DALHAM HALL AND KILDANGAN
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TOP GUNS THE QUALITY OF STALLIONS ON OFFER TO BREEDERS AT SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S EUROPEAN STUDS HAS NEVER BEEN HIGHER AND IS TESTAMENT TO THE OPERATION’S HARD WORK BY MARTIN STEVENS HAT a difference a decade has made for Darley’s European stallion squad. In 2003 the two most expensive members of the roster at £30,000 were Halling, who would have to wait another six years before he was represented by his first Group 1 winner, and Fantastic Light, who was covering his second book of mares in a stud career that fell well short of what his former racecourse rival Galileo achieved. Elder statesman Machiavellian commanded a private fee but the son of Mr Prospector – who left a lasting influence on Darley’s Kentucky roster through his son Street Cry – was to succumb one year later to the laminitis that blighted his later years. Fast-forward ten years and Sheikh Mohammed’s operation has an embarrassment of riches in its stallion boxes at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket and Kildangan Stud in County Kildare. Dubawi went from strength to strength with four top-level winners in 2013, including standout Al Kazeem, and the exciting two-year-olds Al Thakhira, Kiyoshi, Night Of Thunder and Piping Rock to look forward to in 2014. New Approach continued the outstanding start to the stallion career he made in 2012 when he supplied three Royal Ascot winners from his first crop, including subsequent champion juvenile Dawn Approach, by siring two Classic winners – Dawn Approach in the 2,000 Guineas and Talent in the Oaks. The headline acts have a strong supporting cast too, with Shamardal and Teofilo
Pictures: JOHN REARDON
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churning out Group 1 winners, Exceed And Excel being crowned champion sire in Australia and proving himself one of the best dual-hemisphere stallions by also supplying Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Outstrip, and Authorized, a new recruit to Haras du Logis in Normandy, siring his first three top-flight winners including British Champion Fillies and Mares heroine Seal Of Approval. Darley’s stallion ranks have been bolstered by the addition of Dawn Approach, 2012 Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes hero Reckless Abandon and Australian Group 1 winner Epaulette to Kildangan, and Lockinge and Champion Stakes winner Farhh to Dalham Hall. “Dubai might have been built in a day but Rome wasn’t,” Darley’s director of stallions Sam Bullard says of the transformation of the operation’s fortunes. “It’s down to a combination of factors – getting the right horses and gaining the confidence of the marketplace to send us their best mares. “There’s no book on how to optimise stallions and it should be remembered we’ve had success along the way with the likes of Ouija Board and Sea The Stars [both by Cape Cross, entering his 15th year at Kildangan Stud in 2014] – but I suppose the roster is a lot better now and we’re just satisfied we have got here in the end.” Bullard, who joined Sam Bullard: “No horse in the history of the Pattern has made as good a start as Dubawi”
Darley in 1999, is particularly rhapsodic on the subject of Dubawi. “No horse in the history of the Pattern has made as good a start as he has,” he says. “No horse can boast a relation of stakes winners-to-runners of 14 per cent that Dubawi can. At this stage of his career [oldest crop are six], no other stallion has had 11 Group/Grade 1 winners. He’s setting the bar higher than ever before.” Dubawi is particularly close to Sheikh Mohammed’s heart, as he hails from the sole crop of ill-fated Darley icon Dubai Millennium and carried the Godolphin silks to three top-level victories. “Dubai Millennium was what the operation is all about and for Dubawi to be trained by Godolphin and then join Darley’s ranks and sire a new generation of Godolphin Group 1 winners gives the boss a huge amount of pleasure,” Bullard says. Sheikh Mohammed is very much the boss, with the team at the studs making recommendations to him and John Ferguson, who have the final say on decisions such as where stallions will stand and their covering fees. An insight into how involved Sheikh Mohammed is in the operation is given by Bullard. “After Dawn Approach won the 2,000 Guineas I went down to Dalham Hall to see [stallion man] Ken Crozier, and Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya were there giving New Approach a carrot,” he says. “That’s how much he adores these horses.” Both Dubawi and New Approach have been rewarded for their continued success on the track and in the sales