WA breeders will not be effected by Darley’s shock last-minute decision to pull the plug on New Approach’s southern hemisphere season.
New Approach, the most promising young sire in the UK and Europe, was due to stand at Northwood Park in Victoria this year for a $55,000 service fee.
But Darley yesterday announced the shuttle was off because: “New Approach’s capacity to cover large numbers of mares is not the same as other stallions and his book has been limited in both hemispheres since he was retired to stud. Therefore, the decision to rest him has been made in the interest of his long-term career.”
Last year New Approach got three Royal Ascot juvenile winners with his first crop, including Dawn Approach, who was voted champion European two-year-old. This year Dawn Approach has won both the Group 1 English 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes, New Approach’s daughter, Talent, won the Group 1 English Oaks and another son, Libertarian, was runner-up in the English Derby, which was among New Approach’s five Group 1 wins.
Lynward Park Stud’s Alfred Nobel, a brilliant Group 1 Irish winning juvenile, is closely related to New Approach and stands for a far more modest $7,150.
New Approach and Alfred Nobel are both Northern Dancer-line stallions. Alfred Nobel’s grand dam, Dazzling Park, the 1999 European champion 3Y0 filly, is a half-sister to New Approach.
Leading breeders have been high in their praise of Alfred’s Nobel’s first WA foals.
“I cannot emphasise enough to any serious breeder how much they should make the effort to inspect some Alfred Nobel foals before finalising their matings,” said the leading WA bloodstock agent John Chalmers. “They are classic types. Taking into consideration his outstanding race record, high class stallion’s pedigree, the quality of his foals and his extremely realistic service fee, it is difficult to find a better option among the emerging local stallions.”