Cover image courtesy of Coolmore

This year at Jerrys Plains three new stallions will enter the hallowed breeding barn alongside some old faces such as evergreen sire Fastnet Rock, So You Think (NZ) and Pierro, while they will once again be joined by exciting European-bred inmates Wootton Bassett (GB), Group 1-producing stallion Churchill (Ire) and Magna Grecia (Ire).

The three newest recruits are headed by Home Affairs, a dual Group 1-winning son of the newly minted Champion Sire I Am Invincible, and he will have his debut at Coolmore alongside St Mark's Basilica (Fr), the five-time European Group 1-winning son of Siyouni (Fr) and Fastnet Rock’s super-fast son Acrobat.

Gallery: The new stallions standing at Coolmore Australia in 2022

The new additions complete the already diverse roster of inmates and now the puzzle seems to be nearly completed in terms of prominent sirelines on offer within their barn.

The influential Danehill (USA) shines through courtesy of his aforementioned son Fastnet Rock and his own sons Merchant Navy and Acrobat, while the late breed-shaping sire Redoute’s Choice is also represented by King's Legacy.

The late peerless Coolmore sire Galileo (Ire) is in there too thanks to dual European Guineas winner Churchill and G1 Cox Plate winner Adelaide (Ire), meanwhile High Chaparral (Ire) is well-represented by multiple Group 1-winning champion So You Think (NZ) and the Zabeel line is taken care of through the Group 1-winning Champion Pierro.

Gallery: Some of the other stallions standing at Coolmore Australia in 2022

The list goes on. The ever-consistent Pride Of Dubai, a son of the ever-popular Street Cry (Ire), returns for his seventh season, while Deep Impact’s (Jpn) son Saxon Warrior (Jpn) will be back again for a fourth year and he will be joined by fellow shuttler, son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) in Magna Grecia, who is incidentally a half-brother to newbie St Mark's Basilica.

The roster is completed by top-class European sire Wootton Bassett - a son of Iffraaj (GB) and Yes Yes Yes, who derives from the line of the farm’s much-missed former inmate Encosta De Lago.

Meticulous planning

With a barn brimming with talent and fields stacked with some of the best broodmares on the planet, it is a wonder how Coolmore even begin to think about mating plans and Farm Manager John Kennedy told TDN AusNZ the chats about respective matings will commence as soon as six months before the beginning of the season.

“We have a pedigree book for all the mares on the farm that we own shares in and we would sit down, sometimes as early as six months away from the breeding season, and go through each mare alphabetically,” Kennedy explained.

“The Magnier family and partners have made a huge investment in quality bloodstock in Australia and we are lucky to have some of the best stallions and stallion prospects in the country to send them to. Our ultimate goal is to breed top-class racehorses and as a team we spend a lot of time trying to identify the right stallion for each mare.

“The things we consider in this process is whether they would suit a younger stallion if they are proven already; we like to, where we can, support some of our younger stallions with proven mares. We look at pedigree crosses and consider which ones work. We also look for outside opinions of what we are doing in terms of line breeding and what crosses are making sense and we would mainly go on what is working in terms of proven nicks on pedigree and racecourse performance.

“We put a huge emphasis on type. We like to look at all the mares and make sure we are breeding them to horses that are going to complement their conformation and especially for first-season sires. It's important they get a nice group of foals on the ground, especially when you are trying to fill their books in the second and third seasons. If they have a nice crop of first foals it will get breeders back to them for their second and third seasons.”

Sound advice

With a significant number of externally owned client mares on the farm, the Coolmore team also spend a significant amount of their time advising their clients how to mate their mares and each stallion of course has mares which will suit them better than others.

“When advising clients we take the same mind set. We advise them to mate them to a stallion that is going to complement them in terms of where they sit in the book and complement them physically,” he said.

“For example, So You Think is a straightforward horse to breed to; he puts quality and scope into his stock and we try and complement him with neater-style mares that have plenty of strength across their hips. Pierro blends well with those Fastnet Rock-style mares and obviously, the Danehill cross works well with him.”

