Chatswood Stud’s Blue Diamond winner Reward for Effort enjoyed a memorable 12 months to finish as the most successful Victorian first-season sire by winners and earnings for 2014-15.

Fast and precocious as a racehorse, Reward for Effort is the first Group 1 winning son of champion sire Exceed and Excel to go to stud and he’s wasted no time in making a mark.

He sired 9 individual winners in Australia and added another in South Africa when Tender Mist was successful at Turffontein in April.  The Murray Johnson trained filly Take Pride was his star performer winning at Seymour and Flemington prior to a stakes placing in the LR Talindert Stakes at Flemington.

Reward for Effort retired to Chatswood Stud and has averaged books of 170 mares since 2011.  His pedigree continues to move in the right direction with Exceed and Excel crowned Champion Australian Sire in 2012-13 and Champion Australian 2YO Sire in 2014-15.

The bottom half of the family received a Group 1 update when his three-quarter sister-in-blood Overreach won the 2013 Golden Slipper.

“His second crop looked even better that the first,” Chatswood Stud’s Greg Willis said.  “On average, they were bigger, stronger, more mature and sold accordingly, providing a great return on service fee.”

Reward for Effort stands for $11,000 (inc gst) and his Inglis Melbourne Premier yearlings achieved a median price of $60,000 in March.  Overall, his top-priced second-crop yearling was the $160,000 colt from Tarcoola Ice (Zeditave) that was purchased by trainer Andrew Noblet.