Coolmore stallion, the GoldenSlipper winner Vancouver made a splash during the opening day of the 2019 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale at Melbourne when his colt from Epingle (NZ) made A$540,000 to be the second-highest priced horse sold during Sunday’ssession.
But then again, Coolmore’stallions’ spectacular progeny have always made headline in Australia and abroad. The historic Coolmore farm has always bred winners. The 1920 Melbourne Cup winner Poitrel, champion racehorse and sire Heroic and high-class galloperManfred are examples of some of the wonderful racehorses bred at the JerrysPlains property by the Moses brothers during the first quarter of the 20thcentury, even though at the time it was known as ‘Arrowfield’
The Impact chats to Jim Carey,
Stud Manager of Coolmore Australia.
Q: The Coolmore team seems to have developed a knack for selecting and launching successful sires. What are the keys to selecting a stallion prospect and starting him off successfully?
A: Coolmore is synonymous throughout the world with the motto of ‘Home Of Champions’. In the last 25years in Australia, we have had champion stallions Last Tycoon, Danehill, Encosta De Lago and Fastnet Rock and more recently we have invested in anew wave of colonially bred stallion prospects including So You Think, Pierro, Rubick, Vancouver, Pride Of Dubai and Merchant Navy. We strive to stand the best and fastest sons of the best sires and we have great belief in the stallions we stand, which is incredibly important given that we support them heavily with our own broodmare band.
Q: Graduates of Coolmore Australia have had a particularly impressive run of success in recent times, who are some of the current stars?
A: The accomplishments of Coolmoregraduates are a source of great pride for everyone on the farm. As I speak, there have been 248 individual Stakes-winning graduates of Coolmore Australia since 1996. This level of success does not happen by accident and no stone is left unturned in the pursuit of developing elite racehorses. In terms of graduates of the farm, some of the G1 highlights of 2018 include Winx, Unforgotten, Comin’ Through, Oohood, Avantage, Age Of Fire and South African horse of the year Oh Susanna. What is even more exciting is that with the likes of Thinkin’ Big, Fundamentalist and Anaheed coming through, the run of successful Coolmore graduates is showing no sign of slowing down.
Q: Which Coolmore sires have been your best (in-terms of yearling sales) so far this season?
A: The progeny of Coolmore sites have been extremely well received at the sales this season. As ever, the progeny of multiple champion sire Fastnet Rock has been very well sought after, with atop price of $1,100,000 for the Ballet Suite colt at the Magic Millions in January going to the bid of John Kelly. Pierro is a sire who we have great belief in, and hope that he may one day emulate his sire Lonhro in becoming a champion sire. He has made an incredible start to his career at stud with the likes of Arcadia Queen, Pinot, Levendi, Pierata and Tulip amongst others.
His progeny have been very popular at the sale this year, with a top price of$600,000 for the colt out of Sailing By, also sold at the Magic Millions in January. The way in which our high profile first crop duo of Vancouver and pride Of Dubai have sold has been extremely encouraging. Our unbeaten GoldenSlipper winning champion two-year-old Vancouver is following in the footsteps of Pierro before him, and his first yearlings have been bought by all the right people, with his most expensive offering being knocked down to great judge JohnFoote for $540,000 at the Inglis Premier Sale in Melbourne.
The first crop yearlings of dual Group 1 winning two-year-old Pride Of Dubai have been equally impressive, with his top lot of $300,000 going to the bid of his owner/breederSheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum. We offer some outstanding yearlings by him at Inglis Easter. In terms of the new sires coming through, Rubickcertainly has the trainers talking and his progeny look like the natural two-year-old runners, which the market so desires. His yearlings have sold for up to $360,000 which is a great return of a service fee of $17,600.
Q: With your experience, how what are the qualities to look for when buying a great yearling? How do you tell between stayers and sprinters when they are still yearlings?
A: The traditional Australian thoroughbred is designed for sprinting, and this is what we are famous for producing all around the world. It has been proven time after time that our printers are the best in the world, so naturally, it makes sense to look for qualities in a yearling that will help them run fast. I speak of strong forearms and gaskins, a deep girth and a strong hindquarter and length of the hip. On top of this, I like a yearling with quality and a fluent, purposeful action.
Published in The Impact 6 Issue, 2 Vol
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