The Australian Studbook is one of the great impartial sources of factual data that often predicts the future if you know what you are looking for.
A stallion with no runners is not going to be making an impression, so if covering stats are down, the future racetrack results of said sire will also take a sharp downturn, but a stallion that has a big increase in quality mares and numbers is a red flag for future success.
Dundeel spent his first five seasons at Arrowfield Stud at a fee of $27,500 with Australian breeders not entirely convinced that a Kiwi bred Champion 3YO, whose best form was at 2000m, had the right credentials for the Australian market.
Come 2019, things were looking considerably more rosy after his second crop two year-old Castelvecchio won the Group I ATC Champagne Stakes and followed up to finish second in the Cox Plate that spring while another of his second crop colts Super Seth won the Caulfield Guineas.
Dundeel stood for the first time at $66,000 in the spring of 2019 and covered his biggest ever book of 209 mares with the resulting foals now two year-olds.
This crop of foals are giving the champion son of High Chaparral (IRE) his best two year-old results ever with Bjorn Baker saddling the 15th Australian 2YO winner of the season for Dundeel at Mudgee on Sunday when the Darby Racing owned colt Line of Fire won over 1500m at his third start as a hot favourite.
Outstanding Chris Waller trained colt Militarize is the best of them having won both the Group I ATC Sires Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes, while Miracle of Love, Townsend and Tannhauser have all been Group I placed.
If we know one thing about the Dundeel progeny it’s that they improve with maturity, so expect the next 12 months to be very good for this stallion and he has an equally strong crop of rising two year-olds to follow on, so if you were considering him at the increased fee of $82,500…. That might look like value in 12 months time!
