Archive for category: Industry News

The much anticipated 2022 Victorian Stallion parades begin this week with Rosemont hosting on Friday, August 12.

Kicking off at 11am, register via amy@rosemontstud.com.au to see SHAMUS AWARD, HANSEATIC, STRASBOURG & the new and exciting EXTREME WARRIOR.

Yulong hosts the second stallion parade in Victoria on Sunday, August 14 at 10.30am, with the likes of GRUNT, TAGALOA and of course one of Australia’s champion stallions, WRITTEN TYCOON, all on show.

Register via rsvp@yulonginvest.com.au to attend.

On Friday, August 19, Widden hosts the first parade of the day (invite only) before Darley parade BRAZEN BEAU, FROSTED, KERMADEC & many more at 1.30pm.

Register via https://bit.ly/3zzdB8i to attend.

On Saturday, August 20, Cornwall Park will display their five exciting stallions across two sessions (11am & 4pm), which include DANERICH, INFERENCE & Melbourne Cup runner-up JOHANNES VERMEER.

Register via https://bit.ly/3vLC8pB to attend.

To conclude the week, Swettenham Stud kick off  Sunday, August 21 proceedings at 11.00am, displaying the likes of I AM IMMORTAL, exciting new import WOODED and of course one of Australia’s stars in TORONADO.

Register via Sam@swettenham.com.au.

To finish off the day, Leneva Park will host an open house parade straight after the conclusion of Swettenham’s, parading their two boys ROYAL MEETING & FIERCE IMPACT.

Make sure you get along to as many of these parades as you can to see some of the best horse flesh in Victoria and across Australia.

The inaugural VOBIS Sires Boost vouchers will be up for grabs on August 2, with a total of $60,000 in vouchers available to be won across the two VOBIS Gold races at the Warrnambool meeting.

The 3YO 1200m Super Vobis Maiden and 3100m BM78 Highweight are the two races on the card with $30,000 in Vobis Sires Boost vouchers attached to them.

Available on all 250+ VOBIS Gold race across Victoria each year, all VOBIS Sires progeny who are VOBIS Gold nominated will be eligible to win $30,000 in vouchers in addition to the prize money and bonuses on offer, which will be given to the winning owners.

Given that the oldest VOBIS Sires horse is rising six, VOBIS Gold races are on offer to two-year-olds, all the way up to three-year-old & up staying events – the VOBIS program has never been more valuable and enticing to the Victorian market.

This VOBIS scheme now adds up to triple the initial value on offer in races from country to metropolitan racetracks, ensuring Victorian owners, trainers and jockeys are rewarded for supporting this phenomenal racing & breeding state.

Warrnambool CEO Tom O’Connor is elated to be hosting the first two VOBIS Gold races carrying the additional $30,000 in VOBIS Sires Boost vouchers.

“Warrnambool is a strong racing ownership jurisdiction with great support from all of our local trainers,” O’Connor said.

“Hosting the first two races carrying VOBIS Sires Boost vouchers is great for our Warrnambool program and of course the owners with horses running in these races.

“This is a great initiative, anything that sees the encouragement of investing in Victorian racing and breeding is exciting for the state.”

With $7.5 millions in VOBIS Sires Boost vouchers up for grabs, it is essential to give yourself and all owners the chance to reap some amazing rewards.

Make sure that you are checking to see if your horse is VOBIS Gold eligible through this link, and check this link to see if their stallion is VOBIS Sires nominated.

Click here to see the upcoming VOBIS Gold races, commencing August 2.

Quilly Park’s Richard Anderson has plenty of faith in the unraced stallion De Gaulle (Exceed and Excel x Response) which he bought in partnership with Broker Park Stud’s John Pratt to stand at Bombora Downs.

After covering only nine mares in a heavily Covid-impacted 2021, Anderson said the interest in the stallion continues to gather momentum and he is confident De Gaulle will serve his biggest book of mares this year.

With just eight of his progeny to so far hit the track, the stallion bought up his third winner when filly Rosa’s Revenge won on debut for Pakenham trainer Rachael Cunningham over 1114m at Moe on Saturday at odds of $11.

Anderson said the phone had already started ringing with breeders making inquiries about the stallion which won two trials for Randwick trainers Peter and Paul Snowden before breaking down with a tendon injury which forced his retirement before getting to the races where the Golden Slipper was targeted.

Anderson said it was fantastic for the stallion to get another winner to go with his three placegetters.

“It was fantastic for Rachael Cunningham and my partner John Pratt and it was a great result for them, with the horse leading the whole way,” he said.

“Being its first start it was entitled to be run down but it was strong enough and sustained its run, so they obviously had it fit enough.

“It was a good result for the stallion.”

Anderson said he’d had three phone calls on Monday morning from breeders making enquiries and already has a number of bookings.

“And at this stage he might have his best year based on forecasts,” he said.

“Getting results on the track speaks for itself and if we didn’t do that obviously no one would ring.”

Anderson said it was hoped that De Gaulle would be represented at Cranbourne on Thursday with three runners – Madame Du Gast, Bonjour De Gaulle and Chase De Ace.

The trio, who will only start if the track is not too heavy, are all trained at Cranbourne by Trevor Rogers who is a huge supporter of the stallion.

Chase de Ace (Pride Phet) was bred by Pratt, while Madame Du Gast and Bonjour De Gaulle were both bred by Anderson.

While Chase de Ace and Bonjour De Gaulle are both making their debuts, Madame Du Gast was De Gaulle’s first winner when she won on debut at Flemington in January over 1000m.

“People who have previously booked mares to the stallion have come back to him and said they are interested in going again which is great and there are a couple of new clients in there which is also great,” Anderson said.

“If we can get Madame Du Gast to go through her grades and if we can get Bonjour De Gaulle to win first up and Chase De Ace to win first up, then it would be five from 10.

“Craig Williams is going to ride Madame Du Gast and Bonjour De Gaulle on Thursday which is great but we won’t run if it’s a heavy track.”

De Gaulle, which served 23 mares in his first season in 2017, had his biggest book in 2019 with 39.

