Danehill sires over Last Tycoon mares is a cross that has produced a powerhouse of excellence. It is a nick that is only mid career in its production of performers, but one that has already resulted in over forty winners.
The most successful results of the Danehill sire – Last Tycoon mare nick has been from using Danehill’s greatest sire son, Redoute’s Choice. So far Redoute’s Choice has supplied eleven winners from Last Tycoon mares, six successful in stakes races and two others stakes placed.
Making his home at Arrowfield, Hunter Valley, Redoute’s Choice is the world’s leading Danehill sire of sires with his huge roll call of sire sons including Stratum, Not a Single Doubt, Snitzel, Bradbury’s Luck, God’s Own and Nadeem.
It is a collection boosted this year by the retirement to the Kruger’s historic Lyndhurst stud at Warwick in Queensland of Drumbeats, a Redoute’s Choice – Last Tycoon production who challenges as the strongest colt miler by Redoute’s Choice in Australian racing.
Standing a touch over 16.1 hands, this lengthy bay or brown stallion cost his owner Sheikh Mohammed’s highly skilled buying team $350,000 as a yearling in Sydney. It is an investment that he repaid through his racing career, one in which he ran18 times in just under two and a half years, by being so highly thought of he contested five Group1 events.
He did not win any of them, but in one, the 2010 $1.5million Doncaster, he thundered home to be a1.8 length fourth. It was a race in which he was out in the boondocks at barrier 20, well back at the turn, half a neck off third and ahead of some very good gallopers, including Danleigh,Triple Honour,Theseo, Palace De Cristal, Black Piranha,TyphoonTracy, Centennial Park and Mentality.
The Doncaster was taken out by Rangirandoo, one of the national stars of this time. In the previous spring, Drumbeats, surprisingly the leader for much of the 1500m journey, rolled Rangirandoo in winning the $150,000 Group 2 Shannon Stakes at Rosehill Gardens after a two horse war.They were nearly three lengths ahead of third placed Strat’s Flyer.
The win of Drumbeats in the Shannon came two weeks after a second at Randwick, which was at his first appearance in nearly a year, his sixth career outing and sixth first three place cheque. Successive stakes efforts earlier had been a win by a length and 2.3 lengths in the $150,000 Listed Hilton Stakes (1400m) at Flemington and seconds in the Group 2 Roman Consul Stakes (1200m) at Randwick and Gothic Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
At only his seventh start, Drumbeats took on the big boys at Group1 level over 1600m, contesting the historic Epsom at Randwick and picking up fifth money after being near the lead for most of trip on a heavy track.
He was headed for a second crack at the Epsom last spring, ruling as second favourite in the pre-post market, but was sidetracked to a Melbourne campaign instead. He had earned his Epsom respect with his two impressive lead ups, his only appearances since his fine performance in the Doncaster.
The two efforts saw him a head third behind Rothesay when they chased the awesome front running mare More Joyous home in the Group 2 Sebring Sprint (the Theo Marks) at Rosehill Gardens and then a remarkable 2.5 lengths winner as favourite in the Group 3 Bill Ritchie Handicap (1400m) at Randwick.
In the Bill Ritchie, he missed the start, raced three wide and went on to score with authority. Jockey Corey Brown said after the Bill Ritchie win, “he had a really good turn of foot there and the best part was from the 50 (metres) through the line.”
Described by his trainer Peter Snowden as ‘having a great attitude’ and ‘he’s a very talented horse,’ Drumbeats wound up his racing career with three more starts, all in Melbourne last spring. In one of them, the $200,000 Group 2 Patinack Farm Crystal Mile (1600m) on the Cox Plate program at Moonee Valley, he finished third after being posted wide and eleventh at the 400m.
That effort was followed by a 1.6 lengths fifth at his final outing in the 16-runner million dollar Group1 Emirates Stakes (1600m) at Flemington. He was eased a long way back, racing two or three wide, to the home turn. Again, he produced a fine burst of finishing speed.
The immediate pedigree of Drumbeats is a collection of world superstars. Besides the Redoute’s Choice – Last Tycoon cross, it has at the fourth generation Northern Dancer – twice, Bletchingly, Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Sir Ivor and two times Prix de l’ Arc de Triomphe winner Alleged. It also doubles up Best in Show, the matriarch of the wonderful family that produced Redoute’s Choice.
Drumbeats is from Delicate Choice, a half-sister to Delta Form, an Australian bred son of Marscay who was a stakes winner in South Africa and then the United States. In the USA he was successful to Group 2 level and third in two Group1s, the Belmont Turf Classic and Hollywood Turf Cup.
Bred and raced by the Newhaven Park, Arborea, the second dam of Drumbeats, was a superior performer who won eight races headed by the VRC Victoria Oaks, Wakeful Stakes, MRC Thousand Guineas and STC Phar Lap Stakes. She was second in the AJC Light Fingers Stakes and STC Queen of the Turf and gave the males a fright when fourth in the AJC Australian Derby.
Arborea is by Imperial Prince, a Sir Ivor English and Irish Derby placegetter, and is one of nine winners produced here by Open Question, an American bred daughter of Alleged.
The family has been a consistent source of good horses for many generations. It is a long way off, but the remote ancestress Splendour was the eighth dam of Natalma, producer of Northern Dancer and third dam of Danehill.
Performance and breeding aside, Drumbeats has a better chance than most newcomers to become a successful sire at the Lyndhurst stud. In the half century tenure of the Kruger family, their sires have included five, Smokey Eyes, Hail to Success, Grand Chaudiere, Head Over Heels and Celestial Dancer, who have been champion Queensland sires and national leaders numerically.
Currently in the stallion yards are another prolific source of winners in Sequalo and the up and coming young sire in the Danehill product Hidden Dragon. Hidden Dragon was Queensland’s leading juvenile sire for 2009-10 with his first crop and tenth by money in the general statistics for the age group.
Down through the years, the Krugers have made a practice of providing sires on service fees within reach of most mare owners. It has been continued with Drumbeats being set on $7,700 including GST. Also shares are on offer and like bookings for the 2011 season can be accessed by contacting Jeff Kruger (0429 076 610) or Griff Kruger (0427 010 096). The Lyndhurst website is www.lyndhurststud.com.
