Anamoe’s sire Street Boss has fee increased as Exceed And Excel leads Darley pack
Global breeding operation’s two-state stallion roster of 18 proven local and international Group 1 winners unveiled
The “slow burning” top-class shuttle stallion Street Boss (Street Cry) has earned further recognition, with Darley promoting him up the order of the stud’s Australian roster in 2022 where he will stand behind only champion sire Exceed And Excel (Danehill).
Godolphin’s stallion arm, Darley Australia, last night confirmed its line-up of 18 stallions, headed by Exceed And Excel who will stand for an unchanged fee of $132,000 (all fees inc GST), and Street Boss whose fee has risen to $77,000 for the upcoming breeding season.
US shuttler Street Boss, whose first 11 southern hemisphere seasons were spent at Darley’s Victorian farm Northwood Park, relocated to Kelvinside in the Hunter Valley last year at a fee of $55,000, double his 2020 price, but on the back of Anamoe’s success and five other stakes winners this season senior management deemed he warranted another increase.
“Street Boss was highly sought after last year and through the deeds of Anamoe and Pinstriped and other horses, he has established himself as a really good out-cross stallion, as many of our stallions are,” Darley Australia’s head of stallions Alastair Pulford told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“He suits those Danehill-line mares so well and the best breeders in NSW wanted to use him last year and I have no doubt that they are going to want to use him again this year. The better the mares, the better he goes, as we’ve demonstrated with the mares we’ve bred to him over the last few years and hopefully he’s going to end up a bit like a Written Tycoon, really hitting his straps late in his career.”
The release of the Darley roster also confirmed that Anamoe, Street Boss’s three-time Group 1-winning three-year-old son, was almost certain to race on next season, just as second season sire Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) did with success as a four-year-old.
“One thing you will see from our roster is that we test our horses, we don’t just whisk them off to stud at the first opportunity. Sheikh Mohammed is ultimately a sportsman who loves his racing and the result for breeders is that they get horses who are fully tested on the racetrack, unless injury or illness prevents that happening, and Bivouac is a good example of that,” Pulford said.
“He could have gone to stud as an early four-year-old but he raced on at four and achieved a notable Group 1 win in the Darley Classic (at Flemington), so the rewards are there if you’re brave enough and I think the rewards will be there for Anamoe.”
Also a three-time Group 1 winner, Bivouac remains at a fee of $66,000 after covering 156 mares in his maiden season at stud last year.
“We have been offering breeding rights in our locally-based stallions and he was oversubscribed with breeding right holders and all the best breeders in the Hunter Valley and around Australia wanted to take part in the exercise, so they will support the horse in his second and third year as, of course, will we,” he said.
“He covered a terrific book of mares in his first year, he was very fertile and he’ll be similarly supported this year, I’m sure, as he’s letting down into a beautiful horse.”
Rising 22-year-old Exceed And Excel, whose duties have been limited to the southern hemisphere for the past two years, will cover another limited book of mares this year.
While sire sons Bivouac and Microphone ($33,000) at Darley and Headwater and Exceedance at Vinery Stud, among others, bid to take on his mantle, Exceed And Excel, who covered 90 mares in 2021, continues to be a source of high-end race horses, with Group 1 winner September Run, Oxley Road, Minhaaj, Miss Roseiano, Bacchanalia and Left The Building all winning stakes races this season.
“He is well established as one of Australia’s, if not the world’s, leading stallions. He doesn’t shuttle any more but he is still in extremely good health and he is very popular,” the long-time Darley representative said.
“We don’t look to cover big numbers with him any more, given his age, and Lonhro’s in a similar bracket, but they’re well supported by people who are looking for proven stallions.”
Also a champion stallion, Lonhro, rising 24, will be lining up for a remarkable 19th season at stud where he will stand at a fee of $55,000, reduced from $66,000.
Darley had earlier this month already announced via ANZ Bloodstock News that first season shuttlers Palace Pier (Kingman) ($55,000), Pinatubo (Shamardal) ($55,000) and Victor Ludorum (Shamardal) ($24,750) would join the roster at Kelvinside in the Hunter Valley this year.
At Darley’s Victorian farm Northwood Park, Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible) will stand for a slightly reduced service fee of $44,000 while Kermadec (Teofilo) had his price increased from $11,000 to $16,500 after his daughter Montefilia added to her Group 1 record in The Metropolitan (Gr 1, 2400m) and The Ranvet (Gr 1, 2000m), while three-year-old filly Willowy won the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) this season.
“The thing about Brazen Beau, he’s just got numbers on his side from now on (80 weanlings and 61 yearlings) as he’s stopped shuttling,” Pulford said.
“Godolphin has 18 mares in foal to him this year, so it is probably a very good year to breed to him and, one thing about Brazen Beau, he gets runners in a lot of significant races, they’re always about the place and they’re nice types of horses.
“I am sure he is going to keep improving, particularly with the support he’s had in the past few years.”
As for Kermadec, the decision by Darley to relocate him from NSW to Victoria ahead of the 2021 breeding season appears to have been vindicated after the stallion covered 90 mares in the southern state, his third biggest book of mares in his six years at stud.
“He’s got plenty of backup behind him and he does throw such a good sort, Kermadec,” reasoned Pulford.
“He is a great value stallion for people who want to breed a yearling, too, because they’re great sorts who sell well.”
The roster of 18 stallions, comprising horses with 22 champion racetrack or sire titles, also offers breeders a diverse range of outcross options, with 14 members of the two-state line-up suitable for Danehill-line mares.
“They are high-end horses who have won the best races around the world,” said Pulford, when summing up the Darley Australia roster.
“It is a global business and we attract a lot of global interest at our yearling sales and the Australian market is the envy of the world, really.
“The way our racing is and the way our yearling market has been, I think we’ve priced our stallions for everyone to be able to take advantage of the significant gains we’ve had over the past couple of years.”
Shooting To Win (Northern Meteor) has been retired, owing to ongoing injuries, while Sepoy (Elusive Quality) and Holler (Commands) will not return to Northwood Park in 2022.
Epaulette (Commands), the sire of this season’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Daumier, was sold to the Turkish Jockey Club early into the last breeding season.