Dane Shadow – making his own way

The measure of any stallion must be the ability to upgrade his mares to produce progeny superior to that she – and her wider pedigree going back many generations – has been able to leave.

We have seen stallions make their own way to the top off the back of books of relatively ordinary mares. The great Danzig, who retired unheralded after only three non-Stakes-race wins, is one prime example of a horse who dominated from the start of his stud career despite initially covering small, insignificant books of mares.

There is another emerging in Australia right now, a Danzig grandson who is not only improving the physical quality of the progeny of his mares, but also significantly upgrading their performance on the racetrack.

The global standard in thoroughbred ratings, Timeform, was the first to highlight Dane Shadow’s ability to upgrade his mares when it rated Dane Shadow top of the list of Australian stallions for leaving quality horses from mares of dubious background. His progeny’s median rating figure of 87 came off a book of mares that average a median figure of only 70 from their matings to other stallions – a massive 17-point upgrade (season 2009-10 figures).

Dane Shadow recently has sired two very promising two-year-old feature-race contenders – Five O’Clock and Holdontoyahorses – that again highlights the innate ability of the Kitchwin Hill-based stallion to “improve” a pedigree.

Five O’Clock (b g 2008, Dane Shadow-Curtail, by Catrail (USA)), a winner of two and placed twice from four starts for leading trainer Alan Bailey, stepped out as a main chance to win the $2 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m) on the Gold Coast on Saturday; he did well to finish seventh, only 4.8 lengths from the brilliant winner Karuta Queen. Five O’Clock is poised to become his family’s first horse of top-class standard for three generations, despite his dam and granddam having many opportunities after producing foals by leading stallions in the past.

Bailey has stated that Five O’Clock was in the Magic Millions on raw ability and it will be over time that we see the best of this Dane Shadow gelding.

Last Saturday week at Caulfield, the filly Holdontoyahorses (b f 2008, Dane Shadow-Dorothy Dinosaur, by Canny Lad) emerged as a potential star for Mick Price. Her last-to-first win, just as she had raced at her debut at Seymour, sees the filly firmly set on a Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes campaign – and jockey Damien Oliver says she’s up to the class.

But it is when you review her pedigree that you get a feel for the impact of Dane Shadow on this equation. In Holdontoyahorses’ case you need to research back FOUR generations to her Group 3 winning fourth dam, Alkyana, before you find a racehorse of note.

This augurs well for Dane Shadow, a handsome son of champion sire Danehill from the champion racemare Slight Chance (by Centaine). No wonder everyone at Kitchwin Hills has a spring in his/her step. Manager Mick Malone said the farm has a lot to look forward to. “You can only wonder what the results will be when those horses from the large number of better quality mares he has served in the past two seasons make it to the racetrack in the next few years,” he said.

“He has covered a wonderful book of mares compared to his first four seasons when the quality and the numbers were down. There are little more than 100 foals from his first two crops, but once his horses have hit the track running, including the Group 1 winner Shellscrape, we have seen both the support and the quality of mares improve dramatically.

“It’s an exciting time for Kitchwin Hills, and for those breeders who have supported the horse. We should really start to see the benefits when his 2012 yearlings, from his first big and improved book of mares, go under the hammer. It just might propel Dane Shadow into the top echelon of Australia’s stallions.”

Dane Shadow’s 2010 two-year-olds come from his biggest crop so far (81 foals) and the results of the extra numbers early in the season are already proving fruitful, However, his 2011 yearlings come from a crop of only 46 registered foals, but they will sell significantly higher than the $7700 service he commanded in 2008. In 2009, he covered 166 mares at a fee of $16,500 and last spring saw 115 mares to his court at the same fee.

It is often said that the future is for those who plan for it. In the case of Dane Shadow, the future is there for his making.

Photo: Dane Shadow at Kitchwin Hills.

The Slattery Media Group provides media consultancy to Kitchwin Hills.