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Star Newgate resident now a Melbourne Cup-winning sire.
Extreme Choice was a phenomenon before Tuesday's Melbourne Cup, but the Newgate stallion enhanced his status when Knight's Choice won the 3200-metre Group 1.
The son of Not A Single Doubt added his name to the most famous honour roll in Australian racing when his five-year-old gelding held out Japan's Warp Speed to win the $8.5 million event.
The victory saw Extreme Choice become the first stallion to sire the winners of a Melbourne Cup and a Golden Slipper since Sir Tristram with the victory the fourth at the highest level for the 11-year-old.
Along with Stay Inside, who won the 2021 Golden Slipper, Extreme Choice is the sire of Coolmore Classic (1500m) winner Espiona and VRC Oaks (2500m) winner She's Extreme.
Extreme Choice has had well-publicised fertility issues and Stay Inside and Espiona are among 48 foals from his first crop, while Knight's Choice and She's Extreme are among just 25 named-foals from his second crop.
He has not had any more than 42 foals a year in any of his five subsequent seasons and Newgate manages his book accordingly with his fee for the past few seasons being $275,000.
It was just $22,000 in 2018, the year Knight's Choice was conceived, and John Symons paid $85,000 for him out of Book 2 at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Knight's Choice was bred by Norm and Di Bazeley of Elswick Park in Walcha and becomes the first Melbourne Cup winner by an Australian-bred stallion since Rogan Josh in 1999.
Symons, in partnership with Sheila Laxon, trained his dam Midnight Pearl, who is a daughter of two-time Golden Slipper-winning sire More Than Ready.
Midnight Pearl's first trip to the breeding barn in 2013 produced Charlie Jack, who retired an 11-start maiden, while did not have a foal the following two years.
She returned to Rothesay in 2016 and had Rock Ready who, coincidentally, also had 11 winless starts, while third foal Azzam had nine starts with the best result 4-1/2-length sixth in a 1500m Mudgee maiden.
Midnight Pearl had a Winning Rupert filly in 2020 that has not been named, while she is listed by the Australian Studbook as having had a filly by The Autumn Sun on September 23 this year.
