 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2003
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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Barely three years since he last set foot on a racetrack, Christian Cullen has stamped himself as a sire of untapped potential. To most he was the greatest pacer they had ever seen, and few doubted that a successful stud career would follow naturally. Principal owner Ian Dobson was certainly confident in his mind. "I never doubted that he would make it as a sire," Dobson said. "Because he is beautifully bred, and he had everything as a racehorse."
Loyalty aside, in all fairness Christian Cullen still had to prove himself in the breeding barn, because quite a few brilliant racehorses have been flops at stud, failing to pass on the same dominant qualities to their stock. And the first season that a sires' babies step out can be crucial. But when the curtain comes down on the 2002/03 term in 10 weeks time, Christian Cullen can hold his head high because his results are nothing short of phenominal.
With a mere 46 live foals that are now 2-year-olds, Christian Cullen has sired four winners of eight races and nearly $270,000 in stakes. They are not just winners either, with names like Roman Gladiator, Born Again Christian and Likmesiah amongst the mix. The stallion's crowning glory was last Friday night's $135,000 Garrard's Sires' Stakes Final at Addington. Not only was he responsible for almost half the field with 5 of the 13 starters, Christian Cullen also sired the first, second and fourth horses home - and this is despite arguably the best of them and favourite Roman Gladiator performing well below expectations to finish eighth.
Dobson himself part-owned one of the Cullens - Classy Cullen, who tired to 11th after being left out three-wide in the open over the last 1000 metres. Speaking to him afterwards though, you would have thought he owned the winner. "This is a far greater result than I could have ever expected," he enthused. "To have five horses in the Sires' Stakes Final in your first year is unbelievable, especially since I think there has only been about fifteen to twenty that have actually been in work as 2-year-olds. It was pretty much third or fourth- grade mares that he attracted in his first season too. Cullen has only had two Australian-bred starters this year (Fair Dinkum Lombo and Cullombo) and both of them have won as well. It's been a fantastic season."
Over the moon with their son of Christian Cullen is the 62-member Met Two Syndicate, most of whom were on-course last Friday to cheer Likmesiah home and then crowd into the birdcage to start celebrating their victory. Likmesiah was picked out by trainer Mark Purdon from the Premier Sale for $15,000, which was well under the budget of $25,000 that he was 'allowed'to spend. The gelding out of the New York Motoring mare She's Mighty is the only one of the syndicate's three horses to make it to the races thus far, although David and Catherine Butt's Life Sign colt Danger Sign has trialled attractively.
Having handled just the three juveniles by Christian Cullen this season, all of whom won races and made the Sires' Stakes field, Purdon is understandably upbeat about the In The Pocket stallion's stock. "He has had a magic year," Purdon said. "His progeny are just good gaited, and they want to be there. They are a pleasure to work with. It is probably hard to say whether Likmesiah is the best of my 2-year-olds; Lennon has got the best record but he's not a standout. Likmesiah's trackwork has never been great, he seems to be three to five lengths better on racenight though. There is not much between them, and I am looking forward to next year with Born Again Christian because he will be better over more ground. He has got big potential," Purdon said.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 21May03