The
last Group I race of the Australian season, the Group I Tatts Tiara delivered victory
for top class mare Prompt Response and got us thinking about her sire Beneteau
and just what could have been had he not died after producing just two crops of
foals at Arrowfield Stud.
Arrowfield have always had the policy of supporting good looking talented sons
of their champion sires and Beneteau fit that profile when he retired to stud
in 2011.
By champion sire Redoute's Choice, Beneteau was bred by Arrowfield and partners
and made $1million when offered at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale and
bought by Blue Sky Bloodstock.
He started just six times as a two year-old winning his first two starts before
finishing third in the Group I MRC Blue Diamond Stakes and then returned to
Sydney to be fifth in the Golden Slipper and sixth in the Champagne Stakes.
He was a good horse, but by no means a great one, so was priced at $11,000 and
given the chance to make his own luck at stud.
His two crops of 131 foals, now four and five year-olds have produced 105
runners with 73 winners, 10 of which are stakes-winners headed by his Group I
winners Prompt Response (image Steve Hart) and Lasqueti Spirit plus a further four Group winners.
That's 9.5% stakes-winners to runners which marks him as a seriously good sire.
The results achieved by a horse like Beneteau go a long way to explaining why
horses like Scissor Kick, Panzer Division and this year Pariah are given their
chance at Arrowfield.
The lack of a Group I win on the resume does hold back the service fee charged
for a sire, but in no way holds back their chance of success, just look at
horses like I Am Invincible and Written Tycoon, two of the most commercial
sires in the country.
When evaluating the merits of first season sires it's always good to look past
the obvious Group I victories and take into consideration type and pedigree,
look hard at what is standing in front of you rather than a race record which
can sometimes be misleading.