Dubious to stand at Kitchwin Hills

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Kitchwin Hills will welcome an exciting addition to their roster, with young stallion Dubious (Not A Single Doubt) set to stand at the New South Wales-based farm for the 2023 breeding season. 

He will command a fee of $15,400 (inc GST), an increase on the $13,200 (inc GST) the stallion stood for in his first three seasons at stud on the Aquis Farm roster. 

When the son of Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) arrives at the farm it will be something of a homecoming, with Kitchwin Hills having sold the subsequent Group 2 winner for $350,000 at the 2018 edition of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale to Ciaron Maher Bloodstock and Aquis Farm, where the sire has stood for the past three seasons. 

“For the last 15 years I have hugely admired Not A Single Doubt’s stock and he is now a real breed-shaper with his broodmares and what they are doing, so he was a stallion I always loved,” the stud’s farm manager, Mick Malone, told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday. 

“When there was an opportunity to stand him at Kitchwin we just jumped on it as fast as we could and it has been a pleasure working with the Aquis group to pin a deal down. Kitchwin has bought a major share in him and we are looking forward to the opportunity and the next 12 months. 

“We sold Dubious as a yearling, so he is close to my heart in that regard. But as a racehorse, he was so precocious and so tough and he didn’t miss too many two-year-old races. From the Breeders’ Plate, to Magic Millions and the Slipper, he was just a very tough and sound horse and I think he is going to put that into his stock.”

A winner of the three of his 12 starts, headed by his victories in the Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) and BRC Champagne Classic (Gr 2, 1200m), Dubious, whose first crop are rising two-year-olds, covered 417 mares in the three years he stood in Queensland. 

The stallion’s fee increase is in response to how well his first crop of yearlings were received at this year’s yearling sales. In 2023, the stallion had 56 youngsters sell for an aggregate of $4,153,434, including a colt by the sire, who was bought by Justin Fung, Aquis Stallions and Annabel Neasham Racing for $500,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale earlier this year. 

He finished the Queensland-based sale having sold six yearlings for an average of $240,000, which equates to more than 18 times his service fee. 

Malone said he had been impressed with the yearlings by the stallion and threw his support behind his stock at the yearling sales. 

“I look at a lot of yearlings as a stud manager and also I buy a fair few horses for a lot of people and I bought three Dubious yearlings at the sales this year – they are just great stock,” said Malone. “They are beautiful, athletic movers with great attitudes and you could find something to like about every one of them and I must have seen the best part of 50 or 60 at the sales. 

“His averages at the major sales were great, off a moderate service fee, and sold to half a million. I have done a lot of research and spoken to a lot of trainers and those trainers that don’t have one, want one. They were all trying to buy them at the sale, but they were too expensive to buy. That is buyers voting with their feet and when that starts to happen that’s a great thing. 

Malone said Dubious is injecting quality into his stock and believes his fee will ensure that breeders will continue to be rewarded for supporting the stallion. 

“Dubious seems to put that amazing type on the ground, who are just really good sorts and if he does go the right way there will be some really good money to be made by breeders.” he said. 

“He has lovely length, a beautiful big hip, lovely shoulder and a lovely head – he is just a beautiful horse. I am a huge believer in Farnan (a son of Not A Single Doubt) having bred very strongly to him and I think Dubious replicates him on type. As a physical, people will absolutely love him and when you see him you can understand why he is leaving such lovely stock.”

Dubious becomes the fourth stallion to relocate from Aquis Farm this year, with Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom) set to join the Yarraman Park Stud roster, while Santos (I Am Invincible) and Divine Prophet (Choisir) will stand at Highview Stud in New Zealand.