Aquis Farm will debut five stallions across its three farms this season and the public got its first taste of how three of them have settled into their post-racing lives with Performer, Brave Smash (Jpn) and Santos on display at the Queensland stallion parade at Canungra last Sunday.
Brave Smash and Santos were visiting from the Hunter Valley, while Performer was able to show off his new home to a familiar face in his former trainer Chris Waller.
The chestnut son of Exceed And Excel has relished his transition from racehorse to stallion, according to Aquis Farm's Director of Stallions Mark Woolridge.
"He's got an exceptional temperament and that's the test of the way he has settled in. He's put on weight nicely. It’s like he's been here before really," Woolridge told TDN AusNZ.
Performer, the fresh face on the Aquis Canungra roster
Performer is the fresh face on the Canungra roster, with Santos and Brave Smash the new boys on the block at the farm at Murrurundi. The new Aquis Farm at Seymour features first-season pair Lean Mean Machine and Siege of Quebec.
Woolridge said all the stallions undergo a familiarisation process when they arrive at their new homes in a bid to transition them from the bustle of life on the track and in the stable to the very different environs of the farm.
"We really like to see them making the transition from racehorse to stallions in terms of their temperament. They can come in a bit hot and still fed up pretty well," he said.
"We look for them to really relax. We do things with them to relax them, take them for walks and out into the stallion runs and that sort of stuff."
Gallery: The new faces to the Aquis Murrurundi Farm
The key measure for a horse like Performer is how he furnishes headed into his first season.
"We look for them to put on weight and he's put on weight progressively, which is what you want to see. It's a good sign that he's a good-natured horse and he has actually adapted well," he said.
"We look for them to put on weight and he's put on weight progressively, which is what you want to see. It's a good sign that he's a good-natured horse and he has actually adapted well." - Mark Woolridge
It's this time of year, with a run of inspections as well as stallion parades, where temperament can be sorely tested for a new arrival. But Woolridge said Performer conducted himself with aplomb on Sunday.
"He handled it very well. It was quite windy and sometimes they can get a bit unsettled when it's like that, but he came out and walked around and showed himself really well. He was really well-received," he said.
A stakes winner at his first two starts, Performer is a half-brother to Group 1 winner Bel Sprinter and is bred on the Danehill (USA) x Snippets cross that has produced top-line stallions Snitzel, Hinchinbrook and Magnus.
He stands his first season at Canungra at $8,800 (inc GST), as part of a roster of seven stallions in Queensland. Also on display on Sunday were Domesday, Husson (Arg), Kiss And Make Up, Kobayashi, Spill The Beans and The Mission.
"The horses were well behaved and we got some good reports back on it and it was a good day," Woolridge said. "We think we’ve got a horse here for all levels of breeders in Queensland."
Gallery: Some of Aquis' stallions
Exciting times at Canungra
Aquis Chairman Tony Fung and Managing Director Justin Fung were also present in what was the first of three stallion parades for the burgeoning operation, with the next in Victoria this Sunday before the Hunter Valley farm takes centre stage on August 25.
Aquis Farm will stand 15 stallions across its three farms this season, a significant leap on the four stallions it stood at Canungra when Woolridge joined the business in 2016.
Spill The Beans
With the first foals of both The Mission and Kobayashi arriving this spring and the progeny of Spill The Beans turning two, Woolridge said there is a real energy around Aquis' Queensland-based foundation farm.
"We are like nervous dads awaiting our first child. We are really looking forward to those two having their first foals and we are not far away from seeing the first of the Spill The Beans progeny hit the track. It's a really exciting time," he said.
