Cover image courtesy of Armidale Stud
Armidale Stud's Alpine Eagle was always destined to make a big impression with his first crop thanks to the massive support of local and interstate breeders which saw him service 106 mares in his first year at stud in 2017.
No more than 12km down the road at Grenville Stud, Lionhearted, the superbly bred stakes-placed son of Fastnet Rock, was making his own debut splash, with a book of 65, big by Tasmanian standards, in what was to prove his only year at stud before his unfortunate death in early 2018.
He has 17 of his only 38 foals catalogued for sale on Monday, while Alpine Eagle has 23, with the two combining to make up nearly 30 per cent of the overall book.
Alpine Eagle | Standing at Armidale Stud
When combined with the fantastic start Armidale Stud's Needs Further has made to his career, plus strong positive results from the likes of Grenville's Mawingo (Ger), young stallions in the island state have never been subject to such buzz.
For Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch, it is also a sign in the faith local breeders have put in the local product.
"A horse like Needs Further has taken the state a lot further in recent years. He's a very, very promising stallion and to have the calibre of first season horses we have this year, with Lionhearted and in particular, Alpine Eagle, it shows the investment that the Tasmanian stud farms are putting into stallions and from that into new broodmares. It's giving great faith to the market that this is a state which is well worth investing in," he said.
Magic Millions Managing Director, Barry Bowditch
Graduates drive sale profile
The increased profile of Tasmanian stallions has followed on from an amazing run of success on the racetrack in the past five years, where a trio of high-profile Group 1 winners has been complemented by an army of Tassie-bred horses competing and winning metropolitan races on the mainland.
"We've probably had that for quite a while but it's those better horses that make people prick their ears a bit and think, 'gee'," Grenville Stud's Graeme McCulloch said.
"It's those better horses that make people prick their ears a bit and think, 'gee'." - Graeme McCulloch
"Horses like Palentino and Mongolian Khan and now Mystic Journey, it's those ones which make people think Tassie can produce a good one. We’ve had three Group 1 winners over the past four years with one per cent of the broodmare population, that's not bad."
Group 1 winner Palentino was an $85,000 graduate of the Tasmanian Magic Millions Yearling Sale | Standing at Sun Stud
The Magic Millions Tasmanian Sale has boomed in recent years much like the rest of the yearling sales in the country, but McCulloch believes what has driven that has been the sale's burgeoning reputation for providing strong return on investment.
"We’ve always flown under the radar a bit. It’s a fact that we are the best sale in Australia in terms of what you pay, for what your return is. People don’t necessarily realise that, but it's starting to dawn on them. They have realised that we can breed good horses down here. We’ve got the best country in Australia to breed horses in, I reckon, good sound tough horses," he said.
"We’ve got the best country in Australia to breed horses in, I reckon, good sound tough horses." - Graeme McCulloch
The graduate success, whether it be a Group 1 winner such as Mystic Journey (Needs Further), who cost just $11,000, or the myriad of other horses that have produced terrific returns on small investment, continues to fuel positive sentiment, according to Bowditch.
The toast of Tasmania, Mystic Journey was an $11,000 yearling purchase
"All is pointing towards a positive sale in my opinion. The market has moved in Tassie in recent years and rightly so, with the graduate success from the sale. The Tasmanian-bred horses are not only succeeding in their own state but on the mainland and that level of success is quite extraordinary at the moment," he said.
"It’s obvious that you can pick out a horse like Mystic Journey or The Cleaner, Palentino or even Soul Patch, who is one of the up and coming 3-year-olds in the country, but if you look deeper, whether it be Group races on the mainland or at home, the Tassie horses have never performed as well as what they have right now, and that's a great thing for the state."
Lionhearted's only crop
Offering the only crop of Lionhearted is bittersweet for McCulloch, but he believes the demand will be very much there, considering these are the only yearlings the half-brother to Sun Stud's Magnus (Flying Spur) and Black Caviar's dam Helsinge (Desert Sun {GB}), will have available at public auction.
"If they are as good as they look, they’ll do well, but that doesn't always happen. They are lovely types of horses and good natured horses like he was," he said. "It was a bit of a tragedy to lose him but that's the way it is. I'm hoping everyone will want a Lionhearted in the stable because there are no more coming," he said.
"I'm hoping everyone will want a Lionhearted in the stable because there are no more coming." - Graeme McCulloch
Lionhearted was at his best in his 2-year-old season, finishing second in a G2 Skyline S. and was twice fourth in juvenile stakes races. His progeny, according the McCulloch, follow similar lines.
"They look fairly forward horses. They are well-muscled, strong sort of horses, and for a Fastnet Rock, Lionhearted himself came fairly early. I'm pretty certain from what I am seeing, they will be 2-year-olds," he said.
The late Lionhearted at Rosehill
His highlights are Lot 143, a colt out of Feisty Rose (Fusaichi Pegasus {USA}), the half-sister to stakes-winner Rose Of Peace (Hussonet {USA}) and Lot 139, a colt out of Endless Obsession (Flying Spur), which is the family of Group 1 winners Assertive Lad (Zeditave), Assertive Lass (Zeditave) and Reset (Zabeel {NZ}).
He also has big opinions of Lot 3, a colt out of Guyra Gal (Canny Lad) and Lot 44, a filly by Paris Style (Canny Lad), who he said more than make up in presence and physical type for what they lack in black type on the pedigree page.
Other highlights from Grenville Stud's draft of 41 is four by another of its own stallions, Mawingo, the best of which according to McCulloch is probably Lot 144, a colt out of Flying Dami (Incumbent), the half-sister to prolific Tasmanian-bred stakes-winner Kenjorwood (Snippetson), as well as a colt and a filly by Newgate's Dissident (Lot 13 and Lot 119 respectively).
"The colt is out of a young Exceed And Excel mare, and he's a nice colt and the filly is out of mare called Benoit. A couple of people that have looked at her have said she's the best filly in the sale, which is nice of them," McCulloch said.
Positive sentiment flows
The Magic Millions team have been working hard with Tasracing and Tasbreeders to get the quantity and quality of buyers to Launceston ahead of Monday and that has fed further positive sentiment. Bowditch's expectation are that the sale will maintain the high standards of the past few years.
"I think more of the same. Last year was a record sale. Somewhere along those lines would please me. As long as we've got a good healthy market that our vendors can sell into," he said.
“There has been a 260% return on investment if someone had purchased every yearling in the Magic Millions Tasmanian Sale from 2013 to 2017. That’s a strong return.”
"The vendors are always realistic down there in terms of what they want to achieve and so long as we've got a market to facilitate that, I think all-in-all, there is no reason we can’t have a pleasing sale."
