Dam Important When You Want to Breed a G1 Winner!

Our analysis of Australian Group I winners for this season continues with a look at the dams of all 54 horses that won at the highest level – were they winners, how old were they when their G1 winner was born and what is the common denominator that produced 88% of the G1 winners this season?

In the table below we’ve listed all Group I winners, including imports, with their dams sorted by the foal number for the mare, 1 being first foal and so on and the dam age is literally the age of the dam when the G1 winner was born.

 Some 48 of the 54 G1 winners were born in the first five foals for their dam, so 88%! And some 51% were in the first three foals.

Also worth noting 75% of the dams were either Black Type performed or winners with Stefi Magnetica’s dam Mid Summer Music the only Group I winning dam.

Logically none of this is a big surprise as mares are like stallions in that they usually get their best opportunities at the start of their stud career and then as time passes are covered by lesser stallions so the likelihood of them achieving success later in life drops dramatically.

That said, there are exceptions to every rule and Group I Epsom Handicap winner Rediener credited his dam Wiener with her first Group I winner as her eleventh foal.

A stakes-placed half-sister by More Than Ready (USA) to champion sire Snitzel, Wiener only went to champion sires Redoute’s Choice, Encosta de Lago and Fastnet Rock in her first six seasons and did produce five winners, but nothing better than Group III placed Redoutable Heart.

Her owners pushed on with All Too Hard, Zoustar and I Am Invincible all thrown into the mix to produce winners, but it wasn’t until foal nine, a colt by Fastnet Rock called Rathlin arrived that she produced a stakes-winner.

Two foals later and in the very last crop of foals sired by Redoute’s Choice along came $2.1million earner Rediener, talk about saving the best for last!

Wiener passed away in 2022 and has an unraced three year-old filly by The Autumn Sun called La Belle Vie and an unnamed two year-old colt by Fastnet Rock.