Desert King (IRE), the sire of three-time Melbourne Cup heroine Makybe Diva, has died at the age of 27 at Lauriston Park, Victoria.
Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Desert King (IRE) had the honour of giving his youn trainer his first Group 1 winner in the National Stakes at two before adding the the Irish Two Thousand Guineas and Irish Derby at three.
The son of Danehill (USA) began his stallion career shuttling between Coolmore bases in Ireland and Australia and spent a season at East Stud in Japan.
His
six Group 1 winners are evenly divided between Australia and Europe, although the great Makybe Diva was conceived in Ireland and raced in Australia.
In Australia:
MAKYBE DIVA 15 wins from 1400m to 3200m Earnings $14,526,685, VRC Melbourne Cup (x3), MVRC WS Cox Plate, STC BMW Stakes, VRC Australian Cup and AJC Sydney Cup.
DESERT WAR 12 wins from 1400m to 2000m, $3,046,610, AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes, VRC LKS Mackinnon Stakes, AJC Epsom Hcp, AJC Epsom Hcp, STC Ranvet Stakes, and AJC Chipping Norton Stakes.
LACHLAN RIVER 5 wins from 1200m to 2400m, $693,800, QTC Queensland Derby.
In Europe:
MR DINOS 6 wins from 2400m to 4000m, Royal Ascot Gold Cup and Longchamp Prix Royal Oak.
DARSALAM 8 wins from 1818m to 3200m, Cologne Rheinland Pokal der Sparkasse.
CHELSEA ROSE 5 wins from 1400m to 2400m, Curragh Moyglare Stud Stakes.
Overall, Desert King sired 70 stakes-winners of over $71,000,000.
He covered his final book of 10 mares in 2016 leaving four live foals.
Desert King’s daughters have produced 27 stakes-winners to date led by the dual Group 1 winner Kew Gardens (Galileo) and the Group 1 MRC Oakleigh Plate winner Eagle Falls (Hussonet).
