Shamardal shone at last year’s Easter Select sale as members of his first crop sold for an average of $329,000 with a top price of $630,000. The young stallion also topped the inaugural second session of the select sale when a colt consigned by Twin Palms Stud fetched the top price of the day, knocked down for $275,000.
A year on and Shamardal has already sired three winners – two of which also have black type to their names. Among the four yearlings on offer at Easter this year are a half-brother to the great mare Sunline, offered by Carramar Park as lot 243. Another Shamardal colt in the sale is a half-brother to VRC Oaks winner Hollow Bullet and Stakes-winning two-year-old Red Hot Mama. He hails from the Kitchwin Hills draft and is slated as lot 367.
Dubawi has his first runners in Europe later this year but in Australia his first yearlings come under the hammer and two consecutive lots at the Easter Sale, both from the Segenhoe Stud draft, are likely to arouse much interest on the second day of trade. Lot 220 is the first foal of Shady Henrietta, who is a half-sister to the great Takeover Target and Predatory Pricer and another of their half-siblings will follow this bay colt into the ring when Shady Stream’s chestnut colt by Dubawi enters as lot 221. They are two of six yearlings from the first-season stallion on offer during the sale.
Numerically, at least, Exceed And Excel is best represented of the Darley sires with 28 yearlings in the sale and that’s hardly surprising given his constant run of success, culminating recently in Reward For Effort’s scintillating Blue Diamond win.
Among the youngsters catalogued are Kia Ora Stud’s half-brother to Fantastic Light's Group Three winner Playwright (lot 347) and a filly out of a half-sister to nine-time Group One winner Northerly (lot 379), consigned by Corumbene Stud. Another well-related Exceed And Excel filly is lot 475, out of Fairy Story, a half-sister to Irish 2000 Guineas winner Desert Prince while G2 Sunline Stakes winner Flushed has produced a colt, who is in the Willow Park Stud draft (lot 488).
Exceed And Excel’s stellar book of mares in 2006 also included Group One winners One Under, Penny Gem and St Clemens Belle, all of whose yearlings feature in the Easter catalogue, as does the filly out of Picholine, the dam of Reset's VRC Derby winner Rebel Raider.
Reset himself has three yearlings in the sale, including a colt out of the British-bred Singspiel mare Authoress, whose Street Cry filly is already a six-time winner. He is one of two Reset yearlings offered by Think Big Stud, the other being a filly out of Leash, a half-sister to the Australian-bred South African champion racemare Sun Classique.
Commands has a decent-sized draft of 18 yearlings heading to Newmarket with one of the most regally-bred of these youngsters being out of AJC Oaks winner My Brilliant Star, who is herself the dam of G1 Toorak Handicap winner Shot Of Thunder. Her Commands filly, from Monarch Stud, is lot 119 while her grand-daughter, the Listed winner Lady Natasha, was also bred to Commands in her first season at stud with the resultant filly being catalogued as lot 59 on the opening day.
My Brilliant Star was not the only Oaks winner among Commands’ book of 2006 as Tully Thunder, victrix of the SAJC Australasian Oaks, was also among his mates and has produced a colt, who features as lot 293. Philippa Duncan Bloodstock consigns a son of Tahnee, a half-sister to the three Group One winners, Shogun Lodge, Singing The Blues and Referral, all offspring of Woodlands Stud’s late, great Pride Of Tahnee.
Lonhro and Elusive Quality are each represented by ten yearlings with offspring of the former including a filly from the Carnegie mare Soprana, runner-up in the G1 AJC Spring Champion Stakes and a full-sister to Queensland Guineas winner Regent Street. Elusive Quality’s yearlings include a son of outstanding two-year-old sprinter Calaway Gal, winner of the Golden Slipper, and a daughter of the Danehill mare Flittery, dam of three winners to date and herself out of Champion racemare Flitter. Segenhoe Stud’s Elusive Quality colt out of a five-time winning half-sister to Virage De Fortune enters the ring very early in the sale as lot 8 while later in the day comes a filly out of dual Classic winner Magical Miss.
Singspiel may only have stood once season in Australia but such was his success that he has subsequently had mares visit him at Darley’s British headquarters to be covered to southern hemisphere time. As a result, three yearlings by Singspiel have found their way to the Easter Sale, including the exquisitely-bred daughter of Balade Russe, a Gone West half-sister to English Champion three-year-old filly Russian Rhythm, their dam Balistroika being a half-sister to Park Appeal, the dam of Cape Cross.
