The news last week of the return of Starspangledbanner to Rosemont Stud has been backed up this week with the Victorian farm announcing that former Widden stallion Shamus Award will stand at Rosemont this season. Stud principal Anthony Mithen reported that the stallion arrived at his new home over the weekend.
"He
arrived on Saturday morning and looks absolutely outstanding. Widden
have done a fantastic job with him – he served over 125 mares in each of his
first four seasons at stud and with his oldest only three, we know that the
best is still ahead and we think his move is a bonus for Victorian breeders."
Mithen's confidence is no doubt underpinned by his own experience with the stallion – Rosemont bred and still part-own probably the best of his stock to date in the progressive Mr Quickie, who tightened his grip on South Australia Derby favouritism with a commanding win over older horses in Saturday's VOBIS Gold Heath at Caulfield. It was the three year old's eighth win from only 11 starts.
"Mr Quickie is a horse who has just continued to go from strength to strength and we still don't know where his ceiling is. We can't wait for the Derby. We think he might be typical of Shamus Award's stock – there is another one who ran great in the Group 3 in Adelaide who is also going to the Derby and he is really starting to look like a stallion whose progeny will thrive at the 2000m range as later three year olds and then at four and five. It's a great profile for a lot of the broodmare population in Victoria – we will leave him at $10,000 + GST which is fantastic value for a stallion who is on the verge of making his mark and has the numbers on the ground to keep backing it up in the next 12 months."
"His winners to runners rate is now better than Dundeel and Fiorente and he could finish this season with a handful of stakes performers and all being well Mr Quickie gets his Group One. That makes him the best value 2nd season stallion of that crop for mine."
The other Derby horse Mithen refers to is Tony McEvoy's Classic Weiwei, who ran 3rd in the Gr 3 Chairman's Stakes after winning the Listed Port Adelaide Guineas at his previous start. In a good weekend for Shamus Award, his 2yo filly Ethical Solution ran fourth in the Gr 3 Breeders Stakes on debut, while yesterday at Geelong Danny O'Brien's 3yo filly Sovereign Award won her second start by seven lengths and looks a Group horse in the making. Yearlings this selling season have sold for up to $160,000.
Widden's
Ryan McEvoy said while they were sad to see the son of Snitzel leave,
they understood the situation.
"One of Shamus's major owners and biggest supporters Sean Buckley has the majority of his mares at his farm in Kilmore so to have the stallion closer to them was the factor. His progeny look like they are improving all the time so it's definitely a coup for the Victorian breeding scene," McEvoy said. "We wish them all well."
Mithen was thrilled to be making a second stallion announcement in as many weeks as the stallion ranks at Rosemont grows to four.
"We have been very patient in our pursuit of stallions – it is a high risk game and we wanted to be pretty selective to ensure that the stallions we did bring in would suit the Victorian market and most importantly, would introduce some value for the breeders. As breeders ourselves we know that the economics at present are tough – there are a lot of high service fees and a lot of stallions with risky credentials and things can turn south pretty quickly when a decision turns out to be wrong. But we think we are presenting four stallions at affordable prices where you know what you get and they can provide a return.
"Starspangledbanner has proven he can throw a top-liner, his stock are popular in the sales ring and at $20k he is a no brainer; at $10k Shamus Award is the first Cox Plate winner to stand in Victoria since Rubiton and the only Group 1 winning son of Snitzel ever to stand in Victoria; Starcraft is available for the final season on the "Toss The Boss" deal where you can breed a foal for free – bearing in mind he had yearling colts make $150k at the Gold Coast and $180k at Easter; and Nostradamus is a young sire in his fourth season who has it all in front of him - his first year yearlings sold to $125k and we'll make him available this season on some terrific deals."
"It is a great line up and one that we hope allows us to fulfil our strategy of returning some value to the breeders. We can't wait for the season to begin."
ROSEMONT STUD – 2019 STALLIONS
STARTSPANGLEDBANNER - $22,000 inc GST
SHAMUS AWARD - $11,000 inc GST
STARCRAFT - $8,800 inc GST * (nominate colt/filly and receive service fee for FREE if not successful)
NOSTRADAMUS - $8,800 inc GST