Anderson said he’ll be sending between 18 to 20 of his 21 mares to the stallion.

“Everything was bought to go to him,” Anderson said.

“And we thought what we might do is send all of our band to him because if we are right with our planning and our strategy then there will be some for sale coming up either in the weanling sales or we might do three in one packages just to put them into people’s hands.

“The full sister to Madame Du Gast was sold to Symon Wilde for $115,000 at Melbourne Premier. It was outrageous and we had four or five people bidding on it.

“We are getting there slowly but surely. We sold a couple to Mick Bell at the VOBIS Gold Sale which was great for him and they were well educated and he is happy with them.

“And fingers crossed he can get some results with them, too.”

The plan for Anderson is to sell some of De Gaulle’s progeny at the sales so people can “play” with them, understand them and watch them grow.

He said they are great-looking animals that are affable to humans and are so willing to learn.

And he said while you can’t race a page, you can race a type.

“They are doing the work and the stallion must be throwing something over and we are not getting the high-end mares but we have got the average mares but we are getting results with them,” Anderson said.

“And what would happen if we got some blueblood mares to him?

“We just need something to jump out over the spring and we’ll be right and he’ll be on his way.’’

Quilly Park paid $32,500 for the mare Trajection (Smart Missile x Pauline De Lago) at last week’s Inglis digital sale.

A winner of eight races, the five-year-old mare’s granddam is champion mare and three-time Group 1 winner Burst (Marauding x Sudden).

Anderson said the mare was another one bought specifically for De Gaulle.

He recently privately purchased mare Balmodena (Good Journey x Balsamico) to go the stallion. Her last foal, by Brazen Beau, sold for $165,000, at this year’s Melbourne Premier.

Balsamico also produced the filly Dosh Dash (Dash For Cash), the dam of Group 3 winner Written Dash (Written Tycoon) which is the dam of Osamu (Exceed and Excel) that won at Eagle Farm last Saturday to increase the four-year-old gelding’s prize money to $334,230.

“What we have tried to do is buy mares that suit him and try to get the public involved and we might see mares in foal to him and we might sell mares with a foal at foot and we might get to weanling sales or we might keep some and put them in the sales in coming years,” he said.

“I have got nine foaling down to him this year.

“And John Pratt is supporting the stallion with mares, but not in large numbers.”

And Pratt agrees that Rosa’s Revenge was good for the stallion.

He said the three-year-old filly is the most recent foal out of Centashani, but she’ll return to De Gaulle this season.

Two of the foals produced by the broodmare are both stayers. Nordic Pride (Zoffany) won four races from 2025m to 3000m, while Aurora Rose (Northern Meteor) won four races from 2200m to 2500m.

Nordic Pride is still racing and won at Sandown over 3000m earlier this year. Aurora Rose was retired in 2019.

“She is not in foal at the moment and I just wanted to how these ones went,” Pratt said.

“He has got a few coming on, that’s for sure.”

Pratt said it was always hard to get mares to an unraced stallion.

“He is an exceptional prospect, that’s for sure,” he said.

“He is by Exceed and Excel, out of a Group 1 winner (Response) and she has produced a Group 1 Golden Slipper winner (Estijaab).”

Pratt said he spoke to Peter Snowden about the stallion at the races and he told him he loved De Gaulle.

“He said he was a Group horse every day of the week and what level Group we don’t know,” he said.

“He was shattered when he did his tendon. Newgate thought that much of him that they thought he deserved a chance at stud rather than geld him and go through a tendon rehab.”

Pratt admitted it was a hard sell for unraced stallions – but results on the track mean everything.

The Alderson family has never had a shortage of well-performed homebreds.

Cindy Alderson is the Cranbourne-based trainer in the family, and her mother Lynne is credited with breeding many top horses over the years.

And while Lynne’s husband Colin trained grand galloper Sky Heights to four Group 1 victories, she is yet to reach the ultimate level with one of he own homebreds.

Another horse bred by Lynne, Reuber (Dissident x Fortress Madonna) scored his second metropolitan victory at Caulfield on Saturday when the four-year-old won at 2000m.

He has been a horse that has surprised Cindy who originally didn’t believe the gelding was much good until the blinkers were applied.

Now with four wins, five seconds and three thirds and $327,945 in the bank, Alderson’s opinion of Reuber has
obviously changed.

“His biggest attribute is that he is really genuine, he handles all sorts of conditions and he is sound and he is healthy,” she said.

“He is sort of the perfect racehorse but is a little on the small side.

“But he has come back this preparation a little bit more furnished and has had luck this time around whereas last time he didn’t have luck go his way all the time.”

Alderson said the family were cutting back on their broodmare band and only had about six left on their Bayles farm and no longer have Reuber’s dam Fortress Madonna (Dylan Thomas x Madonna) which won two races for Alderson when she trained in partnership with her now-retired father, Colin.

“We have cut back a bit on the mares as mum and dad are getting a bit older,” she said.

“It’s a bit hard to manage them all and whatever but girls at the farm do a good job.”

At one stage the Aldersons were breeding from 18 broodmares that they had on their farm.

“I hope we have kept the right ones because mum does have a habit of getting rid of the ones that win through,” Alderson laughed.

Lynne bred Reuber in partnership with John Heenan who had a small share in the five-time Group 1 winning Dissident (Sebring x Diana’s Secret). Since buying Fortress Madonna, Heenan has Reuber’s full brother Mamool in work with Grahame Begg and also has the mare’s Iconic Girl (Fighting Sun) with the trainer, and has also bred a full sister to Reuber.

Fortress Madonna has also a weanling filly by Toronado.

Alderson said her mother didn’t think that Fortress Madonna would be that effective but the three-year-old Mamool has had eight starts for a win and two thirds.

“Her foals look quite promising, but you can’t have them all,” she said.

“My mum has got a great record of breeding great winners but also moving them on when they’re ready to go.”

