Street Cry taken out of stud duty in Australia

Leading sire Street Cry has been taken out of service at Darley’s Australian division due to lameness.

Racing Post reports that the 16-year-old son of Machiavellian is suffering from a neurological ailment that had caused severe lameness in his right foreleg and has left him unable to stand for long periods of time. He is unlikely to return to the breeding shed for the current Southern Hemisphere season, which began on Monday.

"It's an ongoing lameness issue that has been really troubling the horse for a couple of weeks now," Henry Plumptre, Darley Australia’s managing director, told Racing Post. "It's not an obvious problem, more of a nerve issue. It's not like a fracture or an abscess that can be easily diagnosed, and it's not in an area that we can MRI. We're just throwing treatments at him at the moment and looking for improvement.

"He was marginally better this week but had a slight relapse this morning,” Plumptre continued. “We're doing everything we can to get him over the hump and back to good health."

Street Cry was about to begin his tenth season shuttling to Darley’s Australian base in Kelvinside, New South Wales. He recently completed his 11th season at stud in the Northern Hemisphere, standing his entire career at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky. His advertised U.S. fee for 2014 was $100,000, while his Southern Hemisphere fee was set at $103,280 ($110,000 Australian).

“Darley is working with veterinary specialists to try and resolve the problem as well as with its clients that had mares due to be covered by him this year,” read a statement from Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum’s international racing and breeding operation.

Street Cry is the sire of nine crops of racing age, led in the Northern Hemisphere by 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta; Street Sense, the champion 2-year-old male of 2006 and 2007 Kentucky Derby winner; and Grade/Group 1 winners New Year’s Day, Street Boss, Victor’s Cry, Street Hero, Here Comes Ben, Seventh Street, Cry and Catch Me, Lyric of Light, and Majestic Roi.

His leading Southern Hemisphere runners include Australian champion stayer Shocking, champion 3-year-old colt Whobegotyou, Peruvian champion 3-year-old Tomcito, and Australian Group 1 winner Long John.

Racing as a homebred for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing, Street Cry won 5 of 12 starts during his on-track career for earnings of $5,150,837. His résumé is highlighted by wins in the 2002 Dubai World Cup and Stephen Foster Handicap, as well as the Group 2 Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum Challenge Round 3. He was named the U.A.E.’s Horse of the Year in 2002.