Pierro does more than ‘work well’ with the Danehill-line mares. In fact, it is fast becoming one of the most potent crosses in the Stud Book. Of his 29 stakes winners, an extraordinary 19 of them have been produced by daughters of Danehill himself, or mares by one of his sons or grandsons.

However, with nine of those black-type winners a product of matings with mares by Redoute’s Choice, it is hardly a surprise to see Coolmore opt to send G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Celebrity Queen (Redoute’s Choice) to the stallion this season.

Purchased by Magnier for a whopping $2.5 million at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in 2021, Celebrity Queen is expected to deliver a foal by Wootton Bassett in the coming weeks and Kennedy said she is just one of a host of exciting mares to make up his 2022 book.

“He does so well with that Danehill-line mare and that certainly complements our broodmare band well here on the farm,” he said. “We really feel like the best is yet to come from him and his rising 2-year-olds are some of his best bred. We feel like he’s got an exciting couple of seasons ahead of him, with big things expected from the likes of Paris Dior, Pogacar and Osipenko.”

'An awful lot of belief'

Coolmore has made no secret as to the high regard they hold Home Affairs in, and as a result he is set to cover an enviable book of mares this spring. Coolmore themselves have pinpointed some of their best females on the farm to send him, including Group 1-winning mares Shout The Bar (Not A Single Doubt), Sunlight (Zoustar) and Booker (Written Tycoon), as well as Champagne Cuddles (Not A Single Doubt).

“We all think that Home Affairs is one of the most exciting horses we have stood at stud for a very long time. He was one of the first horses to come out of the stallion syndicate and we have an awful lot of belief in him. We want to make sure he gets the right start at stud and in order to do that he has to get the right mares,” said Kennedy.

“We are incredibly excited about him. His combination of blistering speed, sire-producing pedigree and imposing physique make him a stallion prospect that you can only dream about, and he will be supported accordingly.”

This heavy support comes in the shape of multiple Group 1 winner Sunlight, who was bought by Coolmore from the Widden Stud draft for an eye-watering $4.2 million at the Magic Millions National Sale in 2020, while they outlaid $2 million for Group 2 winner Champagne Cuddles at the same sale.

Having produced colts by Justify in 2021, Sunlight and Champagne Cuddles were both covered by Wootton Bassett last season and will have their third matings with Home Affairs this spring.

Dual Group 1 winner Shout The Bar - a $2.7 million purchase at this year's Inglis Chairman’s Sale - will have her maiden cover to the son of I Am Invincible, while Group 1 winner Booker, who was purchased for $1.6 million at the same sale in 2020, visits the sire for her third mating having been covered by his father for the past two seasons.

Gallery: Some of the Group 1-winning mares set to be covered by Home Affairs

The right fit

Coolmore will also throw their support behind St Mark’s Basilica and Kennedy said Australian breeders were queuing up to book their mares to the son of Siyouni from the very first day he was announced on their star-studded roster.

“He is an outcross for the Danehill line and I think he is a stallion that will suit the Australian mares. He was a precocious horse, who was a good 2-year-old himself. The Siyouni line has worked very well down in Australia and on paper he just looks like the right fit,” he said.

“The response from breeders since the day we announced him was overwhelmingly positive, he was more or less filled in a matter of days.”

That positive response from breeders again comes as no surprise, given his glittering CV on the track, which includes a juvenile Group 1 in the G1 Dewhurst S. to go with his four other Group 1 victories. The Siyouni blood is a rare commodity Down Under, but is fast becoming one of the most sought after, especially given that it has proven time and time again to work.

In Australia, the Aga Khan’s stallion has been represented by nine winners from 19 starts, with three of those winners landing races at stakes level.

Testament to the belief Coolmore holds in the stallion, they will be supporting him with some of their best broodmares including Nechita (Fastnet Rock).

A winner of the G1 Coolmore Stud S. and G3 Silver Shadow S., Nechita was purchased by Tom Magnier for $1.55 million at the 2013 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, and she was then sent to Ireland where she produced a number of foals by Galileo.

She returned in foal to Juddmonte’s superstar Frankel (GB) in December 2020, producing a colt, who was purchased by Evergreen Rich for $650,000 at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale in 2022.

