Cover image courtesy of Swettenham Stud

Given the run of results Toronado has had, both on the track and in the sales ring, Swettenham Stud could have easily justified a service fee increase for the son of High Chaparral (Ire). That’s not the case, however, with the 13-year-old to remain at $88,000 (inc GST).

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Since first arriving Down Under in 2015 - at a fee of $22,000 (inc GST) - Toronado has continued to improve in leaps and bounds.

He has sired more stakes winners this season than any other Victorian stallion, and just last month his daughter, Mariamia, handed him a fourth Group 1 when she was triumphant in The Galaxy.

Swettenham Stud General Manager, Sam Matthews, said they considered increasing Toronado’s fee, before opting against it.

“He probably warrants a service fee increase, but by the same token, you don’t have to do it just because you can do it, in our opinion,” Matthews told TDN AusNZ.

“I think it’s important that the breeders are looked after and everyone gets a lick of the ice cream along the way.

“If we put him up, we would still be able to fill his book, but why put him up just for the sake of it? It’s important that everyone can make something along the way; the fairest thing to do by everyone would be to keep him where he is, so that’s what we decided to do.”

In August last year, Swettenham Stud announced Toronado would permanently call Australia home, with the decision made for him to not return to Haras de Bouquetot in France.

With that in mind, coupled with the fact he is getting better-quality mares - last spring, Toronado covered Group 1 winners including Commanding Jewel (Commands), Provocative (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) and Risque (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) - Matthews said the world is his oyster.

“It’s great to wake up every morning and see his head pop over the box and give him a pat. We no longer have to wait for him to come back from France,” Matthews commented.

“He’s doing a great job overseas, as well, but certainly his success here, both with colts and fillies being pretty much 50/50, with his 24 stakes winners… it’s exactly what we want to see.

“Wait until you see his weanlings and what else he’s got coming through; they’ve got proper pedigrees, so it just gets better and better from here.”

Toronado has enjoyed another fine sale season, with the highlight being his colt from the Pierro mare Tereka releasing an equal-record amount of $850,000 at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. That came from a modest service fee of $27,500 (inc GST).

He has had 75 yearlings gross $13,058,358 at an average of $174,111 in 2023.

“He’s very versatile. He can have 1000-metre record holders or get them out to an Oaks trip. Fillies, colts, geldings… there’s not much that he can’t do and that is evidenced by his sales results,” said Matthews.

“It’s nice to have a stallion that isn't pigeon-holed into 2-year-old speed or a 3-year-old-plus miler, he can just about do the lot and that’s a rarity.

“I think he’s probably a bit of a blue-chip investment; anyone that’s sent a mare to him, it doesn’t matter what year, they’ve all made very good money.”

He is a genuine global sire sensation, with his progeny in Hong Kong, including horses such as Senor Toba, Sweet Encounter (NZ) and Victor The Winner, making their mark. Toronado currently sits fourth on the Hong Kong list for most wins by a sire this season and he is eighth on the table by earnings.

Rubick on the rise

Swettenham Stud’s Group 2-winning sprinter Rubick has had a career-best season, highlighted by two wins in top company by his crack colt Jacquinot.

Trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, Jacquinot bested his fellow 3-year-olds in the G1 Golden Rose S. last spring, before defeating the older horses in this year’s G1 CF Orr S.

He now has eight individual stakes winners, with Opal Ridge being his most recent.

On the back of his impressive past 12 months, Rubick’s fee has increased from $22,000 (inc GST) to $27,500 (inc GST) - the same fee he stood for in 2021.

“He’s had a fantastic 12 months, especially the past six months, so he definitely warranted an increase. We ummed and ahhed as to what to put him at… he’s stood for higher before, but we’re conscious not to increase him too much; we want to ensure the breeders are looked after,” Matthews explained.

Gallery: Some of Rubick's top progeny

“He’s still got about 400 unraced progeny to come through for him and they’re off big service fees from when he was at Coolmore Stud.

“He’s got such good books, such quality mares, his 2-year-olds are flying and they’ll train on.

“Jacquinot is obviously the flagbearer, winning a couple of Group 1s.

“He’s got so many bullets in the chamber.

“He covered 46 mares two years ago, then last year he covered 160, so he’s certainly taken a leap up.”

Wooded tipped to wow breeders

Having covered 84 mares during his season in Victoria at more than 95 per cent fertility (and over 85 per cent confirmed in foal after their first over), Wootton Bassett’s (GB) fastest son Wooded (Ire) returns to Swettenham Stud for 2023 and his service fee will remain at $22,000 (inc GST).