Among the top horses bred by Lynne Alderson include Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes winner Toy Carousel (Toy Pindari x Irma); Group 2
Blamey Stakes winner Walk On Air (Eire x Ride The Wind); Group 2 Autumn Stakes winner Brom Brom and Group 2 Moonee Valley Classic winner My Poppette (Snippetson x Brompton’s Choice). Geelong Classic winner The Tiger (Catbird x Tio Belle) was Lynne’s first homebred Derby runner.

“She has bred quite a few stakes winners but hasn’t had the big one yet,” Alderson said.

“And she has also bred quite a few good earners like Reuber.

“VOBIS has been so good but I think it’s going to get harder in Victoria because people are aware of how good the VOBIS system is and we pretty well had it much to ourselves for a little while.”

Jigsaw (Manhattan Rain x Demandz) has won four races and along with his older four-year-old sister Queen Adele (Adelaide), a winner of two races, is also Alderson family bred.

“As I said, she hasn’t cracked it for a big Group 1 winner but she is going all right,” Alderson said.

“There is a lot of luck involved in breeding.”

Alderson will now target the $175,000 VOBIS Gold Stayers race for Reuber art Caulfield on July 23, but admits the gelding doesn’t quite get 2400m.

“But he deserves to get a crack at it this time and he might be a bit stronger,” she said.

The Aldersons have also sold yearlings at Melbourne Premier over the years, as well as selling some of their well-performed stock to Hong Kong.

It was also a good day at Caulfield for the man who trained Dissident to his Group 1 glories.

Peter Moody bred and owns two-year-old filly Cotel (Charge Forward x Cotillard) which won on debut, picking up the first prize of $71,000 and VOBIS bonuses of $21,000.

He paid credit to Maluka Thoroughbreds’ Luke and Mags Anderson who raised the filly

“It’s the reason I came back training, I breed 10 or 12 of them, I sell a few. The fillies I tend to keep if I want to breed from them. I let her mother (Cotillard) go,” Moody said in his post-race interview.

“They’re (the Andersons) lovely people and raised this filly, I gave them the mother because once I got this filly I was happy to give the dam away, you don’t want too many of them the same.”

Moody has a yearling filly by Rosemont Stud stallion Shamus Award out of Cotillard (Flying Spur x Chateau D’Yquem) which had two trials for the trainer but never made it to the races.

While Glen Eden Stud welcomed recently retired colt Finance Tycoon to their stallion roster, it was a case of a farewell for long-time Victorian stallion Master of Design which will depart Eden Park Stud for Tasmania.

The Group 1 winning Master of Design (Redoute’s Choice x Urge To Merge) started his stud career with Swettenham Stud in 2012 and was later leased to Greta West Stud.

Swettenham Stud and a syndicate of individual owners sold Master Of Design to airline captain Gary Liu who purchased Joe and Daira Vella’s Wingrove Park Stud and renamed it Eden Park Stud where the stallion stood.

Liu revealed he liked Master Design, which sired his Group 3 winning gelding Greyworm, so much that he bought the stallion three years ago.

A change of circumstances and a low number of mares – he served 18 last year at a fee of $3300 – has led Liu to move the stallion to Tasmania where he believes the horse will get more opportunities.

“He has gone to Tasmania because at the moment we don’t have the manpower and resources to stand him here so we have moved him down to Tasmania,” Liu said.

With two recent Melbourne city winners, Liu said the stallion had been going well for a “bread and butter” stallion.

“It’s so hard in Victoria where it is very competitive with all the stallions,” he said.

“He can get 20 to 30 a year and it’s quite hard to get more mares to him when there are so many good stallions.

“I don’t think there is another Redoute’s stallion in Tasmania and with him being three grand or even below you could get quite a few people interested there with breeders.

“Hopefully he’ll get a few more mares to him.”

Liu said he still had some progeny by Master of Design and would probably support him with a couple of mares this season, but had sold some of his broodmares to smaller breeders.

The addition of the Group 3-winning Finance Tycoon (Written Tycoon x Darook) to the Glen Eden Stud roster now gives the farm a total of four new stallions.

The rising four-year-old will stand alongside Yulong Prince (which formerly stood at Yulong), Trust In A Gust (formerly Swettenham) and Palentino (formerly Widden Victoria). Giant’s Steps remains on the roster of the stud which is located just out of Kilmore.

After losing the talented Rebel Dane, Glen Eden has been on the hunt for more fresh talent and eagerly sought Finance Tycoon to join their other new stallions.

Rory O’Brien, who bought into Glen Eden and has 50 per cent equity with stud founder and owner Sonia O’Gorman, worked hard to secure Finance Tycoon which won the Group 3 Maribyrnong Plate (1000m) at his second start, then won the $1m The Showdown (1200m) in 2021 for trainers Tom Dabernig and Ben Hayes.

The colt was then transferred to Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Danny O’Brien where he won the Group 3 Zedative Stakes (1200m) and then had the last of his 10 starts in March. His record stood at four wins, a second and a third for $961,000 in prizemoney.

O’Brien said the Finance Tycoon was set to arrive at the stud early this week.

“We are pretty stoked and it’s a fairly sizeable sort of opportunity to seize,” he said.

“He is the son of a legend and back to the third dam there is quite a bit of stallion power and if you look at her direct descendants it even goes down to Flying Spur.

“If you go deep, you are continually surprised and not disappointed.”

O’Brien said Finance Tycoon’s fee had been set at $13,200 which he believes is a perfect fit for a first-season stallion of his quality.

“He is a big horse, 16.2 and is powerful and good looking and is a speed horse who is precocious, winning the pre-Christmas two-year-old race in the Maribyrnong Plate,” he said.

“He ticks all the boxes, doesn’t he?”

Although he finished fourth in the Blue Diamond, beaten 2.7 lengths, O’Brien said that what he loved about that race was it was won by Artorius, Ingratiating was second and Anamoe third.

O’Brien described the race as top of the class.

“We have already had a great response,” he said.

“And we have got a roster that poses a few options.

“Trust In A Gust is getting winner after winner and had Chicago Storm win again on Saturday (at Gawler). He had three winners in two days (also Ransom Trust in Hobart on Sunday and I Am Winkles on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday).

