'They said the Dubawis didn't walk and weren't athletic - how wrong they were!'

A new name has joined the likes of Highflyer, Hyperion, Northern Dancer and Sadler’s Wells inside the pantheon of champion sires as Dubawi claimed a first British and Irish title at the close of 2022. The Darley linchpin ended the calendar year with 99 winners, 23 stakes scorers and progeny earnings of £6,475,274 - a comfortable £1,166,153 more than his nearest rival, Frankel.

In truth, Dubawi’s brilliance has long been obvious. He has occupied a spot in the stallion table’s top five for each of the last ten years, most notably when beaten only by the great Galileo on four occasions between 2015 and 2020. But if recent times have made Dubawi attaining champion status appear a virtual inevitability, it is worth remembering that the industry has not always held him in quite such high esteem.

He brought plenty of upside when he retired to Dalham Hall Stud in 2006 having completed an unbeaten juvenile season that ended with victory in the Group 1 National Stakes. He added the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Prix Jacques le Marois at three and, given those exploits, was not prohibitively priced at an opening fee of £25,000.