Headed by G1 Racing Post Trophy winner Ibn Khaldun, Dubai Destination sired nine Stakes horses in his first crop – a figure which represented ten per cent of his runners that year.
With 35 winners on the board already in 2009, his percentages remain impressive with a winners to runners strike rate of more than 30 per cent. This tally includes the Listed winners Parthenon, who secured a Timeform rating of 105p for his win in the Glasgow Stakes, and the Irish-bred Maid For Music, whose transfer to the United States after she won a two-year-old Salisbury maiden last year has led to victory in the Golden Poppy Stakes.
A recent winner for the stallion highlights the quality of patronage Dubai Destination has enjoyed since his retirement to stud. On Wednesday, 3 June, Valedictory won his second race in just two starts. His is an illustrious page as his dam Melikah is one of Urban Sea’s eight Stakes winners, the others including Galileo and Cape Cross's 2000 Guineas winner Sea The Stars.
Melikah, a Listed winner who ran third in the Oaks, is by the pensioned Derby winner Lammtarra, who is spending his retirement just a few doors down from Dubai Destination at Dalham Hall Stud. Her three-year-old son Valedictory won his maiden at Saint-Cloud at two and maintained his unbeaten record when landing the ten-furlong Conditions race at Fontainebleau on his seasonal debut.
With the Royal Ascot meeting looming, a number of Dubai Destination’s offspring are being primed for engagements at the Berkshire course. Eastern Empire, a three-year-old out of Possessive Artiste (Shareef Dancer), has won his last two starts well, his most pleasing performance coming recently at Goodwood where Frankie Dettori brought him home for a two-and-a-half-length victory. Trainer John Hills has the Britannia Handicap in his sights for his progressive charge, while the former Hills-trained Military Power is heading for the Royal Hunt Cup, one of the most prestigious handicaps of the year, in which he is likely to face the Princess Haya-owned Dubai Destination four-year-old Charm School.
Seamstress has already produced a Royal Ascot winner by Noverre, the Windsor Castle Stakes winner Elhamri, and, judging by some fancy entries, she has thrown another crack two-year-old, this time to Dubai Destination. The as yet unraced Green Art is clearly held in high regard by his trainer Kevin Prendergast as he has the G2 Railway Stakes and G1 National Stakes on his list of possible engagements for this year.
Among Dubai Destination’s other interesting runners to note are Taqdeyr, a half-brother to the speedy Darley stallion Iffraaj and rated 109p after a hat-trick of wins, starting with his wide-margin victory as a two-year-old and added to this year with two victories in April, while Good Again is also a three-time scorer with a three-figure Timeform rating. Her mark of 101 was earned after a three-and-three-quarter-length romp at Ascot in May.
