The reigning Champion Australian Broodmare Sire and current leader of that
division is Coolmore's stalwart Encosta de Lago, who was pensioned from stud duties
in 2014.You won't see any yearlings by him at the sales any more, but you will see plenty from his daughters, so we've had a look to see which sires are working best with them.
Before we start, a little background.
When Encosta de Lago switched from Victoria to the Hunter Valley it was anticipated he would be the perfect match for the plethora of Danehill mares mated to him at the time, but initial results were not as good as hoped for given the quality of stock involved.
For a while there, the Encosta x Danehill cross was seen as, if not quite poison, something not far off.
As time marched on the results improved and the current figures for the cross are a respectable 72.3% winners to runners with 115 winners from 159 runners including 10 stakes-winners, but Aloha the lone Group I winner.
Pushing Danehill back a generation gives more encouraging results with Encosta de Lago siring a further seven stakes-winners from mares sired by sons of Danehill with those horses including Group I sprinters Chautauqua and Delago Deluxe.
Switch it back the other way, with sons and grand-sons of Danehill covering daughters of Encosta and it's become a winner!
Encosta de Lago is the sire of the dam of 57 stakes-winners including six Group I winners – Musir and Peeping, both sired by Redoute's Choice, Divine Prophet and Japonisme, both sired by Choisir, The Quarterback by Street Boss (USA) and Sofia Rosa by Makfi (GB).
24 of those 57 stakes-winners are sired by Danehill line sires.
Some of the Danehill line stallions that have worked best with Encosta mares are:
Choisir is the big winner with 70.8% winners to runners with five stakes-winners headed by Group I winners Divine Prophet and Japonisme.
Redoute's Choice has had 66.7% winners to runners with six stakes-winners headed by Group I winners Peeping and Musir.
Exceed and Excel has had 55.2% winners to runners with four stakes-winners headed by Group III winner Forget.
Other stallions that have had promising results with daughters of Encosta include:
Sebring has had 50% winners to runners with four stakes-winners, all of them Group winners headed by Group II winner Seaburge.
I Am Invincible has had 62.5% winners to runners with five winners from eight runners including the stakes-winner Divine Centuri.
There are 47 entries in Magic Millions from daughters of Encosta de Lago, click here to see them.
