Australian Studbook Red Flags – Not the Stallion We Thought

Tara Madgwick - Thursday September 7

The Street Cry (IRE) sireline has become one of the most influential in Australia in terms of producing elite performers with his sons producing six individual Group I winners last season and one of those sons that sired two of those G1 winners is the subject of this story.

A dual Group I winning two year-old from the family of champion sires Invincible Spirit and Kodiac, Pride of Dubai ticked every box as a sire prospect on paper and retired to Coolmore in the same year as Golden Slipper winner Vancouver.

Pride of Dubai, click for more info and a Hypo mating.

While Vancouver has since relocated to Victoria, Pride of Dubai remains on the Coolmore roster and after enjoying his best ever season in 2022/ 2023 when siring eight stakes-winners in Australasia he is priced to please this spring at $27,500.

Pride of Dubai is one of those stallions that a lot of people – trainers and breeders- got wrong and they are now looking at him in a new light as to what he can offer.

Pride of Dubai was expected to get fast precocious two year-olds and to an extent he did, finishing as the Champion First Season Sire in the 2019/2020 season with 11 winners headed by his lone stakes-winner Bella Nipotina. He did enough to maintain interest, but not enough to smash it out of the park.

Bella Nipotina is going strong at age six and has won $4million in prizemoney - image Steve Hart

By the end of the next season, Pride of Dubai was treading water, siring plenty of winners, but Bella Nipotina remained his best performer with no other obvious stars on the rise and his popularity took a sharp dive.

Advertisement

As time passed a funny thing happened in Europe where his progeny started to make their mark over a mile and further with a horse called Dubai Honour showing enough potential in the Willam Haggas stable to earn a trip to Australia, while Bella Nipotina went from strength to strength. Dubai Honour thumped our best WFA horses including Anamoe to win both the Group I ATC Ranvet Stakes and Queen Elzabeth Stakes at 2000m, while Bella Nipotina won the Group I MVRC Manikato Stakes and placed in a string of G1 sprints.

Dubai Honour (IRE) wins the G1 QEII Stakes in a canter - image Steve Hart

Pride of Dubai is a good stallion, he’s just not the stallion most breeders thought he was initially. He might not get you a Golden Slipper winner, but he’s going to put you in the picture for an Everest or a Cox Plate!

He has strong crops of two and three year-olds to run this season and they hold the potential to keep his name in lights for a long time to come.

Pride of Dubai - Southern Hemisphere Seasons at Stud

Advertisment
More Reading...
Commemorative Retired to Stud
Watching the progress of Godolphin horses as they start stepping our for their new trainers has been interesting to say the least and will get more so this weekend when we see Tom Kitten go around in the Group I MRC Memsie Stakes at Caulfield, but one horse we won’t be seeing again is Commemorative.
Trial Winner for Captivant
Captivant’s early promise was on full display at today’s Waipa trials when Capital Express stormed to victory in Heat 4. The Paul Pertab-trained 2YO colt impressed early, showcasing the speed and class expected of his G1 Champagne Stakes-winning sire in a performance that marked him as one to watch.
First Southern Hemisphere foals for Paddington
A four-time Group I winner by champion French sire Siyouni, European superstar, PADDINGTON, has had his first Southern Hemisphere foals arrive on the ground at Windsor Park.
Finding the Perfect Match for Your Mare
Now that the first foals of the season have hit the ground at farms across the country, breeders are finalising stallion bookings and searching for the perfect match for their mares.
Spring Plans for El Vencedor
New Zealand’s top-rated performer El Vencedor will contest all three legs of the spring Triple Crown series.
Well Bred Zousain Debut Winner
A full sister to Zousain’s Group III winning filly Drifting, Cheeky Contiki made a winning debut at Pakenham on Monday for the Lindsay Park Racing team.
No Everest for Sunshine in Paris - Retired to Stud
Disappointing news from Annabel and Rob Archibald on Tuesday with an announcement that the stable’s star sprinter Sunshine in Paris has sustained an injury in trackwork and will be  retired.
Narrow Miss for Hellbent Gelding in G2 Foxbridge
Lhasa proved he is more than a synthetic track specialist when he nearly caused an upset when finishing runner-up in Saturday’s Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa.
Al Riffa Aiming Towards Melbourne Cup for Australian Bloodstock
The exceptional qualities of Coolmore shuttler Wootton Bassett (GB) are such that he can get fast juveniles and also high class older horses over a distance and we are set to see a taste of it this spring as media reports suggest Australian Bloodstock have purchased his top class 5YO stallion Al Riffa.
Spring Trial Watch – Hawkesbury
There was an interesting set of trials at Hawkesbury on Monday that featured heat winners including Golden Slipper winner Marhoona, Randwick Guineas winner Linebacker as well as the Waterhouse Bott stable Cups contenders Sir Delius (GB) and Vauban (FR), plus we may have seen an Everest horse.