A multiple Group performer at two in France, Wooded won the time-honoured G1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp as a 3-year-old.

Matthews said: “He’s a good-looking horse, a beautiful physical, and offers an easy-to-mate outcross pedigree.

“He’d be the most fertile horse in the world, I reckon, he’s just an absolute beast. He picked up quite a few mares, last season, that couldn’t get in foal elsewhere.

“He’s already got two crops on the ground, so his yearlings will go through later this year over in France.

“Obviously, Wootton Bassett is doing the job, as is Almanzor, so that sireline works.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a bigger book second year (in Australia) than what he got first year.”

Further staying and speed options

Another Group 2 winner on Swettenham Stud’s roster is Puissance De Lune (Ire), who will stand his ninth season at the Nagambie-based property.

He remains at a fee of $14,300 (inc GST) and Matthews is confident the striking grey is in for his best season yet.

“They take a little bit longer to mature, we’ve always been very open in saying he doesn’t particularly throw 2-year-olds,” he said.

“The bigger books are getting towards their ripe racing age.

“He covered a good book last year; this is probably the year we thought where he would have that success on the track, so those smart people with mares in foal to him are probably going to have an exciting run over the next six months and that should hopefully translate to a few more mares coming to him.

“At that fee, with a pedigree like his and with the progeny he’s thrown, I think he’s great value and breeders can breed to him confidently.”

The young stud on the roster is the Group 3-winning I Am Immortal - a son of Australia’s Champion Sire, I Am Invincible.

He will remain at the fee of $13,750 (inc GST) for his fourth season.

I Am Immortal’s first crop of yearlings have been offered in 2023 and of the 23 offered, 20 have sold. Two of those made $150,000; a filly from the Testa Rossa mare Wings Of Alice and a colt out of the Magnus mare Magnagem.

“The exciting outcross stallion has let down into a magnificent specimen and the breeders continue to flock to him with another book of 100 mares in 2023, giving the precocious speed sire every chance of early success,” Matthews remarked.

“He has had a couple of yearlings make $150,000, which is more than 10 times his service fee.

“I Am Immortal continues to leave incredibly forward types, very much in the mould of his sire.

“We’ve kept his half to Queen Air, she will go to Lindsey Smith.

“He’ll be a sire that comes out of the blocks pretty early on the track, like he did, I reckon.”

Table: Swettenham Stud's stallion fees for 2023, *all prices inclusive of GST

Cover image courtesy of Swettenham Stud

Adam Sangster - the son of the legendary Robert Sangster - was born into racing and breeding and has been in the game long enough to know that for all the highs, there’s just as many lows.

His father experienced it, and now, so has he.

The owner of Swettenham Stud, Adam Sangster is rejuvenated, and he attributes his new-found zest to one of the five stallions standing at the iconic Nagambie-based property.

That horse is Toronado (Ire) - a son of the brilliant High Chaparral (Ire) and grandson of the incredible Sadler’s Wells (USA). The latter, who was bred by Robert Sangster, is largely considered one of the greatest stallions of all-time, especially of stayers and middle-distance horses in Europe.

Due to his stunning looks and sensational pedigree, combined with his highly impressive results, Toronado has captured the attention of breeders the world over, and he has widely, and rightly, been heralded a global star.

“He is the centrepiece for a long game of chess, he is certainly my king,” Sangster told TDN AusNZ.

“He means an enormous amount to Swettenham Stud, all the staff, and the relationship with Al Shaqab.

“He has reignited the flame in my belly.”

Sangster concedes being a studmaster comes with enormous challenges. Patience is required, but not often afforded by stakeholders.

“The stallion game is not an easy game, because you have to support the stallion with broodmares and build them up,” he said.

“Early doors, I sent more than 50 mares to him in his first three seasons… Mariamia and Queen Air are both out of my mares.

“My breeders have supported me and they’ve got some great dividends and they continue to do so.”

A future great?

Formerly trading as Collingrove Stud in New South Wales, the Nagambie operation known as Swettenham Stud was purchased by Robert Sangster and Colin Hayes in 1994, with Adam Sangster buying out the Hayes family post Robert’s passing in 2004.

The business has been home to some great stallions, including Rory’s Jester.

A winner of the G1 Golden Slipper S. in 1985, Rory’s Jester went on to become one of the country’s finest ever colonial sires, with his Group 1 winners including Isca and Racer’s Edge.

