Dubai Millennium

powerscourt · Postby **powerscourt** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:14 am

The ill-fated Dubai Millennium covered an elite group of mares during his only season at stud. Some of the best Maktoum mares were sent to him, while Sheikh Mohammed spent a fortune buying all but 3 of the produce of his favourite horse. But apart from Dubawi, the outcome has been very disappointing to say the least.

His offspring are shown below. Take out Dubawi from the DM's stud record and all we're left with is a handful of (very well bred) maiden winners and a lot of very disappointing horses. More than one of these looked like difficult horses on the racecourse (Echo of Light being the most high profile example). Plenty more were never seen or never seen again after a couple of appearances on the racecourse. So is Dubai Millennium any loss to the breed? Or does Dubawi suggest his sire would have become an important stallion? Or were breeders saved a lot of money by his untimely demise?

Horse, Dam & Record
AFRICANUS ex ASFURAH 2-0-1-1
ANNA WIYAAK ex ANNA PALARIVA ?-?-?-?
ANTIQUE ex TRULY GENEROUS 7-2-1-1
BAHAR SHUMAAL ex HIGH SPIRITED 5-1-1-0
BANCHIERI ex BELLE ET DELUREE 3-0-1-2
BARBUT ex EMBASSY3 ?-?-?-?
BELENUS ex AJHIBA 4-1-2-1
BLESSING ex HYDRO CALIDO ?-?-?-?
BRIGHT MORNING ex SABAAH 2-1-0-1
CARISOLO ex SOLO DE LUNE 2-0-1-0
CRIMSON YEAR ex CRIMSON CONQUEST ?-?-?-?
DESCARTES ex GOLDS DANCE 1-1-0-0
DORRATI ex BAHR ?-?-?-?
DUBAI OPERA ex CAPE VERDI ?-?-?-?
DUBAWI ex ZOMARADAH 8-5-1-1
ECHO OF LIGHT ex SPIRIT OF TARA 6-2-1-0
ESQUIRE ex ESPERADA 4-1-0-0
ETIHAAD ex ELFASLAH ?-?-?-?
FLAG OF TRUCE ex FLAGBIRD 1-0-0-1
FRANCHISE6 ex FREE AT LAST2 ?-?-?-?
GROSVENOR SQUARE ex EMBASSY3 5-1-0-0
HADID ex SEAZUN ?-?-?-?
HALLE BOP ex NAPOLEONS SISTER 6-1-2-0
HARVEST FESTIVAL ex FIELD OF HOPE ?-?-?-?
HER OWN KIND ex THE CARETAKER 2-1-1-0
INTEND TO LEAVE ex SHEER AUDACITY 1-0-1-0
INTISHAAR ex BINT SHADAYID ?-?-?-?
KYDD GLOVES ex PARADE QUEEN2 3-2-0-0
LADEENA ex AQAARID ?-?-?-?
MILLE ex CLOELIA ?-?-?-?
MIZNA ex TRIBULATION ?-?-?-?
MURAABET ex MAHASIN 3-0-1-0
MY DUBAI ex PASTORALE5 1-0-0-1
NEW YEARS DAY ex SERENGETI DAY ?-?-?-?
NEWSPRINT ex PAPERING ?-?-?-?
NOBLE DUTY ex NIJINSKYS LOVER 3-0-1-1
NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY ex NOVEMBER SNOW ?-?-?-?
OUDE ex CHOSEN LADY 5-1-2-1
PERFUMERY ex SWEET WILLA ?-?-?-?
PICKWICKIAN ex PIQUETNOL ?-?-?-?
QAADMAH ex ZAHRAT DUBAI ?-?-?-?
QUICKFIRE ex DARING MISS2 2-1-1-0
RAJWA ex ZELANDA 4-0-3-0
REGAL SILK ex REVE DOSCAR ?-?-?-?
ROYAL GALA ex VIVID CONCERT ?-?-?-?
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION ex RUSSIAN SNOWS 2-1-0-1
SAN BERNADINO ex CHANCEY SQUAW ?-?-?-?
SPRING RAIN ex STORM SONG 1-0-0-0
SUNDRESS ex SUNSPANGLED ?-?-?-?
TEMPETE ex WALESIANA ?-?-?-?
TEN CENTURIES ex FITNAH2 ?-?-?-?
THOUSAND ISLANDS ex MINISTER WIFE ?-?-?-?
VAULTING ex EAVES ?-?-?-?
VIP ex DANISH 1-0-0-0
WATCHTOWER ex BALISADA 1-0-0-0

Sheikh · Postby **Sheikh** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 3:39 am

He was a brilliant racehorse,he is a loss.

Heidilady · Postby **Heidilady** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:43 pm

Sheikh wrote:He was a brilliant racehorse,he is a loss.

That wasn't really the question. No need to defend his honor, so to speak. Career on the track isn't the issue in determining loss to the breed. We're talking stud career here. Brilliance on the track can mean nada. Many a horse has been a rockin' racehorse and not a very good stud at all--see Citation. I think everyone felt like it was a big loss at the time but he was for all intents and purposes unproven and remains so, so no I don't think you can say we're definitively missing anything. If Dubawi was all he'd gotten and he'd had 2 or 3 crops race with these results from these sorts of mares then they'd have been appropriately critical of his record. Just because he died, he shouldn't get put on a stud pedestal.

