Parsons Creek with a strong hand in the new breeding season

Cover image courtesy of Parsons Creek

For the emerging breeder Parsons Creek, a 300-acre broodmare farm in the foothills around Milbrodale, southwest of Singleton, it’s been a fruitful year. Owned by Sydney business folk Marc and Lindy De Stoop, and run by their daughter Jo O’Gorman and stud manager Ross Bone, the farm is sitting pretty off some important purchases this year.

At the Inglis Chairman’s Sale, it picked up Visenya (Fastnet Rock), a direct descendant of Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad) in foal to Written Tycoon. They paid $300,000 for her, alongside Our Sweet Sydni (USA) (Into Mischief {USA}) for $230,000. The latter was in foal to The Autumn Sun.

At the Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale, they added Siren’s Song (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) to the farm for $60,000, along with Whitula (Onemorenomore) from the Magic Millions National Sale for $150,000, and all four mares are on the run-sheet for the new breeding season.

Parsons Creek has 14 of its own mares heading out to 14 different stallions this spring, with another handful on behalf of clients.

Gallery: Some of Parson Creek's newest purchases in 2021

A Capitalist offering

The broodmare Ineffable (Smart Missile) is the golden girl of Parsons Creek, almost exclusively because she is a half-sister to one of the sharpest new sires in Australia, Newgate’s brilliant Capitalist.

The stallion wrapped up first-season sire honours by winners recently, just edging out Star Turn in this category and he was second overall behind barn-mate Extreme Choice for Champion First Season Sire.

Ineffable herself was purchased by Parsons Creek at the 2019 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, bought from Newgate for $375,000 before Capitalist’s first crop of racing age hit any straps. Since then, the stallion has produced Profiteer, Captivant and Kalashnikov and 21 winners of 28 races to date.

Ineffable was the fourth and last foal by the late broodmare Kitalpha (NZ) (Fusaichi Pegasus {USA}), who died a month after foaling her. Ineffable was unraced, albeit she spent some time in the stable of trainer Phillip Stokes, and when she sold to Parsons Creek she was in foal to Written Tycoon.

That colt sold in January to Greg Hickman at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $350,000. The farm has a Zoustar colt from Ineffable on the ground and she slipped to Written Tycoon in early May. As a result, Ineffable is booked for a free return to the stallion at his new home at Yulong Stud this season.

“It just makes sense to send her back to him,” O’Gorman said. “She’s getting her free return to Written Tycoon, so that one was a pretty straightforward choice for us this year. We were looking at other options for her and also options that were a bit closer to home, because obviously he’s down in Victoria now. But in the end it was the right choice.”

Proven or not proven

Chairman’s Sale purchase Visenya is booked to So You Think (NZ) this season and she’s one of the banner mares for Parsons Creek.

“She is out of Rex Is A Star, who was a full sister to Rubick, and her grandam is Shantha’s Choice, so it’s the same family as Redoute’s Choice and Manhattan Rain,” O’Gorman said. “We decided to book her into So You Think because he’s a wonderful sire that has produced so many black-type winners and he continues to get them. We thought it would be a really nice mating on her type and pedigree with that High Chaparral line.”

Visenya was sold at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in foal to Written Tycoon. It will be her first foal.

“She is due next week,” O’Gorman said. “She is in our big foaling paddock right now where we can keep an eye on her, because she’s a maiden mare. Hopefully we can get her on an early covering to So You Think.”

O’Gorman said the choice of So You Think was also based on some of the foals dotted around the farm by that stallion.

“We have a few foals already by him and they’re just lovely types,” she said. “I saw him not long ago and he’s got this presence about him. He was such an impressive racehorse and now sire, and his fee has obviously jumped up quite a bit this year, but he’s a good, proven sire and, for a mare of her quality, we wanted to go to something proven.”

The farm is taking a different road with Our Sweet Sydni, the second of the Inglis Chairman’s Sale purchases. She is booked to Kia Ora’s new stallion Farnan.

“She was a speedy, stakes-placed mare in America, and she won three times over 1000 metres and she did run on turf as well,” O’Gorman said. “Looking at that speed on speed theory, we’re sending her to the Slipper winner Farnan to try and breed to that speed theory.”

O’Gorman saw Farnan at Kia Ora over the winter.

“He also had a real presence about him,” she said. “He was a really strong and correct colt, and he was built for speed. You could see that. It’s a mating we’re really excited about.”

Farnan will debut this season at $55,000 (inc GST), a horse that O’Gorman said was a nuggety, strong type for Our Sweet Sydni.

