Darley colt Shield has been retired and will stand his debut season at Allan Hills Farm in Victoria. Sheikh Mohammed bought the Redoute’s Choice colt for $1.20 million from Tyreel Stud at the 2008 Inglis Easter yearling sale.
Shield (Redoute’s Choice – In The Past by Zafonic) is a rising four year-old but an injury prevented him from racing. He has been given an opportunity at stud being a younger half-brother to Darley’s promising first-season sire Domesday.
“He is a lovely looking horse and, given his pedigree, deserves a chance,” Nagambie based studmaster David Houston said. “The Domesday factor is a big leg-up and there’s no way Darley would have let him go if he had won a stakes race.”
The Redoute’s Choice connection is another plus for any young stallion retiring to stud. The Arrowfield champion is about to reclaim the title of Australian champion sire and he is emerging as a leading sire of sires.
At last count, 13 sons of Redoute’s Choice have sired winners. Leading the charge is Stratum (Widden) who will claim 2YO Sire honours in 2009-10 after his filly Crystal Lily won the $3.5 million Golden Slipper Stakes.
Domesday will finish fifth on the first-season table behind Stratum (Redoute’s Choice), Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), Foreplay (Danehill) and Hidden Dragon (Danehill).
Domesday (Red Ransom) was a high class juvenile winning the G2 Silver Slipper Stakes in a career that spanned just eight starts. His son Pressday landed a Group 1 in the T J Smith Stakes at Eagle Farm in June and trainer Chris Waller will set the colt on a Guineas campaign next season. “Pressday is an exceptional colt,” Waller claimed in Brisbane. “He’s going to be a serious horse in six months.”
Darley has transferred Domesday from its Victorian base to Twin Hills in NSW for 2010. Shield offers a viable alternative for Super VOBIS breeders at a $3,500 fee. Studmaster David Houston can be contacted on 0408 609 994.