This weekend sees the running of the Golden Slipper Stakes at Rosehill in Sydney, weather permitting, and cause for remembering a stallion whose only small crop shone brightly for a brief period.
A tweet from Stephen Irwin lauding the performance of the stallion Adraan had us dusting off the old books (remember those) of my own meagre library to remind me of the huge loss the horse was to the Australian industry.
The Golden Slipper is Australia’s premier two-year-old race and the world’s richest race for two-year-olds.
First run in 1957 and worth £20,000 it is nowadays often described as a ‘stallion making’ race – I prefer to think of it as career defining race and whichever juvenile is victorious tomorrow, assuming mother nature takes pity on Sydney, it will indeed be the biggest success in a hitherto first season of racing.
Several stallions have had their name write large in its records however, one horse who only had one shot at Slipper success was Adraan.
Bred and raced by HH The Aga Khan, Adraan embodied generations of the family’s breeding enterprises.
By the Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner Zeddaan (Grey Sovereign & pictured above) who he closely resembled, Adraan was 4×5 to brother and sister Nasrullah and Rivaz, his fourth dam, and descended from Mumtaz Mahal, his sixth dam.
A brilliantly fast horse, Adraan won the Prix du Bois and Prix d’Arenberg over 1000m at two and the Prix du Gros-Chene and Prix de Saint-Georges over 1000m at three, running a course record 55.5 seconds in the Saint-Georges.
Retired to the Brown family-owned Narrung Stud in South Australia and managed by Irwin’s father Les, Adraan covered 45 mares in his first and only season at stud in 1982, getting just 27 foals, 22 of which raced for 20 winners, seven stakes winners and nine stakes horses in total.
To put these into some form of context, the great Star Kingdom had 20 named foals in his first-crop for 18 runners and 16 winners, headed by the AJC Sires’ Produce Stakes and Breeders’ Plate winner Kingster and proceeded to sire first five winners of the Golden Slipper Stakes to make him Australia’s most successful and influential sire of the modern pre-Danehill era.
Adraan’s best runner was the Gr1 Thousand Guineas and Doncaster Handicap winner Magic Flute followed by Gr2 winners Khaptivaan, El Vaquero and Adraanito.
As a broodmare sire Adraan had a total of 78 runners for 57 winners, five stakes winners headed by Gr1 winners You Remember and Khaptingly
In the 1986 Golden Slipper Stakes Adraan was represented by three of the 16 runners – Magic Flute, Khaptivaan and Bataan.
Khaptivaan’s son Devaraja (Sir Tristram) won at Flemington and Morphettvile then stood in South Australia and sired five stakes winners headed by the Gr3 Dermody Stakes at Morphettville winner Raja Lane.
Bataan stood at stud but failed to emulate his own sire getting just one stakes winner from 10 crops before being exported to Thailand in 1997 but is still present as the maternal grandsire of Queensland filly Real Surreal.
Adraan’s son Wham was only placed however, he sired the New Zealand Gr1 winner Captain Cook and the Gr3 winning Adelaide sprinter Corregidor while Stardraan won in Melbourne and from 81 live foals got the Tasmanian Listed winner Ashaard.
Unfortunately Adraan died prematurely as a result of skin cancer in December 1982 and Australia lost a potential champion stallion.