Covered last year by Justify, Nechita has already proved herself a good broodmare, having produced G3 Premier’s Cup winner Harpo Marx (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and G3 Princess Royal S. winner Forbearance (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the choice to book her to debutant St Mark’s Basilica falls in line with Coolmore’s school of thought that they like to support their newer stallions with proven mares where possible.

This approach will also be taken with Sea Siren (Fastnet Rock), who, like Nechita, also enjoyed a foray overseas for a number of years and she will also be one heading St Mark’s Basilica's way this spring.

A three-time Group 1 winner in Australia, Sea Siren, had, up until last season, been mated exclusively to Coolmore’s late breed-shaper Galileo, producing two winners headed by Group 3-placed filly Celestial Object (Ire). However, she has returned to Coolmore Australia this season and is due to deliver a foal by Coolmore’s Camelot (GB) in the coming weeks.

Growing reputation

For many seasons now, So You Think has been quietly carving out a reputation as one of the best stallions in Australia.

Last season, So You Think was represented by 13 stakes winners and the group were spearheaded by elite-level-winning trio Think It Over, Niamlee and Knights Order (Ire), who in the space of 80 minutes, landed consecutive top-flight races on the final day of The Championships at Randwick in April.

Due to his fine season, So You Think finished second behind I Am Invincible in Australia’s Leading Sires’ Championship by prizemoney, earning him a fee hike and he is set to stand the upcoming breeding season for a career high fee of $93,500 (inc GST).

The G3 Ottawa S. winner Invincible Star will be one of many high-class mares booked into the son of High Chaparral this year.

The daughter of I Am Invincible was purchased by Magnier and James Bester for $1.45 million at the 2019 edition of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale and her first two covers where with Justify, foaling a colt by the Triple Crown winner in 2020, and will be expecting her second foal by that same stallion any day now.

“He was very unlucky to get touched off in the championship this year and we had a very exciting couple of months following him along at the racetrack,” said Kennedy. “Thankfully, he is now starting to come to recognition, not just on the track, but also in the sales ring and his book of mares will reflect that this season."

Quality for quality

As the saying goes: ‘If ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ and in breeding terms this can be applied to mares who seem to click with certain stallions. This is very much the mantra followed when the farm chose this year's mating for the New Zealand Group 1 winner Savvy Coup (NZ) (Savabeel).

Fastnet Rock has for a number of years now been one of the headline acts among the Coolmore Stud stallions; a stalwart, who continues year after year to produce fine racehorses.

The stallion will once again cover a lovely group of mares and they will include the G1 New Zealand Oaks winner Savvy Coup, who is booked in for her second date with the son of Danehill, having produced a filly by the stallion last year.

“She has an outstanding by Fastnet Rock, who is very nice and we are breeding back on the strength of the foal she has on the ground by him. She’s a young mare and she seems to work well with him so we thought we would go back there again.”

Meanwhile, dual Group 1-winning mare El Dorado Dreaming (Ilovethiscity), who was acquired by Magnier for $1.35 million at the 2021 Inglis Chairman’s Sale, is also booked to Fastnet Rock.

Table: Some of the matings Coolmore is planning for the 2022 season

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

As recently as February, Racing NSW announced prizemoney increases of $25 million to its racing calendar. New additions included the pair of $2 million races, The Big Dance and The Five Diamonds, while minimum levels of prizemoney were hiked across the board.

On Wednesday, Racing NSW revealed its second significant prizemoney hike, with a further $30 million in prizemoney increases. It also revealed a record level of infrastructure investment, with $125 million to be tipped into the industry via an infrastructure project fund across the next two years.

There were plenty of facets to Wednesday’s announcement, including a new Sydney Sprint Series through the spring and autumn feature-race increases.

Prizemoney distribution was also shaken up, with the 1.5 per cent strappers’ bonus increased to two per cent of prizemoney, and the Equine Welfare Fund jumping from 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

“This morning, we’re not only announcing further increases in prizemoney totalling some $30 million per annum, effective from September 1,” said Russell Balding, the chairman of Racing NSW.

