The former English galloper Ironclad gave the champion sire Dubawi a rare Australian stakes winner when he scored a hollow victory in the Listed Golden Mile at Bendigo, making it four-from-four in his new home.
Ironclad won two races in the UK where he was bred and raced by Juddmonte Farms and trained by Hugo Palmer, but he has established a reputation as an up-and-coming star while building an impeccable record here. Given a perfect ride by Jamie Kah, Ironclad travelled sweetly behind the leaders until easing away from the fence with 400m to run, from which point he had the race at his mercy, going on to win by a length and three quarters from Platoon.
Ironclad is out of the G1-winning Green Desert mare Heat Haze and is a half-brother to Mirage Dancer, a G1 winner in Australia who also won three Stakes races in the UK. Heat Haze is a daughter of the outstanding broodmare Hasili, the dam of five G1 winners including Champs Elysees, a multiple G1 winners in North America, Cacique, Intercontinental and Banks Hill. Hasili is also the dam of the high-class racehorse and sire, Dansili.
Ironclad is one of 198 individual Stakes winners for his outstanding sire Dubawi who boasts a number of exciting entries this afternoon at Meydan.
Dubawi stands at Dalham Hall Stud at a fee of £250,000 1 Oct, SLF.
