Orton was inspecting yearlings ahead of the 2003 sales season when he came across a few members of Mossman's first crop of 34 from the stallion base at Peter and Wendy Moran's Noble Park Stud near Beaudesert. On the lookout for a local stallion to complement Vinery's strong international flavour, Orton knew from the stock that he was seeing that he had found the right candidate.
A few years earlier, the Morans had bred the son of Success Express (USA) from a Twig Moss (Fr) mare named Lichen Lady, who had already produced a multiple Group winner in Moss Rocket (Rory's Jester).
As a racehorse for trainer Clarry Conners, Mossman proved tough and classy, winning the G1 Castlemaine S. (now the JJ Atkins S.) and placing in a G1 Sires' Produce S. and G1 Champagne S. as a 2-year-old.
In his 3-year-old season, he would win two additional stakes races, including a G2 AAMI Vase, while he would place in a G1 Australian Guineas and G1 George Ryder S. and run fourth in both the G1 Caulfield Guineas and the G1 VRC Derby.
The Morans retired Mossman to stud in 2000 and while he had small books of 40, 28 and 29 mares in those first three seasons at Noble Park, the mark he was leaving on his progeny was being noticed.
The late Mossman
"We quite liked the horse on pedigree, being an outcross. He hadn't covered many mares, but the yearlings he had to the sales that first year were very impressive," Orton told TDN AusNZ.
Mossman's first crop of yearlings averaged $23,700, with a top price of $50,000 across 20 sales, which was a decent average return on a $5500 (inc GST) service fee.
By the time his second crop went through the ring, that first crop had begun making an impression on the track and his average price surged to $46,727, including a top price for a colt of $190,000. In the previous breeding season, his book numbers at Noble Park had surged from 29 to 103.
It was at that point that Vinery secured him to move south.
"It was part of our original plan to try and have outcross horses, Red Ransom, More Than Ready and him, to start with. We saw those yearlings the first year at the sales and they really impressed us. His pedigree and everything gave us the idea he'd be a great prospect for the Hunter," Orton said.
"We followed him up and spoke to Peter and Wendy."
Success Express, then in the twilight of his career, followed his son to Vinery Stud for that season, but it was Mossman that Orton felt was ready to make a significant impact.
"He (Mossman) had a beautiful temperament and a lot of his stock were the same. He was just a good, typical Australian horse, nice size, 16 hands, and just a good all-around athlete." - Peter Orton
"He had a beautiful temperament and a lot of his stock were the same. He was just a good, typical Australian horse, nice size, 16 hands, and just a good all-around athlete," he said.
"He came down to us and off the back of some good results, he created a lot of momentum and a lot of interest and he went from standing at $5500 to $16,500 with us."
A close call
Vinery Stud had a very strong book of mares booked to Mossman in his first season, including many of its own, with his pedigree looking particularly compatible to a Hunter Valley broodmare population heavily influenced by Danehill (USA) and his sons.
But with a matter of months, Mossman was fighting for his life after suffering a particularly serious colic attack in the breeding season.
"It was very bad. He had a section of his gut removed and it was really touch-and-go for that period post-operation when their gut stops working. It took a while for that to get going again and we didn't think we were travelling too well and then it kicked into gear," Orton said.
"After he managed to get through that, he managed to go on in his career without another hiccup."
"After he (Mossman) managed to get through that (colic), he managed to go on in his career without another hiccup." - Peter Orton
With a crop of just 18 foals from that first Hunter Valley season, Mossman was behind the eight-ball. But he continued to get strong results on the track, with 19 winners, including the stakes-winning pair Our Sweet Moss and Segments, by the start of the 2005 breeding season. That saw him attract a big book of 131 mares at an increased fee of $27,500 (inc GST).
On the track, success continued to flow with another three stakes winners from just 36 runners in the 2005/06 season. He served 164 mares in 2006, in what was to prove his most popular season at stud, and he was away as a seriously commercial stallion.
The stars
While he built a reputation as a 'winner-getter', Mossman's breakthrough as a Group 1-producing sire didn't come until 2012 when his daughter Ofcourseican won the G1 Coolmore Classic.
Ofcourseican
Buffering, the horse that would become his flagbearer, had run placings in 10 Group 1 races between 2011 and 2013 until he finally broke through at the top level in the 2013 Manikato S.
The Robert Heathcote-trained sprinter would go on to make up for those missed opportunities, winning a total of seven Group 1 races, including a G1 Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai.
In 2014, it was Mossman's star filly Mossfun who would catapult him to prominence winning the G1 Golden Slipper S. for her owner at Emirates Park and trainers Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes. That success saw Mossman crowned Australia's Champion 2-Year-Old sire of that season, with Mossfun one of his seven juvenile winners.
Mossman, who now has 41 stakes winners and 521 winners in total, was pensioned from stud duties in 2018, but still retained a place among the other Vinery stallions until his death at age 26 over the weekend.
"He was king of the stallion barn. He had been retired for a few years but he was treated like the leading stallion in the barn as he always was," Orton said.
"He (Mossman) was king of the stallion barn. He had been retired for a few years but he was treated like the leading stallion in the barn as he always was." - Peter Orton
"Like all the rest of the boys, he was rugged and groomed and went out into his yard like he did when he was covering mares. He got the best of care, he was a real favourite of the farm and just a lovely horse to have around. He had no vices and he was very content."
In terms of Mossman's ongoing impact, his son Love Conquers All stands at Clear Mountain Fairview and has followed in his sire's mould as a 'winner-getter' with 203 of them from 300 runners, including 12 stakes winners.
As a broodmare sire, Mossman is represented by 274 winners, including Group winners Eastender (Tickets), Benny's Buttons (Refuse To Bend {Ire}) and Persan (Pierro). Also in that list is Mossfun's two winners by Frankel (GB), Dajraan (GB) and Sadmah (GB), with the former winning his second race at Leicester on Sunday.
Those results all add the legacy of a sire who sits right up there when it comes to the most important in Vinery Stud's success in Australia.
The late Mossman
"He was a really important horse in our history and one of our foundation horses," Orton said. "You can pay as much as you like for a horse and you can promote it as much as you like, but it really gets down to the results and that was what made him such an important horse to us."
