections just $80,000.

While a Champion Australian first-season sire with numerous winners and multiple stakes performers to his name, Pride Of Dubai failed to capture the attention of breeders and has subsequently struggled for numbers in his past two seasons.

However, with a number of emerging 2-year-olds bursting onto the scene and his largest crop (138 live foals) now selling as yearlings, there is little doubt that we will be hearing echoes of Pride Of Dubai in the years to come.