When his star colt Flying Artie retired to Newgate Stud ahead of the 2017 season, Wilf Mula decided it was time to set up his own broodmare band in addition to his breeding interests with his old school mate Paul Whelan of Luskin Park.
Under the Aston Bloodstock brand, Mula purchased eight mares through the major sales in 2017, spending $890,000 before acquiring further mares in 2018, three through the Australian broodmare sales and one at the Keeneland November Sale in the United States through Craig Rounsefell's Boomer Bloodstock.
He added another three mares at the Australian breeding stock sales this year, further tweaking his band, with numbers currently standing at 12 heading into the 2019 season.
Eight of those mares will be heading to Flying Artie, who is serving his third season at Newgate Stud, while the others will be headed to the likes of Dundeel (NZ), Shalaa (Ire) and Pride Of Dubai.
Acts of Grace (USA)
Acts of Grace (USA) (Bahri {USA}), who Mula paid $250,000 for at the 2017 Inglis Chairman's Sale, is certainly the most interesting of them from a pedigree perspective.
She is a half to the influential stallion Invincible Spirit (Ire) and had a foal by Frankel (GB) sell for $500,000 at the 2018 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
Mula is most impressed with the first filly she produced for him after he purchased her, by Coolmore's Pride Of Dubai and Acts Of Grace will be headed back that way again in 2019.
Miss Balooshi as a yearling
The now 2-year-old filly, named Miss Balooshi, has been retained to race by Mula and his wife Rosemary, while the subsequent colt by So You Think (NZ) is expected to make an impression when offered as part of the Newgate draft at the 2020 yearling sales.
Mula admits he is quite enamoured with the Invincible Spirit bloodlines and will send one of the mares he purchased at this year's Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, Stroak (Real Saga), to one of his sons.
"I like the Invincible Spirit line and if you can’t afford to go to I Am Invincible then Shalaa was the best other option. I had thought about Cable Bay (Ire), obviously he's going well, but went with Shalaa instead."
Mula admits he is quite enamoured with the Invincible Spirit bloodlines and as such has chosen Shalaa to cover Stroak | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
Stroak had gone to I Am Invincible twice earlier in her career but was without luck, losing the first foal at birth and then missing, while she produced a Capitalist filly last year and is in foal to that stallion again.
The stakes-placed Marvellous Miss (Fusaichi Pegasus {USA}), who has already produced two winners, was another mare Mula picked up earlier this year, in this case at the Inglis Australian Broodmare and Weanling Sale for $110,000 in foal to Russian Revolution.
"All is progressing well with her and she’ll be one of mine that goes to Artie," Mula said.
"All is progressing well with her and she’ll be one of mine that goes to Artie." - Wilf Mula
The other 2019 mare purchase for Mula was the dual Group 3 winning Life On The Wire (Pluck {USA}), which he paid $125,000 for on the Gold Coast from her former trainer Scott Brunton.
Life On The Wire purchased by Wilf this year from former trainer Scott Brunton
Life to continue on track
Mula has opted to keep Life On The Wire racing for now in a bid to further improve a record which includes wins in Tasmania's two premier mares races, the G3 Vamos S. and the G3 Bow Mistress S.
"I'm a great believer in keeping them racing if they are able to do so. I don’t want to send mares to the breeding barn unless I have to," he said.
"I'm a great believer in keeping them racing if they are able to do so." - Wilf Mula
"Once I had a look at her Tasmanian success, I decided to race on with her and she's with Robert Heathcote and Chris Anderson in Brisbane and if she happens to go up the scale, we can bring her to Sydney or Melbourne."
"Heathcote, being a Taswegian, had a good conversation with Scott Brunton and he said the only reason they sold her was because she would have to race on these synthetic tracks."
"Her feet are pretty ordinary. I've given her plenty of time to get them right and she's getting pretty close to coming back. She had a little stone bruise, which has just delayed things a bit, but we are not far away."
Life On the Wire, who Mula hopes to have back on the track very soon
Mula had similar racetrack hopes for the mare he purchased out of the Keeneland November Sale last year, I'm Pretty Strong (USA) (Street Cry {Ire}), but he has sent her to the breeding barn after three starts with Chris Waller.
"It was very unfortunate, because she was going very well. She had a minor throat issue and I thought rather than have a tie-back operation, it was time to breed with her, so I've sent her to Dundeel," Mula said.
"Her half-sister Sharing (USA) is looking like being a good horse in America, by Speightstown (USA). Hopefully, she comes on and becomes a stakes winner."
Given they are out of G1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Shared Account (USA) (Pleasantly Perfect {USA}), they don’t want for anything on the pedigree page.
Stella Victoria, by the stallion Mula bred in partnership with Whelan and others in Foxwedge, is a likely future member of the Aston Bloodstock broodmare band, but the 4-year-old, a stakes winner last spring, will continue her racing career for now as the flagbearer in Mula's pink and black colours.
"I think Stella is probably the best of them. I've got so many 2 and 3-year olds that haven’t raced and I'm just hoping there is a gold mine there somewhere," Mula said.
Flying Arties hit the yearling sales
He is also extremely excited at seeing Flying Artie's first crop hit the yearling sales in 2020 and will likely sell a couple himself and seven or eight in his ongoing breeding partnership with Whelan.
"We always felt with the Arties you have to give them time. He's such a scopey horse, you don’t do them justice if you sell them as weaners," he said. "We sold some last year, but we feel if we give them the time, then we will be rewarded."
"He's such a scopey horse, you don’t do them justice if you sell them as weaners." - Wilf Mula
"We will go to Magic Millions, Easter and probably go to Melbourne with them too, because he had a lot of success there."
Wilf is excited to see Flying Artie's yearling progeny at the sales this year
And it won't be just the progeny of Flying Artie that will keep Mula busy at the yearling sales.
"I've got a very nice Dundeel colt out of an Exceed And Excel mare, Affinee (NZ), and her half-sister Foxy Housewife (Foxwedge) won the Listed Mona Lisa S, at Wyong on Friday," he said.
"I've also ended up with a very nice yearling out of Vera's Pride (Youthful Legs {USA}), so he's a half to Stella Victoria, by Sizzling."
Wilf with his wife Rosemary and jockey Blake Shinn wearing Mula's pink and black colours
While Mula initially had 20 annual nominations to Flying Artie, that is set to drop to ten, and with that, he will likely look to scale his personal broodmare band back by the start of next season.
"I'll probably sell a few broodmares this year, because I've got others coming through that I race. I'd like to have about eight, I went strong to support Artie," he said.
