Which sires are more likely to succeed than others? It's a question broodmare owners ask themselves at this time of year as they seek to shorten the odds in their quest to find a first season sire that might one day be a champion sire.
Arrowfield Stud is home to a great many outstanding broodmares, but few have produced four individual stakes-winners.
Halfway down the big Flemington straight in Saturday's $150,000 VRC C.S. Hayes S. 1400m G3 a brave placing seemed the most likely outcome for Dr Edmund & Belinda Bateman's 3YO Snitzel colt Wandjina.
2010 Australian Inglis Easter Yearling sale topper Godspeed makes his race debut at Rosehill this Saturday where the $1.875million colt will likely take on a host of other well bred and highly priced debutants from leading stables.
Top class Australian bred sprinter Inspiration returned to peak form to lead home an Aussie bred and John Moore trained quinella in the Sha Tin Premier Bowl HK Gr 3 in Hong Kong on Sunday.
Flying Spur gelding Inspiration scored a surprise win in the Group One HK International Sprint back in December and recaptured that form when taking out the Centenary Sprint Cup HK Gr 1 at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Performers bred in Australia have achieved what must challenge as a world record in winning every one of the annual renewals of the Hong Kong International Sprint, the tenth edition of which was staged on Sunday and resulted in a trifecta for Australian sired contestants.
The Hong Kong Sprint has been the domain of Australian-bred horses since its inception in 1999 and Inglis Easter graduate Inspiration made it a perfect 10 when scoring an upset win in the Group 1 1200m event at Sha Tin today.
Following several months of turmoil and uncertainty, the equine influenza (horse flu) outbreak in Australia is under control and on track for early eradication, and will therefore have no impact on the conduct or quality of Australian yearling sales in March and April this year.