As Al Aseel crossed the finishing line for a facile three-and-a-half length victory on August 19, it became apparent that the win was also significant for three of Darley’s global stallions.
Conceived in the northern hemisphere to southern hemisphere time, Al Aseel is by the G1 winner Forestry, whose best runner to date is Darley America’s first-season sire Discreet Cat. Unbeaten as a three-year-old, Discreet Cat’s victory in the G1 Cigar Mile saw him equal the track record when defeating a quality field and subsequently he was crowned the World Champion three-year-old.
One of Darley Australia’s four new stallion for the upcoming breeding season, G1 winner Medaglia d’Oro has been selected as the stallion of choice for Al Aseel's triple G1-winning dam, Shamekha.
Already recognised as one of the world's most exciting stallions based purely on his Stakes statistics, Medaglia d’Oro (pictured) is the sire of American Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, as well as fellow G1 winners Gabby’s Golden Gal, Warrior’s Reward, Passion For Gold, Champagne d’Oro and a further 14 Stakes winners.
Lifetime Story, the dam of Shamekha will also be making the trip to Darley this year. The half-sister to multiple Stakes winner Brave Warrior, Lifetime Story will be covered during the upcoming breeding season by G1 Dubai World Cup winner Street Cry.
The sire of the world-class mare Zenyatta, the unbeaten winner of 18, 12 at G1 level, Street Cry’s best southern hemisphere performers include dual G1-winning Champion three-year-old Whobegotyou, Melbourne Cup hero Shocking and the G2-winning, G1-placed Predatory Pricer. Finishing fourth on the general sires’ table last season based on prize money, Street Cry’s performance to achieve a 53.3% winner to runner ratio, also puts him in fourth place with Lonhro (56.8%) and Shamardal (56.5%) sitting in the top two positions.
Bred on the successful Mr Prospector-Halo cross, the resultant foal will be bred on the same cross that has produced triple G1-winning Japanese Horse of the Year Admire Moon, who recently finished covering his second book of quality mares at Darley Japan.
Both Medaglia d’Oro and Street Cry will stand the upcoming breeding season at Darley Kelvinside at fees of $88,000 and $137,500 respectively, including GST.
