The 5yo Orlando Vici gelding Royal Dan became the eighth $100,000 earner for his sire when he won the Group Three Spring Sprint at Albion Park on Saturday night for trainer Jason Grimson and driver Jack Callaghan.
It was Royal Dan’s 11th win in just 21 starts which have also yielded 8 minor placings and a record of tr,1:52.1 from a Menangle win in May this year.
Benstud Standardbreds will offer a What The Hill half-brother to Royal Dan as Lot 15 in the Nutrien Sydney Yearling Sale set down for Sunday 9th March 2025.
Royal Treat, the dam of Lot 15 and Royal Dan was a Group One 2yo winner herself and, being a daughter of super sire Majestic Son, her yearling colt has an intriguing pedigree for students of Standardbred pedigrees.
Majestic Son is a full-brother to the dam of Lot 15’s sire What The Hill – look for the bold type in the pedigree box.
Lot 15 has as his third dam the champion racehorse and champion broodmare La Coocaracha tr,1:58.5 $428,911 whose offspring include the 2019 and 2020 Australian Aged Trotting Mare of the Year Dance Craze tr,1:55.6 $551,780 and the 2022 Australian 2yo Trotting Colt of the Year The Locomotive tr,1:55.4 $365,758.
Orlando Vici first became available in Australia in 2014 when Haras des Trotteurs principal Pat Driscoll arranged the importation of semen from France and the success of the move speaks for itself.
His first crop of 11 foals were dropped in 2015 and all 11 are winners and headed by the international superstar and 2024 Dominion Handicap winner Just Believe which has earnings approaching $2 million after Tuesday’s win at Addington.
In fact Orlando Vici has just 33 Australian foals currently 4yo or older and 27 of those foals are winners which is a quite remarkable 81.8% winners to foals percentage. None of that rubbish winners to runner’s percentages here.
Orlando Vici has just two live yearlings and only one of those will be offered at a yearling in the 2025 round of sales.
Lot 320 in Nutrien’s Melbourne Yearling Sale on April 14th is being offered by Oakbank Estate and is a colt by Orlando Vici from the Dream Vacation mare Verbier.
This is the second foal from Verbier which took a record of tr,1:59.6 and won four races and stakes of $50,785 and her first foal was the ill-fated Fredrhys which won three times.
Verbier is a half-sister to Group Two 4yo Breeders Crown Championship winner Val Gardena tr,3,1:59.9 $122,280 which is now the dam of Group One 4yo Vicbred Super Series winner Gardena Ronda tr,1:57.4 $108,861.