“And Yulong Prince is a second season sire who is by a sire who I am increasingly bullish about – Gimmethegreenlight who did an extraordinary job over there in South Africa and he is an Australian bred horse.”

After serving big books of mares in his first four seasons, Palentino dropped to 18 last year but O’Brien is excited with how many foals the stallion has on the ground.

He said they are waiting for that special one to emerge and are confident with the big numbers that represent the stallion. His biggest book of mares was 155 in his second season followed by 145 and 146 and then 18 in 2021.

O’Brien said he was happy to secure new stallions for the stud.
And he also respects former Chile and Hong Kong galloper Giant’s Steps who he believes can throw a talented horse even though he has only so far served 50 mares in four seasons.

He said Giant’s Steps could have been handled better earlier in his post-race career which would have given him a better chance to make it commercially, but he’s heard whispers that a few of the stallion’s progeny in local stables that are going very nicely.

As far as numbers go, O’Brien said that even though it’s late they’re hoping to attract 100-plus mares to Finance Tycoon for this season.
“I will do anything and everything to get people’s business and make it enticing for them to join us,” he said.

“It’s about securing my future in the industry and the stud’s future in the industry and setting things in place for a great foundation for stronger days in the future.

“I won’t be backward in coming forward speaking about our stallions to anyone. We’ll do everything we can.

“It’s super competitive.”

O’Brien talks about Victoria and the wider economic situation and predicts it will be interesting times for the bottom of the market and believes the much talked about steep increases in interest rates by the end of the year will impact people’s wallets.

He said it was interesting times outside of the horse industry and would have a flow-on effect to impact the participants.

When it comes to reaching a service fee for their stallions, O’Brien said they had to make it appealing by offering value and quality.

“The essence of a good product is value and quality and it doesn’t matter what you are selling,” he said.

And with a horse like Finance Tycoon, O’Brien said he was a stallion that he believes is a fully commercial entity.

He said if the stallion wasn’t, he would have pursued him heavily.

“I think that people would be wise to invest in him early and take on the LBRs (life breeding rights) and they will be available,” O’Brien said.

“And reap the rewards in the future because the depth of work that my friends and partners out there who have been so supportive to me to help to find the right horse will hopefully pay off.

“There is just more than just wanting a son of Written Tycoon and a Group performer or anything like that and I generally think he can upgrade mares based on what I see and what I have been advised.

“Because there are people out there much smarter than I who suggest that.”

O’Brien has been a partner in Glen Eden Stud since last year and says he is nine months into being a stud master and is going for it “hell for leather.”

He hopes that people who know them will give their support and understand what a big deal it is for such a small farm to perhaps accomplish the jump across the divide from a breed-to-race stud to commercial.

“We have got nothing but respect for those who work in the industry and participate at any level but my call is to get to a higher level if possible,” O’Brien.

With a background in sales and a self-confessed entrepreneurial spirit, O’Brien is driven by the passion to succeed in the horse industry.

He used to practice calling races as a five or six-year-old because he was fascinated with horses and as a kid admits his all-time horse crush was Super Impose and admitted he cried when he was beaten Shaftesbury Avenue.

“I came into the horse industry professionally for the first time with the onset of the pandemic and started working with Danny O’Brien (no relation),” O’Brien said.

“I still do boxes a few times a week for Danny at this point of time, just from 6am to 9am just for one to have a bit of a walkabout and it’s also good to stay connected to the horses.

“I like being up close to the animals and it’s something that will never leave me.”

O’Brien said Finance Tycoon will let down into a beautiful stallion but will need a bit of time.

The colt had his last race when he was unplaced in the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) in March and had just been ticking along until a final decision was made to retire him to stud.

“He hopefully will have a good run around in the paddock and get some of that good food in him and he can have a nice pick of the grass and he doesn’t have to worry about anyone getting onto his back probably ever again,” O’Brien said.

He said they are at the stud to assist all breeders this season.

Megamea, a $5,000 weanling purchase from Swettenham Stud’s 2017 Great Southern Sale draft, will now aim for some black type after an emotional victory for the mare’s former trainer Udyta Clarke at Flemington on Saturday.

Clarke handed over the training of the daughter of Eden Park stallion Master Design which produced his second city winner in seven days after Designer Chef won at Caulfield last week.

After being lucky to survive a stroke in 2020 when she was found unconscious in a paddock on her property, Clarke faced a long battle from bleeding on the brain and transferred the training of the horse which she races in partnership with Don Allan to fellow Cranbourne trainer Luke Oliver.

Already with two wins under Clarke’s care, Megamea has raced seven times for Oliver for three city victories.

Clarke is no stranger to winning races at Flemington. She trained and part-owned Rich Charm (Danerich x Charmly) which won the Group 2 Linlithgow Stakes (1200m) at Flemington during the 2017 Melbourne Carnival.

Rich Charm won nine races, including three at Flemington, and banked $922,270.

Clarke, who is unsure whether she’ll renew her trainer’s licence, is full of praise for Oliver’s training performance with the mare which is in career-best form.

“She was very impressive,” Clarke said.

“She has gone to the paddock now.”

Clarke picked out the filly in the sale catalogue and was even more impressed with the inspection at the sales.

But she wasn’t expecting to pick up the filly for $5000.

“I never thought we’d get her for that price,” she said.

“And now she has been so good with the new trainer and he looks after her really, really well.

“It’s been a big effort for him to have her in the stable.”

Clarke said getting some black type for the mare would make her an even more attractive breeding prospect.

“At the moment we’ll keep on racing her for a while,” she said.

“She is too good for the breeding barn at the moment.”

And for Oliver it was a big thrill to win at Flemington but said it was even more special to get the win for Clarke.

He said there’s no reason why the rising six-year-old mare can’t win a few more races.

“We are going to give her a little break and then bring her back but she is still improving,” Oliver said.

“There’s no reason why she can’t keep on winning.

“She is up to a quarter of a million and it looks like there is still plenty more to come and it was probably the best run of her career on Saturday.

“Sometimes those mares take a bit of time but when they find form, they tend to hold it and keep improving.”

