Sooboog to stand at Kitchwin Hills

Kitchwin Hills in Australia has snapped up Sooboog, a smart sprinter with a regal pedigree, for stallion duty from this year.

Sooboog is a son of in-demand sire Snitzel and a brother to Group 1 Lightning Stakes winner Snitzerland, out of the Fraar mare Monte Rosa, a sister to Group 1-placed Nina Haraka.

He was bought by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale for A$1.5 million, making him the most expensive Snitzel at the time, with the price bettered only four times since.

Sooboog was originally trained by the Hawkes team, for whom he won a September barrier trial by five and a half lengths before finishing a close second to champion Vancouver in a Listed contest at two.

Subsequently moved to Darren Weir, he won the Group 3 Aurie's Star Handicap over 6f at Flemington and finished second in a Group 2 last year. He will target Group 1 sprints at the autumn and winter carnivals before heading off to stud.

John Hawkes said: "Sooboog was the early favourite for the Golden Slipper for good reason, but after injuring himself when looming up to beat subsequent Golden Slipper winner Vancouver in the Breeders Plate, we never got to see how good he really was at two.

"However, Sooboog was certainly right up there with some of the better two-year-olds I've ever trained."

Kitchwin Hills is offering a limited number of lifetime breeding rights in Sooboog, priced at A$30,000 (plus GST) and allowing the owner to breed two live foals in 2017, two live foals in 2018 and a lifetime breeding right from 2019 onwards.

Sooboog will stand at a minimum fee of A$12,000 this year, which may be revised upwards depending on his future performances on the track.