‘It’s a matter of how you make the most of one of the most potent young stallions in the world.’

Extreme Choice will begin covering mares on Northern Hemisphere time in February next year. But what inspired this unprecedented move from Newgate Farm?

As with all great ideas, it boils down to answering a simple question: How do you make the most of such an elite sire? You breed as many of the best mares to him as possible, of course. But, with the fertility challenges posed by Extreme Choice, Newgate has taken inspiration from an increasingly interconnected global bloodstock scene and will attempt to carve a path on a scale never before seen in Australian breeding.

“It’s never really been done at large scale in Australia, or been pushed very hard,” Slade told TDN AusNZ. “But, nowadays, things have changed. With the global access to information, the strength of international competition in bloodstock and horses jumping on planes to race across borders, it’s a different scene.

“The world is your oyster if you get a good horse, and statistically using Extreme Choice gives you the best shot in the market to do that.

“It’s a matter of how you make the most of one of the most potent young stallions in the world. He’s a horse that’s not asked to do a lot during the season. Because of his fertility he only covers one a day - so how do you make the most of such a great stallion?”

An episode of colic provided an early scare, and meant that Extreme Choice only began covering in the middle of October. Fortunately, it proved nothing more than a setback, and he is now back to full health.

“Thankfully he’s come through that really well, and the only reason that we’re able to put this idea in motion is because he’s never covered better,” reported Slade.

“We’ve got a tight system now. He does have sub-optimal fertility, so we set the mare up on-farm and cover at the point of ovulation. It takes a lot of time and effort, but it’s certainly worthwhile.

“Of course, we can pull the pin at any stage if he’s not handling it, but we actually think that keeping the horse in a routine will benefit him. Everything is done behind the scenes for him, he walks out of the paddock and he’s back there within 15 minutes and his job’s done for the day. He appreciates the routine and we think by adding Northern Hemisphere covers we might get a bit more out of him in terms of keeping him happy.”

A certain potency

There can be little argument that an Extreme Choice foal gives breeders the best shot at stakes success. From his limited numbers, the son of Not A Single Doubt fires at an incredible 14.8 per cent stakes winners to runners rate, and is the sire of two elite-level winners from just 54 overall runners.

With his oldest progeny now 4-year-olds, three have already found their own place at stud from a total of 30 colts to race so far. Joining his father on the Newgate roster this year was G1 Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside, then there’s juvenile Group 2-winning speedster Tiger Of Malay and G3 Blue Sapphire S. winner Extreme Warrior.

Gallery: Sons of Extreme Choice standing at stud in Australia

And it’s not all speed and precocity for the progeny of Extreme Choice, as his 3-year-old daughter She's Extreme proved last month when taking out the G1 VRC Oaks.

“He can get the Champion 2-Year-Old like Stay Inside, or if you want to send him a mare with a bit of stamina on the dam’s side like She’s Extreme, he’ll get you an Oaks winner. That versatility is really important for this whole process,” explained Slade.

“We’d encourage breeders to think about what they want to achieve with their Extreme Choice foal. If you want to win at Royal Ascot, breed the big, thumping Australian sprinting mare to him, and if you want to breed something that you can race in Australia with plenty of longevity then you can send him that scopey mare.

“Snitzel has been the same, he’s had horses win at Group 1 level at all distances and that all comes down to what sort of mare you send him and what your end goal is.”

Matching that adaptability

Supporting the international vision behind the venture, Newgate themselves are going to be adaptable in terms of breeders’ end goals. Not only will they consider foal share options for the right mare, they’re also open to selling internationally or even racing the progeny should they have a suitable type on their hands.

“If it’s a proper colt with a big pedigree, we’d love to race it and try to make a stallion for Newgate,” explained Slade. “If it’s a real 2-year-old type, let’s syndicate it and try to race it at Royal Ascot. We really want to get behind the horse and give him a strong Northern Hemisphere commercial value.

“Covering only one a day means it’s never going to be a monster in terms of numbers, but it can be a real monster in terms of quality. The shareholders in Extreme Choice are right behind the idea, and we’re not asking anyone to do anything we’re not doing ourselves - we’ll be supporting him with really nice mares.”

