Geisel Park Stud owner Eddie Rigg has purchased Group 1 stallion All American outright to stand permanently in Western Australia.
Rigg was
part of the syndicate that stood All American at Geisel Park in 2016 when he
was the most popular stallion in WA. After spending last season in
Victoria, local breeders were keen to book in again on the strength of his
first Westspeed-bred foals.
"The big horse is home for good!" Rigg said.
"We have some cracking weanlings on the farm at Myalup and have consistently received favourable comments from satisfied clients.
"They want All American back and we are delighted to be able to deliver him."
The comments of respected De Grey Park owner Dick Vincent are being echoed around the State. "The All Americans are some of the best foals I have ever seen!"
All American is a 12yo son of champion sire Red Ransom and news of his return is just what's required in WA. A proven sire of his stature will alleviate the recent deaths of Blackfriars and Trade Fair.
He also sired more 2yo winners than any other WA stallion last season.
All American raced in Lindsay Park and Arrowfield Stud's colours and won his first stakes race as a Christmas 2yo at Moonee Valley. He was runner-up in the G1 Blue Diamond and then won the G3 Skyline Stakes before an unlucky fifth in Sebring's G1 Golden Slipper.
He stayed in training to defeat So You Think in the G1 Emirates Stakes (1600m) running the best time ever clocked by a stallion at Flemington. "He was one of our fastest and precocious juveniles," trainer David Hayes recalled. "He went on to beat the world champion as a 4yo and in all that time my vet never saw him."
All American sired Champion Australian Filly Yankee Rose in his third crop at Arrowfield, but fortunately for Rigg and his partners, she didn't win her first Group 1 until he was already on the way to WA for that first book at Geisel Park.
The second coming coincides with the runaway victory of his rising star Dark Dream in the G3 Rough Habit Plate at Doomben. It's a recognised stepping-stone for the G1 Queensland Derby and bookmakers reacted by making him a $3.50 favourite for the classic on June 9.
"How are they going to beat him in the Derby off that?" winning jockey Tim Clark asked after returning to scale on Saturday. "I let him rip at the 600m and he put them away within a couple of strides. He's a true strayer and has pulled up like he hasn't gone around."
All American is also firing with his speedy 3yo Sam's Image who won the VOBIS Gold Dash (1100m) at Caulfield last month. "He's always shown plenty of ability," trainer Peter Morgan said after Sam's Image defeated class sprinter Nature Strip for the second time this season.
Being one of very few Group 1 winning and Group 1 producing sires completely free of Danehill / Danzig blood, All American will again strike the right chord with WA breeders. Importantly, he's already had significant success as an outcross for that sireline with stakes performers like Bachman, Tender, American Genius, Rampage and Dark Dream.
All American has a 75% winning strike-rate in North America following a one-off season shuttling to Kentucky. And he's also been popular in Hong Kong with multiple winners Green Card, Invisible, Lucky Dollar and Tianhuang.
In five crops, All American has sired 137 winners of 310 races for prizemoney over $12 million.
He will stand for an $7,700 (inc gst) service fee in 2018 alongside French Group 1 winning 2yo Vert De Grece (Verglas) who is priced at $5,500 (inc gst) for his second season at Geisel Park.
For more information, please contact Conor Dunlop (0447 434 735), John Chalmers (0418 948 604) or Eddie Rigg (0418 942 304).