Oliver said they are likely to target a Listed mare’s race on Melbourne Cup Day and would love to get her to a race like that.

He said they’d like to give her every chance to get some black type.

“And because she is a Victorian bred horse there are a lot of those VOBIS races and she is paid up for VOBIS Gold as well and there are races for her next autumn as well for just VOBIS horses and you’d think she’d be pretty competitive in those sorts of races,” Oliver said.

“The plan for the spring would be to try to get some black type but there are plenty of other races as well that would be suitable for her as well.
“And from the new season, there is the VOBIS Gold bonus where you can win a bonus towards a service fee.”

Oliver said Swettenham Stud’s Adam Sangster, who bred Megamea, is in constant contact with Clarke every time the mare races.

He said he was sure when the time was right that Clarke would eventually like to send the mare back to Swettenham Stud to a stallion like Puissance De Lune.

Oliver said there was at least another season of racing left in the mare which had been so well looked after and was so sound when she joined his stable.

“She just had a good grounding of going to country meetings and learning her craft and all that sort of stuff,” he said.

“So she has got plenty of racing left in her and I hope she has got lots more wins in store.

“When I first got her, I felt a bit of pressure only because I wanted the best for Mrs Clarke and to win at Flemington with that horse was special as everyone remembers when Rich Charm won the Linlithgow and how emotional she was.

“And with everything she has been through with her illness, to win a race for her at Flemington was a real highlight.”

Swettenham Stud originally stood the Group 1 winning Master of Design (Redoute’s Choice x Urge To Merge) but when the stallion wasn’t commercially viable he was leased to Greta West Stud for several years before more recently being sold to airline pilot Gary Liu who stood the stallion at his Eden Park Stud.

Swettenham’s Sam Matthews said Sangster loved the family of Megamea’s dam, Haumea (Encosta De Lago x Quiz Queen).

“And we raced her half-sister by Trust In A Gust in Queensland,” he said.

“She has got a great pedigree and with what happened to Udyta, it was great that Luke Oliver was able to do his thing and take over.

“And the mare has been a star and is probably in the twilight of her racing career but she just keeps putting in.”

Swettenham sold Haumea, in foal to Toronado, to New Zealand interests in 2018.

Matthews said Sangster had bred five foals out of the mare but hadn’t managed to get any black type.

Haumea raced 14 times for six seconds and three-thirds. She finished fourth, beaten less than a length in the Listed 2010 Tasmanian Oaks (2100m).

As Sirius Suspect closes in on the magical $1m mark in prize money, the rising eight-year-old continues to be a great money-spinner for the owners who bred the gelding in conjunction with Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock’s Darren Dance.

After winning his first black-type race with victory in the Group 3 Standish Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on New Year’s Day 2021, Sirius Suspect went 13 starts before adding another win to his 38-start career.

But he did it in style, winning last Saturday’s Listed Santa Ana Lane Sprint Series Final (1200m) at Flemington by a length.

As Dance points out, the Saab Hasan-trained gelding has been thereabouts in recent runs and was entitled to the $4 equal favouritism going into the $160,000 race.

“He has been racing well without a lot of luck and has been consistent this preparation,” Dance said.

“He deserved to win one.

“It’s remarkable for a rising eight-year-old to be as sound as he is and as genuine as he is and he is just a lovely animal to have and he thrives on work and thrives on racing.”

Dance said that since going to Hasan’s farm at Tabilk, between Seymour and Nagambie, Sirius Suspect had appreciated the change of lifestyle from being boxed at Flemington to being trained out of a paddock.

He believes it has been the making of the horse because it was always a struggle to keep weight on at Flemington.

“It was just a struggle to get four or five runs into him,” Dance said.
“But being trained on the farm out of a paddock, the horse seems to just thrive and he is just racing so well and even his run in the (Golden)Topaz (he finished third in the Swan Hill race before the Flemington win) was good.

“He has been thereabouts and ran third in that race at Sale on Good Friday and then he backed-up a week later at Caulfield and probably didn’t back-up.

“And he has sort of been all around it and it’s just good for the horse to win one. It’s good for the owners and everyone just loves the horse and we have raced him for five years and he is going as good as ever.”

Dance said they would probably give the horse a break of a couple of weeks and then map out a program that would look at some spring races.

He said Sirius Suspect was a Listed level horse and maybe a Group 3 performer at best.

But the horse likes Flemington where Dance says there are a lot of 1200m races during the spring where his targets will be mapped out in conjunction with Hasan and respected form analyst Peter Ellis.

Dance became involved with Sirius Suspects’ dam Sirius Miss (Galileo x Miss Peridot) through some of his clients who raced the mare which was retired because of foot problems.

They asked Dance after her retirement if he would be interested in getting involved with them and breeding a foal out of her to race.

Sirius Miss was trained at Caulfield by Colin Little and she raced nine times for a win and a second.

Little always said the mare had plenty of ability but was never sound enough to show it on the track consistently.

Dance, who as well as operating his syndication company Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock, also breeds from his stud and agistment property, Manningtree Park at Beremboke.

He said it was an easy fix when he was approached to become involved in breeding from the mare and says among the long list of Sirius Suspects’ owners; about half of them are involved in the breeding part of it.

Sirius Miss has been a good producer. Her first foal in the Dance and partners venture produced You Can’t Be (Nadeem) that won eight races.

Sirius Witness (Star Witness) won five races, then came Sirius Suspect (Wanted), followed by two-time winner Sirius Deal (Dundeel) and Let’s Get Sirius (Dundeel) which was retired after five unplaced runs.

The last foal out of Sirius Miss is an unraced two-year-old filly, Sirius Statement (Press Statement) which was also bred by Dance and his partners. Also trained by Hasan, the filly trialled at Cranbourne on Monday.

“She is the last one out of the mare,” Dance said.

“Unfortunately we lost her when she was in foal to Toronado.

“She went to Dundeel twice and they were no good and here she is with a Wanted (Fastnet Rock x Fragmentation, winning nearly $750,000. Who would have thought?

“The cross just works with Fastnet Rock and that’s why we went to Press Statement to get Sirius Statement.”

