The Hunter Valley sprung to life over the past weekend as the
annual Stallion Parades took centre stage and huge crowds travelled in convoy groups from major stud to major stud to view the incredible rosters of the finest thoroughbred stallions in Australasia.
Dynamic Syndications along with the Team from
Wild Oaks / Oakridge (where all our horses agist and are pre-trained) took advantage of the opportunity to view current leading sires and exciting new season sires as the studs played hosts.
On limited time, we were able to visit:
Turangga (Thursday),
Widden (Friday),
Vinery, Newgate and
Darley (Saturday),
Coolmore (Sunday).
What a pleasure it was to view their stallions and gain valuable appreciation of the new season sires going to stud for the first time in 2014.
At
Turangga the home of stallions
Zizou and
Money or the Gun, stud master
Stuart Ramsey took us on farm and as we drove through the paddocks we caught up with past
Dynamic Stakes Winner TENNANT’S TIARA along with Stu’s wonderful broodmare band which includes some of the finest race fillies and mares to have raced in Australasia.
Dean Watt & Stuart Ramsey at Turangga Stud with TENANT'S TIARA
Friday we drove the 90 minutes from Scone up to the Widden Valley to view the magnificent
Widden Stud and behold their wonderful draft of sires for the 2014 season.
Apart from wonderful hospitality amongst those stallions on show were:
Stratum, Sebring, Snippetson, Star Witness, Tickets, Dreamscape, Nicconi and
Your Song which are joined by the 2 exciting new boys for 2014 –
Zoustar and
Shamus Award.
All stallions were in fantastic condition and
a credit to the Widden Team. However as far as the complete glamour was concerned, on their roster
YOUR SONG
YOUR SONG was the most handsome,
SHAMUS AWARD
yet the stallion that really caught the eye and imagination was
SHAMUS AWARD.
Saturday saw a three prong attack heading to
Vinery, Darley and
Newgate.
Vinery was the first of the organised parades kicking-off at 10:00am and the line-up was superb. Amongst the wonderful backdrop of one of the most picturesque farms in the Hunter Valley, we saw:
All Too Hard, More Than Ready, Mossman, Testa Rossa, Pluck, Congrats, Big Brown, Casino Prince, Myboycharlie, Husson, and
Onemorenomore.
Each of the horses were in wonderful condition and of course the there was an electricity that went across the big audience when
ALL TOO HARD
ALL TOO HARD was presented and was backed up with champion sire
MORE THAN READY
MORE THAN READY. However maybe we found a “
sneaky one” in their roster because it was
PLUCK
PLUCK that really caught the eye. A magnificent individual and brilliant racehorse in the similar mould of his own champion sire
More Than Ready, PLUCK offers a little more size, scope and length of reign than his own champion dad. His career was cut short as a 3yo when he suffered a major colic attack and needed emergency surgery to survive. We will be keen to check out his yearlings when they hit the market next year.
We then moved onto the wonderful Darley Stud for the 1:00pm parade.
This is one of those
OMG ! moments for anyone that has any interest in racing and breeding. A magnificent property where money has been invested into the best pastures and the best of the best facilities that money can buy.
Added into that environment is a roster of stallions that breeders sit in awe of. Into the parade ring came:
Ad Valorem, Benfica, Bernardini, Carlton House, Denman, Exceed And Excel, Lonhro, Medaglia d’Oro, Street Cry, Sepoy and
Time Thief. These boys were joined by new sires for 2014
Albrecht, Dawn Approach and
Epaulette.
Each stallion was a magnificent individual as can be imagined would be on a roster from one of the top breeding nurseries in the world. In a roster that boasts the best, it’s hard to find those that catch your eye over the others however we were stunned by the beauty of
DENMAN, EXCEED AND EXCEL, LONHRO, MEDAGLIA d'ORO and AD VALOREM
DENMAN EXCEED AND EXCEL
LONHRO MEDAGLIA d'ORO
AD VALOREM
EPAULETTE
whilst of the new boys
EPAULETTE for me was a stand out
CARLTON HOUSE
whilst
CARLTON HOUSE certainly had appeal.
We then finished the day off at
Henry Field’s Newgate Farm where the buzz around the valley was for his new season sire
THE FACTOR
THE FACTOR nicknamed
“the freak.” A magnificent grey stallion, whilst beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
THE FACTOR ranks as one of the nicest thoroughbreds to caste an eye over. He stands alongside
Foxwedge and other new season sires
Eurozone and Sizzling.
Sunday was awesome, as we drove from Scone to Jerry’s Plains to what is used as the benchmark in Australia for being the
“best of the best,” based upon Size, Pasture, Facilities, Improvements, Bloodstock and Stallion Roster.
Team Coolmore were at their absolute best on Sunday ensuring a wonderful day from start to finish.
The previous 3 days had been thrilling however we finished off with a roster full of
wow factor sires. We saw:
The 2014 new boys
Camelot and Declaration Of War, along with racetrack hero’s
Choisir, Encosta De Lago, Excelebration, Fastnet Rock, High Chaparral, Pierro, So You Think and Zoffany.
UNCLE MO
Unfortunately the one stallion I wanted to see the most was
Uncle Mo because we rate him extremely highly as the Champion 2yo and 3yo in the USA but he was still in quarantine having only recently arrived back from the USA.
Each one on their roster is a
superstar, each one of their stallions was an
eye-catcher.
Of the proven brigade, the star of the show was none other than
FASTNET ROCK.
FASTNET ROCK
He may not have the prettiest head in the thoroughbred world but he has the body to make up for it. This is why he is the sire everybody wants.
HIGH CHAPARRAL
HIGH CHAPARRAL was another who is a champion sire and looking at him it’s easy to see why he has such a good resume of star progeny.
I was a wrap for their exciting new sire for 2014 in
DECLARATION OF WAR
DECLARATION OF WAR. If he produces horses like himself they will top the first crop sire averages. He’s a machine! Naturally SO YOU THINK was in wonderful condition and I am keen to inspect his progeny when they hit the yearling sales.
Whilst it’s not a complete review of the sires available and so much due diligence work is put into the mating of every mare that goes to stud, from what I ran the rule over in the past few days in the Hunter Valley here is a short list of my favourites:
Good Looking New Boys for 2014 Season
EPAULETTE
EPAULETTE, DECLARATION OF WAR, THE FACTOR, SHAMUS AWARD, CARLTON HOUSE
Top Looking Elite Sires
FASTNET ROCK
FASTNET ROCK, DENMAN, MEDAGLIA D’ORO, EXCEED AND EXCEL, MORE THAN READY, HIGH CHAPARRAL, STRATUM,
Eye Catchers with first crop yearlings in 2015
PLUCK
PLUCK, SO YOU THINK, ZOFFANY
Outstanding Value Sires in the Hunter Valley for 2014 under a $20,000 Service Fee
UNCLE MO
UNCLE MO ($16,500), CARLTON HOUSE ($16,500), PLUCK ($11,000), ZOFFANY ($8,800), AD VALOREM ($6,600)