Matings mix: which stallions is B2B Thoroughbreds using in 2023?

Since last year, B2B Thoroughbreds has enjoyed a successful spring, then an encouraging sales season, with one of the highlights being the Exceed And Excel colt from Scarlet Billows (Street Boss {USA}) offered as Lot 105 at the 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale at Oaklands Junction. He was the top-selling colt at the sale, making $600,000 to the bid of China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy.

Scarlet Billows - the winner of the 2015 G3 Hong Kong Jockey Club S. at Flemington - is one of 35 mares that make up the operation’s broodmare band. Interestingly, nine of them are American-bred mares or mares that raced in the US, while B2B Thoroughbreds also has a lovely Japanese-bred mare, further highlighting its appreciation of international bloodlines.

“Similar to last year, we will have 35 mares to breed this spring… it’s been pretty steady over the past few years,” Surace told TTR AusNZ.

On the back of her Exceed And Excel colt, Scarlet Billows will again be one of main attractions and the 13-year-old is due a date with Snitzel this spring.

“She’s been a great mare for us and had the top colt at Premier this year,” Surace said.

“Her next colt, also by Exceed, is arguably a little bit better, and he’s earmarked for (the Inglis Australian) Easter (Yearling Sale).

“She is in foal to Stay Inside, which is something we always wanted to do with her.

“It’s probably the right time for her to go to Snitzel, she’s going to reach her peak now; she’s got a lot of horses running for her.

“That’s one that we’re extremely excited about.”

Another mare that will be covered by Arrowfield’s four-time Champion Sire is Skagerrak (Dawn Approach {Ire}). She raced just three times, winning a Newcastle maiden, but is a half-sister to the Group 3 scorer Hanseatic, who stands at Rosemont Stud.

“She has been a really good mare. We bought her a couple of years ago, in foal to Dirty Work, and that foal is an absolute cracker,” said Surace.

“She’s a half to Hanseatic and his first foals are really nice.”

Skagerrak’s first foal, a gelding by Ribchester (Ire) named Krakarib, was victorious in the 2022 G3 Maribyrnong Plate at his second start.

“Her first foal came out and won the Maribyrnong Plate last year, so that was really pleasing,” Surace added.

“So, on the back of that, both genetically and physically, we think, especially her being a dry mare, that Snitzel will be a suitable option for her.

“The idea is she will get covered very early in September and you’ll have a nice early foal and if it comes out looking as good as her other foal, we will be in a very good position.

“Obviously, Snitzel is one of the top sires and she hasn’t been mated to what anyone would say is an outstanding sire, so this is her first proper mating for us and we hope it works out.”

La Mexicana (I Am Invincible) will always be a favourite for B2B Thoroughbreds. Belmont Bloodstock Agency (FBAA) went to $320,000 on its behalf at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale when offered by Lime Country Thoroughbreds. She raced 16 times, winning six races, including the G3 Kevin Hayes S. in 2021, and more than $500,000 in prizemoney.

She is in foal to Snitzel and is going back to him this spring.

“I wish they were all like her. She was one we purchased as a yearling, we raced and had a lot of fun with her,” Surace remarked.

“She is in foal to Snitzel, due any day now.

“She’s booked to go back there. Physically, we think it will work, she is a really big, strong mare. For us, it was a no-brainer.

“Snitzel over Domesday has been successful... look at Trapeze Artist, and I Am Invincible probably can’t do any wrong as a broodmare sire at the minute.”

Another mare to be covered by Snitzel is Ippodamia’s Girl (USA) - a daughter of Stormy Atlantic (USA), who is the sire of elite-level winners including Stormello (USA), Stormy Liberal (USA) and Stormy Lucy (USA). Ippodamia’s Girl won a Listed event at Del Mar in 2021 and was placed in Group 3 class two years earlier. She was bought for US$260,000 (AU$401,000) at the 2021 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale via bloodstock agent Catheryne Bruggeman. Ippodamia’s Girl is currently in foal to Snitzel.

“She is in the foaling paddocks, she is due very shortly,” Surace said.

“She is a lovely mare that we bought in 2021 at the November Breeding Stock Sale in Keeneland. She was a really tough, honest race mare.

“She was very sound, is a nice size for a mare, with great strength and substance.

“She is a half to a Group 1 winner and her page is littered with black type.

“If I had to choose one, she is the one that I am most excited for this year. She came here as a race-fit mare and let down beautifully. She looks the part at the minute, she looks like she’s carrying a massive foal.

“I think she is a mare with a lot of quality, and we want to mate her genetically for the track, but you’ve got to be realistic and think if it is a nice foal, it is going to do really well at the sales.”

Two of the best for ‘Vinnie’

Another American-bred mare on the farm is Always Inthe Munny (USA) (Munnings {USA}), who joined B2B after Bruggeman and Paul Moroney Bloodstock signed for her for US$330,000 (AU$510,000) at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

The Listed victress is from the winning Danehill (USA) mare Always A Star (USA) and she herself is a half-sister to the stakes winners Marie Mackay (Can) (Noble Mission {GB}) and Star Of The North (USA) (The Hunk {USA}).