“We also wanted to outline an expanded, state-wide racing infrastructure program which is being jointly funded by the State Government in partnership with Racing NSW, plus an increase in funding for our very important Equine Welfare Fund program.”

Wednesday’s announcement will see total prizemoney in New South Wales racing increase to $358 million per annum, which is more than triple the equivalent figure a decade ago.

Prizemoney increases and changes in the distribution of prizemoney will be effective across the state from September 1.

Would you have invested these funds differently to the Racing NSW allocation? Send in your opinion to editorial@tdnausnz.com.au

Prizemoney surges

Sydney’s spring program was a significant recipient in this latest round of prizemoney increases, flagging the growing importance of the spring carnival in the state’s racing climate.

The G3 Concorde S. will climb from $160,000 to $500,000, and the G2 The Shorts will double in value from $500,000 to $1 million, as will the G2 Premiere S.

The Kosciuszko’s overall prizemoney will go from $1.3 million to $2 million, and the Sydney S. receives a significant spike in value, with prizemoney increasing 200 per cent, from $500,000 to $2 million.

The Nature Strip S. (Winner's S.) will climb similarly from $1 million to $3 million.

In addition to these, Racing NSW has added two new races to its spring carnival program.

In support of its February announcement of The Five Diamonds, the $1 million Five Diamond Prelude will occur over 1500 metres for 5-year-olds as a lead-up to The Five Diamonds, while The Little Dance, a new $500,000 race, will feature on The Big Dance card for eligible horses that didn’t get a start in the main race.

The overall increases will make The Everest raceday a bigger than ever banner for Racing NSW this year.

“Total prizemoney for Everest Day will now be a staggering $21.8 million, which far exceeds any other race meeting in Australia,” Balding said. “It cements Everest Day’s place on the international stage of premier racing.”

Sydney’s key autumn races also received a boost on Wednesday, with the G1 Queen Elizabeth leaping from $4 million to $5 million, and the G1 Doncaster Mile going from $3 million to $4 million.

The G1 TJ Smith S. will now be worth $3 million, an increase of half-a-million dollars, while both the G1 The Galaxy and G1 Ranvet S. climb in value from $700,000 to $1 million.

$6 million Sprint Series

In-hand with its prizemoney announcements, Racing NSW also revealed its new $6 million Sportsbet Sydney Sprint Series, which groups many of the spring’s popular sprint races into a points system.

The six chosen races are the G3 Concorde S. on September 3, the G2 The Shorts on September 17, the G2 Premiere S. on October 1, The Everest and Sydney S. on October 15, and the Nature Strip S. on October 29.

Between them, these races will carry points, with five points awarded to the winner, four for second, three for third and so on, with one point awarded for fifth.

Double points will be awarded for the Nature Strip S. on Golden Eagle Day, with a specific condition of the series being that horses must compete in at least three of the six races to qualify for the bonus.

The $6 million bonus, fully sponsored by Sportsbet with no input from Racing NSW, will be paid to the horses that have won the most points across the six-race Series. It’s a significant new attraction for Sydney’s spring carnival, one that arose from some of these races becoming important lead-up events to The Everest.

Racing NSW stated that these surrounding sprint features had earned increasing interest in the years since The Everest’s inception and, as a result, significant betting turnover.

V’Landys said one of the aims of the Series was to encourage the best sprinters to remain in the state throughout the spring.

“The Everest has made those horses well-known throughout Australia, and it’s only fair they stay in New South Wales because we’re the ones that have made them household names,” he said. “We’re the ones that have highlighted sprint racing in Australia, so now the $6 million bonus will encourage them to stay for the Series and, in particular, the Nature Strip S. on Golden Eagle Day.”

Country racing

Wednesday’s announcement brought new levels of prizemoney to the state’s country racing sector, with minimum levels increasing across the board.

Picnic meetings will increase their minimum purse levels from $5000 to $7000, while non-TAB meetings jump from $10,000 to $12,000.

Those meetings on the Sky 2 broadcast will go from $15,000 to $16,000, while country TAB meetings will have minimum prizemoney levels of $27,000, up from $25,000.

Additionally, Racing NSW has declared that two races at every country meeting will now be restricted to New South Wales country-trained horses only. Likely, this comes as an effort to address the flow of metro and provincial trainers, and even interstate trainers, into country areas for good purses.

