It's a pertinent question given the prevalence in our industry of bay dominant sires such as Danehill (USA) and his champion sons Redoute's Choice and Fastnet Rock.
They have led to a 'baying' of the commercial thoroughbred population and while chestnut sires like Choisir and Sebring keep the golden genes alive, the grey contingent is looking for a new flagbearer.
Racing in North America has seen a greying recent times with the emergence of
current champion sire Tapit and influential El Prado (sire of Medaglia D'Oro)
doing much to advance the profile of grey thoroughbreds.El Prado is the stallion responsible for exciting grey filly Foxplay, who will run favourite in the Group I MRC Thousand Guineas this Saturday. By Fastnet Rock's classy young sire Foxwedge, Foxplay is from Butters (USA), an imported grey daughter of El Prado.
In Australasia, commercial grey sires have historically made their mark with stallions such as Sovereign Edition (IRE), One Pound Sterling (GB), Godswalk (USA), Kenmare (Fr) and even Dash for Cash all proving successful, while Adraan (GB) would undoubtedly have been the best of them all if not for his premature death after leaving just one crop of foals.
A grey stallion is a sight to behold and a real rarity in the Hunter Valley, so
at Newgate Farm, explosive American sprinter The Factor (USA) has become a real
crowd pleaser at the annual stallion parades.A dual Group I winning son of outstanding Danzig stallion War Front, The Factor has proven a popular gamble with broodmare owners covering 213 mares in his first two seasons in Australia.
A small selection of his first locally bred weanlings sold this year for up to $220,000 and his first yearlings are poised to impress at the 2017 yearling sales.
In North America, where The Factor has two year-olds, he has hit the ground running with seven winners on the board to date including impressive winners headed by his Group I winning daughter Noted and Quoted.
Cornerstone Stud in South Australia have done their part for grey thoroughbreds,
shuttling high class Group I sire Dalakhani (IRE) (pictured below) for three seasons until his
retirement from stud duty earlier this year and now the powerhouse speed sire
Zebedee (IRE).
A fast precocious sprinter by I Am Invincible's sire Invincible Spirit, Zebedee (pictured below) has 50% winners to runners and has already left Group II winners Magical Memory and Ivawood with his oldest European progeny just four year-olds.
The first foals for Zebedee are arriving this spring, but Australian racing fans have no time to wait for the Dalakhani progeny who will be racing this season as two year-olds.
Dalakhani has already made a splash here through his brilliant imported grey
son Reliable Man (GB), who won the 2013 Group I ATC Queen Elizabeth Stakes in
scintillating fashion for the Chris Waller stable.Retired to Gerry Harvey's Westbury Stud in New Zealand, Reliable Man has been given good opportunity to succeed and had 49 yearlings sell this year at an average $98,571 with many of his more expensive offspring bought to race here in Australia.
The future of grey thoroughbreds will receive a considerable boost if one or all of the above sires can flourish as to breed a grey horse you need at least one grey parent.
With a dwindling number of grey mares it is imperative for a new generation of grey stallions to step up and make their mark, so if you love a grey let's cheer them on!
