10 October 2024
DGR strikes the right leg with sire selection
leg with sire selection
10 March 2023
With a smorgasbord of stallion options on offer at yearlings sales throughout Australasia, getting on the right leg with sire selection can be a tricky task.
DGR’s Duncan Ramage remains very much on-point with his 2023 purchases. With Inglis Easter yet to come, Duncan has secured 12 yearlings and of those purchases, stallions with horses of racing age include So You Think, Justify, All Too Hard, Extreme Choice, Almanzor and The Autumn Sun.
The results have come hard and fast for these stallions since the fall of hammer on recent DGR purchases.
So You Think has held his status as one of Australia’s most successful sires for several consecutive seasons. The acquisition of his progeny is a no-brainer for Duncan, and it certainly didn’t take long for his decision to purchase a pair of So You Think yearlings to become validated.
February 25 was a red letter day for former DGR yearling purchase So You Think, who currently sits in the third spot on the Australian General Sires Premiership ahead of Zoustar, Snitzel and Written Tycoon.
He added his 48th and 49th individual stakes winners to his growing tally following Think About It’s impressive G3 Liverpool City Cup win at Randwick. It was his fourth win on the trot and he looks to have his hoof on the till for a Group 1 win.
Down in Victoria, his son Right You Are was too good in the Listed Victoria Gold Cup at Sandown, and across the ditch in New Zealand, promising two-year-old Burn to Shine placed third in the G3 Matamata Slipper Stakes.
Amongst Duncan’s 2023 purchases, you will find two yearlings by hot young international sire Justify. Following in the footsteps of his multiple Group-winning northern hemisphere juveniles, his unbeaten daughter Learning To Fly remains in hot contention to win the world’s richest race for two-year-olds, the G1 Golden Slipper.
With progeny stake earnings more than double his closest rival, Justify looks poised to take out Australia’s First Season Sire premiership.
Since purchasing the Think Out Loud filly at Inglis Classic, All Too Hard has been represented by not one but two Group winners.
Alligator Blood’s brilliant G1 Futurity Stakes victory saw him win the hearts of racing fans far and wide and the cult hero has been backed into favouritism to win the $5 million All-Star Mile. In New Zealand, his ultra-fast daughter Babylon Berlin claimed the G3 King’s Plate and is looking set for a tilt in the G1 William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley later in the month.
Prominent second season sire Almanzor has moved up another gear since Duncan signed the docket for the Our Drahma Queen colt at NZB’s Karaka Yearling Sale. Already the sire of G1 VRC Derby winner Manzoice, Almanzor has sired four individual Group performers since Karaka, including $1 million G1 NZ Derby runner-up Andalus and G3 VRC CS Hayes second placegetter Holymanz.
Champion 3YO The Autumn Sun is a stallion with it all before him. He has already posted an impressive debut winner from his first crop and will be at the forefront of buyer’s lists in years to come.
Calling on his lifetime of bloodstock experience to make informed decisions, Duncan has carefully deliberated his first season sires selections, adding yearlings by Exceedance, D’Agento, Eminent and Strasbourg to DGR’s portfolio of exciting runners.
These stallions could just well be the next headline names amongst Australia’s sire ranks.
Ownership opportunities are available in a select number of these yearlings, click here to view.