Then there’s Bluebird (USA), Scenic (Ire), Danehill Dancer (Ire), Jeune (GB) and Bianconi (USA); all outstanding stallions in their own right.

Sangster is not prepared to put Toronado alongside that exceptional list, yet, but he does believe Toronado has the attributes to become a champion stallion.

“Rory’s Jester, Scenic, Bluebird… we’ve had some amazing stallions,” said Sangster.

“In recent times, the best is Toronado.

“Physically, he (Toronado) was a stallion who really did capture the commercial market and that has subsequently flowed through into his progeny, they’re very good-looking.

“I feel he’s a stallion that won’t age, looks-wise.

“He’s very imposing and very good-looking. His trainer, Richard Hannon, called him Superman and there’s not many stallions where you can say that.

“He’s got that blend of blood from the Sadler’s Wells sireline… with the American side… there’s a good blend of blood in there that ticks a lot of boxes.”

Toronado is the sire of four Group 1 winners - Masked Crusader, Tribhuvan (Fr), Shelby Sixtysix and Mariamia. He also has 55 stakes wins and 33 stakes winners to his credit. And most of his success is off a low service fee. That has now changed, with Toronado standing last season at $88,000 (inc GST) - the same figure for 2023.

Gallery: Some of Toronado's (Ire) Group 1 winners

“Because he is such a young stallion, he’s got so many years ahead of him, and he has been supported with better mares and that trend will continue,” Sangster explained.

“The last three years, we have mated his progeny to the lines which were really showing through in the pool of Australian broodmares. We recognised what the best lines were for him and there’s enough of those mares out there for him to be a success.

“When we talk to breeders and clients, the particular lines are the ones that we have tried to identify for them so they get the best success in the sale ring or on the racetrack.

“He’s only going to get better because the quality of mares is better.

“We’re really looking forward to those ones hitting the track.”

Enhancing Sangster’s belief that what Toronado has achieved so far is only the tip of the iceberg is the fact he will remain in Australia, instead of shuttling to and from his previous base at Haras de Bouquetot in France.

“We certainly won’t overtax him and Al Shaqab understand that it’s best to keep him in one jurisdiction, rather than have him going up to the Northern Hemisphere and risking something happening to him,” Sangster remarked.

“We certainly feel that by him being here permanently he will flourish.”

Sharing the love

A lifetime breeding right in Toronado will be offered at auction for the very first time at next month's Inglis Chairman’s Sale, which takes place at Riverside Stables at Warwick Farm on May 4.

To be offered as Lot 1, Sangster is adamant there will be plenty of interest.

“It’s great, (our partner) Al Shaqab has allowed us to put it up for auction and I’m sure it will be very well sought-after because it’s a unique opportunity; this has never happened with Toronado before,” he said.

“He’s doing the job here in Australia, in Europe and in Hong Kong, and with colts and fillies.

“He’s still only 13, so there’s plenty of good years ahead of him and the best is yet to come.”

Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

In her short career, the 3-year-old filly Fireburn has run into considerable history. Last year, she was just a Champagne S. short of sweeping the juvenile Triple Crown in Sydney, and had she pulled it off, she would have kept company with the brilliant Burst (Marauding {NZ}).

These days, history is still chasing Fireburn as she heads into the G1 Australian Oaks at Royal Randwick. If she wins, she will join the peerless filly Bounding Away (Biscay) as the only Golden Slipper winner to also win the Australian Oaks.

It’s a considerable task, stretching out a filly to 2400 metres after 2-year-old brilliance under speed. When Bounding Away did it, it was 1987 and no horse has managed it in Sydney since.

In 2006, Miss Finland (Redoute’s Choice) pulled off something similar when she won the Golden Slipper that year and the G1 VRC Oaks later in the spring. Like Burst and Bounding Away, Miss Finland was not only the dominant filly of her generation; she was probably the dominant horse, full stop.

Bounding Away is the only 2-year-old in history to win the Australian Horse of the Year honour, which, at the time, suggested the calibre of older horses was ordinary. However, trained by TJ Smith, she won the Champagne S., Flight S., Golden Slipper, Blue Diamond S. and AJC Oaks, all Group 1s, as well as the G3 Magic Night S. and Listed Blue Diamond Prelude (Fillies).

Bounding Away was the best filly or mare that Smith trained, according to him, which was a substantial accolade from the Hall of Fame trainer.

