Cover image courtesy of Gavelhouse
On Monday evening last, bloodstock agents Johnny McKeever and Bruce Perry were busy buying the Savabeel mare Sedaka (NZ) on Gavelhouse. At NZ$205,000, she topped the 46-horse catalogue fairly easily.
McKeever and Perry were buying on behalf of Watership Down Stud in Newbury, England, that operation belonging to Andrew and Madeleine Lloyd Webber, and overseen by general manager Simon Marsh.
It was far from the first time Watership Down has had a presence in New Zealand, or indeed Australasia.
Sedaka (NZ) | Image courtesy of Gavelhouse
Specifically, 4-year-old Sedaka became the fourth broodmare belonging to the English farm on this side of the world. She joins Nevershotthedeputy (Written Tycoon) and Night Witches (I Am Invincible), both at Olly Tait’s Twin Hills Farm, and Flirting (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}), who resides at Yarraman Park.
Sedaka will head to Yarraman shortly and all four of these mares will visit Too Darn Hot this spring. Sedaka is the latest in a concerted effort by Watership Down Stud to support that stallion, which it bred, through his Australian career.
“We sent a mare of ours down there and then we bought a few others for him,” said Simon Marsh, speaking to The Thoroughbred Report. “We have a couple with Olly Tait and we’ve got another with Harry and Arthur Mitchell, and now we’ll have Sedaka down there too. All of them were bought to support Too Darn Hot.”
Simon Marsh | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Watership Down owns half of Too Darn Hot, a horse it bred in 2016 from the exclusive little mare Dar Re Mi (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}). Dar Re Mi was a triple Group 1 winner and a sibling to three other European Group 1 winners, and it’s a family that Watership Down admits it has kept largely to itself until Too Darn Hot.
Standing in collaboration with Godolphin Australia, Too Darn Hot has been shuttling to the Southern Hemisphere since the spring of 2020. He has covered 130 mares in each of the last three seasons, and his first crop of racing age is due any day in Australia.
In Europe, he has leaped off the blocks. The 2-year-old filly Fallen Angel (GB) became his first Group 1 winner at the Curragh last week when winning the Moyglare Stud S., and he’s had a Group 2 winner in Darnation (Ire) and a Group 3 winner in Carolina Reaper (GB). It’s not a bad start for a first-season sire.
Too Darn Hot (GB) | Standing at Darley
At Kelvinside, Too Darn Hot is standing for $44,000 (inc GST) and he is fully booked, as he was the last three years. He covered Flirting, Night Witches and Nevershotthedeputy last spring, who are all expecting progeny any day now.
“We’re very lucky to have Too Darn Hot down there and we’re keen to support him,” Marsh said. “He’s proved very, very popular with Australian breeders and he’s been full his first three years. He’s absolutely chock-a-block again this year. In the Northern Hemisphere, he’s had this incredible start so we’re very keen to keep a presence for him in the Australian market.
“He’s been fantastic up here. He also had his first winner in North America over the weekend, and he’s got a very good filly in Japan who was second in her first start running against the colts. I think people thought of him as a very precocious sort of 2-year-old, but in fact, I think his progeny need a bit of patience and I’m hoping that people will recognise that and run them when they’re ready.”
“We’re very lucky to have Too Darn Hot down there (Australia) and we’re keen to support him. He’s proved very, very popular with Australian breeders and he’s been full his first three years. He’s absolutely chock-a-block again this year.” - Simon Marsh
Marsh said that, aside from Too Darn Hot in the pedigree, the stallion's wider family is largely late maturing.
“I think he will suit Australia very well,” he added. “I think he suits the Australian conditions well. When I was down there, I went around the sales and went around the farms to see the yearlings and foals, and I was very impressed by what I saw.”
Watership Down, in alliance with McKeever Bloodstock, paid $340,000 for Flirting at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in 2022. She was offered by Godolphin in foal to Blue Point (Ire). Night Witches was bought at the same sale in foal to Microphone, also sold by Godolphin and costing Watership Down, McKeever and Twin Hills $160,000.
Gallery: Mares purchased by Watership Down in partnership to visit Too Darn Hot (GB), images courtesy of Magic Millions
That same buying trio also purchased Nevershotthedeputy from the catalogue, in foal to Tagaloa when offered by Yarraman Park. She cost them $200,000, bringing their collective investment into Too Darn Hot, at that sale alone, to $700,000.
However, this isn’t the height of it.
This year at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, McKeever and Watership Down went into bidding alongside Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott for a Vinery-offered filly by Too Darn Hot. They paid $1 million for the daughter of the Group 2-winning Magnus mare Enbihaar, and that filly is now in training at Tulloch Lodge and named Too Darn Lizzie.
“We’ve also got a colt with the Hayeses, so we’ve got a few things going on,” Marsh says.
Too Darn Lizzie as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
However, at this stage, the presence of Watership Down Stud in Australia is in aid of Too Darn Hot. The farm doesn’t seem to have concrete plans for an extensive broodmare band in Australia.
“On saying that, the prizemoney and the whole business of racing down there is fantastic,” Marsh says. “The enthusiasm for racing of everybody down there is great and we feel very lucky to be involved.”
She’s a good fit
Sedaka was offered in Monday night’s Gavelhouse catalogue by Go Racing, a 4-year-old winner by Savabeel and the first foal from the Rip Van Winkle (Ire) mare O’Carol (NZ).
O’Carol is a half-sister to the well-credentialed Odeon (NZ) (Zacinto {GB}), a dual stakes winner who was Group 1-placed.
Sedaka raced nine times through her career, all in New Zealand, for which she was a winner and dual Group-placed. She was fifth behind Pennyweka (NZ) (Satono Aladdin {Jpn}) in the G1 New Zealand Oaks last spring and she was very recently retired with a tendon injury.
“Savabeel is obviously a very good stallion, which was part of the appeal with this mare,” Marsh says. “He’s proved to be an extremely good influence, and it’s a good pedigree on her. It goes all the way back to Storm Cat, which is fantastic, and she was obviously a good performer on the track. She’s got size to suit the stallion (Too Darn Hot) so we’ll just have to see if it works.”
“Savabeel is obviously a very good stallion, which was part of the appeal with this mare (Sedaka). He’s proved to be an extremely good influence, and it’s a good pedigree on her. It goes all the way back to Storm Cat, which is fantastic...” - Simon Marsh
Sedaka will go to Yarraman Park to board with Flirting, an obvious location within distance to Kelvinside. In the meanwhile, the first of the Too Darn Hot juveniles will begin appearing around racetracks.
On Monday, Stage Legend (Too Darn Hot {GB}) was the very first to debut, running fourth for trainer Les Bridge in an 845-metre sprint. From the Fastnet Rock mare Under Lights, this filly was a $140,000 purchase for Legend Racing at the 2023 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale when offered by HP Thoroughbreds.
