The upcoming breeding season will see an unusually high number of sires standing at new studs but one shuttle stallion returning to NZ may prove to be the most significant announcement of all.
As sweeping changes are being made to stallion rosters throughout Australasia, Haunui Farm has secured the services of champion European miler RIBCHESTER (pictured) for another season.
Too often our breeders don’t know what they’ve got until it’s gone (see DECLARATION OF WAR & NIGHT OF THUNDER!). So, to see a promising northern hemisphere stallion return to this part of the world for a fourth consecutive season is certainly refreshing and may well turn out to be a masterstroke if RIBCHESTER’s early stats are anything to go by.
In terms of strike rates, there is no better second-season sire at the moment than RIBCHESTER, confirmed by the tables below:
| Second Season Sire (minimum 20 starters) | Winners/Runners |
| RIBCHESTER | 43.5% |
| GOLD STANDARD | 40.0% |
| RUSSIAN REVOLUTION | 38.5% |
| SPIETH | 38.3% |
| KOBAYASHI | 38.1% |
| SUPIDO | 38.0% |
| HELLBENT | 37.9% |
| CHURCHILL | 37.7% |
| INVADER | 33.9% |
| CARAVAGGIO | 33.8% |
| HIGHLAND REEL | 31.8% |
| ALMANZOR | 31.7% |
| MERCHANT NAVY | 30.9% |
| IMPENDING | 30.2% |
| THE MISSION | 30.0% |
| HEROIC VALOUR | 28.8% |
| PARIAH | 25.6% |
| OVERSHARE | 20.6% |
| TOSEN STARDOM | 19.6% |
| Second Season Sire (minimum 20 starters) | Stakes Winners/Winners |
| RIBCHESTER | 20.0% |
| OVERSHARE | 14.2% |
| RUSSIAN REVOLUTION | 13.5% |
| GOLD STANDARD | 12.5% |
| SUPIDO | 10.5% |
| THE MISSION | 8.3% |
| MERCHANT NAVY | 8.0% |
| ALMANZOR | 7.7% |
| HIGHLAND REEL | 7.1% |
| HELLBENT | 5.1% |
| INVADER | 4.8% |
| CARAVAGGIO | 4.5% |
| SPIETH | 0.0% |
| KOBAYASHI | 0.0% |
| CHURCHILL | 0.0% |
| IMPENDING | 0.0% |
| HEROIC VALOUR | 0.0% |
| PARIAH | 0.0% |
| TOSEN STARDOM | 0.0% |
At Scone’s standalone meeting last Saturday, RIBCHESTER’s 2YO filly RED CARD put 2.5 lengths on her rivals in the Listed Denise’s Joy Stakes (1100m) and smashed the track record by a quarter of a second. Perhaps even more significantly, the time was 0.7 seconds quicker than ATHELRIC, a hardened older gelding who claimed his seventh career victory in the Listed Ortensia Stakes (1100m) earlier in the day.
Red Card makes a mess of them in the Listed Denise’s Joy Stakes! pic.twitter.com/2FsECQac9K
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 13, 2023
RED CARD is 1 of 4 stakes performers for RIBCHESTER from just 25 starters. His 10 winners in Australasia to date include the Proven Thoroughbreds/Pride Racing 3YO filly LICHESTER.
This year Proven and Pride put their faith in RIBCHESTER again by purchasing a beautiful colt from the NZ Karaka Sale.
Only the second foal from the winning ALAMOSA mare ANICETA, this colt drew instant comparisons to STOCKMAN, a $1.5 million earner purchased by Proven at the same sale back in 2018. The uncanny similarities between the pair at the same age is evident in the graphic below:
To enquire about joining the ownership of the RIBCHESTER x ANICETA colt visit our CONTACT US page or call Jamie Walter on 0418 281 447.