None of this is known to the 3-year-old filly Fireburn, who is wavering among favouritism for the Australian Oaks on Saturday. However, it’s well-known by the man who co-races her, Laurel Oak's Louis Mihalyka, who’s had a number of people flag the fact this week.

“Bounding Away is certainly the last one to do it, and the reason I know is because a few different people have told me,” Mihalyka said, speaking to TDN AusNZ.

“I’m inclined to think that history owes us one because this filly was odds-on favourite for the Triple Crown and she was beaten by She’s Extreme, so we missed out on that.

“In that Champagne S., Fireburn ran the fastest final 600 metres of the meeting, which included the older horses in the All Aged S. Unfortunately, she was chasing the horse that ran the second-fastest last 600 metres and she was beaten, so that was our first little crack at history and this weekend is another.”

Of course, there’s also the Slipper winner’s hoodoo to contend with. Pierro is one of the last Golden Slipper winners to win anything as a 3-year-old, so Fireburn is also chewing on that bone.

“Since Pierro, the only two horses that have gone on to win anything after the Slipper were She Will Reign, who I think won the Moir, and Fireburn, who won the Sires’ Produce,” Mihalyka said. “No Slipper winners had gone on to even win a Sires’ Produce or Champagne S. since Pierro, so we’ve at least won that race and it would be really nice to win another.”

Lady luck, or lack of

As a daughter of Rebel Dane, part of the folklore around Fireburn last year was her sire. In part, she was the reason why Rebel Dane was relocated to a plum berth at Widden Stud.

Here was a filly from a So You Think (NZ) mare proving an outstanding juvenile at the highest level, and it was an extreme disappointment when She’s Extreme (Extreme Choice) got the better of her by a nose in the Champagne S.

Since then, trainer Gary Portelli has nursed her along as a 3-year-old. She was winless in the spring, running into the likes of In Secret (I Am Invincible), Jacquinot (Rubick) and Zougotcha (Zoustar). So far this autumn, her best effort in four starts has been the G1 Vinery Stud S. on March 25 when she was third to Prowess (NZ) (Proisir).

“Fireburn’s prior form has been in good order, if you actually look at it,” Mihalyka said. “In six starts since she turned three, all in Group 1 or Group 2 races, her best barrier draw has been third from the outside. She’s had three outside draws and two second from the outside, and then one third from the outside.

“When you’re running around against In Secrets and Zougotachas who have drawn barriers two, three and four all the time, you can’t compete because we’ve had to go back to last all the time while they’re sitting up on the speed.”

Luckless is one word for it. However, Fireburn has drawn barrier four in the Oaks this weekend with one of her co-fancies, the Freedman-trained Pavitra (American Pharoah {USA}) alongside her in gate two. Pennyweka (NZ) (Satono Aladdin {Jpn}), visiting from New Zealand, is worse off in barrier 11.

“In the Vinery she drew a good barrier for the first time and we knew she’d be competitive, and she was,” Mihalyka said. “The same this time, even though a good draw is less important over 2400 metres at Randwick than it is over 1400 metres. Still, it’s nice to draw well.”

Laurel Oak Bloodstock had a Pompeii Ruler filly in the Australian Oaks in the past, but Fireburn is the group’s best chance in the Blue Riband to date. When, however, did Mihalyka and the other owners decide to stretch their filly out to a mile-and-a-half?

“It was almost out of necessity,” he said. “After the horror run with draws, Fireburn wasn’t going well-enough to be taking on races like the Coolmore or the Queen of the Turf, or even the Doncaster against those older horses that were flying over the 1400 to 1600 metres.

“We were looking to go to a softer option and stick to the 3-year-old fillies, and the only option was the Vinery-Oaks path. The reason we gave it a go is because it’s against her age and sex, and a lot of the race’s winners in the past haven’t necessarily gone on to be high-class stayers later on. They’re just superior against their own age and sex.”

Despite her precocity as a juvenile, Fireburn also had pedigree to stack her credentials. In a way, she defied that pedigree in winning the Golden Slipper, according to Mihalyka.

Winner’s circle, not the broodmare barn

On paper, Fireburn is already a priceless filly. Winning the Oaks will improve that, but she’s a Slipper-winning dual Group 1 winner already, and Mihalyka isn’t interested just yet in her net worth.

