Battle Royal Looming

Can the 'little Aussie battler' run down one of the best sires in the world?.

Rank	Stallion Ccode Yof - To Stud	Rnrs	Wnrs	SW(SWins)	Earnings	Best Performer
1	Medaglia d'Oro (USA) 1999 - 2005	55	21	3(6)	$3,400,320	Vancouver - 2,362,000
2	I Am Invincible (AUS) 2004 - 2010	75	38	1(3)	$2,682,990	Brazen Beau - 1,109,200
3	Turffontein (AUS) 2004 - 2010	31	11	2(5)	$1,364,722	Fontein Ruby - 715,500
4	Manhattan Rain (AUS) 2006 - 2010	55	24	1(1)	$1,267,185	Moonovermanhattan - 206,400
5	Nicconi (AUS) 2005 - 2010	73	25	1(1)	$1,062,310	Chill Party - 193,500
6	Denman (AUS) 2006 - 2010	60	15	1(2)	$924,780	Kuro - 323,550
7	Mastercraftsman (IRE) 2006 - 2010	23	11	1(1)	$784,490	Thunder Lady - 375,775
8	Red Element (AUS) 2004 - 2010	64	20	0(0)	$770,125	Glorious Red - 99,650
9	Onemorenomore (AUS) 2006 - 2010	57	19	1(1)	$667,840	Onemorezeta - 177,475
10	Big Brown (USA) 2005 - 2009	67	15	1(1)	$647,780	Neverland - 158,850

The win of Vancouver has put Medaglia D' Oro some $700,000 in front of I Am Invincible in overall earnings, giving the son of Invincible Spirit quite a task to catch his rival given his best horse Brazen Beau is Royal Ascot bound without another start in Australia.

Then came the news Vancouver was headed for the spelling paddock rather than the Triple Crown and a window of opportunity opened.

Both young stallions will need some new stars as we move towards the back end of the season and if I Am Invincible can produce a good one he may well make a race of it.

One thing's for sure, it's a rivalry that will add interest to the coming months of racing as we see whether the 'little Aussie battler' can run down one of the world's best stallions.

Medaglia D'Oro might be classed as a Second Season Sire in Australia, but he was in fact well established when he arrived here in 2010 and covered his first book of Australian mares at a fee of $88,000.

The fee says it all really, very few shuttle stallions come here and can command that sort of money and he covered his next two seasons here at $77,000 before dropping back to $55,000.

Just for a second consider the difference in class of mare covered by Medaglia D'Oro in his first two seasons here as opposed to I Am Invincible at a fee of $11,000.

These are the racehorses that are competing against each other right now (two and three year-olds) and the fact that there is competition at all between the two sires suggests I Am Invincible has the makings of a remarkable stallion given his ability to upgrade some fairly pedestrian mares to produce a torrent of winners.

Both stallions are very different in pedigree and physical conformation, so we are lucky to have them given the industry has been dealt a few savage blows in the last few years with the premature loss of Northern Meteor and Beneteau as well as established star sires Commands, Street Cry (IRE) and High Chaparral (IRE), not to mention the retirement of Encosta de Lago.

I Am Invincible and Medaglia D'Oro are two that have the potential to step right up to the mark and take their place, so we'll be following their progress to the end of the season with great interest.