There’s a battle brewing in the Australian Second Season sires division for Victorian supremacy as promising young sires Reward for Effort and Stryker go head to head.

Reward for Effort

Blue Diamond winner Reward for Effort, a son of Exceed and Excel, has 33 winners on the board with earnings of $1.8 million, while Fastnet Rock’s blue-blooded son Stryker also has 33 winners of $1.2 million, plus a New Zealand Derby winner in Rangipo.

The competition between the two is fierce and both have done an outstanding job to date for their respective farms Chatswood Stud (Reward for Effort) and Three Bridges Thoroughbreds (Stryker).

On the two year-old front, Stryker leads with eight individual Australian two year-old winners, while Reward for Effort has six.

Reward for Effort leads on the score of stakes-winners with three in Australia this season – Gold Symphony, Take Pride, Dalradian – while Stryker hangs his hat on Rangipo, but has had stakes place-getters Labdien and Miss Nymeria.

Stryker

Stryker leads by strike rate this season with 41.8% winners to runners, but Reward for Effort is not far behind on 37.1%.

The battle continues today in earnest with six runners each for these in-form young stallions. Click here to see runners for Reward for Effort and here for Stryker. 

With yearlings selling for up to $380,000 this year, Reward for Effort has had a fee increase this spring and moves to $16,500, while Stryker remains at a fee of $11,000