Winx to be covered by star Darley shuttler Too Darn Hot
The connections of Australia’s champion mare Winx (Street Cry) have announced that the 25-time Group 1 winner will be covered by Darley stallion Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) this upcoming breeding season.
The mating marks the next exciting chapter in the legendary mare’s broodmare career, with Too Darn Hot, an unbeaten Group 1-winning juvenile and son of champion sire Dubawi (Dubai Millennium), a sire who continues to build a strong reputation in both hemispheres.
Winx, whose extraordinary racing career captured the hearts of racing fans all over the world, has already produced two foals, with the first, a filly by Pierro (Lonhro), fetching a record-breaking $10 million at last year’s Inglis Easter Yearling Sale. Now named Quinceanera the filly is in training with Chris Waller who faultlessly handled Winx’s own legendary career.
Her second, a colt by Arrowfield’s four-time champion sire Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) was born last November. Her first mating with I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) ended in tragedy when the filly foal died shortly after birth.
Represented by two crops in Australia, Too Darn Hot has already sired seven Group-level winners, headlined by champion colt and four-time Group 1-winner Broadsiding, who will stand alongside his sire for his first season at Darley Kelvinside in New South Wales. As a daughter of Street Cry, Winx’s resulting Too Darn Hot foal will be bred on the same cross as that multiple Group 1 winner as well as Group 3 scorer Arabian Summer.
“We are absolutely delighted that the Winx ownership group have decided on Too Darn Hot for their mating for the Champion mare this season,” Darley head of stallions Alistair Pulford told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“It is, in my opinion, a fantastic mating for the mare both physically and on pedigree. Obviously it repeats the same cross that produced Broadsiding, who is by Too Darn Hot out of a mare by Street Cry, and this time out of a very, very good mare by Street Cry. I do love the mating on paper and I think the mating physically is fantastic.”
Too Darn Hot arrived in 2020 for his maiden covering season in Australia at a fee of $44,000 (all fees inc GST) and remained at that figure for another three seasons before being announced as not returning for 2024. His fee for 2025 has been set at $275,000, making him the the third most expensive advertised stallion to stand in the country, behind Coolmore’s star shuttler Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), who has been priced at $385,000, an Australian-record fee, and Newgate’s sub-fertile stallion Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), who will command $330,000.
While Winx is undoubtedly the headline mare set to visit Too Darn Hot in the spring, Pulford said his book of mares is one that oozes quality, vindicating the operation’s decision to shuttle the stallion again this year.
“When it was announced that Too Darn Hot was coming back, we had conversations with the ownership group and their advisors, and I don’t think they took a long time to make up their mind, really, but we’re obviously just really very pleased that Too Darn Hot is the one.
“He is such a good young stallion. He keeps getting better and better. He has started his career in amazing fashion and, let’s just hope that the result of this mating produces a champion.”
“You can’t get much better than Winx. It certainly does vindicate the decision [to bring him back]. He will be covering a superb book of mares, she is obviously the highlight, but he’s not going to want for quality this year.”
Indeed, Dubawi also works well with daughters of Street Cry with this yielding seven stakes winners headed by three Group 1 winners, most notably Godolphin’s likeable multiple Group 1-winning globetrotter, Rebel’s Romance, which fires at a stakes winners to runners strike rate of 33 per cent.
This mating will also bring together two influential Darley bloodlines, with her sire Street Cry (Machiavellian) having played a major role in Darley’s global stallion roster.
Street Cry, who passed away in 2014 at age 16, undoubtedly continues to shape bloodlines in the Southern Hemisphere, with sons at stud including Street Boss, Pride Of Dubai, Shocking and Per Incanto.
Not only that, he is the grandsire of a number of exciting young stallions, including, of course, nine-time Group 1-winning Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) hero Anamoe (Street Boss), as well as Hanseatic (Street Boss) and Little Brose (Little Brose).
Street Cry has an elite legacy as a broodmare sire, stamping his name on the pages of countless stakes-winners, most notably Kia Ora Stud’s Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winning first-season sire Farnan (Not A Single Doubt), Broadsiding (Too Darn Hot) and Blue Diamond (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Lyre (Lonhro).
“It’s full circle and that’s what makes it so special for us. Street Cry is, together with Lonro and Exceed And Excel, the soul of this stud.
“But Street Cry is the one that’s just dominating worldwide, in terms of his ability to just throw excellence into his progeny and whether it’s his sons or his daughters, his grandsons and granddaughters, he’s really to the forefront in pedigrees at the moment. He has just been such a great horse for our stud both here and in the Northern Hemisphere.”
“I would really like to acknowledge the ownership group. We’re very grateful to them.”
Part-owner Debbie Kepitis is delighted with the match for her star mare, expressing her appreciation for the return of Too Darn Hot to Australia this season.
“Aren’t we fortunate that Too Darn Hot has come back this year to Australia. It’s great to have this sort of calibre of stallion shuttle out here,” Kepitis told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We have amazing stallions here, but Winx has fortunately gone to those stallions, and it’s just nice to give her variety. We raced against Broadsiding with some of our other horses, and he was a shining light.”
As preparations begin for Winx’s next chapter at stud, connections report the champion mare is thriving in her downtime at Coolmore.
Fresh from weaning her late-season Snitzel colt, the mare has been enjoying a well-earned spell and is happy, relaxed and showing positive signs she is ready to return to the breeding barn.
“Winx is healthy and happy in the paddocks. Her little Snitzel colt was weaned late in the season because he was born late in the season. So she’s had a nice few months off with just being a horse. And as long as everything lines up, and she’s still feeling the way she is at the moment, we’re excited to think she might get in foal again.
“[The colt] is fabulous. He’s a bit cheeky, but he’s fun. He loves playing with his mates in the paddock, and he’s happy. That’s all you can ask for at the moment. He took the weaning quite well. He coped with it the same as all the other partners he did it with, so that’s always a good sign.”