“Country has received the majority of prizemoney increases over the last 10 years,” said Peter V’Landys on Wednesday, addressing the Racing NSW press conference. “The country sector has gone from $5000 a race to $27,000 a race. However, because of the attractive prizemoney, there are metropolitan and provincial trainers going there.

“So what we’ve decided to do is make two races, and possibly three races, for country trainers only. We want to keep our country trainers viable and that’s why we’ve done what we’ve done today.”

These country-restricted races will carry prizemoney of $30,000, while country showcase meetings will be worth $35,000.

“New South Wales country racing is the bedrock of our industry, and it’s important therefore that we ensure its ongoing viability and the sustainability of our country trainers,” Balding added.

In addition to these announcements, provincial racing received some attention.

Racing NSW has announced that two races at every provincial meeting will carry minimum prizemoney of $45,000, and one of these races will be restricted to provincially trained horses only. The other will be restricted to Midway-trained horses only.

And, building on Racing NSW’s success with the Midway and Highway programs, prizemoney for these races will leap from $100,000 to $120,000 at Saturday metropolitan meetings.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure element of Wednesday’s announcement will be welcomed across the New South Wales racing industry.

To the tune of $125 million, an infrastructure project fund will be delivered by Racing NSW over the next two years for the construction of stables, new training tracks, works to the course proper of various clubs, customer facilities, raceday amenities and jockeys’ rooms.

The allocation of these funds will be tailored by Racing NSW, which will work with state-wide clubs and participants, and the fund includes $70 million in grants from the State Government, with the remaining $55 million tipped in by Racing NSW.

“We’ve got a number of clubs that we’ve already started doing application developments with through councils, in particular stable developments,” V’Landys said. “There is now a substantial demand for stables from interstate and overseas trainers to come into NSW, so that’s already started.

“We’ve done all the polytracks and we’re going to look at all the course propers to ensure proper drainage. No matter what drainage you have, the weather we’ve had would have called any race meeting off, but we will still look at all our tracks and make sure they’ve got the world’s best drainage in those facilities.”

Welfare and workers

The Equine Welfare Fund has been ongoing with Racing NSW since October 2016 and, up until Wednesday, it meant that one per cent of all prizemoney was allocated to the care, retraining and rehoming of New South Wales thoroughbreds.

Russell Balding said this figure fell short of the $3.7 million that Racing NSW currently spends annually on the program and, as a result, the Equine Welfare Fund will now receive 1.5 per cent of total prizemoney.

“Over recent years, we’ve spent $33 million from Racing NSW reserves on acquiring some 3100 acres and developing infrastructure on those properties for our Equine Welfare programs,” Balding said.

“Notwithstanding the significant increases in prizemoney we’ve achieved over recent years, it’s important that we continue to invest significantly in the welfare of our main participants in this industry – our horses.”

In the same vein, Racing NSW will increase its strappers’ bonus from 1.5 per cent to two per cent from September 1 as a nod to some of the industry’s most critical and lowest-paid workers.

The strappers’ bonus was instigated by Racing NSW in July 2012, the first state in the country to do so.

Table: NSW minimum prizemoney increase

Table: NSW Spring carnival prizemoney increase

Table: NSW Autumn carnival prizemoney increase

For Antony Thompson, the studmaster at Widden Stud, a quiet Wednesday afternoon got very interesting in the space of half-an-hour when his resident sire Supido had two winners.

At Geelong, it came in the shape of What You Need, a colt running on debut for Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, while at Canterbury in Sydney, Buenos Noches won on debut for Warwick Farm trainer Matthew Smith.

The pair of 3-year-old colts brought Supido’s record of first-crop winners to five, following on from horses like Stupendo, who won on debut at Flemington in December. The stallion also has Kosta’s Crown in Western Australia, that gelding running third in the G3 WA Sires’ Produce S. and Listed WATC Perth S.

At Geelong, What You Need was particularly brilliant for Price and Kent Jnr.

Ridden by Ben Melham, the 3-year-old broke from barrier five and returned a 4l victory for his owners, which includes Widden Stud, among others.

