Sad end for Old Red

It will be a tough week for everyone at Vinery Australia following the death of Vinery’s “old man” stallion, Red Ransom on the weekend.

Red Ransom, aged 22, was put down after breaking his leg in the process of recovering from intestinal surgery.

Red Ransom’s death comes as his impact on Australian racing and breeding, despite his age, was hitting a peak – in 2009, he has sired four outstanding Group 1 winners: star mare Typhoon Tracy (Coolmore Classic and Myer Classic), All American (Emirates Stakes), Duporth (BTC Cup) and Onemorenomore (Champagne Stakes). All American could add a postscript for Red Ransom in the G1 Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot in Perth on Saturday.

And his crack Group 1 winning son Charge Forward (Arrowfield Stud), after winning the Champion First Season Sire (prizemoney) title for 2008/09, sired his first Group 1 winner when his 3YO daughter Headway won the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington.

It’s true that it after an initial surge in interest in Red Ransom when he arrived to stand at Vinery (near Scone in the Hunter Valley), it took a while for Australian breeders to warm to him – he’s not the most handsome of stallions as he was short on leg and had the tough head of a prize fighter. His early “down under” foals were hard to sell at the yearling sales, as they lacked the good looks and athleticism that appealed to buyers.

I remember inspecting all the Red Ransoms at the 2002 and 2003 Easter Yearling Sales with a buyer looking for a filly, and we both made the comment that it was difficult to assess them, especially as they were heavy-bodied horses and were not flowing, athletic walkers.

Yet that first crop that debuted in the 2002-03 season proved that Red Ransom was an outstanding, tough and versatile sire, perfectly suited to Australian conditions. He had two runners (Face Value and Halibery) in the 2003 Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m, Rosehill) and later in the year provided two (Face Value and Noble Red) of the colts and geldings that lined up in the 2004 Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m, Flemington).

Twelve months later, he also had two runners in the Slipper, including the brilliant Charge Forward, who finished runner-up behind the champion Triple Crown winner Dance Hero.

Vinery and other commercial breeders looking for saleable yearlings, soon worked out that the best mares to put to Red Ransom were the lighter-framed, attractive mares. The quality of his yearlings improved dramatically in recent years and they were much more warmly received across the board, especially the well-bred fillies for their outcross value – Red Ransom is free of Northern Dancer blood.

Red Ransom has sired 13 Group 1 winners – six of those in the southern hemisphere. His headline act in Europe was the champion multiple Group 1 winner Electrocutionist, winner of the 2006 Dubai World Cup and Juddemonte International.

According to a Racing Post story, Red Ransom has 15 sons at stud worldwide, and that figure will grow by three when his recent Australian Group 1 winning sons All American, Duporth and Onemorenomore enter stud at the end of the 2009-10 season. All American will stand at Arrowfield alongside Charge Forward, the handsome Duporth is almost certain to replace his sire at Vinery, while Onemorenomore can be expected to stand at Patinack Farm.

The old man might be gone, but his legacy will live on strongly, especially as an outcross option for the wealth of Danehill/Danzig and Northern Dancer blood in Australia through his high-class sons, which includes Lindsay Park’s young sire Face Value, whose oldest progeny are only three.

The breeding lines:

Red Ransom (b h 1987, Roberto (USA)-Arabia (USA), by Damascus (USA))

Charge Forward (b h 2001, Red Ransom (USA)-Sydney’s Dream, by Bletchingly)

All America (b h 2005, Red Ransom (USA)-Milva (USA), by Strawberry Road)

Typhoon Tracey (b or br m 2005, Red Ransom (USA)-Tracey’s Element, by Last Tycoon (IRE))

Duporth (b or br h 2005, Red Ransom (USA)-Staging, by Success Express (USA))

Headway (b f 2006, Charge Forward-Chatrelaine, by Flying Spur)

Face Value (b h 2000, Red Ransom (USA)-Freckled Face, by Polish Patriot (USA))

Electrocutionist (b h 2001, Red Ransom (USA)-Elbaaha (GB), by Arazi (USA))