No, not in his first 4 seasons at stud Tony. Rather, as racehorses...as in when his first few crops hit the track, the bagging was big, the Kiwis in particular were jumping off quicker than the proverbials leaving a sinking ship, and for quite a while the CUF's seemed to be doing very little if anything to refute it. Perhaps a bit too much was expected of them as you said, however to be fair who put that level of expectation on them to begin with? It wasn't solely the domain of the Breeders nor the Buyers. At the time NR played a pretty fair old hand in stoking that fire too.
Interestingly, and for reasons that perhaps may never become totally clear, over the years I reckon the complete converse has happened and there have been a few horses that, given their initial results, I'd have thought the Kiwi industry really should have run screaming from. Instead they have kept supporting them up to the point of them IMO having been given way, way more than a reasonable shot at the prize. Two horses in particular that come to mind right now are Elsu and McArdle. Honestly, what the...? The aforementioned Lazarus only ever made one comeback. CUF has starred in and won an Oscar for that role. Fertility wise, that Direct Scooter/ITP line has always been a bit touch and go in terms of reproductive longevity. ITP went that way himself, CC the same, CUF the same. I believe Mach Three's not so flash either.
