Doctor Dino assigned record covering fee for a National Hunt sire

Haras du Mesnil has increased the fee for Doctor Dino from €12,000 to €16,000 for next year's breeding season. The revised figure is believed to be a record for a jumps sire.

His French compatriots Martaline and Saint Des Saints have stood at €15,000 in recent years, the same price commanded by Beeches Stud stalwart Flemensfirth since 2018.

Multiple champion National Hunt sire King's Theatre stood at a high of €9,000 before his death in 2011, while the leading British-based stallion designated for this discipline, Kayf Tara, has commanded £10,000 for the past three seasons.

Doctor Dino has entered uncharted waters for a jumps sire due to his early crops – the oldest of which is aged eight – yielding eight black-type scorers including the Grade 1 winners La Bague Au Roi, Master Dino, Sceau Royal and Sharjah.

The only four lots by the stallion to come under the hammer at the store sales in Ireland this year changed hands for prices of €130,000, €65,000, €62,000 and €58,000.

Another big-money transaction for a Doctor Dino offspring this year came at the Arqana Auteuil Sale in May when the JP McManus team of Hubert Barbe and Charlie Swan gave €105,000 for the winning three-year-old filly Sainte Doctor.

Doctor Dino, a 17-year-old son of Muhtathir, was a tough and classy performer on the international stage during his racing career for Richard Gibson, winning the Man O'War Stakes and back-to-back renewals of the Hong Kong Vase as well as notching third-place finishes in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, Dubai Sheema Classic, Champion Stakes, Arlington Million, Singapore Cup and Prix Ganay.

He started his second career at Haras du Mesnil at a fee of €3,000 in 2010, when he covered 55 mares, and his popularity sank to a low of 29 covers two years later.

However, on the back of the success of his early stock, he covered 155 mares at a fee of €8,000 in 2018 and the same number when pitched at €12,000 this season.

Doctor Dino was initially billed as a Flat stallion and several of his offspring have excelled on the level, including Group 3 winners Golden Legend and Villa Rosa, plus Prix de Diane runner-up Physiocrate.

He is also responsible for the Karl Burke-trained Kelly's Dino, winner of the valuable Old Newton Cup handicap at Haydock in the summer.

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