The colt was a very tidy favourite at $1.85, and the closest anyone got to him at the line was the Godolphin gelding Lascars (Sepoy), who was especially well-bred as a son of the Group 2 winner Alizes (NZ) (Rory’s Jester).

What You Need was a $180,000 purchase by Price at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, consigned by Widden Stud. The training team had plenty to recommend the colt, with Supido spending his racetrack career in the care of Michael Kent Snr.

Buenos Noches, meanwhile, was a gritty winner in Sydney.

The colt had plenty to do in the straight to shoot down the Chris Waller filly Beautiful Heart (Snitzel), who had plenty of pedigree as the half-sister to Group 1 winner Hungry Heart (Frankel {GB}).

However, Buenos Noches was a comfortable winner in the end, posting a 1.7l victory and giving his jockey, Josh Parr, an early raceday double.

The 3-year-old colt had cost his trainer, Matthew Smith, just $40,000 when plucked from the Widden draft at the Highway Session of the 2021 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale last year. He’d been selected by Melissa Smith, the trainer’s wife.

Supidos at the sales

For Antony Thompson, it was a unique 20 minutes on an otherwise uneventful Wednesday afternoon.

“It was a very exciting 20 minutes,” he said, chatting with TDN AusNZ. “Two Supidos very impressive on debut in quick succession.”

What You Need was bred by Widden Stud, and he was one of two inaugural colts that Thompson brought to the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. The other was Stupendo, bought by Danny O’Brien for $120,000.

“Mick Kent Jnr had a fair bit to do with the Price-Kent partnership buying this colt because he’d obviously had a bit to do with Supido in the years he worked with his father,” Thompson said. “What You Need was part of the first crop of Supidos that made it to the Magic Millions in January, and we only brought two to that Sale.

“The plan was not to take a lot of Supidos to Magic Millions, but just to showcase him with a couple of really nice horses. And both What You Need and Stupendo were certainly that. They both sold well and went to good stables, and they’ve both been winners now.”

The Thompson family kept small shares in both colts, which was a statement of their faith in Supido.

“They’ve both been really nice horses for him,” the studmaster said. “Mel Smith identified Buenos Noches at the Classic Sale. We bred that colt in partnership with Bill Duncan, and she snuffled a bargain there at $40,000. He looks a really nice horse as well.”

At the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale last year, What You Need was the highest-priced Supido of seven total progeny in the catalogue. His dam, the Commands mare Intuit, is a half-sister to the G3 Proud Miss S. winner Runway Star (Northern Meteor).

At the Inglis Classic Sale the following month, Buenos Noches was one of eight progeny of Supido in the catalogue. At $40,000, he was a little way off Supido's best-seller at $90,000.

Buenos Noches is the second foal from the Northern Meteor mare Koi, who is a three-quarter sister to Into Orbit (Northern Meteor), the latter running second in the 2007 G3 Manfred S. at Caulfield.

If these two colts are anything to go, there might be something to the Supido-Northern Meteor cross.

Three days, three winners

For Supido at Widden Stud, both horses, along with the promising Stupendo, are good advertisements heading into a new breeding season.

Supido has just one crop of racing age going around, and his five winners have come from 17 total starters. It hasn’t been a bad start for a stallion that stands for $8800 (inc GST), but it’s also been a dazzling start to the 2022/23 racing season.

Adding to Wednesday’s pair of winners, at Gundagai on Monday, the Supido filly Supido Beauty, trained by Darrell Burnet, won on debut over 1180 metres. It was the first day of the new season.

“Supido has had some nice 2-year-old winners, Stupendo being a good example, but to see him come out with three 3-year-old winners from three runners is really exciting for the first three days of the season,” Thompson said.

“People are telling us they’re going to be nice 3-year-olds in time, so you have to be a little bit patient, therefore. But we’ve been told there are some ones coming through that we haven’t seen yet.”

For a stallion at this price point, these are welcome results for Widden at this time of year. For breeders not committed to stallions yet, Supido is good value off a flurry of recent results.

