Group I racing for 2025 has kicked off in Australia with the $750,000 MRC C.F Orr Stakes at Caulfield and there were also a pair of G1 races in New Zealand and the winners of all three races have something very significant in common.
Shuttle stallions come and go with varying degrees of success, but one that has left a lasting legacy is the 2002 Dubai World Cup winner Street Cry (IRE), and he is the grand-sire of all three Group I winners, two of them by his Melbourne Cup winning sock Shocking and one by his US G1 bred sprinter miler son Street Boss (USA).
They have another important common denominator and that is toughness and consistency, all three are older geldings that have talent and the sort of constitution that delivers a long and successful racing career which has become a hallmark of the Street Cry breed… think Winx, think Anamoe!
The G1 C.F Orr Stakes went the way of the Ciaron Maher trained Another Wil, who outgunned the mighty Mr Brightside to post his first G1 win, read about him here.
With nine wins from 14 starts, Another Wil is the tenth G1 winner for Street Boss and comes from a pretty pedestrian female family as we have to go back to the fourth dam to find another stakes-winner and that’s Kiwi bred Group I AJC Sires Produce Stakes winner Alf. His dam Arohanui won a couple of modest races at 1900 and 2050m, but has proven a much better broodmare with Another Wil the best of four winners and all of them multiple winners including stakes-placed Wahine Toa and the long distance stayer Wil John, who won the Jerricho Cup, several big jumps races and over $700,000 in prizemoney.
A daughter of versatile Danzig sire Bianconi (USA), Arohanui died in 2021 and of the stallions she went to Street Boss in hindsight is clearly the best of them and has resulted in her best offspring.
Street Boss is a dual hemisphere horse that works between USA and Australia for Darley and has built some impressive stats. He runs at 70.7% winner to runner and 5.5% SW to runner with his 10 G1 winners an even split between Australia and USA.
Another Will is the third Group I winner among 17 stakes-winners left by mares sired by Bianconi, who was always seen as a bread and butter type sire. He never stood for a fee greater than $12,000 with his best performer the Group I sprinter Nicconi, who is also showing promise as a broodmare sire having produced the dam of dual Group I winner Magic Time and three more stakes-winners.
The $500,000 G1 BCD Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa produced a quinella for Aussie raiders Here to Shock (NZ) and Bosustow, with the winner bolting in to score by four lengths, read about him here.
Here to Shock is the fifth G1 winner for Rich Hill Stud’s Shocking, who certainly has a very different profile to that of Street Boss being a staying son of champion sire Street Cry, who went to stud in New Zealand. He has never had the sort of opportunity afforded Street Boss, but has produced some solid stats.
Shocking runs at 56.6% winner to runner, but interestingly has a high 6.3% SW to runner, which does make you wonder how good a sire he could have been had he received the sort of numbers and quality of mare afforded some other far less deserving sires.
With 13 wins and seven placings from 36 starts, Here to Shock has been very well placed over the past 12 months to pick up some lucrative wins and a G1 is the icing on the cake and delivers a new G1 winner to a very old Australian family that was the height of fashion last century.
His third dam is Biscay mare Shaybisc, who was the darling two year-old filly of her time winning the Group I AJC Sires Produce Stakes in 1980. She produced 11 winners from 12 foals to race and spawned a very successful dynasty for the old Ingham family owned Woodlands Stud with her descendants including triple Group I winner Freemason and Group I winning sprinter Mental.
Here to Shock is the fourth G1 winner among 77 stakes-winner for Lonhro as a broodmare sire.
The $700,000 G1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) produced a second G1 triumph for consistent miler / middle distance horse El Vencedor (NZ), who has built a great record with 10 wins and 13 placings from 39 starts, read about him here.
Already a G1 winner, El Vencedor is bred on a great nick between Shocking and champion sire O’Reilly. He has had four SW’s from mares by O’Reilly and that nick runs at 20% SW to runner.
He is the best of three stakes-winners and six winners in total from unraced O’Reilly mare Strictly Maternal, whose next two dams offer a history lesson in New Zealand breeding being by the mighty Star Way (GB) and Sovereign Red, a Victoria Derby winning sire that combined the blood of a pair of champion sires in Sir Tristram (IRE) and Sovereign Edition (GB).
