An almost all-Victorian affair for million-dollar colt Brereton in the Maribyrnong Plate

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

For Victorians, there are few better days on the calendar than Cup Day, and things got off to a flying start at Flemington when the first race, the G3 Maribyrnong Plate, was won in fetching fashion by the locally owned, million-dollar selling Zoustar colt Brereton.

Raced by a Victorian syndicate comprised of breeders, whose far-sighted plans include racing horses with an eye on stallion careers, the colt burst through for a maiden win on the big stage after a last-start second in the Listed Dubutant S. at Caulfield.

In that race, he held Godolphin colt Renosu (Exceed And Excel) to third place, and it was Renosu who tested Brereton right to the line at Flemington on Tuesday when the pair crossed the line first and second for a photo-finish margin of just 0.1l.

Magic Millions bound?

Trained at Pakenham by Peter Moody, Brereton jumped away in the 1000 metre Maribyrnong Plate from barrier two, carrying Luke Nolen and sharing favouritism with Water Bomber (Headwater).

The colt was handy early, one of a few across the track in the early parts with Quinlan (I Am Invincible) in the same colours, Deep Point (Deep Field) and Godolphin’s Sepoy colt Lascar.

At the 200-metre mark, Brereton had just the Godolphin colts to deal with before Lascar fell away, and past the 100 metres it was just he and Renosu, who had closed from out wide. Renosu inched ahead at one point, but Brereton was game in closing again.

The photo finish went the way of Brereton, with Renosu for James Cummings in second. Shalaa (Ire) colt Le Gagneur was 2.85l behind for third.

“He couldn’t have two photos go against him,” said Moody, referring to the colt’s photo-finish loss in the Debutant S. Moody said the options for Brereton going ahead were plentiful, with the Maribyrnong Plate a traditional pointer to the Blue Diamond in the autumn. It was either the Magic Millions or 'down tools' to the autumn.

Luke Nolen said Brereton was unsure of himself in the final stages of the race.

“He travelled soundly through the first part, but with the straight course, he was just unsure of when to kick off,” the jockey said. “He showed very good courage and good tenacity, and for an inexperienced horse, you’re buoyed when they show those sorts of things.”

Fuddles and Belles

Brereton was purchased for an even million dollars at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, one of 12 six-figure lots at the Sale.

By Zoustar, he was the fifth foal from the mare Fuddle Dee Duddle (Red Ransom {USA}), who was a four-time winner in Western Australia, including a Group 3 victory in a 24-start career for close to $360,000 in prizemoney.

Brereton was bred at Widden Stud, but the genesis of his breeding lies in the hands of chartered account turned AFL player and now studmaster Michael Christian, who, with wife Siobhan, owns and operates Longwood Thoroughbred Farm in country Victoria.

It’s a pretty, emerging 250-acre farm that was the old Vinery Stud property at one time, and Christian has had it since 2018, carving it into the landscape of Victorian breeding bit by bit.

He has nursed the Brereton family for three generations, beginning with the colt’s grandam Bella Inez (Beautiful Crown {USA}), who is a full sister to the G1 Caulfield Guineas winner In Top Swing.

“We bred Fuddle Dee Duddle from the mare Bella Inez, who we purchased with Peter Morgan way back, nearly 20 years ago,” Christian said. “I had only a smallish share when she was racing, but she got injured after one start and I purchased the rest of her. Her first foal was Hallowell Belle.”

Christian sold Hallowell Belle (Starcraft {NZ}) through the draft of Three Bridges Thoroughbreds as a yearling, getting $170,000 for her from Star Thoroughbreds, the filly raced for prizemoney totalling close to $1 million.

She won the G2 Gilgai S. and Listed Darby Munro S. through 2012, and she’s been at stud since 2014.

Fuddle Dee Duddle is her half-sister, and arrived as Bella Inez’s second foal. Fuddle Dee Duddle was also sold as a yearling through Three Bridges, this time getting $240,000 from buyer Geisel Park Stud.

She raced exclusively in Western Australia where she won the G3 Western Australia Champion Fillies' S. before coming up for sale, and coming to the attention of both Christian and Widden Stud’s Antony Thompson.

“At the time, I couldn’t really afford to buy her outright,” Christian said. “But I got a call from Antony Thompson who said he’d just bought her, and he offered me half, to which I said, 'Yes and thank you very much'.

"So I flew to Perth and inspected her, and I hadn’t seen the mare since she was a yearling. But she ticked all the boxes so I ended up buying her back with Antony.”

