The runaway win by Profiteer in the recent Inglis Millennium race for juveniles was notable for several reasons.
Apart from propelling him into conversation as a Golden Slipper Stakes contender, it also further fueled the commercial fires underneath his sire Capitalist ahead of the 2021 round of yearling sales.
The win is noteworthy for the way Profiteer is bred, with duplications of Fusaichi Pegasus and Danehill.
Inbreeding to successful sires is an inevitable consequence when there is a strong influence of a very successful stallion and his sons.
Profiteer is the 234th stakes winner worldwide to be inbred to Danehill however, this is from at least 12,000 foals with a similar duplication, so it is clearly not a silver bullet.
In Australia the Danehill influence is great and still expanding, so inbreeding to the son of Danzig was always going to be something to watch and it’s fair to say the early results through Danehill sire sons hardly inspired confidence.
Up to February 13, there are 20 Group 1 winners with a duplication of Danehill including last year’s Caulfield Cup winner Verry Elleegant, the Golden Slipper Stakes winner Farnan, Hong Kong sprinter Beat The Clock as well as Bivouac, Sunlight and Guelph.
Like so many statistics, it is the way they are interpreted that makes a study interesting – and difficult to interpret.
For instance, there are 54 male line descendants of Danehill involved in stakes winners with duplications with the most successful Not A Single Doubt and Snitzel.
Both are sons of Redoute’s Choice with Not A Single Doubt boasting a 10% strike rate of stakes horses to runners (22 from 203) headed by Golden Slipper Stakes winner Farnan.
Snitzel has larger numbers – 753 named foals with a duplication of Danehill – and he is involved in 29 stakes performers with his best the Gr3 winning filly Immortal Love while his Gr1 winning son Shamus Award has the Gr2 winner Soul Patch out of a Flying Spur.
Another son of Redoute’s Choice who showed an affinity for Danehill was Beneteau, who had four stakes winners from 21 runners including Group-winning siblings Prompt Response and Prompt Return.
Of course, what made Danehill so great as a stallion was not just the performance of his offspring, but the influence of his daughters and curiously, it is through his female influence that duplicating Danehill appears to be more effective.
Frankel and Intello are Gr1 winners by Galileo out of Danehill mares and both stallions have stakes winners with duplications of Danehill.
Frankel has nine stakes performers from 88 foals headed by Australian Gr2 winner Miss Fabulass (Redoute’s Choice) and Gr3 winner Cunco (Danehill Dancer) while Prix du Jockey-Club winner Intello has five stakes horses from 38 foals headed by Gr3 winner and Gr1 Grand Prix de Paris runner-up Slalom.
Champion Teofilo is bred on the same Galileo / Danehill cross as Frankel and he is involved in 22 stakes performers as a male and female influence, headed by Gr1 Prix Royal-Oak winner Subjectivist.
Champion Camelot is by Montjeu (Sadler’s Wells) with Danehill as his maternal grandsire and the Coolmore stallion has eight stakes winners from 175 named foals headed by the Irish Oaks winner Even So (4×2) and the French Gr1 winner Wonderment (4×4).
Australian Gr1 winner Spirit of Boom (Sequalo) is out of a mare by Special Dane (Danehill) and he currently has nine stakes performers from 148 named foals with four stakes winners, headed by the rejuvenated Jonker.
Another Gr1 winner shaping with promise is Pride Of Dubai, bred on the reverse Street Cry / Danehill cross as Farnan.
Pride Of Dubai only has two crops of racing age in Europe and Australia but he currently has seven stakes horses (four stakes winners) with a Danehill duplication from 88 foals bred this way including the Irish Gr3 winner Flying Visit (Teofilo) and Irish Listed winner Fancy Man (Galileo).
Melbourne Cup winner Shocking is by Street Cry out of a Danehill mare and he has a New Zealand Listed winner with a Danehill duplication.
One young stallion showing an affinity with Danehill is Zoustar.
The Gr1 winner is out of a Redoute’s Choice mare and has 14 stakes performers from 194 named foals headed by the Gr1 winner Sunlight and the Gr2 winner Haut Brion Her out of a Redoute’s Choice mare.
Siyouni (Pivotal) is another successful stallion out of a Danehill mare and he has eight stakes performers from 66 named foals with a Danehill duplication including the UK Listed winner Maqsad (Galileo).
So returning to Profiteer, his Golden Slipper winning sire Capitalist (Written Tycoon) has Danehill as his maternal grandsire and currently has seven stakes performers in his first-crop with four of them carrying duplications of Danehill as well as two other winners.
A simple review of the broad brush statistics would suggest a duplication of Danehill is far from a silver bullet however, it is improving over time and may not be as big a negative as some would have us believe.