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4.
Danehill One Behind Heroic
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01/08/2002 |
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Danehill easily captured the title of champion Australian sire for 2001-02 on earnings, the sixth time in eight years he has headed the benchmark category.
Danehill finished the season with 109 individual winners of 187 races, including 32 black type events, and prizemoney of $7.8 million.
He finished more than $2 million ahead of arch NZ-based rival Zabeel, who has twice beaten Danehill for the title.
They were followed by two sires who have been missing from the Australasian stud ranks in recent seasons in Rhythm and Royal Academy.
The Coolmore Stud dominator may well reign as leading sire for at several more seasons, even if the late decision to keep him in Ireland this year marks the end of his shuttle career.
Danehill’s victory marks the 25th time in the last 50 years that a Hunter Valley-based stallion has been Australian champion and beat the number of titles won by the legendary Star Kingdom by one.
The only other sire to head the list six times in that period has been New Zealand’s late champion Sir Tristram. Danehill and Sir Tristram are one behind the record holder Heroic, who won seven straight titles in the 1930s.
Since he had his first Australian runners in 1993-94,Danehill has been represented by more than 360 winners of some 1130 races for earnings of $60million.
He has also been champion sire by winners twice and six times champion Australian juvenile sire.
The leading Australian-bred sires in 2001-02 were Strategic (10th), Canny Lad (11th), Rubiton (12th) and Encosta De Lago (13th).
Clang, sire of Golden Slipper Stakes winner Calaway Gal, was the leading sire of two-year-olds in another example of why the juvenile list is never a true reflection of overall season success due to the huge prizemoney to be won in the Rosehill classic.
A notable feature of the 2001-02 sires’ table is that more than 70 stallions had their progeny earn more than $1 million during the season.
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