St Jean Shines a Light on Studmaster

St Jean (Image: Brackley Park)

You’d be forgiven if, after the Caulfield Cup, you looked at the winner’s pedigree and thought ‘who?’ Every so often, racing reminds us that the biggest wins don’t always belong to the biggest names.

St Jean, the sire of Half Yours, stands at Grant Dwyer’s Brackley Park in Avenel. Alongside barnmate Murtajill, he has stood at the farm for eight years, with just 67 live foals and very few success stories. Saturday changed that. 

St Jean’s story has been well-documented in recent weeks. By Teofilo, out of Oriental Fashion (Marju), he began his career in Ireland before coming to Australia for Aaron Purcell. After a handful of wins across Victoria, he sustained a tendon injury in 2014. His recovery was then compounded by a Racing Victoria-imposed ban, after St Jean was amongst horses caught in an Ibuprofen debacle, which saw treated horses continue to test positive to the anti-inflammatory drug 12 months after treatment ceased. 

He was sent to Donna Logan in New Zealand, where he won the Group 3 City of Auckland Cup but was then again affected by injury and subsequently retired. Upon reviewing his outstanding pedigree that holds a lot of stallion strength on both sides, Grant snapped him up for breeding duties. 

So who is the custodian of this relatively unknown sire? Growing up on a rice and sheep farm in NSW, Grant Dwyer hadn’t touched a horse until he was 15. The horse knowledge came after meeting his wife Joanne, as her family was heavily involved in the equestrian and hunt world. Helping Joanne’s family with their horses inspired him to expand his knowledge and so, juggling his day job as a stockbroker, Grant worked mornings at Flemington for trainer Bobby Winks to improve his horsemanship skills. Diving into the industry through racehorse ownership and breeding, Joanne has served as Vice-President of Country Racing Victoria, while Grant has also been TBV’s Treasurer. 

Originally owned by the Freedman family, the Dwyers originally housed their mares at Brackley Park, before expanding to stud duties. They’ve stood a number of stallions over the years - Export Price, Deadly Storm, Globe Trotter - but none with the success of St Jean. 

After 22 years of standing stallions at the bottom of the market, watching Half Yours cross the finish line was just “bloody magnificent” for the Dwyers. He’s shone a spotlight on the Avenel farm. 

“It’s tough at our end,” said Grant, with a touch of emotion in his voice.  

“We’d increased St Jean’s price before the Caulfield Cup but given we’re so late in the breeding season, we didn’t think it would affect his books, but the phone’s now ringing. We’ve had one or two bookings every day this week, and we’ll do a lot better this year than we have in the past.” 

“Joanne isn’t keen to get any more stallions but we’ve even had a call from the UK offering a shuttle stallion from France!” 

Half Yours (ex La Gazelle) was bred by TBV’s 2025 Champion Victorian Small Breeder, Mrs Janice McKenna. She and her late husband Colin were shareholders in St Jean when he raced, and have supported him throughout his stud career. 

With 85 horses on the property - 52 of his own mares - Grant isn’t sure they’ll make it to Flemington on Tuesday but they’ll be watching and cheering Half Yours with vested interest.