Dan The Man set to make his mark at stud

It was good to hear that old favourite Dan The Man, trained by David Hickey, will be given his chance to stand at stud, now that he has been retired from racing.

With 17 wins across four tracks, he was a consummate professional, but it was at Curraheen Park that he proved most prolific, winning 10 of his 16 starts, all bar one of which was at the top level.

He was a true sprinter and, somewhat unusually, the furthest he ever raced over was the 360 yards sprint at Thurles. He certainly isn’t bred to be a pure two-bend dog, as his dam, Natural Energy, was twice a winner over 575 yards, and produced 2011 Leger winner What A Tornado (by Crash), and the prolific Master Blaster (by Tyrur Ted), who was placed over 750 and 725 yards, and won over 700.