Blink and you would have missed another milestone by Casino Prince this week.

The Vinery resident has sired the winners of 1000 races and he passed that mark with a minimum of fuss when Royal Enigma saluted at Pakenham on Thursday.

Royal Enigma is typical of the breed.  He sat outside the leader and refused to surrender in the straight for a gutsy victory in the XXXX Gold Hcp (1600m).

Trained by Kath Durden for part-owners Paul Mills and John Pritchard, he’s the first winner from Decryption (Bletchley Park).  Second-dam Palace Talk (Ron Bon) won a Queens Plate LR in Perth.

Casino Prince (Flying Spur) was an immediate success at stud winning the Australian first-season title in 2011-12.  Champion colt All Too Hard led the charge and other stakes winners from that initial crop included Escado, Longport, Star Rolling, Mighty Lucky, Fine Bubbles, Sookie, Timeless Prince, Slots and Phrases.

He has matured into one of the Hunter Valley’s most reliable stallions and broke the 100 individual winners barrier for the first time in 2015-16.  He cracked another century in 2016-17 and is poised for career-best figures with 94 winners to date this season.

Casino Prince has sired 27 black-type performers and his winning strike-rate is a towering 68%.  That puts him firmly in the value-plus bracket for a $9,900 (inc gst) fee at Vinery this year.

ROYAL ENIGMA