New homes for Stratheden's sires
August 9, 2002
The decision by the Brian Marheine family to concentrate on breeding by patronising Australia's most fashionable sires has resulted in the transfer to other studs of the three sires that have been standing at their Stratheden Stud at Tamworth. Their prolific source of winners Switch In Time moved to Queensland earlier in the year and their other proven sire of winners, the former brilliant Star Watch two-year-old Pauillac, has been purchased by Newcastle motor dealer Ken Delforce and is to stand alongside his promising Danehill sire Sedaka at his Kendel Park Stud at Willow Tree between the Hunter Valley and Tamworth. The Marheine's have retained ownership of the young sire Vitrinite, a horse which won seven races for them in Sydney and placed in five major events including the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill, but have arranged for the eye-catching 16.2 hands black son of one of the best Bletchingly sires, Lord Ballina, to relocate to a prominent Scone Stud, the O'Donnell family's Pine Lodge. Standing at Pine Lodge alongside the Nijinsky sire Humam on a fee of $2500 and coming up to his second season,Vitrinite provides mare owners with the opportunity to use a well bred well performed young sire from the all powerful Star Kingdom male line at a very modest cost. Genetically, he has very close blood ties with Bureaucracy, the sire of this year's Doomben Cup winner Mr Bureaucrat, both of them being sons of Lord Ballina and having former champion sire Oncidium close up in their maternal pedigrees. The transfer of Vitrinite, Pauillac and Switch In Time means that Stratheden will not have sires available this year for the first time in over 30 years. Since the Marheines purchased Stratheden Stud from John and Kay Park in the mid 1990s, they have developed an elite band of broodmares and bred high quality performers including dual Australian champion Assertive Lad using outside sires. They also achieved an Australian record price for a yearling filly when they topped this year's Easter sale with a daughter of Danehill selling for $1.5million |
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