In a fairytale result for the Australian thoroughbred purist, Darley and MAKYBE Racing & Breeding today confirmed that one of the great racemares of the modern era - Makybe Diva - will be covered this season by leading sire Lonhro.
Makybe Diva was the winner of an unequalled three G1 Melbourne Cups and still holds the record for the most prize money won in Australia and New Zealand ($14,526,685). Her progeny include an unraced $1.5m 2yo colt named Rockstardom who is currently preparing for a spring campaign and a $1.2m filly purchased by trainer Mark Kavanagh.
Together Lonhro (pictured) and Makybe Diva won 41 races, 18 of which were at G1 level and over $20 million in prizemoney.
Lonhro has enjoyed a stellar start to his breeding career, siring no fewer than 15 Black type winners, including G1 Golden Rose winner and new Darley stallion Denman. This season he has sired an impressive 12 individual Stakes winners and sits comfortably atop the leading third-season sires' table with his runners amassing over $7 million in prize money.
Henry Plumptre, Darley’s managing director in Australia, stated “We feel honoured that the Makybe team have selected Lonhro for this iconic mare, and we are obviously very proud of what he has achieved in his short breeding career to date. I have tremendous respect for what Tony and Deslee (Santic) have achieved as breeders in a short period of time from their Makybe operation and their record speaks for itself. I hope this will continue with this very exciting mating of champions.”
Owners of Makybe Diva, Tony and Deslee Santic said, "We are very excited to be sending Makybe Diva to Lonhro, given his outstanding success both as a racehorse and stallion. We have retained shares in both of Makybe Diva’s offspring to date and are very much looking forward to seeing them, and her future foals hit the track."
End of Release.
