High Chaparral - six times Group One winning sire of 118 stakes winners.
Flying Spur - triple Group One winning Champion Sire of 99 stakes winners.
Encosta de Lago - Group One winning two times Champion Sire of 114 stakes winners.
63 Group One winners between them, over $442 million in prizemoney - making them three of the greatest influences of recent times.
And they combine in the pedigree of one very exciting young stallion, Riverbank Farm's Wayed Zain.
Raced in the
colours of his breeders Emirates Park, displaying toughness and a turn of foot
when successful on two occasions at Canterbury, Wayed Zain had just the five
starts but during that short time showed himself adept on any sort of going.
The handsome Wayed Zain is a son of High Chaparral whose globe-trotting exploits placed him as one of the world's finest from the time he won the Gr.1 Racing Post Trophy at two in 2001 to his finale in the Gr.1 Breeders Cup Turf two years later.
He won that prestigious contest on two occasions having also won the Gr.1 Epsom Derby, the Gr.1 Irish Derby and the Gr.1 Irish Champion Stakes. And at stud he excelled, represented by such outstanding gallopers as So You Think, Dundeel, Toronado, Shoot Out, Contributor, Descarado, Wigmore Hall and Monaco Consul - all multiple Group One winners.
And of course he enjoyed a particularly good Melbourne spring last year as the sire of the Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling and the VRC Derby winner Ace High.
Sadly we lost High Chaparral too soon but already his sons are doing a great job at stud with So You Think (sire of the big race winners La Diosa, Sopressa, Inference and D'Argento and nine other stakes winners), Dundeel, Redwood and Monaco Consul all siring stakes winners whilst Toronado has made a great start with 13 individual winners in his first northern hemisphere crop.
Wayed Zain is one of three winners produced by the Al Maher mare Zyoon, the one and only filly produced by the regally bred metropolitan winner Shoal Creek - daughter of outstanding stallion Star Way and the Mr Prospector mare Rolls.
Despite breeding issues Shoal Creek well and truly made her mark on the breed as the dam of Encosta de Lago whose brief but brilliant racing career saw him win the Gr.1 Vic Health Cup, the Gr.2 Bill Stutt Stakes and the Gr.2 Ascot Vale Stakes.
At stud, with his 70.5% winners-to-runners strike rate and his 7% black type ratio, the now retired Encosta de Lago is one of the greats having sired such wonderful gallopers as Chautauqua, Sacred Kingdom, Racing To Win and Alinghi... and 23 other Group One winners.
Encosta de Lago was bred to succeed, his dam being a half-sister to one of Danehill's best in Flying Spur, winner of the Gr.1 Golden Slipper Stakes, the Gr.1 All-Aged Stakes and the Gr.1 Australian Guineas.
Fourteen of Flying Spur's 99 stakes winners were successful at the elite level including Mentality, Forensics, Sacred Star, Inspiration, Casino Prince, Magnus and last year's Caulfield Cup winner Boom Time.
Encosta de Lago and Flying Spur are not the only shining lights from the family of Wayed Zain, one that has as its ancestress the famed matriarch Fanfreluche.
Well remembered as a victim of kidnapping during the height of her highly successful career at stud, Fanfreluche was one of the legendary Northern Dancer's best daughters, crowned Canadian Horse Of The Year and US Champion 3Y0 Filly.
And what a broodmare she was, 11 of her 12 foals to race being winners including the Group One galloper L'Enjoleur and fellow stakes winners D'Accord, Grand Luxe, La Voyageuse and Medaille D'Or.
The winners have flowed from this family, other descendants of Fanfreluche including the feature race winners Russian Revolution, I Am A Star, Majestic Roi, Turbo Miss, Noor Al Hawak, Medici, Nuhdis, Favorite, Zelsnitz, Ballybleue, Think Bleue, Krupt, Conserve, Pretty Perfect, Milanova, Soldera, Exhi, French Braids, Bint Allayl, Laa Rayb, Kheleyf (sire of 20 stakes winners), Time Bandit, Innovative, Musidora, Mare Nostrum, Special Gallery, Raisonnable, Aube Indienne, Smackover Creek, Saucy Affair, Taletobetold, Montelimar, L'Extra Honor, Black Spirit and Holy Roman Emperor - dual Gr.1 winning highly successful sire of 76 stakes winners.
What great blood this is and Riverbank's Dr Caroline Duddy is rightly excited about Wayed Zain's future, looking forward to seeing owner/breeders represented in distance races.
"There has been a lack of Australian bred horses in our premier staying races but High Chaparral was a horse who really filled that gap and Wayed Zain is a horse with a real look of his sire."
"He offers superior bloodlines for a very affordable price and we urge breeders to take a close look at him, we are confident that they will be impressed."