“On type with her, it will work really well,” she said. “Farnan is fully booked and it wasn’t easy to get her into him. Ross Bone, my manager, who is really good with matching mares up physically, was so impressed with Farnan and said 'we’ve got to send this mare to him'. Ross has been around the traps for a while, so it’s interesting that a horse can just take your eye like that, and Farnan did.”

Our Sweet Sydni was bought from Willow Park Stud at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale. She is due to foal to The Autumn Sun this season, and her 2020 filly by Merchant Navy is currently a yearling at Glenn Burrows’ Willow Park Stud.

Betting on the new sires

Siren’s Song was the third mare added to Parsons Creek this year.

She was a bonus pick-up for $60,000 at Riverside in May, sold by Waratah Thoroughbreds in foal to Yes Yes Yes. She has previously had foals by Caravaggio (USA) and Medaglia D’Oro (USA), as well as overseas coverings to Deep Impact (Jpn).

Siren’s Song was a stakes winner in Ireland, sold to Waratah Thoroughbreds at the 2011 Tattersalls December Mares Sale for 320,000 gns (AU$604,764). Her daughter Wild Impact (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was sold this year at the same Sale as her mother, heading to Yulong for $95,000.

“We picked up Siren’s Song at the last minute,” O’Gorman said. “She’s had six foals and produced four winners so far and she’s been really well-looked after. She’s been to some pretty impressive sires.”

Parsons Creek will send her to Coolmore debutant King’s Legacy this spring, who is standing his first season at $33,000 (inc GST).

“We saw him at Coolmore recently as well,” O’Gorman said. “We were impressed by his physique and his looks, and being a first-season sire makes it a bit more of a commercial option for us. We try to do a mix of the proven and new sires, trying to give our mares the best chance.”

Parsons Creek has opted for a number of new stallions this season.

The I Am Invincible mare Avenue Of Pleasure is booked to Coolmore shuttler Wootton Bassett (GB), while Classic Music (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) is heading to Anders at Widden Stud. Tough As Teak (Not A Single Doubt), who foaled this week to So You Think, will go to Ole Kirk at Vinery Stud.

Last of the Chatelaines

Among the remaining mares is Platinum Angel (Snitzel), currently in foal to Deep Field and booked to meet Zoustar this season. O’Gorman describes the mare as “our unicorn”, a six times stakes-placed grey mare that cost $450,000 at this year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. She was bought from Blue Sky Premium Consignment and is owned by Parsons Creek in partnership with Fernrigg Farm.

All Night Girl (Manhattan Rain) is also on the run sheet, purchased in 2017 from Turangga Farm’s Unreserved Dispersal. She is heading to Arrowfield’s ever-reliable Dundeel (NZ), whom O’Gorman hopes will bring some refinement into the mare’s offspring.

Finally, Parsons Creek will this season welcome a last foal, by Toronado (Ire), from Chatelaine (Flying Spur), the farm’s 22-year-old matron and dam of Group 1 winner Headway (Charge Forward).

Gallery: Chatelaine at Parsons Creek | Images courtesy of Parsons Creek

Last weekend, the mare’s 2018 colt Mazu (Maurice {Jpn}) was fifth to Paulele (Dawn Approach {Ire}) in the Listed The Rosebud at Royal Randwick and, while Chatelaine isn’t on the Parsons Creek list for the new breeding season, her daughter Whitula is.

Whitula was the seventh foal from Chatelaine, picked up by the farm for $150,000 from Rothwell Park Thoroughbreds at this year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. She was a purchase of pleasure, owing to the Parsons Creek attachment to Chatelaine.

“When we saw Whitula in the catalogue, I really wanted her,” O’Gorman said. “I really wanted to get a daughter of Chatelaine, because we haven’t been fortunate to breed a filly from her yet, and as she is rising 22 now, touch wood everything goes to plan with the Toronado foal.”

O’Gorman said Whitula was a carbon copy of her dam.

“She’s a dead-ringer of her mum,” she said. “She’s not as large as Chatelaine, but she’s very similar in looks, and we picked her up with the intention of sending her to Maurice.”

Whitula is booked to Arrowfield’s Japanese shuttler Maurice (Jpn), so the resultant foal will be a three-quarter sibling to the talented Mazu. O’Gorman said Mazu is showing a lot of promise for his co-trainers Peter and Paul Snowden, with the colt now three starts for a win and a third to Shaquero (Shalaa {Ire}) in the G3 Pago Pago S.

“Maurice is a really exciting stallion,” O'Gorman said. “He’s got so many exciting runners coming into the spring and all the top stables seem to have a Maurice or two. I would have sent Chatelaine straight back to him if he’d been able to come out last year. What you see is what you get with him, he’s just a gorgeous stallion.”

Table: Some of the Parsons Creek coverings for the 2021 season