Telemon bolsters stallions’ books

Cover image courtesy of Telemon Thoroughbreds

Telemon Stud bought 10 fillies and mares on the Gold Coast this week for a total spend of $1,695,000, averaging $169,500 with a top price of $350,000 for the Listed Mode S. placegetter Churning (Lonhro).

“The next four or five years will tell us the full story, but at the moment I think we’re happy with what we’ve come away with at the end of the week,” Fletcher told TDN AusNZ.

“Obviously everyone knows that it was an extremely strong market throughout the Sale, and we were underbidders on a number of mares. But we still believe that we found some good value among our purchases.

“We managed to buy some mares that we saw as being fit for purpose to breed to our stallions, and there were some nice, young horses that we see as exciting prospects in the long-term and we’re looking forward to adding to our broodmare band.

“We bought mares to send to Russian Camelot, who we’ve maintained our involvement in, as well as our own stallions Sidestep, Jungle Cat and Sun City. We really believe in our own horses, and we’re prepared to go to these sales and make purchases like these to back up that belief. It’s a good way of giving some assurance to breeders that we really stand by our stallions.”

A joyous acquisition

One of Fletcher’s favourite purchases was Hannah Luxe (Written Tycoon), who he bought for $260,000 from the draft of Strawberry Hill Stud.

Unraced and sold purely as a breeding proposition, the 2-year-old filly is out of Happy Hannah (More Than Ready {USA}), who placed in the G1 Vinery Stud S., G2 Matriarch S. and G3 Angst S.

Happy Hannah is a three-quarter sister to the mighty More Joyous (NZ) (More Than Ready {USA}), who won 21 races and more than $4.5 million, headed by the G1 Queen Elizabeth S., Doncaster H., George Main S., Flight S., Futurity S., Toorak H. and two editions of the Queen of the Turf S.

The immediate family of Hannah Luxe also features Group 1 winners Joie Denise (Danehill {USA}), Sunday Joy (Sunday Silence {USA}), Tuesday Joy (NZ) (Carnegie {Ire}) and Fenway (High Chaparral {Ire}), along with multiple Group 2 winner Don’t Doubt Mamma (Not A Single Doubt) and Group 3 winner War (More Than Ready {USA}).

“Hannah Luxe was one that we were really excited to be able to buy,” Fletcher said. “She’s a gorgeous filly from the More Joyous family. We absolutely loved her, and she has a superb pedigree. There were a lot of cases during the week of people having to adjust to meet the market, but she was one that we were fortunate enough to secure within our valuation range. That was a great result.

“She’s not going to do any racing, but we can’t wait to breed from her in the years ahead.”

Rallying behind the Russian

Several of Telemon’s new recruits will be added to the first book of mares for Russian Camelot (Ire), who will stand his first season at Widden Stud Victoria this spring for an introductory fee of $22,000 (inc GST).

The son of Camelot (GB) was part-owned by Telemon through a brief but memorable racetrack career, in which he won four of his 11 starts including two at Group 1 level.

He became the first Northern Hemisphere-bred 3-year-old in history to win a Classic in Australia when he starred in last year’s South Australian Derby, and he added the G1 Underwood S. the following spring.

He also placed in the G1 Cox Plate, Makybe Diva S. and Caulfield S., and he finished second in the All-Star Mile in the final start of his career.

“We believe in Russian Camelot very much,” Fletcher said. “We had him in mind for quite a few of the mares that we bought this week, including Hannah Luxe.

“She’ll certainly be going to Russian, and I’m envisaging a beautiful dark foal – she’s a lovely black filly, and Russian is a stunning dark brown horse himself. That mating is an exciting prospect, so we can’t wait to send this filly to Russian Camelot, along with a few of the others that we bought as well.

“We’re really excited to see what the next few seasons bring with Russian Camelot’s progeny. We regard him extremely highly.

“Obviously we were close to the horse all the way through his career, so there’s a bit of proximity bias involved – ownership always improves any horse!

“But there’s no doubt at all that he was a very high-quality racehorse, and one who we think was possibly a little bit under-appreciated. We see him as great value and a fantastic addition to Australia’s stallion ranks, and we’re certainly really keen to support him and help to give him the best possible start to his stud career.”

Supporting their own

Fletcher was also on the lookout for suitable matings for Telemon’s three-pronged stallion lineup – Sidestep, Jungle Cat and Sun City.

Sidestep was Australia’s leading first-season sire in 2018/19, courtesy of his G1 Golden Slipper-winning daughter Kiamichi. The Exceed And Excel stallion has now sired a total of 83 winners from 179 runners, with three individual stakes winners.

G1 Sir Rupert Clarke S. and G1 Al Quoz Sprint winner Jungle Cat will be represented by his first yearlings in the 2021/22 season, while Sun City – a son of Zoustar and a stakes winner as a 2-year-old – will stand his second season this spring at a service fee of $7700 (inc GST).

“We were very keen to support our own stallions by purchasing mares to send to them,” Fletcher said. “We’re very excited about all three of them.

“We bought Denpurr to send to Sidestep. We were very keen on this nick with Denman, because Sidestep’s Golden Slipper winner Kiamichi is out of Denman’s half-sister.”

Denpurr (Denman), who won four races and placed in the Listed Lexus Hybrid Plate at Flemington, is in foal to Zoustar. She is a half-sister to the Listed Ottawa S. placegetter Purrific (Dane Shadow), from the family of Group 1-performers Niagara Falls (Danehill {USA}) and Elite Falls (More Than Ready {USA}).

Telemon paid $250,000 to buy Denpurr from the draft of Rothwell Park Thoroughbreds.

“Jungle Cat’s first foals arrived last spring, and they’ve really developed beautifully into excellent weanlings,” Fletcher said. “They’re looking great. We bought Conchita, a very fast mare from an American family, and we intend to send her to Jungle Cat.

“Jungle Cat was a very high-class speed horse himself, and we think he will go very well with the mares that we have in Australia.”

Conchita (Uncle Mo {USA}) was offered by Willow Park Stud and was bought for $140,000. In foal to Pierata, the mare won four races between 1000 and 1250 metres and finished fourth in the Listed Alinghi S.

“Sun City, he was only a colt when we got him, but he’s really grown into a horse now,” Fletcher said. “He’s just breathtaking. He’s such an amazing specimen and just blows you away.

“He’s a very exciting prospect. We bought a few mares this week to send to him as well, and we can’t wait to see what his first foals look like in the spring.”