Cometh the hour, cometh the man... or so the saying goes and in Australia it seems that the hour is arriving for a stallion or sire line to stand up and be counted when it comes to the next leading sire. With a broodmare population that, at least from a commercial aspect, is becoming laden with Danzig and his prolific son Danehill, it is fast becoming a case of the next great sire or sire line being built on the back of the Danehill phenomenon. Sire lines tend - and tend being the operative word - not to like to be bred upon themselves and thus it is less likely that a Danzig-line stallion will remain on top of the heap for much longer as an alternate sire line comes to dominate or appreciate the genetics of the broodmare population at large.
While his sire/sire line had previously been disappointing in Australia, Arrowfield Stud's Hussonet has put his hand up in no uncertain terms with another stakes winner on the weekend in the shape of the 3-year-old filly Dirty (AUS) (out of Weaver of Words (GB), by Danehill). Dirty (an A+ rated TrueNicks horse prior to her stakes win) followed last month's Blue Diamond Stakes (gr. I) winner Reaan (AUS), who is also out of a Danehill mare - and with just 15 named foals bred on the Hussonet/Danehill cross, and the oldest being just 3, it looks as though Hussonet will enjoy what the broodmare population has to present. Interestingly, before a Danehill mare was ever bred to the stallion, Hussonet already rated very well to Danzig-line mares based on his outstanding results in Chile with Danzig-line mares, in particular those byRoyal Danzig, so his efforts in Australia are to be expected but in no way diminish the achievement.
In the middle of last week, shuttle sire More Than Ready (TrueNicks, SRO) also reclaimed his position as the "heir apparent" with a facile win of Augusta Proud (AUS) in the AUS$400,000 Adelaide Magic Millions. A race attached to the yearling sales company of the same name, Augusta Proud is out of a daughter of Danzig's fast son Langfuhr, and her dam is out of a Cryptoclearance half sister to Florida Derby and Hopeful Stakes (both gr. I) winner Mercedes Won. On the basis of the broader More Than Ready/Danzig cross, Augusta Proud earns a TrueNicks A rating. More Than Ready has of course already proven himself with mares by Danzig and his sons and grandsons, with the likes of Benicio (AUS), Perfectly Ready, Deloraine (AUS), Ready to Please and Sebring (AUS), a 2yo we profiled back on Jan. 20. A stakes winner subsequent to our post back two months ago, he is the current favorite for the Golden Slipper (Aus-I).