“He’s always covered reasonably sized books and I’m sure the phone will start ringing,” Thompson said. “It’s a competitive point of the stallion market, but there are plenty of breeders in that price point who want to either breed to sell or to race.

“Also, when you get announcements like those of Racing NSW today (Wednesday) around boosts to country prizemoney, I think there will be plenty of people that will see the benefits in breeding these types of horses. It’s a very affordable thing to do, to breed to a horse like him for $8800.”

Supido’s books have consistently hovered around 100 since he went to stud in 2018. Thompson expects it will be similar this spring.

“We have a target book of around 100 for him, but all that depends on what happens over the next few weeks or even months,” he said. “With Mick Price talking black type with What You Need, and Matt Smith has got some more lofty targets for Buenos Noches, there could be nice things yet to happen.”

This week's episode

Week of August 1, 2022

Caroline Searcy's Bred To Win returns for the Spring of 2022.

The final Australian Sires' lists for the 2021/22 season and the latest racing news from a bloodstock perspective.

A feature story on a gorgeous new Group 1-winning sprinter at Widden Stud, Portland Sky and a story from Thoroughbred Breeders' Australia's Fast Track staff training program showing a 12-month placement at Bhima Thoroughbreds.

Plus leading Sydney trainer Adrian Bott with a champion racehorse and Champion Sire in Arrowfield Stud's 'The Horse Who Made You Love Racing'.

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BRED TO WIN EP 5 2022 (Season 3)

Earlier episodes

Week of May 2, 2022

Henry Plumptre has an extensive update of all things Cambridge Stud, including the latest news on their stallions Almanzor (Fr) and Hello Youmzain (Fr) and on their four-time Group 1-winning mare Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel).

Lots of Aushorse News including a preview of Friday's elite Inglis Chairman's fillies and mares' Sale and racing success stories from the weekend.

Bloodstock agent Anton Koolman features in Arrowfield Stud's 'The Horse Who Made You Love Racing'.

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BRED TO WIN EP 4 2022 (Season 3)

Earlier episodes

Week of April 25, 2022

In this week's episode of Bred To Win, Thoroughbred Breeders Australia (TBA) CEO, Tom Reilly, has a great explanation of some of the recent work undertaken by TBA helping big and small breeders around the country.

Caroline also reviews the recently released stallion service fees for the upcoming season, the breeding background of the weekend's winners and the G1 Goldmine analysis of the week looks at Arrowfield Stud sire, Maurice (Jpn).

Inglis Digital is responsible for the Inglis Graduate of the Week. While a homebred success in Cambridge Stud's Performance of the week and Colin Watts of the Australian Racing Chaplaincy, in Arrowfield Stud's 'The Horse Who Made You Love Racing'.

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BRED TO WIN EPISODE 3 (Season 3)

Week of April 18, 2022

In this week's episode of Bred To Win Caroline Searcy recaps the breeding background behind the major winners on All Aged S. Day at Royal Randwick, including sires such as Extreme Choice, Lonhro and more.

We hear some great history from Arrowfield Stud's Adam Shankley, a great example of the passion and love of the horse. In Arrowfield Stud's 'The Horse Who Made You Love Racing' popular owner Christine Cook talks of the Gregarious grey that made her love racing from her very first experience.

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BRED TO WIN EPISODE 2 (Season 3)

Week of April 11, 2022

Caroline Searcy returns with a new series of Bred To Win promoting the thoroughbred breeding industry and bringing the latest breeding news to industry insiders and those new to the game. In this episode see a full review of the record-breaking 2022 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale with Sebastian Hutch, including great results for Arrowfield Stud, Widden Stud, Coolmore Stud, Tyreel Stud, Newgate Farm and more.

Rebel Dane finds a new home at Widden Stud, the highlights from So You Think's (NZ) big Day Two of The Championships at Royal Randwick. Plus Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel) back at Cambridge Stud and in Arrowfield Stud's 'The Horse Who Made You Love Racing' one of Australia's most successful owners of recent times, Brae Sokolski on the horse who inspired his ownership of the Melbourne Cup quinella, Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) and Incentivise (Shamus Award) and The Everest winner, Yes Yes Yes.

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BRED TO WIN EPISODE 1 (Season 3)