Events of the past few weeks have provided us with considerable impetus in promoting our new horse for 2009, the Group 1 winner BON HOFFA. This brilliant sprinter is a son of Belong To Me (USA), a stallion taking the current Sydney Autumn Carnival by storm…

No stallion to have stood at stud in Australia during the past handful of years enjoyed a better sequence of results than Belong To Me during the month of March. BON HOFFA’s sire led the way during the first few weeks of the Sydney Autumn Carnival, being responsible for three major black-type winners on successive Saturdays.

MARCH 14: Belong To Many added to her already impressive winning record by landing the Listed Wenona Girl Handicap over 1200 metres. This bonny mare led from start to finish in recording the fourth black-type win of her career.

MARCH 21: 2008 VRC Emirates Stakes (G1) winner All Silent produced a scintillating sprint to claim the Group 2 Canterbury Stakes over 1300 metres second-up from a spell. The victory was also his fourth black-type success after just 13 starts to date.

MARCH 28: Solo Flyer extended his unbeaten run to three-wins-straight by posting one of the most authoritative victories of the day in the Group 2 Ajax Stakes over 1500 metres. Only 10 days beforehand, Solo Flyer had also won the Group 3 NJC Newmarket Handicap in just as impressive fashion.

From only 94 starters this season, Belong To Me is among the top-20 odd stallions on the General Sires standings. Of these representatives, no fewer than four are stakes winners of eight black-type events, BON HOFFA playing his part in the spring by winning the Group 3 VRC Bobbie Lewis Quality for the second year in succession.

The rash of stakes success enjoyed by Belong To Me’s offspring could not have come at a better stage for Riverdene Stud after securing Bon Hoffa for the 2009 breeding season earlier in the year.

If ever there was a time to launch a new stud career, it is when the sire of the new stallion is the focus of attention.

ENEMY OF AVERAGE’s famous half-brother has a big few days ahead of him with 28 Exceed And Excel’s catalogued for the 2009 Australian Easter Yearling Sale and his 2-year-old son Reward For Effort among the main chances for this year’s Group 1 STC Golden Slipper Stakes.

The stocks of Exceed And Excel continue to go from strength-to-strength and if any stallion is likely to have his service fee raised this year, it will more than likely be the sibling of ENEMY OF AVERAGE.

The imported Be My Guest stallion Prego (Ire) features in this month’s list of winners as the damsire of three. Two for MARWINA and one for ZARIZ.

That Prego should prove so potent as a sire of producing broodmares should not come as any surprise, such is his pedigree.

Prego’s sire Be My Guest was one of Coolmore’s first major stallions, becoming highly influential in a number of capacities. The Champion Sire of GB/Ire in 1982, his sons and daughters have played their part in some outstanding performers around the world, including the domestic Group 1 winners Reset, Assertive Lass and Assertive Lad.

Be My Guest is also featuring to a very great extend through the head-turning deeds of Pentire, an exceptional sire-son shuttling to New Zealand each August.

As for Prego, the former Chatswood Stud resident not only has Be My Guest’s bloodlines to call on, but also those of the phenomenal Audrey Joan family.

As a close relation to a stallion such as Lion Hunter, for instance, is it any wonder that Prego is having such an impact as a broodmare sire.

PEDIGREE OF THE MONTH: All Silent

All Silent, the Group 1 winning son of Belong To Me (USA) heading towards the 2009 AJC Doncaster Handicap, has a very interesting pedigree that broodmare owners can replicate if sending a mare to BON HOFFA in his debut stud season.

A paternal grandson of Semipalatinsk (USA), All Silent carries two strains of Star Kingdom (Ire) through Todman, sire of the exported Noholme, and through the gelding’s fourth-dam, Cultured Miss, a daughter of the late, great Baramul Stud-based sire.

The success Belong To Me has enjoyed with Star Kingdom bodes well for breeders with MARWINA mares to place this coming season with the Riverdene Stud stalwart sire a maleline descendant through champion sires Marscay and Biscay.

Also strongly recommending MARWINA mares as percent partners for BON HOFFA is the fact that he is a maternal grandson of Vain. Belong To Me’s Group 1 AJC The Galaxy winner Proprietor is also a maternal grandson of the multiple Australian champion racehorse and sire.