Matings mix: Steve Morley Bloodstock

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

Some four years ago, in early 2017, the Queensland-based Glenlogan Park opted out of standing stallions. In a decision widely described as ‘a new direction’, it was the first time in 25 years that the property wasn’t a commercial stallion farm.

It was a bold decision by owner Jon Haseler, but it also signalled a new path for Glenlogan’s manager, Steve Morley. While he would continue to represent the farm at sales, and handle all the breeding plans for the Glenlogan mares, he would also diversify as a bloodstock agent.

Today, Morley handles the bloodstock portfolios of such clients as Robert Heathcote, Kenmore Lodge, Larry Bartle and Wilrace Thoroughbreds. There are plenty of others and, as the breeding season approaches, he’s had about 150 matings to plan.

While 50 of those are for Glenlogan’s broodmare band, the remaining horses are all for private clients and, according to Morley, it’s a part of his job that he relishes.

“The genetic matings are something that I really, really enjoy,” he said. “One of the first I ever did resulted in Savabeel, and he’s been a breed-shaper, basically. I spend a lot of time on the genetic analysis and its months and months in the lead-up to the breeding season. But I love getting a result.”

Planning Savabeel was the best possible start for Morley all those years ago, but it wasn’t a one-hit-wonder.

He can since claim the likes of Golden Rose winner Toorak Toff, G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Woorim (Show A Heart) and G1 Flight S. winner Cheeky Choice (Redoute’s Choice). He also planned Lean Mean Machine and Love Conquers All.

It’s a decorated history for the Queenslander and, with the new breeding season just weeks away, it’s timely to consider some of the plans he has for mares this spring, and why he’s going down certain roads.

The checklist

Morley is one of those important breeders with a good grasp of what he wants from a mating. He’s had a long time to learn what works in Australia (and what doesn’t), and he plans accordingly.

One of the best-known facts about him is his allegiance to colonial speed lines. Mostly, he just doesn’t buy into the shuttle concept.

“If we go back to when I first started at Glenlogan Park, I produced some pretty controversial advertising material,” Morley said. “It was titled Breeders’ Compulsory Reading and it talked about how, at a time when the push was very much on for shuttle stallions, we were overlooking what I thought were the Australian sires that were more consistently working.

“There have been exceptions, like Danehill and More Than Ready, but overall, the best results and the best stallions in this country have come from Australian-bred speed horses.”

Morley has stood by this conviction for decades and it’s almost part of his brand these days, but it sits alongside other criteria when it comes to his annual mating plans.

For instance, he will always lean towards a stallion that is standing at a commercial farm savvy enough to support its stallion all the way through to the yearling sales.

What he means by this is that he won’t use a stallion that is heavily reduced in fee by the time yearlings enter the sale ring, or indeed a stallion that isn’t even likely to be standing on the farm when yearlings go to sell.

“It’s so important for a breeder to have the support of a farm from the time that stallion goes to stud to the time when there’s runners on the track,” Morley said. “You don’t ever want to see a stallion’s service fee discounted heavily during that period.

“You just want to see good value because you want that farm to maintain a level of enthusiasm and belief in a sire, things that made you choose that stallion in the first place.”

Equally, he prefers sires that suit a large cross-section of pedigrees. It’s hard to pin the particulars of this one down, but Morley uses the example of the brilliant racehorse Encounter who, through 1997 and 1998, won six Group 1 races.

On paper, the son of Tierce should have been exceptional at stud, but he wasn’t. Encounter’s three stakes winners included the G1 The BMW winner Blutigeroo, but not much else from six seasons at stud.

“And then you had horses in that era like Zabeel and Flying Spur, and those stallions suited lots and lots of mares at that time,” Morley said. “So it’s not the be-all and end-all, and it is just one cog in the bigger wheel.

“If it were the be-all and end-all, Danehill and his full brother, Eagle Eyed, should have been just as successful as each other because, genetically, they would have suited the exact same number of mares.”

It’s a fabulous discussion on why some stallions work well and why others with identical genetics don’t. But, as Morley admits, this piece of the matings puzzle is only one part of things. Bringing up another is the importance of stallions leaving athletic stock.

“It’s hard to outline exactly what that means,” he said. “Any one that has worked on farms long enough will know what it is, and it’s quite amazing how readily you can come to identify an outstanding foal that goes on to be a really good racehorse.”

As a general rule, athleticism is things like depth of girth, good angles and nice hips. It's often in the eye of the beholder, Morley said, just one of those things that you know when you see it.

Perfecting the placement

One of the final, and very important, influences in Morley’s mating plans each year is his desire to put individual mares among the top 50 per cent of all mares booked to a stallion when it comes to quality.

He doesn’t want a broodmare to factor among the lesser-quality mares in any sire’s book and, as such, he will happily send a very good mare to a stallion with a lower service fee. He says that many breeders will speculate on what service fee a particular mare might deserve, and he’s happy to low-ball that.

A good example of this is the broodmare Asinara, a Group 3-placed daughter of Teofilo (Ire) that raced for Godolphin. She was bought by Glenlogan Park and bloodstock agent Neil Jenkinson for $170,000 at the 2017 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.

“Asinara is a good example of a mare who most people would send to a $50,000 to $80,000 stallion, but we’re sending her to a $15,000 (ex GST) stallion,” Morley said.

