Australian return for Red Ransom

In a reversal of plans, popular shuttle stallion Red Ransom will return to Australia for the 2008 Southern Hemisphere breeding season, Vinery Stud Australia announced Friday.

Red Ransom missed last year's Southern Hemisphere season because of Australia's widespread equine influenza outbreak, and when he returned to Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's Dalham Hall stud in England, it was announced he would not make the trip south again.

But following negotiations between shareholders in the 21-year-old Roberto horse and Vinery, plans now call for Red Ransom to return. He will stand for about $62,700.