Vintage Years for Red Ransom
The deserved Group One victory of classy three year-old colt Duporth in the Group One BTC Cup at Doomben last Saturday represents another big result for his veteran 22 year-old sire Red Ransom (USA), who has attained career best performance in Australia this season prompting the obvious question, why now?.
Based at Vinery Stud when here in Australia, Red Ransom first came to our shores ten years ago in 1999 and covered a quality book of 75 mares at a fee of $50,000.
He returned the next year and covered 85 mares at a fee of $65,000 and was the second highest priced sire in Australia that year behind the mighty Danehill (USA).
An interesting sidebar to this story is to have a look at the top ten stallions from 2000 as below and draw your own conclusions.
Top 10 Most Expensive Sires in Australia, 2000 |
| Stallion |
Stud |
Fee |
Danehill (USA) |
Coolmore |
FOA |
Red Ransom (USA) |
Vinery Stud |
$65,000 |
Peintre Celebre (USA) |
Coolmore |
$50,000 |
Woodman (USA) |
Coolmore |
$45,000 |
Jade Robbery (USA) |
Widden Stud |
$45,000 |
Flying Spur |
Arrowfield |
$35,000 |
Belong to Me (USA) |
Widden Stud |
$35,000 |
Timber Country (USA) |
Arrowfield |
$30,000 |
Redoute’s Choice |
Arrowfield |
$30,000 |
Octagonal |
Woodlands |
$30,000 |
End Sweep (USA) |
Arrowfield |
$30,000 |
Just because a horse is deemed commercial, does not necessarily mean he’s going to be good for your mares, but that’s another story.
 Back to Red Ransom, he finished third on the first season sires list in 2002/2003 behind General Nediym and Desert Prince (IRE) with Halibery and Handsome Ransom both claiming stakes wins and improved sharply the next season finishing as number one among the second season sires with his star son Charge Forward leading the way as best juvenile colt of his generation in a year dominated by a champion gelding in Dance Hero and a star filly in Alinghi.
Given that success at the close of the 2004 racing season, is it any wonder he then got probably his best ever book of mares in the spring of 2004 and the results of those matings are this vintage crop of three year-olds we see now including Group One winners Duporth and Typhoon Tracy (pictured), plus stakes-winners Portillo, Romneya, Yesterday, All American and Ransom Express.
Red Ransom again came out on top of his peers at the conclusion of his third Australian season covering another superlative book in 2005 with Group One AJC Champagne Stakes hero Onemorenomore the current leader of this crop.
Below is the table of Red Ransom’s fertility statistics since his first year in Australia in 1999 and it shows exactly why this very popular veteran has never had it so good.
Red Ransom at Stud in Australia |
| Service Year |
Mares Covered (foals) |
Fee |
1999 |
75 (68) |
$50,000 |
2000 |
85 (66) |
$65,000 |
2001 |
57 (40) |
$66,000 |
2002 |
62 (44) |
$44,000 |
2003 |
127 (95) |
$49,500 |
2004 |
128 (94) |
$66,000 |
2005 |
80 (58) |
$55,000 |
2006 |
60 (37) |
$55,000 |
2007 |
EI did not cover |
|
2008 |
122 |
$66,000 |
Footnote: Red Ransom is now permanently based at Vinery with no more shuttling for the son of Roberto who is now in the twilight of what has been a fabulous career, yielding 91 stakes-winners worldwide, 26 of them conceived here in the Southern Hemisphere.
Not bad for a horse that never contested a stakes race and retired after just three starts with two wins and a second including a track record for five furlongs at Saratoga in North America clocking 56.4 seconds.
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