Skilled Choice for Riverbank Farm

Media Release - Wednesday October 3

Riverbank Farm's Russell Osborne and Dr Caroline Duddy have great pleasure in providing just the right stallions for the owner/breeder market, one that has traditionally been such a great force in Victorian breeding.

SkilledOne of the stallions on their roster that ticks the owner/breeder boxes is the handsome Skilled, a Group One winner by one of the country's reliable stallions out of a high class race and broodmare.

The dark brown, near black and very imposing Skilled is one of 77 stakes winners sired by the late Commands who maintained an impressive winning strike rate throughout his career with 71.2% of his runners being winners.

Eleven of Commands sons and daughters - Skilled, Appearance, Melody Belle, Purple, Epaulette, Undue, Paratroopers, Commanding Jewel, Holler, Russettting and Erewhon - have been successful at the elite level and he boasts progeny earnings in excess of $120 million.

A member of the ever flourshing Eight Carat family being a son of the wonderful broodmare Cotehele House, the Gr.3 Missile Stakes winning Commands is a full brother to the five times Group One winner Danewin who is also known for his classy reliability with a 72.2% winners-to-runners strike rate and a 7.9% black type ratio.

And the future looks bright for this branch of the Eight Carat clan with Deep Field and Shooting To Win proving so popular with breeders.

Skilled's dam line is a strong as his sire line with his dam being the Gr.2 Sandown Guineas and Gr.3 Vanity Stakes winner Dextrous who is excelling at stud with six of her seven foals to race being winners including the dual Gr.2 winner Sidestep (whose first crop are faring very well at the early juvenile trials) and the Gr.2 Theo Marks Stakes winning Gr.1 Epsom Handicap runner up Ambidexter who is doing a grand job in South Australia with 12 winners from his debut crop.

Skilled's family is one that has been producing high quality racehorses for generations, his Gr.3 placed second dam Many Hands also the grandam of Gr.3 Gunsynd Classic winner Proverb whilst his metropolitan winning third dam Deliberation is a half-sister to one of the greats of the Australian turf in Emancipation.

That six times Group One winner is just one of the classy members of this family, one that has also produced the Golden Slipper hero Hartshill, the dual Group One winning speedster Virage de Fortune, the dual Group One winning stayer Railings and the two times South African Group One winner Rumya.

Advertisement

Group winners Royal Pardon, Magneto, Amovatio, Avenue, Slapstick, Pimms Time, Badawiya, Appreciation, Par Avion and Eleazar are also members of this prolific family.

And Skilled was a good representative of the family, proving one of the best two-year-olds of his year easily winning the Listed Baillieu Stakes en route to a close and gutsy Gr.1 Sires' Produce Stakes second splitting Yosei and Hinchinbrook.

It was that run that saw him highly regarded for the Gr.1 Champagne Stakes but a tricky wide barrier draw made the job tough for him. But his natural pace and talent overcame that and Skilled added his name to the race's honour roll alongside the likes of Ajax, Flight, Todman, Noholme, Vain, Baguette, Luskin Star, Red Anchor, Bounding Away, Triscay, Burst, Tierce, Dance Hero and Pierro.

Kicking off his stud career at Darley, Skilled relocated to Riverbank last spring, pleasing Russell Osborne with the way he immediately settled in.

"He is such a lovely looking horse with a great temperament and he is doing a great job for owner/breeders," he said.

Dual Gr.3 winner Pecans has led the way for Skilled and looks set for a successful spring having returned to the trials just recently. Consistent metropolitan class gallopers Miss Jane, Cayman Dayze, So Skilled, Exalted Craftsman and Epidexious are also doing the job whilst Reedemable, Altered, Skilled Assassin, Jochberg, Lady Talent and Come On Carl are recent winners.

Advertisment
More Reading...
Racing’s Night of Champions August 28
45 of the top horses in Australia will be recognised for outstanding performances during the 2024/2025 racing season at Racing’s Night of Champions.
Sires With Winners - Thursday August 7
Here is the full list of 36 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
More Group Success for Fiscal Fantasy
Skilled mare Fiscal Fantasy may be small, but she is mighty.
Extremely Good Week!
It’s been a memorable week for Star Thoroughbreds having sold their multiple Group winning mare Olentia for $2.6million and then the purple and white stars were back in the winner’s circle at Canterbury on Wednesday carried by 3YO Extreme Choice colt Estremo.
Melbourne Cup on Radar for Sons and Lovers
Joseph O’Brien knows what it takes to win a Melbourne Cup and that was mentioned as a possible goal for progressive young stayer Sons and Lovers, who won the Group III Ballyroan Stakes (1m4f) at Leopardstown overnight.
Breeding To Win – Crystal Ball – New Season 3YOs to Follow
Who are we highlighting this week? - Analysis of the G1 winning 3YO’s for last season has made us realise how many horses on this list took giant strides from two to three, so we are looking into the crystal ball to find some juveniles we believe could end this season as G1 performers if not G1 winners.
Genetic Magic Strikes Again
A few weeks ago we published a story – Genetic Magic at Work – highlighting the recent success of line breeding to influential mare Cotehele House (GB) as demonstrated by the now Group I winner Verry Elleegant and Group II winning two year-old Cosmic Force and we saw that magic work again for a new Group III winner in New Zealand on Friday bred in Victoria by Wingrove Park.
First Godolphin Winner for Maher
Champion trainer Ciaron Maher saddled his first winner for Godolphin at Kembla on Thursday and he did it with a blue-blood colt by Too Darn Hot (GB).
Zoustar Entering the Zenith
The dictionary tells us Zenith is an astronomical term —describing the highest point in an arc travelled by a star, planet or another celestial body- and in the case of this story it’s planet Zoustar!
Wootton Bassett Set to Blast Out of Winter
Many people may have anticipated Wootton Bassett (GB) would have been our Champion Australian First Season Sire last season and while that didn’t quite eventuate, he did finish the season with a wealth of horses holding spring potential and several were in action at the trials this morning.