Reliable Man: Ticks All The Boxes

Kiwi breeders with aspirations to breed classic middle distance type thoroughbreds should be buoyed by news that leviathan Australian breeder Gerry Harvey is close to sealing a deal to stand the Group 1 Prix Du Jockey Club (French Derby) and 2013 Group 1 AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Reliable Man at his New Zealand base, Westbury Stud at Karaka just south of Auckland.

The son of Dalakhani (Darshaan) also won the Group 2 Prix Niel at 2400m to be the leading French three-year-old stayer of his year. Placed at group 1 and 3 level in France last year as a four-year-old, his best effort came in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 2400m at Ascot when nosed out of third and less than two lengths from the winner, champion mare Danedream.

Defeated only once in nine starts and Champion Racehorse of Europe as a three-year-old in 2003 when his wins included the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Prix Du Jockey Club, Dalakhani has already built an enviable reputation as a sire, particularly of classic stamina and middle distance types. His five group winners to date include Breeders Cup Turf and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth victor Conduit..

Dalakhani is completely free of Northern Dancer blood. He is a great grandson of Mill Reef through his son Shirley Heights, while his dam is a daughter of Mr Prospectors son Miswaki, also the damsire of Galileo.

Reliable Man's pedigree is a great recipe for classic stamina. His first four male line sires were Derby winners and his granddam Fair Salina, a daughter of Petingo, while winning three Oaks also had the precocity to be Group One-placed at two.

Local breeders may remember Petingo as the sire of the fine stallion Three Legs who did such sterling service, albeit too briefly, at Okawa Stud in the Hawkes Bay during the 1980's. 

A couple of interesting points may help allay any breeders concerned that Reliable Man could fail to impart the essential ingredient of tactical speed in his progeny. His winning Queen Elizabeth time of 2.01.87 was the fastest since 1997 and more significantly, Chris Waller, who clearly is not a graduate of the Coolmore School of Marketing, is apparently on record as saying that with hindsight he feels he could have trained him differently and won his only other Australian start - his lead-in to the Queen Elizabeth - in the Group One George Ryder Stakes over 1500m, instead of running sixth, 1.5 lengths from the winner Pierro.

While Reliable Man may have broken local hearts when he defeated our superstar It's A Dundeel at the recent Sydney Autumn Carnival, the sight of the grey stallion hard held at the top of the Randwick rise before unleashing his relentless driving finish should still be fresh in the minds of local breeders searching for the kind of stallion capable of correcting our increasingly vulnerable reputation for breeding Derby, Oaks and Cup winners.

Footnote: Reliable Man paraded at Karaka on 2 August prior to the Winter Sale. It was difficult to get too much of a feel for him as he paraded rather light having arrived from Australia only a couple of days earlier. He is taller than I imagined him to be, athletic with a prominent wither and intelligent head. Mares with good bone, particularly beneath the knee should suit him well on type.

With just one line of Northern Dancer and one line of Mr Prospector, he is a natural pedigree fit for mares carrying Danehill/Danzig.