I dunno if one small crop's enough to condemn a stallion career but given how flashy he was on the track, expectations (and thus the potential disappointment from failure) would be sky high. Can anyone live up to that? I do think it was a potential loss not to have a few crops to evaluate for any stallion with prospects but did we miss out on the next Secretariat because DM wasn't alive to sire him? I don't think we can think we have or haven't too strongly.

henthorn · Postby **henthorn** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:08 pm

Heidilady, I wouldn't be too early to judge his siring capabilities if this is his first crop; i.e.2003 foals. Remember people said the same about Giant's Causeway's first crop, since they weren't early bloomers. But they went on to develop nicely.

madelyn · Postby **madelyn** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:58 pm

Hmmm. Bold Ruler was 16 when Secretariat was born... don't know which crop it was, but not his first. These days, people are so anxious to toss stallions on the trash heap when the first crop of 2yo's start to run. Sort of treating them like disposable gloves..

Raise a Native was 8 when he covered Gold Digger and got Mr. Prospector, again, not his first crop.

Seattle Slew was 15 when AP Indy was born...

llbean · Postby **llbean** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 12:59 am

madelyn wrote:Hmmm. Bold Ruler was 16 when Secretariat was born... don't know which crop it was, but not his first. These days, people are so anxious to toss stallions on the trash heap when the first crop of 2yo's start to run. Sort of treating them like disposable gloves..

Raise a Native was 8 when he covered Gold Digger and got Mr. Prospector, again, not his first crop.

Seattle Slew was 15 when AP Indy was born...

VERY true, Madelyn.

-llbean

Retrospectiv · Postby **Retrospectiv** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:28 am

henthorn wrote:Heidilady, I wouldn't be too early to judge his siring capabilities if this is his first crop; i.e.2003 foals. Remember people said the same about Giant's Causeway's first crop, since they weren't early bloomers. But they went on to develop nicely.

Not early bloomers? Wasn't he the leading 1st crop sire in Europe in 2004??
DM has had his chance to prove his ability as a stallion..albeit on a more limited basis. As was mentioned elsewhere, it would have been interesting to maybe see how things would have worked having his offspring dispersed among more different trainers.

a l muir · Postby **a l muir** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 7:57 am

Came to this post pretty late.

Dubai Millenium's very brief stint a stud reminds me a bit of the late great Shergar. Like DM he was a charismatic horse and bred to an exalted book of mares in his only year as a stallion. He to bred a Group 1 winner in Authaal but generally his progeny were nothing special and his name has all but vanished.

I was under the impression that only Quickfire was not owned by Godolphin or there friends. She is owned by Juddmonte and now in the care of Bobby Frankel where she's run twice for an allowance win & place, both on turf. When trained in England she was known to be a bit of a madam and I was a little surprised when she was transferred. That said, I can see the reasons why Juddmonte would want to get a stakes win into her, if possible. Take note of any future engagement where she entered that is run over a mile.

LaTroienne · Postby **LaTroienne** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:26 am

madelyn wrote:Hmmm. Bold Ruler was 16 when Secretariat was born... don't know which crop it was, but not his first. These days, people are so anxious to toss stallions on the trash heap when the first crop of 2yo's start to run. Sort of treating them like disposable gloves..

Raise a Native was 8 when he covered Gold Digger and got Mr. Prospector, again, not his first crop.

Seattle Slew was 15 when AP Indy was born...

But the Rulerwas great from the start - but v. good point. vbr

Nessa · Postby **Nessa** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:55 pm

I think most people expected too much for his offspring to be early runners when he didn't come into his own until he was 4 years old. I think maybe people should have waited until the were older to judge them, but I don't think they will ever be given a chance to run as older horses.

Heidilady · Postby **Heidilady** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:35 pm

I didn't condemn him at all, just said that we have no way of knowing yet how well this one group will end up being and you don't know how well he'd have shaped his get over time. Sure lots of potential but still it's wait and see on the ones still running compared to your Seattle Slews of this world. I hypothesize that we missed out on a good sire but great, well who knows. Definitely a flashy individual I'll say. Shame we didn't get a greater dispersion of ownership I agree. The best intentions can lead to stunted but still successful results, a la Man O'War via Samuel Riddle.

Sam · Postby **Sam** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 12:18 am

I think the only way we are going to be able to judge just how big a loss to the breed he is will be 6-9 years from now when his fillies start sending their foals to the races. I'm not expecting much from the colts (though I expect more of them to earn a shot at stud vs. the Sea Cadets <-- another sire who died after his 2nd-3rd crop but who wasn't anywhere near as talented), but those mares are some of the best bred and will go to some of the best bred stallions. They will be the ones to write DM's history in the breeding shed.

The thing that always struck me about him was how so very much he looked like Mr. Prospector. I've headshots of him and Prospector and you'd swear they were the same horse.