The wonder from down under might be gone but won't be forgotten

Overlooked by punters when allowed to start at 25-1 for the 2003 King's Stand Stakes, and arguably not properly appreciated by breeders since, Choisir is overdue some recognition. For while many industry professionals agree him to be underrated, their respect has appeared to do little for the status of this ultra-dependable stallion.

The sire of 51 stakes winners in his native Australia, and 83 worldwide, he has supplied 11 Group 1 winners - one more than his lauded shuttling adversary, Exceed and Excel. True, the latter has sired 19 more Graded stakes winners - albeit from just over a hundred more runners - but their respective covering fees for the forthcoming Australian breeding season should also be factored into comparisons. Choisir costs A$29,700 (£18,075/€20,210), while if you decide to take your mare slightly further into the Hunter Valley, to Darley's Kelvinside Stud, you will have to stump up A$110,000.

The Coolmore stallion does have his admirers in Australia, however. In January, at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Gai Waterhouse purchased a colt out of a half-sister to Group 1 Doncaster Handicap winner Sacred Choice for A$450,000. The year previously renowned judge James Harron went to A$560,000 for one of his sons, while the China Horse Club parted with A$520,000 for subsequent Group 3-winning juvenile and Group 1 J J Atkins third Taking Aim.

It seems his progeny have proved as dependable in the sales ring as they have on the racecourse, with Choisir's Australian yearling average having dipped below three-times his covering fee just the once in the last four years.

The son of Danehill Dancer made his name on home soil at three by winning the Group 1 Lightning Stakes, and when the SARS virus prevented a raid on Singapore he was re-directed to Royal Ascot. There he defied a penalty to beat two highly accomplished sires of the future, Acclamation and Oasis Dream, in the King's Stand (then run at Group 2 level), before backing up four days later to beat champion filly Airwave - now the second dam of Churchill - in the Golden Jubilee.

Following a second in the July Cup and a return to Australia to cover his first book of mares, he stood his first northern hemisphere season at Castle Hyde Stud in 2004 at a fee of €15,000.

A fitful reception since, however, means that Choisir has been absent from Coolmore's Irish stallion roster since 2014 - and that we are now enjoying the work of his final northern hemisphere-bred two-year-olds.

In fairness, we have been here before. Choisir quit shuttling after the 2009 season, only to return to Ireland for the 2013 and 2014 breeding seasons. It would be harsh to blame Coolmore for his latest disappearance. His 2010 crop had fallen to just 46 foals, and the 44 members of this current crop suggest that their perseverance was ill-rewarded. They are hardly the most regally bred bunch, after all, with just two of the 44 out of black-type winners and a further two out of black-type producers.

Yet they include no less a colt than Coventry winner Rajasinghe. He shares his name with a 16th Century Sri Lankan warrior king, who held off the invading Portuguese - and, much like his namesake, Rajasinghe is making a stand of his own against the numerically stronger battalions of more fashionable sires.

Rajasinghe lands the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at Royal AscotCredit: Mark Cranham

Choisir has already produced eight individual two-year-old scorers across Britain and Ireland this term at a winners-to-runners ratio of 48 per cent. Among that number is Fozzy Stack's Sirici, who highlighted the toughness associated with many of Choisir's progeny when taking a Listed event on her sixth start at the beginning of the month - a victory that came at the expense of subsequent Group 3 Anglesey Stakes winner Actress.

The potency of Choisir's two-year-olds means he currently sits third in this season's European two-year-old sires' table - behind only Galileo and the juvenile winner-factory that is Kodiac.

In 2012-13 he sired 22 Australian juvenile winners, topping the sires' list by number of two-year-old scorers. In all he has provided 34 juvenile stakes winners to date, with Group 1 winners in France (Olympic Glory in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere), Britain (The Last Lion in the Middle Park), Australia (The Mission in this year’s ATC Champagne Stakes) and New Zealand (Choice Bro in the Manawatu Sires' Produce).

He has also proved adept in imparting his three-year-old speed, with two winners of the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas - Starspandgledbanner and Divine Prophet - and a winner of the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes in Japonisme.

Starspangledbanner (striped cap): the son of Choisir wins the 2010 July CupCredit: Edward Whitaker

His progeny also tend to improve with age. Olympic Glory won Group 1s at two, three and four, NZ Derby second Historian won the Group 1 Zabeel Classic at six while Obviously took the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Sprint as an eight-year-old.

His sire, Danehill Dancer, topped the broodmare sires' tables for Britain and Ireland in 2016, and Choisir looks to carry on the family tradition, with his daughters bearing Royal Ascot Group 1 winners Winter and My Dream Boat to add to the Matron Stakes second Persuasive and Grand Prix de Paris runner-up Red Verdon.

With Choisir having now left the northern hemisphere for good, there is little point lamenting his loss. Instead we should perhaps be making sure that the past does not repeat itself. This autumn we will see if Olympic Glory's first yearlings sink or swim at the sales, and then next season we will discover whether they have inherited the resolve and speed of their grandsire.

As things stand, however, Starspangledbanner has put himself forward as Choisir's most likely heir. He is very much in the mould of his sire, as both stallions are out of Australian-bred, sprint-winning juveniles, and both travelled north to win the Golden/Diamond Jubilee.

Though Starspangledbanner's stud career was initially stilted by poor fertility, this did not stop him churning out nine stakes performers - including Queen Mary winner Anthem Alexander and Prix Morny and Coventry winner The Wow Signal - from his first crop of 28 runners. With his fertility salvaged, he was drafted back from Rosemont Stud in Australia to cover a book of 120 at Coolmore in 2016.

With no two-year-olds since 2015, it has been left to Group 3 winner Home Of The Brave to keep his sire's name in breeders' minds. And a win in the Group 2 Lennox Stakes in ten days' time might also help keep the mares coming to Starspangledbanner - and so ensuring that he doesn't suffer the same fate as his perennially underestimated sire.