Unencumbered, who had to be put down recently, sired his first winner at Echuca on Sunday, when Expedius won the Empo Plate.

It was a cruel blow for Three Bridges Stud and the Liston family, they will feel the loss as he was a lightly raced horse with a big future ahead of him, he was a popular horse among breeders that had used his services.

His first crop of yearlings was auctioned in 2017, they sold to $ 150,000 and $120,000, his draft of 31 yearlings averaged $60,000, an amazing return on a service fee of $11,000.

Unencumbered was by Testa Rossa, a brilliant sprinter and a successful sire, his progeny earnings alone amounted to over $76 million.

He was a lightly raced horse with loads of potential, whilst he had just the 10 starts, winning 5 races, and was only out of the money twice, with stake earnings of $1.908, 850.

Replacing Unencumbered could be difficult; a colt that wins a couple of races, the asking price can get mixed up with telephone numbers sometimes.

Back in the twenties the locally bred sire was known as the colonial sire, breeders preferring the imported horse, until Valais sired Heroic, he was a great racehorse and champion sire for seven seasons.

Breeders had to relent when Heroic sired Hall Mark, Nuffield, Hua and Ajax, he did sire the dual Derby winner Magnificent, that’s about all.

The imported horses were soon back on the scene where they had been previously ,until Todman and Vain appeared, the modern day breeders took a punt, and the locally bred sires are now dominant.