In a further show of support, and testament to their commitment to making the idea work, Newgate will also streamline the process of breeding on Northern Hemisphere time in Australia, offering breeders the option to outsource any or all of the steps involved via Middlebrook Valley Lodge.

“We want to make breeding to Extreme Choice on Northern Hemisphere time as easy as possible for breeders and studmasters.

“People can do as little or as much as they want in terms of the logistical considerations that go into having horses bred and sold on opposite time - whether it’s foaling down or preparing the yearling for a sale,” said Slade.

Royal Ascot ambitions

As Slade was keen to impress, it all comes back to the fundamental premise of giving breeders the best chance of producing a top horse, whether they’re commercially minded or not - from there the options abound.

“Once you have the good horse by the elite stallion then it’s up to you; there’s so many different sale options in Australia and abroad, and if you want to race there’s options internationally there too.

“People like Mick Price, Brad Spicer, Ciaron Maher and Suman Hedge are all buying horses in the Northern Hemisphere to grow out and eventually race down here. There’s a lot more of that happening than has ever happened before.

“We’ve got an exceptional young stallion, so if we can get foals on the ground it doesn’t matter when it’s born, there’s opportunities.”

Newgate know this all too well, having watched State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner) carry their colours to victory in the G1 Prince Of Wales’s S. at Royal Ascot earlier this year, after he captured last year’s G1 Cox Plate for his previous connections.

By an Australian-bred sire, the 'Iron Horse' is a perfect example of how an elite horse can be campaigned with enjoyment (and great success) on the international stage. And the appeal is catching on fast…

“Gai (Waterhouse) was just on the farm last week and she was saying she’d love nothing more than to train, educate and condition an Extreme Choice 2-year-old bred on Northern Hemisphere time to take to Royal Ascot and even the Breeders’ Cup Turf at the end of the year.

“It should play to our strengths. We’ve got the elite 2-year-old sire, we’ve got the right mares here and it’s what we talk about being the world’s best at, so let’s put it to the test and have a bit of fun.

“We’ve just seen Annabel Neasham take Laws Of Indices to Hong Kong to run a huge race. There’s no doubt that we can do it from Australia with our trainers and syndicators and it’s really just a matter of thinking big.”

Part of the global elite

Having successfully arranged a mating to Extreme Choice this season on behalf of Cunningham Thoroughbreds, Jim Clarke of Clarke Bloodstock (FBAA) was enthused by the possibility of greater access to the stallion.

“It’s fantastic, it’s very unique down here,” Clarke told TDN AusNZ. “They’re doing a similar thing in the Northern Hemisphere with their best stallions, and I think Extreme Choice is one that’s put his hand up as being in that elite category.

“He’s a horse that the Northern Hemisphere would have a lot of respect for, and for that reason I think it’s quite an interesting thing to do.”

Clarke explained that he sees several angles to capitalising on the new offering. The first to his mind was the later-foaling mares who he had planned to breed this season, and who now have a second option.

“But there’s several different angles you could take with it,” he continued. “The idea of breeding a horse that could potentially be reared and trained down here for those Royal Ascot races is another angle, as is putting a mare in foal to him and sending her up to Tattersalls Mare Sale, for example.

“Probably the more obvious thing is to just breed a horse who’s six months behind its counterparts and take advantage of a very good stallion who’s difficult to get access to on Southern Hemisphere time.”

Responsible for some of the purchases himself, Clarke noted that most of the yearlings secured by Australians at the Northern Hemisphere sales are more the later-developing, mile to 2000-metre horses - a buying strategy that came about as a result of increasing competition at horses-in-training sales.

But, as he went on to explain, that doesn’t preclude success for sharper types born six months behind in Australia.

“The value of sprint races for horses in their 3-year-old season and beyond here now is pretty extreme. You might be taking out of play the Golden Slipper, Magic Millions and Blue Diamond, but for anything beyond that it’s not going to make much difference.

“I think it’s a great thing that they’re doing with the horse. I’m sure that if it weren’t for his fertility problems he’d be the busiest stallion in Australia.”