The building of a Boss

Above: Street Boss standing at Darley Northwood Park

A decision to boost support for shuttle stallion Street Boss (USA) with quality mares is delivering dividends for Godolphin, which has two representatives by the stallion in the G1 Blue Diamond S. at Caulfield in Anamoe and Arcaded.

Above: Arcaded

Having just completed his 11th season standing at Northwood Park in Victoria, Street Boss’ stocks have never been higher and he has delivered 42 winners this season, including the two above mentioned 2-year-olds, both trained by James Cummings, as well as his second Australian-bred Group 1 winner, Elite Street, who claimed the G1 Winterbottom S. for WA trainer Daniel Morton.

With Street Boss currently 34th on the Australian Sires’ list for this season, it shapes as the most successful campaign yet for the multiple Grade 1-winning sprinting son of Street Cry (Ire).

Andy Makiv, who has just assumed the role of Darley Australia’s Head Of Sales, has worked closely with Street Boss through his time in Victoria, and has seen the benefit of the better support of quality mares he has got in the past few years.

“He’s a stallion that we probably didn’t support a lot in the early days. We were really taken by what he was throwing physically. When he came over the first year, he was a really exciting horse. He was a good-looking son of Street Cry, which was something we really looked to stand in Victoria,” Makiv told TDN AusNZ.

Having debuted at Northwood Park in 2009, Street Boss would miss shuttling in 2010 with a leg injury.

“That put him back a bit. To have a smallish first crop (46 foals) and no second crop, he had to do it the hard way. But out of that first crop, he did get (G1 Newmarket H. winner) The Quarterback, which got things ticking,” he said.

“He produced a really consistent type, which made a big difference. They were good-topped horses like him, always had good hindquarters, plenty of strength and bone. They were horses that looked like they would suit this part of the world.”

“They were good-topped horses like him (Street Boss), always had good hindquarters, plenty of strength and bone.” – Andy Makiv

he emergence of his sire Street Cry as a sire of significance in Australia through the deeds of early flagbearers Whobegotyou and Shocking, and then later Winx, also helped boost the prospects of his son as a stallion.

“The Street Cry story got them really rolling in Australia as well. So from that slowish initial start, albeit with a Group 1 winner from that first crop, and then no second crop, he then he got Petits Filous from this third crop and we thought, there’s a stallion that can get a runner,” Makiv said.

“They are fast horses which are good types. We thought we should start supporting him and since we started sending him those groups of 10-15 mares, it made a big difference.”

Reward for Street support

The Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained colt, Hanseatic, became the first Australian stakes winner by Street Boss raced by Godolphin when he won the Listed Merson Cooper S. in late 2019 and then won both the Blue Diamond Preview and G3 Blue Diamond Prelude for the colts and geldings, before running second in the G1 Blue Diamond S.

Velaquenta emerged as a twice metropolitan winner for Godolphin at the same time, strengthening the case for Street Boss to receive ongoing support from the better credentialled Godolphin mares.

“Our first real go, we got Hanseatic and Valaquenta and a few others. The second crops, we got Arcaded, Anamoe, plus Sliders, who is a half to Flit, and Naples as well. Those are the ones that have shown us a bit. There is also a half to Pierro (Backstreets) to come through from that same crop,” Makiv said.

“I feel the story is just starting with him and it’s only going to get a lot better. In the yearling crop, we have halves to Osborne Bulls and Epaulette. And then there’s the foal crop which is also strong. There is another 18 or 20 in utero to Godolphin mares as well. The Street Boss story is only going to get bigger and better over the next few years.”

“The Street Boss story is only going to get bigger and better over the next few years.” – Andy Makiv

It could get better as soon as Saturday, with Anamoe, who won the Listed Merson Cooper S. in November and was a fast-finishing second in the G3 Blue Diamond Preview (colts and geldings), and Arcaded, an easy last-start winner in the G2 Blue Diamond Prelude (Fillies) afforded excellent chances in Victoria’s richest 2-year-old race.

Hanseatic also features in the G1 Oakleigh Plate for the Freedmans and Valaquenta for Cummings in the G3 Zeditave S.

Above: Hanseatic

Quality mares make for quality foals

Both the Blue Diamond contenders are the result of matings with Godolphin mares with big pedigrees. Anamoe is out of the Group 1-winning Redoute’s Choice mare Anamato, already a stakes producer through the Listed winner Anamba (GB). Arcaded is the first foal out of Gloriette (Lonhro), who was Group 3-placed and is out of Viennese (Redoute’s Choice), a one-time $1.4 million broodmare who is the full sister to Snitzel and half-sister to Hinchinbrook.

The nicking statistics say Street Boss matches well with a lot of Australia’s leading stallions of the past 15 years. He has produced 10 winners, including four stakes winners to mares by Exceed And Excel, seven winners, including a stakes winner, Anamoe, to Redoute’s Choice, while Arcaded is the first stakes winner out of a daughter of a stallion that Godolphin has a plentiful supply of mares by, Lonhro.

“We’ve got a lot of Lonhro mares and a lot of Exceed mares. The Street Cry-Lonhro mix has worked well, so in turn the Street Boss-Lonhro is working well, having produced a filly like Arcaded. We have got a lot of Exceed mares as well and he is working well with them too,” Makiv said.

In terms of the external breeders that have supported Street Boss, they are getting rewarded as well, with a near continuous increase in his average yearling price in Australia over the past five years. In 2016, he averaged $38,118, but that jumped to $64,500 in 2017 and to $79,333 in 2018. It levelled off at $73,655 in 2019, but jumped again to $87,347 last year.

The Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale has traditionally been his strongest Sale and he has 13 lots catalogued to sell at Oaklands Junction later this month.

“It’s all correlated. He gets a very good type and what he is now getting through his deeds on the track is a better mare quality, and not only that, he is getting better performances on the track. It’s all marrying up and things are looking very good for him going forward,” Makiv said.

“He’s been very popular for us the past few years for the nominations team selling nominations to him, and this year he’s going to be busy again.

“We use him internally with Godolphin and externally our clients are having luck using him as well.”

A quick return

Makiv, meanwhile, is settling into his new role, having briefly left Darley at the end of last year before having a change of heart.

“It was a quick departure and back. I obviously love the industry and it was sad. In the end I’ve been fortunate enough to poke my head back in. It’s great to be back,” he said.

“Essentially, it’s a little bit more of an expanded role. I was more focussed on Victoria in my previous role, and my new job takes in both New South Wales and Victoria in a sales capacity. The nominations team is essentially the same, but I’ll have more of an involvement in New South Wales. It’s more of a national role and I’m delighted and excited to be back in the fray.”

Makiv is anticipating a busy 2021, with several new faces, including some new shuttle stallions, set to be confirmed for the Darley roster in the next month or so.

“It’s an exciting time ahead with some great horses joining the roster, including Bivoauc in the near future and some exciting overseas prospects. Who knows with horses like Hanseatic as well,” he said.

“It’s an exciting time for the stallion roster and it’s a credit to the whole racing team that the stable is on fire as well.”

Article courtesy of Bren O’Brien TDN