Asinara is booked to visit Anders this spring at Widden Stud, a sire that is indeed standing for $16,500 (inc GST) and one that will cover just his second book of mares.

“I have faith in this stallion and that mating,” Morley said. “But there’s also no point in sneaking in a mare to a stallion with big books (150 or more) and her being in the bottom 80 or 100 in terms of quality, because where can you sell the yearling?

“It’s really important to place a mare in a better-than-average spot if you want to give yourself the best chance of the best commercial return.”

Since Asinara’s purchase by Glenlogan Park, she’s had a Snitzel colt, a Lonhro colt and a filly by Russian Revolution. Right now, she’s in foal to Farnan and will visit Anders in the spring.

At $16,500 (inc GST), Anders is certainly the cheapest of the sires in her history, but it’s a mating that Morley is looking forward to, irrespective of price.

Replicating what’s worked

Among the notable mares that Morley has planned this year, Saltoree (Not A Single Doubt) is worthy of mention.

This 4-year-old is a maiden mare and three-quarter sister to the G1 Robert Sangster Classic S. winner Secret Agenda (Not A Single Doubt), as well as Stellar Pauline (Not A Single Doubt), who was second to Hungry Heart (Frankel {GB}) in the G2 Sweet Embrace S.

However, the critical point of her mating this spring is that she’s also a three-quarter sister to Final Agreement (Not A Single Doubt), and Final Agreement is the dam of the two-time Group 3 winner for Emirates Park, the filly Enthaar (Written Tycoon).

In an effort to produce a very close relation to Enthaar, Saltoree will visit Written Tycoon at Yulong this season.

“I’ve often found that when a family clicks with a stallion, it does so on a number of levels,” Morley said. “So you can breed the half-relations and three-quarter relations and you just get great results. So whether the resultant foal of this mating is a colt or filly, providing it’s a good, athletic type, it should have enormous appeal to everybody.”

Along these lines, Morley is sending the mare Super Too (Hinchinbrook) to Coolmore’s debut sire Home Affairs, who appears on the roster at $110,000 (inc GST).

Super Too was multiple Group-placed during her career, running second and third to the likes of Redzel (Snitzel) and Snitty Kitty (Snitzel), and she’s a half-sister to the Group 3-winning I Am Invincible sire Super One.

Like Asinara and Saltoree, Super Too belongs to Glenlogan Park, and she’s been at stud since 2020.

In that time, she had a filly by I Am Invincible and she’s back in foal to the Yarraman Park sire again. Her visiting Home Affairs is an effort to replicate the formula, the Coolmore sire being a prolific son of I Am Invincible.

“Not only do you have the close association with the half-brother, Super One, but if you go to Home Affairs on the back of having two Vinnies in front of it, they’re going to be three-quarter relations,” Morley said. “You’re going to have a great opportunity to take advantage of what you’ve already produced.”

Fun with Funtantes

One of the stars of the Morley show right now is the broodmare Funtantes (Easy Rocking), who belongs to trainer Robert Heathcote. She is the dam of the recent G1 Tatt’s Tiara winner Startantes (Star Turn).

Herself a G2 Champagne Classic winner in 2009, 15-year-old Funtantes has had five foals, and one of those is the 2-year-old filly Ekaterina (Russian Revolution), who is promising with a win and two thirds in just three starts to date.

Right now, Funtantes is expecting a foal by Star Turn, which will be a full sibling to Startantes, and Morley and Heathcote have booked her to Pierata this spring at Aquis Farm.

“Rob races all of his own horses, so any of her progeny will race up here in Queensland,” Morley said. “When it comes to this mating, I can QTIS-register the Star Turn she’s carrying if we go to a Queensland stallion this year. This means the Star Turn foal will race for a lot more money every day of the week.”

This isn’t necessarily a factor for Morley with horses being bred to sell, but it is with horses being bred to race. Added to this, Morley really likes the Pierata mating.

“I think it’s a massive hope of producing a really good horse,” he said. “And I am very happy to back my own judgement on second- and third-season sires that tick all the boxes. Pierata is now in his third season at Aquis and he hasn’t been heavily discounted. He’s getting good books and I absolutely love the first crop that I’ve seen by this stallion.”

Overall, Morley mentions a handful of sires this year that seem to fit his particular criteria. They include Pierata and Anders, but also Exceedance, North Pacific, Farnan, Written By and Zousain.

From Glenlogan Park, he’s sending the stakes-winning 2-year-old Plutocrat (Rich Enuff) to Newgate’s debut sire Wild Ruler, and, on behalf of Wilrace Thoroughbreds, he’s sending the very good half-sisters Cellarmaid (Husson {Arg}) and Cellargirl (More Than Ready {USA}) to Stay Inside and Russian Revolution respectively.

Each is a mating that has been meticulously researched, and it’s months of work for Morley and his clients.

“You can’t take it that you just press a button and get a result,” he said. “Each mare needs time to be analysed with each stallion.

“We sit there, see where any line-breeding factors are and how they match up, and whether that will be a positive or a negative influence on that pedigree to produce a racehorse. And that’s always the most important thing for me, producing the right racehorse.”

Table: Some of the matings Steve Morley is planning for the 2022 season

Whether you're breeding to race or breeding to sell, we'd love to hear from you! Over the coming weeks we'll be featuring a selection of mating plans for 2022; to be featured reach out to Lydia at lydia@tdnausnz.com.au