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Australian Studbook Red Flags – Not the Stallion We Thought

Tara Madgwick - Thursday Sep 7

The Street Cry (IRE) sireline has become one of the most influential in Australia in terms of producing elite performers with his sons producing six individual Group I winners last season and one of those sons that sired two of those G1 winners is the subject of this story.

A dual Group I winning two year-old from the family of champion sires Invincible Spirit and Kodiac, Pride of Dubai ticked every box as a sire prospect on paper and retired to Coolmore in the same year as Golden Slipper winner Vancouver.

Pride of Dubai, click for more info and a Hypo mating.

While Vancouver has since relocated to Victoria, Pride of Dubai remains on the Coolmore roster and after enjoying his best ever season in 2022/ 2023 when siring eight stakes-winners in Australasia he is priced to please this spring at $27,500.

Pride of Dubai is one of those stallions that a lot of people – trainers and breeders- got wrong and they are now looking at him in a new light as to what he can offer.

Pride of Dubai was expected to get fast precocious two year-olds and to an extent he did, finishing as the Champion First Season Sire in the 2019/2020 season with 11 winners headed by his lone stakes-winner Bella Nipotina. He did enough to maintain interest, but not enough to smash it out of the park.

Bella Nipotina is going strong at age six and has won $4million in prizemoney - image Steve Hart

By the end of the next season, Pride of Dubai was treading water, siring plenty of winners, but Bella Nipotina remained his best performer with no other obvious stars on the rise and his popularity took a sharp dive.

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As time passed a funny thing happened in Europe where his progeny started to make their mark over a mile and further with a horse called Dubai Honour showing enough potential in the Willam Haggas stable to earn a trip to Australia, while Bella Nipotina went from strength to strength. Dubai Honour thumped our best WFA horses including Anamoe to win both the Group I ATC Ranvet Stakes and Queen Elzabeth Stakes at 2000m, while Bella Nipotina won the Group I MVRC Manikato Stakes and placed in a string of G1 sprints.

Dubai Honour (IRE) wins the G1 QEII Stakes in a canter - image Steve Hart

Pride of Dubai is a good stallion, he’s just not the stallion most breeders thought he was initially. He might not get you a Golden Slipper winner, but he’s going to put you in the picture for an Everest or a Cox Plate!

He has strong crops of two and three year-olds to run this season and they hold the potential to keep his name in lights for a long time to come.

Pride of Dubai - Southern Hemisphere Seasons at Stud

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