The arrival of dual Champion European miler Ribchester at Darley's Kelvinside farm in NSW this season not only offers breeders the opportunity to send their mares to a hugely exciting young stallion, but also one that possesses a rare set of Stakes-winning qualities.
Ribchester brings to Australia assets that have been shown to be perfectly suited to the local environment: a son of successful shuttle stallion Iffraaj, record-breaking form at a mile, and free of Danehill/Danzig blood.
Ribchester twice claimed the title of Europe's Champion miler, winning four times at G1 level and running the fastest mile ever recorded in 300 years of racing at Ascot.
Ribchester is the best yet by Iffraaj, one of the world's top ten sires of G1 winners in 2017 and a stallion who has enjoyed huge success in the southern hemisphere, thanks largely to Classic winners Jon Snow and Gingernuts, plus three-time G1 winner Turn Me Loose.
His first stallion son, Wootton Bassett, sired European Horse of the Year Almanzor in his first crop.
Ribchester descends from an outstanding female family and is the highest-rated horse from the Fall Aspen family since the great Dubai Millennium.
Darley's Head of Sales in Australia, Alastair Pulford, describes Ribchester as, "one of the best shuttle stallions the organisation has ever stood."
"In some ways he's like Shamardal and Dubawi, both top European milers too."
The statistics are strong, too.
90 per cent of Australia's current leading sires are shuttle stallions or direct male-line descendants of shuttlers. The stats also reveal that almost 70 per cent of the best sires of Australian G1 winners had top-level form at a mile, and that horses inbred to Danehill are at a statistical disadvantage in major Australian races.
"His father Iffraaj is a top Mr Prospector-line sire who has already succeeded in this part of the world," Pulford said.
"Ribchester represents a great outcross for the many Danehill-line mares in this country – mares by Exceed And Excel, Snitzel, Not A Single Doubt and many others are really going to suit this magnificent individual."
And even better news is that he has an US-bred counterpart with an almost identical CV standing at Darley's Northwood Park in Victoria.
Frosted, 14-length winner of the prestigious G1 Met Mile, is the fastest over that trip in the US in recorded history. He is due to stand his second season in Australia in 2018 after a very strong first book – half his mares were Stakes performers or producers.
Ribchester will stand his first Australian season at A$24,750, including GST, with Frosted standing at A$33,000.
