The outstanding gallopers Brazen Beau , Hallowed Crown , Shooting To Win and Sidestep all performed magnificently on the track and have been doing the same in the breeding barn.
And as their first Australian yearlings are presented to the world in 2018, they are ready to show that the second stage of their careers will be as dynamic as the first.
As those closest to them recall, Darley's four freshman sires all had qualities that set them apart.
To Chris Waller, the trainer of more than 2100 winners, 75 of them at G1,
Brazen Beau was a stallion in the making from day one."This horse is the complete package, just look at him, he's strong, he's well-balanced. He's the perfect horse,'' Waller said after his colt won the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes.
And following his career-crowning G1 Newmarket Handicap victory in which he beat the world's two highest-ranked sprinters Chautauqua and Terravista , Waller again offered high praise.
"Obviously he's beaten a world-class field, but really, he's treated them with a bit of contempt," the trainer said.
Click here to relive Brazen Beau's two and three-quarter length victory in the Newmarket Handicap
Brazen Beau has 26 yearlings catalogued for January's Magic Millions Gold Coast sale, but even before his first yearling walks into the sale ring, his mark in the breeding world has already been made.
At the 2016 Magic Millions National Broodmare sale Brazen Beau led the first-season sires' table with eight lots in foal to the champion sprinter selling for an average of $253,750 and a top price of $570,000. His weanlings have brought up to $300,000.
Like Brazen Beau, Hallowed Crown claimed two G1 titles, winning the Golden Rose
and Randwick Guineas among six victories from his nine starts. Before joining the Darley stallion roster, the son of Street Sense was trained in partnership by James Cummings for whom he became a first G1 winner, and his late grandfather Bart, for whom he was the 268th.
Click hereto watch Hallowed Crown take out the Randwick Guineas
James Cummings, now Godolphin's head Australian trainer, has, perhaps, the best insight into the stock of the horse that got his training career rolling, and he likes what he's seen.
"His yearlings are classy, they have great temperaments, good clean legs and they are willing to work with us, which is so important," Cummings said.
Hallowed Crown has nine yearlings catalogued at Magic Millions.
A similar scenario has preceded the appearance of the first of Shooting To
Win's 30 Magic Millions yearlings with the sale at auction last year for $3.4
million of his dam Listen Here, in foal to Darley's Medaglia d'Oro .Shooting To Win was the first G1 winner for the father and son training partnership of Peter and Paul Snowden, but it isn't merely sentiment that moulds their opinion of the horse.
"He was simply a beautiful colt, he had everything, including incredible ability," said Peter Snowden.
"Every time he stepped out he got better."
Click here to see Shooting To Win record a faster time than Lonhro and Redoute's Choice in the stallion-making G1 Caulfield Guineas
Snowden also trained Sidestep, a son of Exceed And Excel , a winner twice at G2 level and an outstanding second in the G1 Golden Slipper behind Overreach .
When he ran in the 2013 Golden Slipper, Sidestep was having his fourth start in
less than a month having finished second in the Listed Black Opal Stakes,
losing his rider in the G2 Todman Stakes and then, a week later, winning the G2
Pago Pago Stakes."To even get into the Golden Slipper and to then run second after what he had to overcome was a great tribute to him," Snowden said.
"Only a very good horse could have done what he did."
"Sidestep was athletic, he had a great attitude and he was smart. He was one of the best in the stable at that time."
Click here to view Sidestep's victory in the Royal Sovereign Stakes
