Redoute’s Choice maintained a formidable record not matched by any other current Australian-based stallion when he finished second to Lonhro in the latest sires’ premiership.
Since 2005, Redoute’s Choice has appeared among Australia’s top three sires six times. He won the championship in 2006 & 2010, finished second in 2009 & 2011 and third in 2005 & 2007.
He is also the only active Australian sire to win the title as early as his sixth season at stud. His own sire, the peerless Danehill, won his first sires’ premiership in 1995, with two crops racing.
Redoute’s Choice is the only stallion to approach that exceptional achievement, becoming champion sire of Australia in 2006 with three crops of racing age.
Redoute’s Choice’s continued occupation of the top few spots on the prizemoney table is notable, but it is always lifetime statistics that confirm the true worth of a stallion. He is among the world’s very best sires with three Group 1 winners from every 105 runners to date, and an outstanding 11% stakeswinners-to-runners figure.
New frontiers have opened up for Redoute’s Choice in the past two years, as his first sire sons have begun to make their mark at stud, and his northern time-conceived runners have earned their first European black type.
Stratum and Snitzel led the Australian First Season Sires’ list last season, and fill the top two spots again on the 2010/11 Second Season Sires’ table – the first pair to do this since Redoute’s Choice and Commands in 2004/05.
Not A Single Doubt ‘s success in 2010/11 was uncorked by Doubtful Jack and Squamosa in the spring and kept flowing as they were joined by flying 2YO filly Karuta Queen, WA juvenile Single Spice, Castlethorpe in South Africa, Always Certain in Singapore and a host of city winners.
In a challenging marketplace, Not A Single Doubt’s yearlings were greeted with enthusiasm and an average price of six times service fee. In all, eight sons of Redoute’s Choice have already left stakeswinners.
Last year’s winning debut and subsequent Royal Ascot Group 2 placing by Elzaam heralded the start of a new phase in Redoute’s Choice’s career as his first crop conceived in Australia to northern time began to race. Elzaam has progressed in 2011 to become Redoute’s Choice’s first European stakeswinner, and run a brave fourth in the G1 Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
He has been joined by Tazahum , who won the LR Sandown Heron Stakes in May, two more 3YOs Maraheb & Nauru , and a pair of promising 2YO fillies, Rakasa, a winner on debut at Goodwood last Wednesday, and Night Garden , successful at Clairefontaine earlier this week.
The ownership of these six horses is evenly split between Sheikh Hamdan with the colts (Elzaam, Tazahum and Maraheb), and Sheikh Mohammed with the fillies (Night Garden, Rakasa and Nauru).
Back in Australia, last Saturday’s racing at Rosehill produced John Camilleri’s budding spring hopeful Florentina and the Arch Of Gold syndicate’s strapping four year-old Altius.