6 Aug 2007
The loss of the young Queensland based sire Moon Rocket (Jpn) was highlighted in a media release revealing the Japanese bred son of Zabeel was the leading first season sire in Australia for the 2006/2007 season by average earnings per runner.
A minor winner in Japan from just three starts, Moon Rocket died in July of 2006 after covering just three books of mares.
MOON ROCKET had breeders taking notice when his first ever runner MISS WATAGAN came out as an early 2yo and won 3 races in a row (including 2 stakes wins) making her the highest prizemoney earning 2yo in Australia in the 2nd half of 2006.
From the limited opportunities he had in the 1st year of his short-lived career as a stallion, MOON ROCKET's 2yos racked up average earnings of over A$36,000 in his first season, to outperform all other 1st season sires.
Admittedly, the majority of those earnings were collected by MISS WATAGAN (who is being targeted at the feature Melbourne sprints this Spring), but on the other hand, they do not include the earnings of YONG PUNG, who is probably the best bred foal from his first crop.
Yong Pung is a half-brother to Group Three BTC Summer Stakes winner Baal Yabba being from the Black Zephyr mare Windscape.
YONG PUNG is still undefeated, and has been smashing all foreign bred 2yos racing in Korea, including a dominating win (by 5 lengths!) in the inaugural Korea Magic Million 2yo Classic.
Below are the final figures for the 1st Season Sires in 2006/2007, and the numbers tell the story of MOON ROCKET's success.
He was 9th on the overall prizemoney ranking - and was the only sire in the Top 10 with less than 20 runners!
Sire Average Earnings
Moon Rocket (Jpn) $36,116
Hussonet (USA) $31,848
Snowland $28,008
Elusive Quality (USA) $26,603
Any Given Sunday $26,384
Rock of Gibraltar (IRE) $23,472
JunglePocket (Jpn) $21,300
Choisir $21,284
Oamaru Force $20,434
Falvelon $19,643
MOON ROCKET's 3yos have started off this season almost as well as his 2yos did last year, with debutante PRESSED ON making an eye-catching debut (even caught caller Steve Hawkin's eye) last Saturday when flashing home in the later stages of the unsuitable sprint race at the Gold Coast after clearly missing the start.
The fact that MOON ROCKET was the youngest sire in the Top 35 1st season sires last year reinforces how big a loss he was to the Australian breeding industry.