Progressive boutique farm Kitchwin Hills opened the gates last Saturday afternoon, inviting broodmare owners to inspect their two stallions for this spring in Dane Shadow and the much admired new addition Duporth.

A perfect sunny afternoon and warm hospitality made for an enjoyable day with TVN and New Zealand Bloodstock"s Richard Haynes hosting proceedings with commentary on the stallions provided by Kitchwin Farm Manager, Mick Malone.

To be honest, these stallions don"t require a lot of hype as they sell themselves and are priced attractively.

Dane Shadow is a far more impressive horse in the flesh than his early photos suggest and there would be breeders who were swayed into a booking based on what they saw.

A stakes-winning son of champion sire Danehill (USA), Dane Shadow owes quite a bit in appearance to his maternal grand-sire Centaine and has shown himself capable of getting a very stylish type of yearling as his sale ring results attest.

His initial books lacked sorely for quality as Mick Malone was quick to point out and yet he still produced three Group performers from that first crop in Shellscrape, Hurtle Myrtle and Shadow Assassin.

Breeders supported him strongly last spring in bot numbers and quality and show every indication of doing so again this year with his fee remaining at $16,500.

Anybody who saw Duporth at the races knows that he is an impressive looking thoroughbred and it"s not hard to imagine what he will look like when he really starts to let down.

Dark brown to near black in colour with a distinctive white splash on his forehead, Duporth has the powerful muscular physique of the serious hard core sprinter.

Pedigree wise he is very appealing to the owners of Danzig line mares as his sire Red Ransom (USA) and dam-sire Success Express (USA) have both worked well with the line and his grand-dam Cinerama brings another positive in Bletchingly into the equation through her sire Best Western.

Priced at $22,000 he sits between Red Ransom"s other Group One winning sons going to stud this spring in Onemorenomore ($24,200) and All American ($16,500).

Kitchwin Hills are in the enviable position of offering two stallions that can cover the needs of most commercial breeders in that one (Dane Shadow) has the Danehill blood that is so highly prized and the other (Duporth) is the outcross which the owners of Danehill line mares are seeking - so essentially they are a one stop shop.

Many thanks to the team at Kitchwin Hills for putting on such a great day and a special thankyou to those "Good Samaritans" (you know who you are!) who helped a damsel in distress with a flat tyre on the road back to Gundy, I shall be eternally grateful.