One knows that a stallion has reached the top when his stud fee is listed as ‘private’. Very few gain such a mark of distinction. Galileo (Ire) has been thus described on the Coolmore roster for years, while Dubawi is similarly shielded by Darley.
His deceased contemporary and Darley team-mate Shamardal also commanded that honour during his final five seasons at Kildangan Stud in Ireland prior to his death in April last year at the age of 18.
The best way to tap into the genes of these super-sires, of course, is to use their sons, and the reputations of all three as sires of sires are already very high. For Darley, clients ruing the fact that the days of being able to use Dubawi and Shamardal are now but a distant memory, the good news is that a good selection of their sons will be available to Australian breeders this season.
"The best way to tap into the genes of these super-sires, of course, is to use their sons, and the reputations of all three as sires of sires are already very high."
Dubawi and Shamardal are well-established as worldwide rather than merely European phenomena. Both sired several Group 1 winners during the handful of shuttling stints which they undertook in their youth. In fact, Shamardal started out in Australia.
Retired shortly after his European Group 1 hat-trick in the spring and early summer of 2005 which culminated in his 3l victory in the G1 St James’s Palace S. under Kerrin McEvoy, he kicked off his second career at Kelvinside Stud in NSW before taking up his position at Kildangan.
That first Australian season set the tone by yielding the first of his 26 (to date) individual Group 1 winners: the top-class filly Faint Perfume who has starred more recently by producing last month’s G2 Adelaide Cup winner.
The same crop also included G1 Epsom H. winner Captain Sonador, while an even faster son of Shamardal came along later: Delectation who was chased home by Chautauqua (Encosta De Lago), Terravista (Captain Rio {GB}) and Buffering (Mossman) when he won a vintage edition of the G1 VRC Darley Sprint Classic up the straight at Flemington. In the interim, Maybe Discreet won the G1 SAJC Schweppes Oaks at Morphettville.
Shamardal’s influence on the track cannot be ignored with sons and daughters performing in many sought-after races including the G1 Darley Sprint Classic, G1 VRC Oaks, G1 Vinery Stud S., G1 Schweppes Oaks, G1 Coolmore Stud S., G1 Randwick Guineas, G1 Turnbull, G1 Makybe Diva, G1 Memsie, G1 Sir Rupert Clarke S.
Dubawi's first Australian crop
Standing three seasons in Australia covering modest books producing foal crops of 79, 66 and 80 respectively, of these Dubawi produced 15 Group winners who accumulated 46 Group victories with over $30.505 million in stakes.
The twin stars of Dubawi’s first Australian crop were the super-tough sprinter Tiger Tees (NZ) and the terrific filly Secret Admirer. The former won 13 races headed by the G1 The Galaxy at Rosehill; while the latter beat a field of high-class fillies to take the G1 Flight S. at Randwick in the spring of 2010 and subsequently took the step-up to open company in her stride by winning the G1 Epsom H.
The same crop also included Happy Archer who was exported to South Africa, where she won two Grade 1 races at Greyville in Durban. The same route was subsequently followed by Willow Magic, a Grade 1 winner Turffontein in Johannesburg.
Dubawi’s later Australian crops included the 2015 G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Shamal Wind who subsequently sold for $1.2 million at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale and the 2015 G1 Stradbroke H. winner Srikandi who secured $2 million at the Inglis Chairman's Sale of 2019 as well as Tiger Tees’ well-named multiple Group 2-winning full brother Ball Of Muscle and the immensely popular grey mare Catkins whose 16 victories included 12 black-type triumphs.
Dubawi’s offspring to race excel in Australia and are not restricted to those conceived there. Most obviously, the redoutable Benbatl (GB) thrived in Melbourne in the spring of 2018 when taking the G1 Ladbrokes Caulfield S. two weeks before chasing home Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) in the G1 Ladbrokes W. S. Cox Plate.
Champions further abroad
It is, of course, not just in Europe and Australia where Dubawi and Shamardal have been represented by champions. Each has proved very influential in Hong Kong, where Shamardal’s top-class winners have included the John Moore-trained pair Able Friend and Dan Excel, plus the Paul O’Sullivan-trained Pakistan Star (Ger); while Dubawi wasted no time in announcing himself to Hong Kong racegoers as his first crop contained the Hong Kong Champion Sprinter Lucky Nine (Ire) for Caspar Fownes.
Shamardal, of course, is already thoroughly proven as a sire of sires effective under Australian conditions. The star of his first crop in Europe was the André Fabre-trained Lope De Vega (Ire), winner in 2010 of the G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains and the G1 Prix du Jockey-Club. Lope De Vega’s period of shuttling from Ballylinch Stud in Ireland turned out to be brief as the arrangement was terminated by the dispersal of Patinack Farm, but even in this limited time he came up with brilliant sprinters of the calibre of Santa Ana Lane, Gytrash and Vega Magic.
Their father's reputation
Looking to the future, it seems a fair bet that Pinatubo (Ire), Earthlight (Ire) and Blue Point (Ire), Darley’s three young sons of Shamardal who will arrive in Australia the end of July and complete two weeks quarantine, will collectively do plenty to take their father’s reputation as a sire of sires to fresh heights.
Dubawi’s stud career is at least as international. With 44 individual Group/Grade 1 winners to date, he has been represented by top-level winners in 12 different countries. He is still aged only 19 but already he stands at the head of his own proper international sire-line. This was perfectly advertised at Meydan on Dubai World Cup Night, a meeting at which Dubawi has starred so often in the past.
Most notably, Dubawi has sired two winners of the feature race. Both were members of his first crop, Monterosso (GB) winning as a 5-year-old in 2012 and Prince Bishop (Ire) winning as an 8-year-old in 2015, thus perfectly illustrating that Dubawi’s stock are generally as notable for their toughness and durability as for their significant ability.
This year’s Dubai World Cup Night featured two Group 1 winners from the Dubawi sire-line. His son Lord North (Ire) took the G1 Dubai Turf and his great-grandson Mishriff (Ire) landed the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic.
Mishriff is a member of the first crop of the 2015 G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains and G1 Prix de la Foret winner Make Believe (GB), who himself is a son of Makfi (GB), one of the two G1 2000 Guineas winners, along with Night Of Thunder (Ire), sired to date by Dubawi.
Makfi, of course, did well at stud in New Zealand, most notably siring the 2015/’16 NZB Filly of the Year Sofia Rosa (NZ), the highlight of whose season was her trip across the Tasman to win the G1 ATC Australian Oaks at Randwick.
It is remarkable that a stallion younger than 20 has already established his own sire-line which is producing Group 1 winners in so many generations. With Darley set to include the top-class Dubawi horses Ghaiyyath (Ire) and Too Darn Hot (GB) among its shuttlers during the coming season, this sire-line looks set to continue to develop even further and to keep thriving in Australia.
| Dubawi | 154 | 117 | $152,088 | 73.8% | 14.9% |
| Redoute’s Choice | 1242 | 967 | $111,919 | 77.2% | 11.8% |
| Shamardal | 229 | 182 | $100,725 | 73.6% | 11.5% |
| Fastnet Rock | 1207 | 885 | $102,992 | 70.9% | 9.0% |
Table: Sires whose fees are, or were, set at private. Southern Hemisphere foaled and raced in Australia. Information at Sunday, April 4, 2021.