Building the family

Fuddle Dee Duddle had a number of runs in Victoria for the new partners before she was retired. Her breeding record begins with a filly in 2015 by Zoustar, and another by Sebring the following year.

Thereafter she went to All Too Hard and Sebring again before a mating with Zoustar produced Brereton in 2019. Up to that point, she hadn’t produced a stakes winner among them.

“When COVID hit in 2020, I asked Antony what we were going to do with her,” Christian said. “She’d had five foals and one of them was a winner, so we decided to sell her. We knew the Zoustar was a lovely weanling (Brereton) at the time, but we agreed it was the way to go.”

Fuddle Dee Duddle was sold at the 2020 Inglis Chairman’s Sale on account of Widden Stud, where she was bought by a very good friend of Michael Christian, the studmaster signing the ticket in partnership with Sheamus Mills Bloodstock (FBAA) for $230,000.

The mare was retained at Longwood with Christian, and she has a Trapeze Artist colt headed to the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale next year, plus a full sister to Brereton at foot, a filly that was born in early September.

Additionally, Christian bred Fuddle Dee Duddle’s Star Witness half-sister Bella Orfana, who he has at Longwood and who is the dam of two-time Group 3 winner Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai). Four-year-old Bella Nipotina will contest the G1 Darley Sprint Classic on Saturday in a field that includes The Everest hero Nature Strip (Nicconi).

“I feel very proud because we’ve built this family,” Christian said. “Initially there was a Group 1 winner (In Top Swing), but there wasn’t much else. We’ve built it up to Hallowell Belle, Fuddle Dee Duddle, Bella Nipotina and now Brereton, so we’ve been involved in breeding this whole family right up.”

To cap it off this year, Christian bought Hallowell Belle’s daughter Kennebec (More Than Ready {USA}), in partnership with Sheamus Mills Bloodstock, at this year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. She was bought from Godolphin for Longwood for $300,000.

The Victorian Alliance

Christian admits he wasn’t expecting $1 million when the yearling Brereton went through the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale this year, and the colt stayed at Widden until that time.

“When we had Fuddle Dee Duddle, she would alternate between my place and Widden, back and forth,” Christian said. “We recognised that Brereton was a really nice foal really early, and he was a lovely weanling. We identified that it was going to be best to go to Magic Millions, and on the back of that we decided that the foal should stay at Widden.”

Brereton was prepared for sale in the Hunter Valley and appeared in the Widden draft and, excluding the $1.9 million Snitzel colt from Bonny O’Reilly (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) that was sold to Tom Magnier, he was the highest-selling of Widden’s total draft in January.

“I was hoping for $400,000, but thinking it would also be great to get $500,000 for him,” Christian said. “But the mare had had only one winner from four foals, so maybe there was a question mark there, and there were lots of lovely horses at that Sale. To get a million dollars was incredible.”

Brereton’s ticket was signed by the Victorian Alliance (led by Rosemont Stud), Suman Hedge Bloodstock (FBAA) and David Redvers Bloodstock. The colt led a six-horse shopping spree for the buying partnership at the Sale, which also included Quinlan, unplaced in Tuesday’s Maribyrnong Plate.

All up, the group spent $3.6 million.

Christian allocates most of his resources towards broodmare investment, but he went into the Victorian Alliance, mostly because of his friendship with Rosemont identities Anthony Mithen and Ryan McEvoy. The group has done well with Brereton right off the bat.

Christian takes no credit for the naming of the colt, despite his association with AFL. Brereton is named after AFL identity Dermott Brereton, as is Quinlan, in his case AFL legend Bernie Quinlan. In fact, each of the colts purchased in January is named as such.

Christian wasn’t at Flemington to cheer the colt home in the Group 3 feature, but he watched on alongside his farrier, who had 25 foals lined up at Longwood in the morning.

“He was definitely headed, but he fought back like a caged lion, and it was a gutsy win,” he said. “It says he’s got a great constitution with a will to fight, and that’s always one of the things you wonder about when you’re breeding a horse. It’s hard to measure that will to fight and compete, and we’re very fortunate that he’s got that.”

Christian also said it was satisfying to witness these high-priced yearlings at the top level.

“You like to see those guys that put themselves on the line, paying big money for these horses, do well,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who it is. You like to see them come out and do well because, as a breeder, you want to be able to sell horses for this level of money if you get everything right.”