Dance said that with Sirius Statement being a half to a Stakes winner, the owners would be keen to expand the family and breed from her once her racing days are over if she can win in town.

He said it was planned to give the filly a soft trial at Cranbourne.
“It’s hard to get a trial anywhere because the tracks are so soft,” Dance said.

“It’s put us behind but there is no hurry and she is rising three but she has had a prep and we know can she can gallop and we’ll just take our time and get her fit and find a race for her later in the year.”

Dance has 40 broodmares on his property and said they’d had a terrific year at the sales.

“It’s not often you take 16 to the yearling sale and sell them all,” he said.

“It’s just been one of those freak years and I doubt it will be the same next year, but it’s just been a great year for selling and we have resisted buying too many.

“The prices were well overs and right through the board. I think we ended up about 30 per cent over the budget for the year and we got 100 per cent clearance.

“I think it was just one of those years where everything sold and there was a big demand and the way the economy is going I don’t think that will be the case next year.

“But I think if you are breeding at the top end, there’s where you need to be and I think that’s unaffected. The middle and the bottom end are going to be pretty tough.”

Dance said breeding horses from nice mares and good stallions always seem to sell well.

Despite the successes of this year, Dance said they had plenty of horses and the time had come to attempt to consolidate to reduce the syndicate numbers as it can get out of hand.

‘’We have got some nice fillies coming through and I think at our peak we were having 500 starters a year,” he said.

“We’d like to pull in back to a couple of hundred and just have some class horses and just let it unfold.

“We have got Sirius Statement, Literary Magnate (Written Tycoon x Family Crest) that was the first filly home against the boys at Flemington in the last race.

“We have Steinem (Frankel x Thai Noon) and Detonator Jack (Jakkalberry x Red Delicious) with Ciaron Maher and we have got a couple of Camelots in work with Ciaron, so we have got a few spread around.”

Dance also has a couple with Phillip Stokes, including Tobaysure (Cable Bay x Black Velveteen) which he believes will play a part in the spring.
“We have plenty in work but I think that as you get older you want to consolidate a bit and make it simple,” he said.

“I still think there are 100 horses on the farm here. There are all sorts out there.

“And we are only four weeks away from foaling.”

Dance still has broodmares overseas.

He has four mares in Ireland, two in foal to Frankel in the UK, including Steinem’s dam, Thai Noon, and one in Japan.

“Most of those will be home by Christmas hopefully with a foal at foot and in foal,” Dance said.

“And we’ll just see how all of that plays out.

“We have mares in foal to Frankel, Camelot and we have got the mare in Japan who is going to one of those sons of Deep Impact. The new trend seems to be Japan and apart from Frankel we probably need to focus more on Japan going forward because I think that’s where the future is.

“We’ll look to be doing more in Japan just given what’s happening here with Maurice and the fact that Japan racing is dominating pretty much the world now with their stallions.

“If we are going to be doing internationals, obviously Frankel is the champion of the minute and we’d got two mares in foal to him, but going forward we’ll closely look at Japan.”

Dance said they normally buy the mares overseas, put them in foal and let them foal down overseas and put them back into foal and bring them to Australia.

He said the cost of moving them around is so expensive but if you can bring a pregnant mare and foal home, there are two offspring to divide the cost by.

Dance said it would be a mixture of retaining some of the progeny from the overseas servings and selling others.

“Thai Noon, the mother Group 3 winning Steinem who is Group 2 placed and we are going to try to win a Group 1 during spring, I know that mare is carrying a filly to Frankel,” he said.

“I would say we’d be retaining it to race and we’ll just see then.

“The other mare that is in foal to Frankel, we only just bought her last year so we’ll see what sort of foal she has and just see how the market is tracking.

“If we think the foal is worth more than we can win, then we’ll sell it but if we get a filly and want to race it and add it to the broodmare band, well we’ll do that too because you can’t buy Frankel mares easily.”

Michelle Payne paid $500,000 for the Dance-bred Serlik – a full brother to the mare Steinem at the 2020 Easter Yearling Sale for star striker Sardar Azmoun – also known as the Iranian Messi.

The colt is unraced but has won his one public trial and since had a successful wind operation.

Yulong continues to expand its ever-growing band of impressive broodmares with the purchase of 13-year-old Baggy Green for $1.7m from a New Zealand dispersal sale last week.

Baggy Green (Galileo x Starspangled) is the dam of four-time Group 1 winner of the New Zealand bred Tofane (Ocean Park) which Yulong purchased for $3.1m from last month’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast.

Trained by Michael Moroney at Flemington, Tofane won eight races and banked $3.6m in prizemoney.

The six-year-old mare finished second, beaten a length, in her last race – the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick in April.

The Australian-bred Baggy Green, a 1600m maiden at Goulburn during her 11-race career, was purchased by Yulong’s Written Tycoon Syndicate which has bought several other mares including Melody Belle ($2.6m) and Greysful Glamour ($1.5m).

Baggy Green, exported to New Zealand on December 16 2018, is in foal to Tofane’s sire, Ocean Park, and was part of the dispersal sale of Valachi Downs’ broodmares and the latest step in the exit from the market of the Kevin and Jo Hickman-owned Matamata stud.

Baggy Green has also produced the Sydney Group 3 winner No Compromise and Benaud, who finished second in the Australian Derby at Randwick to Hitotsu.

The mare, a half-sister to Group 1 winners Youngstar (High Chaparral) and Funstar (Adelaide), has produced five named foals for four winners and has a rising two-year-old sister to Tofane.

Yulong homebred Hungry Heart (Frankel x Harlech) has also been retired from the track and will be covered by the stud’s champion stallion Written Tycoon this breeding season.

The four-year-old mare was Yulong’s first Australian Group 1 winner when she claimed the Vinery Stakes (2000m) which also won her the crown of Australia’s Champion Three-Year-Old Filly in 2021.

Hungry Heart claimed another Group 1, winning the ATC Australian Oaks (2400m), and also won two Group 2s – the Phar Lap Stakes (1500m) and the Sweet Embrace Stakes (1200m).

