Volksraad (GB)
Volksraad - seven times Champion NZ sire
Champion sire of Orange County
5:03 PM Friday Aug 21, 2009
He has dominated New Zealand’s own general sires’ list, with seven titles from 2001 to 2009, but he’s rewarded plenty of international owners too.
Just ask the owners of Orange County, a splendid competitor over five seasons and winner of the MRC Rupert Clarke S. G1 at Caulfield in September 2008.
Volksraad stood his first season at a bread-and-butter fee of $2500 and quickly proved his champagne-and-caviar worth as New Zealand’s champion sire of two-year-olds. He did it with his first crop of just 49 foals, nine (18%) of them stakeswinners.
Ten Group One horses include Oakleigh Plate & Wellington Cup winners
With brilliant babies like One Under, Vinaka, Thriller, Zola and Katana on his record, Volksraad was pegged as a reliable source of precocity, perfectly suited to many New Zealand female families.
He still leaves natural running two-year-olds, but he’s turned out to be much more than that. Want a top-class three-year-old? Veloce Bella, Star Satire, Tusker and Blackrock College did the job.
Need a Cup horse? Willy Smith and Torlesse fill the bill.
A classy sprinter-miler? Take your pick: Orange County, Dantelah, Clifton Prince, Fiscal Madness, Volkaire, Bahnhof Zoo, or Dezigna, winning at Group One level as a nine-year-old.
A courageous multiple Group One weight-for-age winner? Try the people’s hero, Sir Slick.