The Darley stallions have produced an unprecedented clean sweep in the world’s richest two-year-old race with Kiamichi scoring an all-the-way win in the G1 Golden Slipper and becoming the first Stakes winner for her sire Sidestep.
Chasing Kiamichi to the line in Saturday’s Rosehill feature were Exceed And Excel’s son Microphone with Lyre, a daughter of Lonhro in third place.
Kiamichi displayed resilience, speed and tenacity to plough through the heavy ground and defy her opposition to win by a length.
The victory was her third in four starts, following from a successful debut in November and another win a week before the Slipper.
Ridden positively by Damian Lane from her wide gate, Kiamichi used her superior speed to cross the field, produced another effort to skip away at the 350m and then defied her 15 opponents in the run to the line.
A member of Sidestep’s first crop which was conceived at Darley’s Kelvinside Stud in New South Wales, Kiamichi is out of the unraced Canny Lad mare Ouachita whose six winners from seven foals to race include the recent Stakes winner Cossetot (Epaulette).
Ouachita is a sister to the G1 winner Preserve, the dam of the stakes winners Safeguard and Archives, and a half-sister to the excellent racehorse and Darley stallion Denman (Lonhro).
Sidestep’s dam, the G2 winner Dextrous (Quest For Fame), produced seven foals to race, all of which have won, among them the G1 winner Skilled and the G2 winner Ambidexter, both sons of Commands and both raced by Sheikh Mohammed.
Sidestep, a son of Exceed And Excel was Australia’s champion two-year-old of the 2012-13 season in which finished second in the Golden Slipper behind Overreach, a daughter of the same stallion.
Sidestep will stand the 2019 breeding season at Telemon Thoroughbreds in Queensland, on lease from Darley, while Exceed And Excel and Lonhro will stand the upcoming season at Kelvinside in New South Wales.