Yulong Investments chief operating officer Sam Fairgray said the purchase of Baggy Green, along with Tofane, was just to add some more nice mares to the broodmare band.

He said Hungry Heart was back at Yulong’s stud and would be ready to be served by Written Tycoon.

“We are yet to decide what we’ll do with Baggy Green,” Fairgray said.

“She can go to any stallion and that’s one of the good things with her.
“We’ll make a decision in the next couple of weeks.”

Fairgray said Yulong had now expanded its broodmare band to 360 and they’d continue to add to it as nice mares continued to come onto the market.

“It’s all about trying to get nice mares to support the stallions,” he said.
Fairgray said that all the Yulong mares would most likely go to the stud’s own stallions – Written Tycoon, Tagaloa, Lucky Vega, Alabama Express and Grunt.

As well as purchasing Tofane, Yulong’s Written Tycoon Syndicate also paid a sale-topping $4m for Away Game Away (Snitzel x Elusive Wonder) at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.

Yulong was crowned the leading buyer at the sale, acquiring 63 mares for an aggregate of $29.275m.

Veteran Maldon trainer Brian McKnight and his son Ash had one of those days at Donald on Saturday that they won’t forget for a long time.

The father and son training team produced the winners of the first three legs of the quadrella.

Unfortunately their runner in the fourth leg and the final race on the program – the $31 long shot Savoie – finished down the track in seventh place but was far from disgraced.

And all four runners were Victorian-bred or sired.

Success came in the opening leg of the quaddie when Oak Bridge (Night Of Thunder x Our Oak) got the money as the $5 equal favourite.

The four-year-old gelding has now raced 14 times for two wins and a second for $48,640.

It was bred by Two Bays Farm at Flinders and sold for $22,000 through Stonehouse Thoroughbreds’ draft as a weanling at the 2018 Great Southern Sale.

A year later it fetched $25,000 at the Inglis Gold Yearling Sale.

In an interesting twist, the horse was passed in for $10,000 because of poor results from x-rays, but it was later discovered the x-rays had been mixed up and belonged to another horse.

He was then put back on the market and met his $25,000 reserve.

Night Of Thunder previously shuttled to Darley’s Northwood Park at Seymour.

The second leg of the quaddie was won by San Marino (Rich Enuff x Hostile Witness) which owner Russell Healy, a friend of Ash McKnight, bought online as a tried horse for $9,000 in April 2021.

It had been a $90,000 purchase for Flemington trainer Danny O’Brien who moved the now four-year-old gelding on after two starts, but the son of Woodside Park stallion Rich Enuff had won his first start at Werribee.

The gelding’s record now stands at two wins, a second and a third and prizemoney of $48,825.

San Marino started the second favourite at $3.90.

Logo Logic, the winner of the third leg of the quaddie, was a homebred for McKnight and is by former Blue Gum Farm stallion Canford Cliffs (IRE).

The five-year-old gelding has had 17 races for three wins and a second and a third for prizemoney of $53,273.

He is out of Barrett’s Mark (Churchill Downs x Go Ruby Go) which was bred by the McKnights in partnership with the late Mark Barrett.

The McKnights and Barrett raced Go Ruby Go (Baryshnikov x Petite Jeunesse), a winner of two races, including one at Sandown.

“Mark, who was in the legal industry, loved breeding and was besotted with and had a lot of parts of horses with Nigel Blackiston,” McKnight said.

“When he died the family gave her (Barrett’s Mark) to us.”

Go Ruby Go broke her maiden at Sandown.

McKnight said it was a familiar story with Logo Logic’s sire Canford Cliffs who didn’t return from Ireland after serving only 30 mares in his final season at stud in Australia in 2016.

“Half the trouble with a lot of these stallions is that it’s all to do with moving onto the next one – it’s going to be a better one, it’s going to be better,” McKnight said.

“Nine out of ten of them aren’t.”

The front-running Logo Logic was the $4.40 favourite and won by four lengths.

And the Victorian-bred Savoie (IIovethiscity x Larissar) finished 4.5 lengths from the winner in the fourth leg. IIovethiscity stands at Noor Elaine Farm at Euroa.

McKnight said it’s a case of trying to win races each time you compete but on reflection, it was a big effort from the stable on Saturday with their locally bred horses.

“When you analyse it and we were talking about it before, there would be a lot of stables that have never trained a treble,” he said.

“And yes, it is a big effort.

“To be truthful it probably really hasn’t sunk in what a feat it has been.”

McKnight said they went to the races with good expectations on the back of performances of their horses in trials.

He said San Marino had two serious jump-outs and won them both, including one at Burrumbeet last Wednesday.

“We were fairly confident with him that he’d run a good race and Logo Logic can do it but we just have to keep him sound and has got the worst front feet of any horse that has probably got a bridle on it,” McKnight said.

“But if we can keep him on some soft tracks, he is not a bad horse.”

The McKnights took eight horses to Donald.

Key of Cee (Starspangledbanner x Highleigh) beat one home, Dashing Rebel (Dissident x Tianjin Rock) was third in the 1620m maiden at $26, Mark’s Line (Nostradamus x Mark’s Matilda) was fifth and Hot Seat (Star Witness x Hot Riff) was sixth to stablemate Logo Logic.

“We thought Mark’s Line ($6.50) could win and has just been screaming for more ground but his problem is that he gets back a bit and when Christine (Puls) got off him, she said Harry Coffey blocked her run and I still think he would have been in it had he got through it and had clear running,” McKnight said.

“That’s what happens with backmarkers and unless you get to the outside, you have to be lucky to get a clear path.

“And it was interesting that the three to win were all on pace horses and if you have got a horse that does that it does take a lot of luck out of the equation.”

McKnight said they continue to support the Victorian stallions and rarely venture out of the state.

He said they’ve always averaged eight to ten broodmares each year.

“I turn 75 this year and my son Ash is not a keen breeding man and he’d rather go through all the sales and find a horse he likes with a bit of pedigree that perhaps other people aren’t that keen on because it’s not in the big bracket,” McKnight said.

