Group 1 quality added to Grassyards roster

Written by Paul Vettise

An Australian Group 1 winner will strengthen the stallion roster at Grassyards Farm at Mosgiel with Howard Be Thy Name (Redoute’s Choice) secured by Jason Coutts’ operation.

The 6-year-old will stand alongside Prince Of Brooklyn (Magnus) at the South Island stud with his 2019 service fee set at NZ$5000 + GST.

Grassyards has also come up with an incentive scheme to boost interest when the second phase of the stallion’s career gets underway.

Incentive scheme

Coutts is offering NZ$30,000 and a free service to the breeders who produce the first 2-year-old winner of Howard Be Thy Name and that offer will be repeated for the breeders of the first 3-year-old winner by the stallion.

“We need a bit of vigour in the South Island and think this is pretty good value for money,” he said.

“White Robe Lodge has proved that the South Island is a fantastic place to breed horses. We want to encourage breeders to increase the foal population.”

Howard Be Thy Name won five races, including the G1 South Australian Derby, the G3 Chairman’s S. and the Listed Port Adelaide Guineas, before injury curtailed his career.

Coutts finalised the deal to secure the stallion over the weekend with his Melbourne-based friend and racing enthusiast Chris Marks, who bred Prince Of Brooklyn, assisting in the process.

“Howard Be Thy Name turned up on gavelhouse and I phoned Chris and inquired about him,” he said.

“He sounded out the owners and they were pretty keen on the idea so I flew to Melbourne last week to see the horse.

Watch: Howard Be Thy Name winning the 2016 G1 SA Derby

“I got to know the owners and this is the first time we’ve gone into a partnership on a stallion.”

Howard Be Thy Name is a son of Bellini Rose (NZ) (Faltaat {USA}), who won the G2 Rose of Kingston S. and was a multiple Group placegetter.

She hails from a potent Pencarrow Stud family that number the Group 1 winners Ethereal (NZ) (Rhythm {USA}), Grand Echezeaux (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) and her son Darci Brahma (NZ) (Danehill {USA}) within its ranks.

Learning curve

“Prince Of Brooklyn was our first stallion so it’s been a learning curve and we’ve improved our game,” Coutts said.

“We’ve got a lot of mares now, which we didn’t have when we first got Prince Of Brooklyn. We hold 45 broodmares ourselves and a large chunk of them will be going to Howard, that’s a good base to start with.”

Foundation stallion Prince Of Brooklyn, who retired to stud in 2017, will stand at NZ$3000 + GST.

A brother to stakes performers Duke Of Brunswick and Princess Of Queens, he won three of his 10 starts, including the G3 National S.