Darley's Medaglia D'Oro (USA) tops the list and is a shuttle stallion that on
paper you would have to say looked iffy as a chance to succeed here, but in
reality has proven very successful giving us a Golden Slipper winner in
Vancouver and a Golden Rose winner in Astern as well as numerous other
stakes-winners.When he first came here in 2010, Medaglia D'Oro was already a proven sire in the US, so when I say 'iffy', I'm looking at his sire El Prado, a son of Sadler's Wells that had never had a son stand here until Medaglia D'Oro and his race record which reveals his best wins were as an older horse over nine and ten furlongs.
In a land where 'juvenile speed' is what every studmaster talks about with monotonous regularity and seems to think is the only way to succeed, Medaglia D'Oro didn't have it and yet has been a success both in the sale ring and on the track.
At age 20, Medaglia D'Oro runs at 9.8% stakes-winners to runners, but is no longer shuttling. His foals born last year in Australia will be his final crop here which was probably in the minds of buyers at Magic Millions knowing the opportunity to purchase his Australian stock is now finite.
His four yearlings sold included two that made $1million, a colt from Group I winner Peggy Jean that went to Asian Bloodstock Services and a filly from Group I winner Miracles of Life that was bought by Godolphin.
Next on the list is Arrowfield Stud's legend Redoute's Choice, who is probably the greatest Australian stallion in history and since his fee was set back to $110,000 in 2014 has been amazingly good value for his supporters. You can't beat quality and with 11.8% stakes-winners to runners, Redoute's Choice is in a class of his own. For the record his champion son Snitzel has 9.4%.
He currently has the best three year-old in the country in The Autumn Sun, a fact which no doubt contributed to his success here and put a premium value on his colts. He had three sell for more than $1million with the highest price of $1.6 million paid for the three-quarter brother to dual Group I winner Stratum Star from Purely Spectacular.
Yarraman Park's I Am Invincible is the star on the rise and unlike Medaglia D'Oro and Redoute's Choice, who have always operated in the silk department, he has come from the wrong side of the tracks as they say, standing at a fee of $11,000 for his first four seasons.
He gets consistently good types that can run and with better pedigreed mares, now has the catalogue pages to back up the individuals delivering sale ring success at the top level. He topped this sale for the second year in a row and four yearlings sell for $1million or more including the sale -topping colt from Oakleigh Girl that made $1.7 million.
I Am Invincible is currently running at 8.4% stakes-winners to runners, but given the bulk of his runners were conceived from fees of $27,500 or less you have to think his crops going forward will be significantly better than those of the past so expect his stats to look even better in a few years time.
It should be noted that Coolmore's champion sire Fastnet Rock is not on the table as his fee has been listed as price on application since 2014.
