He’s coming to America
John Ferguson, Sheikh Mohammed’s bloodstock advisor, put Lonhro’s unique move from the Southern Hemisphere to Northern Hemisphere in perspective. “In the last 25 years, Lonhro is probably the toughest race horse with the most impressive race record of any horse in the world. He won 11 Group 1 races and the fact that he has gone on to be champion sire is testament that he is passing that ability on. Further, he was remarkably sound, having won 26 of 35 starts, and will bring to America that soundness and toughness for which Australian horses are known.”
With not doubt, the star of the Australian racing season during 2010-2011 was the 11-time G1 winner Lonhro. Crowned Champion Sire, and the first Champion racehorse to achieve that feat in 40 years, Lonhro ended the season some $1.2 million clear of his nearest rival Redoute’s Choice, with fellow Darley stallion Commands taking third, ahead of Encosta de Lago and High Chaparral.
A sire of 14 individual Stakes winners his championship sire season (33 total in his career), more than any other stallion, Lonhro’s five-year-old G1-winning daughter Beaded led the way. Victorious in the G1 Doomben 10,000, the mare has raced in G1 company at her last five starts, in fact, eight career starts at the elite level has seen the gusty mare never finish further back than fourth.
Another star performer for Lonhro (pictured) is his first G1-winning juvenile Benfica. A winner of three of his five starts, Benfica recorded a dominant length-plus victory in the final juvenile G1 of the season, the TJ Smith Stakes. One of 13 individual two-year-old winners for Lonhro this season, a mark that sees him finish in fourth spot for the number of juvenile winners behind fellow Darley stallion Exceed And Excel, Benfica appears to be a colt with enough scope to progress into his Classic season.
With a Stakes winner to runners ratio superior to any stallion with 100 runners or more during the season, Lonhro has gone from strength to strength with his progeny on the track. Finishing in 43rd position the 08/09 season, Lonhro shot up to finish 3rd in 09/10, signifying that he was clearly a stallion on the up, before taking the title the following year.
Achieving Champion Sire honours with his eldest progeny only five, Lonhro joined the likes of Bletchingly, Sir Tristram and Danehill as stallions who have recorded this feat only seven years after retiring to stud.
Further cementing his ability to produce runners of the highest calibre, Lonhro’s Stakes winners show the versatility of his sire power. Stakes-winning juvenile filly Euryale, three-year-old fillies Celts, Parables, Obsequious, up and coming gelding Scarf and the tough campaigners Launay, Pinwheel, Tampiko and Dysphonia are just some of his recent Stakes winners.
For the 2011/2012 season, Lonhro has taken up where he left off as his two-year-old son Pierro became his 31st career stakes winner when he on after Pierro won the Listed Breeders' Plate over 1000 meters at Randwick on October 1. Pierro was also Lonhro's first juvenile runner for the season.
