The completion of the 2008/09 racing season presents us with the perfect opportunity to review the performance of our more seasoned stallions. MARWINA and ZARIZ might not receive their share of column space in the weekly racing guides but are doing a very good job at siring winners, as the following details would suggest…

MARWINA was again to the fore in season 2008/09 with his usual number of individual winners. In keeping with previous years, the prolific son of Marscay registered a ‘half century’, with 123 runners featuring 53 winners and returning prizemoney close on $1 million.

MARWINA has been a remarkably consistent stallion over the years and, if anything, seems to be improving with age. In fact, his statistics for 2008/09 make for better reading than those of the season before, when 140 runners included 44 winners and income of $804,610.

To his very great credit, MARWINA was the second most prolific sire of winners from the Star Kingdom (Ire) sireline in 2008/09, after Queensland’s hot young stallion Show of Heart. MARWINA actually finished one winner ahead of the celebrated Woodlands-Darley stallion Canny Lad, and well in advance of any other member of the breed represented by runners during the season just past.

Not surprisingly, we can report that bookings to MARWINA have been strong for the coming breeding season and many more winners by this great Riverdene Stud servant can be expected in the years ahead.

The 2008/09 figures were also very respectable for ZARIZ, a stallion that struck a few hurdles in his first season at stud but has recovered well with his handful of ensuing crops.

Through just over 100 runners last season, ZARIZ was accredited with the statistics of 40 individual winners and close on $700,000 in seasonal progeny earnings. This return put him more or less in the same category as the likes of Octagonal (44), Zeditave (41) and Quest For Fame (39), veteran stallions with arguably their best years at stud now behind them.

Significantly, ZARIZ has improved his finishing position on the leading sires by individual winners listing by forty places in each of the past two seasons. We look forward to further improvement again in 2009/10 when a top-50 spot is by no means out of the question.

Before changing the topic from the 2008/09 racing season, it would be remise of us not to comment on the second season efforts of Exceed And Excel, the exceptional half-brother to ENEMY OF AVERAGE.

Exceed And Excel romped away with the title of Champion Second Season Sire, winning each and every category of the division, including By Number of Individual Winners and By Earnings. However, probably a better reflection of his stud prowess is seen in his number of black-type winners and black-type wins for the term — eight and 10 respectively.

After Redoute’s Choice and Encosta de Lago, Exceed And Excel is making a very strong case to be regarded as the leading stallion in Australia and his exploits over the coming years should prove of considerable consequence.

Subsequent to last month’s report, we have been informed that the offspring of SEIDNAZAR continue to make progress and please their impressive selection of trainers.

First crop 2-year-olds of this young stallion are in the hands of some very progressive trainers, these including the likes Peter Moody at Caulfield, Melbourne, Tim Martin at Rosehill, Sydney, and Nick Olive in the nation’s capital.

Pedigree of the Month: LOCKMAR

Lockmar became MARWINA’s latest feature race winner when taking the $45,000 South Grafton Cup during July. Racing at the prominent Northern Rivers raceclub at that time of the year is always of a relatively high standard and the 4-year-old is obviously a very capable performer.

The pedigree of Lockmar possesses plenty of proven patterns.

Star Kingdom (Ire) over Danzig, or vice versa, has been one of the most successful forms of mating this country has ever witnessed, with Redoute’s Choice (Danehill out of a Canny Lad mare) a prime example.

Star Kingdom over Star Kingdom has also always worked well, as in the case of Lockmar. He descends from a daughter of Crafty Knight, who was himself a son of Biscay, sire-of-the-sire of MARWINA.

The presence of Lochrae in this pedigree is very much of note, as he was a high-quality son of the very good stallion Scenic (Ire) carrying both Sadler’s Wells and Without Fear (Fr). These are great influences to have in any pedigree and definitely amount to contributing factors in the case of this year’s South Grafton Cup winner.