“It’s a weird thing,” he said. “We’ve never really discussed her value and what we’re going to do with her. We’re enjoying the moment with people who might struggle to part with her, people that have that Winx and Black Caviar mindset. The horses are worth a lot of money but the owners still race them because they’re never going to sell them.

“Now, that’s never been discussed with our horse, and it may be we keep part of her and come to an arrangement with somebody, but it really hasn’t been discussed. Her long-term value is the last thing on our minds in regards to the decision making.”

Getting Fireburn back in the winner’s circle is first and foremost for the Laurel Oak team. It’s been a frustrating 12 months with the talented filly, who has been better than her bare results.

She has consistently posted flawless sectionals that didn’t eventuate in wins, and her trainer and owners have waited patiently for lady-luck to drop.

“We know she’s in good order, so she just needed to draw a barrier,” Mihalyka said. “She was fourth in the Phar Lap after being wide and going around them, and that was a change in tactics to get her involved in the race. We did that because in the previous five starts she’d dropped back to last with bad barriers.”

As such, all roads have pointed to the Oaks on Saturday. A good draw (barrier four), strong form and plenty of luck, and things may just go the way of the Slipper winner.

In 1987, when Bounding Away won the race with jockey Mick Dittman, she leaped from barrier three. Is it close enough for history to repeat?

Cover image courtesy of Scone Vet Dynasty

There wouldn’t be a proper horseman the length of Australian racing that didn’t know the name of Percy Sykes. A veterinarian, gentleman and genius, Sykes was the genesis of Randwick Equine Centre (REC).

However, this is simplifying a rich and complex life because Dr Percy Sykes not only left a peerless legacy when he died in January 2014; he had been leaving that legacy all his life.

Sykes was born in Sudan in 1920 and educated in England. Even then, he was a high-achieving youngster in such disciplines as cricket, hockey and rugby.

At the time of leaving school, World War II had a tight grip on Europe and, putting aside ambitions in human medicine due to the shortage of vets, he enrolled at the Royal Veterinary College of London in 1937.

Sykes graduated in 1943, after which he was posted to India. They were violent years around the world but rich in experience for the young vet. In Calcutta, he was an honorary veterinary surgeon for the Calcutta Turf Club, which was probably his earliest introduction to thoroughbred racing. What followed was a life married to thoroughbred medicine.

In 1951, Sykes and his young family migrated to the warm climate of New South Wales. In Sydney, Sykes politely muscled into the racing business, soaking up how horses were trained and how things were done. It took just two years for his name to be where it mattered – in the yards of TJ Smith, Bart Cummings and Jack Denham.

By 1954, Sykes had set up a practice in the Eastern Suburbs. The physiology of training fascinated him, and his brilliance made him a very close ally of Randwick’s biggest names. He worked on Tulloch in the 1950s and Kingston Town (Bletchingly) in the 1980s, and the 1958 Melbourne Cup winner Baystone (Brimstone {GB}) was patched up by Sykes after breaking his jaw in a barrier accident.

The hit list of good horses saved was long and illustrious in Syke’s life, and it wasn’t contained to just Sydney. He was a confidant for Robert Sangster and a good friend of John Messara, the Arrowfield master crediting Sykes as ‘capable of diagnosing a condition more accurately via telephone than the attending vet’.

For a short time in the early 1960s, Sykes had a partnership with the equally brilliant Murray Bain around Scone, but ‘Percy was not too keen on the bush circuit and much preferred the suave, sophisticated and debonair ambience of the Champagne Bar at Royal Randwick’.

The city suited Sykes, who dressed like a dandy and ran a tight ship in town. Few worked as hard as he in Sydney racing.

In 1975, he bought a stable block in Randwick and, in 1983, he built a specialist practice in the suburb’s Church Lane. By 1989 he was involved in a larger equine hospital with a specialist laboratory and it was this facility, completed in 1990 and flanking the Newmarket complex of William Inglis & Son, that became the modern Randwick Equine Centre.

Today, REC is located on five acres of cutting-edge facilities at Horsley Park, albeit Sykes didn’t live to see it open in 2020. At the good age of 93, just six years earlier, he died in a Sydney hospital.

He was awarded an Order of Australia in 2003 and, in 2006, he was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. However, these aren’t the legacies that Percy Sykes left behind.

Instead, down the shed rows of Randwick and across racing in general, he will always be the man who pioneered upright gelding-procedures and the use of penicillin, along with the first equine blood-count laboratory.

Sykes had an impeccable work ethic and, in his own words, “as ye sow, so shall ye reap”.