“He likes doing it and pinhooks a few foals for us to resell and one thing or another. If we don’t sell our horses then they go into our system.

“A lot of people say to me I don’t know how you do it. They say they don’t know how I run all those mares and foals, wean foals and do yearling preps and train as well and we’ve always got 12 to 15 horses in work.

“And lot of times we’ve got two or three pre-trainers for people who want to go on the water walker and things like that.”
McKnight worked at Trevenson Park Stud (now owned by Darren Weir) for 33 years and started when he was 17-years-old and trained his first horse when he was 21.

He said his boss Ed Barty wouldn’t let him train during the breeding season, so his training was restricted from December to August.

“The best horse I had then was a mare called Storm Song (Dies x Random Harvest) and I won five at Flemington with her and one at the Valley and ran second in the Adelaide Cup and dead-heated with Battle Heights for third in the Moonee Valley Cup,” he said.

The lady who was training Storm Song didn’t have any luck with the mare and gave the horse to McKnight who previously expressed interest in adding it to his team of one.

He later bred from Storm Song when she was retired.

McKnight said he bought the adjoining property to Trevenson Park, an 800 acre farm which the family operate as Oakford Thoroughbred Farm and is set up for broodmares and has an equine pool, walker and 2100m sand track.

“We came here in 1997,” he said.

And he hasn’t given up hope of training another treble – but he knows it’s a big task.

Merricks Station owner Ben Cooper believes that black-type awaits Tuvalu, a horse he bred from the farm’s broodmare Hangin’ Tough (Exceed and Excel x Ancelin).

Cooper raced Hangin’ Tough with trainers Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra and the now nine-year was no champion on the track and managed a second from seven starts.

Her worth as a broodmare is far more significant.

Four-year-old Tuvalu is out of the first crop of Darley Victoria’s stallion, Kermadec who served his biggest book of mares – 129 – in his opening season in 2016.

The two-time Group 1 winning stallion produced four-time Group 1 winner Montefilia from his first crop and then did again with his second crop when Willowy won the Group 1 VRC Oaks.

Tuvalu is the first foal out of Hangin’ Tough and was followed by Prince Imortall (More Than Ready) which is still a maiden after four starts.

Boomer Bloodstock paid $200,000 for Tuvalu at the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.

Hangin’ Tough’s third foal, the unraced Shut It Down (Lonhro) was sold for $460,000 to Mornington trainer Matt Laurie at Melbourne Premier’s 2021 sale.

And at this year’s sale trainer Lloyd Kennewell paid $250,000 for a full sister to Shut It Down.

Cooper said the mare has a colt by Impending and is foal to Capitalist. She has a booking with So You Think for this year’s breeding season.
“Capitalist will suit her because she does throw medium to larger foals,” he said.

“She is a big mare.”

And he has been impressed with the performances of the Lindsey Smith-trained Tuvalu which has never been out of the money in his 10 starts.

His victory at Flemington last Saturday was his sixth to go with his four seconds. And he is just $1,700 short of banking $300,000.

Cooper believes “there is black type written all over him.”

“Lindsey has been going through the gears with him at the moment,” he said.

“There was a bit of commentary about the Winter Championships coming up in a few weeks.”

Cooper said being out of Kermadec’s first crop and selling for $200,000 was a reflection on what good a type he was at the sales.

“Everyone who saw him at Premier that year loved him,” he said.

“He was a standout from an early age as well.

“And he was just a quality-looking horse. He was a balanced horse as soon as he hit the ground.

“Hopefully he can have a good winter rolling into spring as well.”

Cooper said he had spoken to Laurie about the now Lonhro gelding and believes it will be much like Tuvalu and is going to be a three-year-old rather than an early-going horse.

“Lindsey took plenty of time to get Tuvalu to the races,” he said.

Cooper said they had a broodmare band of around 20 and the farm carries up to 90 horses at any one time.

And with upwards of 20 weanlings and yearlings, Merrick Station carries about 30 spellers for trainers, along with the farm’s racing stock.

Smith said Tuvalu has good potential, especially around this time of the year.

“He is going through his grades okay,” he said.

“He is a big immature sort of horse and he lightens off and I keep thinking that each preparation he’ll mature and could keep going to he is eight or nine-years-old if he is going any good.

“If he is racing for a long time it means he is paying his way and he is racing through his grades at the minute.”

Smith said Tuvalu would be back at Flemington for the final of the Listed Winter Championship (1600m) on July 2.

The $200,000 race carries a first prize of $120,000.

Smith believes that Tuvalu will get to Listed company for a start.

“I thought he may have been a tad better but I have reined it in a little bit now I think I may have to a little bit in front of myself when he ran second to I’m Thunderstruck,” he said.

“You are better off to be surprised rather than disappointed.”

Darley’s head of sale Andy Makiv said Tuvalu had always promised to be a Stakes performer and it seemed only a matter of time before he achieved that feat.

He said the gelding would be well and truly in the mix for the Winter Championship final.

“He could be a Toorak Handicap horse in the spring too,” Makiv said.

Makiv said pound for pound Kermadec was probably the best value stallion going around.

“He had a Group 1 winner in his first crop, a Group 1 winner in his second crop. To have two Group 1 winners in the spring of last year with Montefilia winning the Metropolitan and Willowy winning the Oaks and then Montefilia has gone on in the autumn is a good achievement,” he said.
“There are a lot of stallions going around that don’t get two Group 1 winners in a spring that are standing for a lot dearer.

“He is a pretty handy addition to the Victorian roster.”

Makiv said Kermadec was a good stallion who has shown he could get a Group 1 horse and also produces an exceptional type.

“He is very good-looking himself and throws that, so he gets very good-looking stock,” he said.

“You only have to look at Tuvalu in the mounting yard and he is a physical standout. He throws to himself and they win races.”

Makiv described Kermadec’s service fee of $15,000 plus GST as very “palatable.”

As well as his two Group 1 winners, Kermadec also sired Gundec (Sunup) winner of this year’s Bendigo Guineas (1400m).

“Tuvalu is probably heading that way too, so they are good styles of horses,” Makiv said.