I'm having problem with client side validation on a View that renders a dropdownlist with help of a Html.RenderAction.

I have two controllers. SpecieController and CatchController and I've created ViewModels for my views. I want to keep it as DRY as possible and I will most probably need a DropDownList for all Specie elsewhere in the near future.

When I create a Catch i need to set a relationship to one specie, I do this with an id that I get from the DropDownList of Species.

ViewModels.Catch.Create

[Required]
public int Length { get; set; }

[Required]
public int Weight { get; set; }

[Required]
[Range(1, int.MaxValue)]
public int SpecieId { get; set; }

ViewModels.Specie.List

public DropDownList(IEnumerable<SelectListItem> species) { this.Species = species; }
public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Species { get; private set; }

My View for the Catch.Create action uses the ViewModels.Catch.Create as a model.

But it feels that I'm missing something in the implemetation. What I want in my head is to connect the selected value in the DropDownList that comes from the RenderAction to my SpecieId.

View.Catch.Create

<div class="editor-label">
    <%: Html.LabelFor(model => model.SpecieId) %>
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
    <%-- Before DRY refactoring, works like I want but not DRY 
         <%: Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.SpecieId, Model.Species) %>
    --%>
    <% Html.RenderAction("DropDownList", "Specie"); %>
    <%: Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.SpecieId) %>
</div>

CatchController.Create

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(ViewModels.CatchModels.Create myCatch)
{
  if (ModelState.IsValid)
  {
    // Can we make this StronglyTyped?
    int specieId = int.Parse(Request["Species"]);

    // Save to db
    Catch newCatch = new Catch();
    newCatch.Length = myCatch.Length;
    newCatch.Weight = myCatch.Weight;
    newCatch.Specie = SpecieService.GetById(specieId);
    newCatch.User = UserService.GetUserByUsername(User.Identity.Name);

    CatchService.Save(newCatch);
}

This scenario works but not as smooth as i want.

1. ClientSide validation does not work for SpecieId (after i refactored), I see why but don't know how I can ix it.
2. Can I "glue" the DropDownList SelectedValue into myCatch so I don't need to get the value from Request["Species"]

Thanks in advance for taking your time on this.