As a Queensland-based stud with a young roster to show off, including the first-season sire Sun City, the lack of a traditional stallion parade due to COVID-19 restrictions represented a considerable concern for Telemon Stud ahead of the 2020 season.
Breeders rely heavily on their eye, particularly when selecting younger stallions to mate with their mares, and the fact that most of those people would not be able to get to the Innisplain-based farm, was a worry for Fletcher.
"It's been a challenge for everybody as we are all accustomed to having a conventional open day and a conventional parade. If you are there in person, you have the ability to get every perspective you need to make sense of the horse, whereas now, we’ve got to do that for them," Fletcher told TDN AusNZ.
The team at Telemon Stud
In what is a competitive marketplace, Fletcher was keen not to just provide some parade vision of Sun City, Jungle Cat and Sidestep, but use Telemon's Stallion Showcase to give breeders as close an experience as possible to what they would get if they were on the farm.
The Showcase, hosted by Sky's Michael Maxworthy, is much more than just a digital parade, with 360-degree vision of the stallions as they are presented.
"I'm just really satisfied with the way we've approached it. We haven’t just led the horses around in circles and spoken over the top of it, we've gone out of our way to give people the best possible sense of the individual we can give them," Fletcher said.
"We've gone out of our way to give people the best possible sense of the individual we can give them." - Dan Fletcher
"It’s so interactive. You can take exactly what you want from it for any given purpose. Some people have the appetite to sit through the whole 25 minutes and other people are just focussed on a particular horse or a particular aspect, and you've got the ability to do that.
"You've got 360-degree conformational footage and graphics. It’s not something we have done before and I'm really pleased with the result we have got."
Newcomer to the Telemon Stud roster, Sun City
The Stallion Showcase was released last Thursday, and to Fletcher's delight, the response to it has been very positive.
"We've been really happy. We have had terrific feedback. The vision that we put together has been exceptional and we are really pleased with the result and we are getting great feedback from the market," he said.
Sun shines in Showcase
Fletcher was especially keen to show off Telemon's newest arrival, Sun City, the Group 3-winning son of Zoustar, who will begin his career at $7700 (inc GST).
"I thought he stole the show in our video to be honest," Fletcher said. "He's a photogenic sort of horse and that's because he is so attractive. What you see is a really strong, compact, powerhouse of a young horse. And they will see again next year what he has let down into. He's a really good moving horse and the footage we have of him, sums him up perfectly."
"He's a really good moving horse and the footage we have of him, sums him up perfectly." - Dan Fletcher
Sun City is the first son of Zoustar to stand in Queensland, and the only stallion in that state who features the influential Northern Meteor in his pedigree.
"You think about Zoustar and you go back to Northern Meteor and the impact he has had for a stallion that stood four seasons at stud is remarkable," Fletcher said.
"You look at his influence and you can line him up against all these shuttle stallions and these horses that have had massive books for long durations. The Zoustar story is a Northern Meteor story in a lot of ways as well."
Sun City kicked off his career in the Telemon stallion barn last week and all is progressing well at this stage.
"He's off to a great start. He's a natural-born stallion and is very good at his job. Tony McEvoy told me he would be and he wasn't wrong. He's a professional horse, and it's just a matter of getting through this busy period and getting those positive scans back," he said.
Next step for young champ
Sidestep showed his quality when crowned Australia's champion first-season sire in 2018/19 and Fletcher said that success has highlighted to breeders the opportunity they get with the son of Exceed And Excel at $16,5000 (inc GST).
"The key aspect with Sidestep is that he's a quality young stallion who has got off to a great start at stud. He's got a terrific profile and everything he has done so far has backed up that profile and exceeded expectations. He's a quality, emerging young stallion," Fletcher said.
"He's building really good momentum. He got a really nice book last year and a lot of the people that booked into him last year are back again this year.
"I'm seeing his latest bunch of foals, which we have plenty of, and while he suffered from a lack of numbers earlier in his career, that is getting fixed.
"We’ve got Sidesteps everywhere and they are from better quality mares and they will go to proper homes and get the advantages that his previous progeny probably haven’t enjoyed."
Cat's first crop
Jungle Cat, the son of Iffraaj (GB), who was a Group 1 winner in both Australia and Dubai, enters his second season at $13,200 (inc GST), with his first foals arriving this spring.
"We’ve got two Jungle Cats here, but I've got reports in which are very positive. The best advertisement for a horse is their foals and one filly has already generated six or seven nominations just off her arrival," Fletcher said.
"Everyone that is reporting in is really pleased and people that are seeing these foals are booking in. He's going to be a really busy boy and will be well supported. He will have every chance."