“With these American mares, it’s a combination of them being good value and having a nice pedigree,” Surace explained. “I think you can get great value when it comes to stakes winners. You have to do your research, making sure they’re turf winners, running at the good tracks, that kind of thing.

“We’ve noticed that in America, what we look for isn’t as respected as it is here, that short-coupled sprinter, they go more for that Classic distance-type horse because that’s where the money is.

“We’ve had a lot of luck with them.”

Always Inthe Munny is in foal to Written Tycoon and will visit Australia’s Champion Sire I Am Invincible in the spring.

“She is a queen,” said Surace.

“She’s on a very early cover to Written Tycoon and is due in the coming days.

“We think she is a great mating to I Am Invincible, both physically and genetically. She’s big and strong, and was a really good racehorse, so the quality is really high and we think she warrants going to Vinnie.”

Snitzel mare Vulpine, who is closely related to Star Witness and Nostradamus, will also have a date with I Am Invincible. She amassed more than $600,000 in earnings and took out the G3 Wenona Girl H. in 2021.

“She’s a pretty exciting mare,” Surace commented.

“She is the only mare we have on the farm that is owned in partnership and that is with BK Racing.

“She is currently in foal to Zoustar, expecting early September.

“She was a very good racehorse over a number of years and comes from a great B2B Thoroughbreds pedigree, as we like to call it. We have her grandam, Leone Chiara, and a bunch of siblings.

“We were limited with choices with her being a Snitzel mare, but we think she warrants going to Vinnie. Commercially and genetically, it’s the way to go for a mare of that quality.”

Two mares for a couple of Coolmore sires

Split Image (Starcraft {NZ}) and Vintage Strike (USA) (Smart Strike {Can}) will both head to Coolmore Australia to be covered, with the former going to So You Think (NZ) and the latter to Home Affairs.

A B2B Thoroughbreds homebred, Split Image was unraced after injuries plagued her. She is from the Group 3 winner Leone Chiara (Lion Hunter), making her a sister to Star Witness and a half-sibling to Nostradamus and Embracer (Sebring).

“She’s a sister to Star Witness and he was the first horse we ever had a share in,” Surace said. “We bought Leone Chiara and sent her to Starcraft and she (Split Image) is just a lovely mare, who, unfortunately, had a couple of issues.

“We always wanted to send something from the family to So You Think, it’s a great mating genetically. We think she is a nice solid mare with a lot of substance, and he is a tall, good-looking stallion, so we think it’s a nice way to go.”

Vintage Strike won just the one race in her nine-start career and that was a maiden at Indianapolis, but she hails from a lovely family. Her dam is the Group 1-winning Dehere (USA) mare Bollinger and she has thrown the stakes winners Friesan Fire (USA) and Villermont (All Too Hard).

“This is another one we’re really excited about, Home Affairs’ first foals look incredible. He is probably the nicest stallion I have viewed in the last couple of years,” said Surace. “He’s big and strong with great length, good scope, really good bone and shoulder and a massive hindquarter.

“She’s a tiny mare and he’s a massive stallion, so genetically it works and physically it’s a really good mating.”

Japanese-bred mare slated to Exceed

A city winner, Beetobee (Jpn) boasts some wonderful Japanese bloodlines, being a daughter of the multiple elite-level victor Symboli Kris S (USA) and a granddaughter of the Champion 2- and 3-Year-Old Filly & Older Mare in Japan in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999, Mejiro Dober (Jpn) (Mejiro Ryan {Jpn}).

Surace Snr picked up Beetobee in 2016, paying ¥18 million (AU$192,000) at the JRA Select Yearling and Foal Sale.

She won a race at The Valley in 2018, before being retired the year after.

Beetobee’s first foal, a filly by Microphone, made $375,000 at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. She was consigned by B2B Thoroughbreds and knocked down to BK Racing.

Beetobee had a Snitzel colt in 2022, and is back in foal to him, and will be covered by Exceed And Excel this season.

“She had a really nice Snitzel colt last year,” Surace commented.

“She is doing the job as a broodmare so far.

“Her filly by Microphone was the most expensive by him sold this year, so we thought, ‘Let’s go back to the source’. Exceed probably doesn’t have that many years left, so as soon as we got offered a nomination, we put her name forward.

“It’s no secret that the Japanese are some of the best horses in the world, if not the best.”

Best Of Bordeaux

B2B Thoroughbreds has a share in Best Of Bordeaux - the Group 2-winning son of Snitzel - who will stand his first season at stud at Coolmore at a fee of $27,500 (inc GST). Naturally, it will support the 4-year-old, sending him some quality mares, including She’s Furline (I Am Invincible), Maybe I (Red Ransom {USA}), Lipstick Lover (I Am Invincible), Black Prada (Domesday), Miss Ready (More Than Ready {USA}) and Tiny Taj (Sepoy).

Table: Some of the matings B2B Thoroughbreds are planning for the 2023 season