Cover image courtesy of Cornerstone Stud
The historic Cornerstone Stud has been a mainstay of South Australian breeding and racing for many decades, and has been hard at work transforming itself since Sam Hayes handed over the reins to Sam Pritchard-Gordon and John Frankhuisen in 2023. Now a farm that prides itself on producing quality racehorses, the stud heads to the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale with a draft of 12 that they believe will appeal to a broad range of buyers.
General Manager Pritchard-Gordon caught up with The Thoroughbred Report to talk about his draft, which he is carefully optimistic about, after the farm achieved 100 per cent clearance at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.
Sam Pritchard-Gordon | Image courtesy of Cornerstone Stud
“I’ve got a bit of hope off of the back of Melbourne,” he said. “We achieved some good results, although the numbers probably cover up a market that’s a little bit difficult to sell into.
“The Adelaide sale last year was quite difficult, and I’m hopeful that Magic Millions will have attracted a good dose of interstate buyers as well, because I felt like the South Australian buying bench was a bit shy.”
“The Adelaide sale last year was quite difficult, and I’m hopeful that Magic Millions will have attracted a good dose of interstate buyers as well, because I felt like the South Australian buying bench was a bit shy.” - Sam Pritchard-Gordon
Pritchard-Gordon would call it a “very selective market” in the ring at the moment.
“It’s hard to get two people competing on one horse beyond that level where you need to get the cream to cover for the next season,” he added.
A robust selection for a wide audience
Aware of the attraction Adelaide has a trade sale across several different markets, Pritchard-Gordon has curated a draft of 10 colts and two fillies to take to the Morphettville sales complex.
“We are very conscious that Magic Millions assembles a large number of traders for this sale,” he said. “I think the judgements of (bloodstock consultants) Adrian (Hancock) and Ben Culham are the way to go, and they were very fond of our Wild Ruler colt out of Kennocha.”
From the first crop of G1 Moir Stakes winner Wild Ruler - who is one of three Newgate Farm-based stallions represented in the draft - Lot 423 is a son of five-time winner Kennocha (Lonhro), who campaigned across Western Australia. She is a full sister to G3 Birthday Card Stakes winner Celts, dam of Group winners La Tene (Helmet) and Gaulois (Street Cry {Ire}).
Lot 423 - Wild Ruler x Kennocha (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“He was a $55,000 weanling,” Pritchard-Gordon said. “He’s got lots of substance, and I’m hoping he will be very well received.”
Another Newgate-sired colt, Lot 363 by Tiger Of Malay, received a timely pedigree update ahead of the sale. Dam Flying Amelia (Flying Artie) is a half-sister to boom Victorian juvenile Gin Spirit (Spirit Of Boom), who won the Listed Cinderella Stakes at Morphettville and placed second on the weekend in the G3 Ottawa Stakes.
“It certainly wasn’t expected,” Pritchard-Gordon said. “He’s a colt that has just thrived during his preparation, and he’s probably the best moving horse on the draft. I’m looking forward to seeing him parade, and I hold him in quite high esteem.”
Cornerstone paid $13,000 for the colt at last year’s Inglis Australian Weanling Sale from the draft of Twin Hills Stud.
Lot 363 - Tiger of Malay x Flying Amelia (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
A shift in strategy
Pinhooking weanlings have become an increasingly important part of the stud’s strategy going forward; since Hayes’ departure in 2023, the stud has entirely phased out standing stallions and has instead chosen to focus on curating a boutique, high calibre broodmare band to move forward with. In the meantime, Pritchard-Gordon sees pinhooking as a viable way to continue being a commercial operation and keeping their name out there.
“We have culled back the broodmare band quite noticeably over the last three years,” he said. “John Frankhuisen’s business plan is to deliver a good return by trading smartly and producing horses with better pedigrees, and hopefully one way of supplementing that is the pinhooking, while we grow the quality of our mares.”
Pritchard-Gordon is well versed in pinhooking, and it is this fortitude of mind that had him select Lot 449 as a weanling; a robust filly by shuttle stallion Lucky Vega (Ire), out of winning Sebring mare Longmu. The filly cost $1500 when purchased last year through an Inglis Digital auction and may prove to be a worthwhile investment, given her full brother That’s Gold looks to be a promising type in New Zealand, running fourth to Return To Conquer (Snitzel) in the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes. The colt has placed third on two other occasions and has been nominated for the G1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes at the end of the month.
Lot 449 - Lucky Vega (IRE) x Longmu (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“She’s a really sharp looking filly,” Pritchard-Gordon said. “She’s got a full sibling who’s started well. She’s going to have a broad appeal to someone looking to buy a sharp, early running 2-year-old, and she’s got a mother that has already proven she can do it with the sire.”
Six of the yearlings on offer in the draft were purchased as weanlings, with Pritchard-Gordon finding a balance between first season, second season, and established sires.
Taking a chance on the young guns
Five of the Cornerstone Adelaide draft are by sires with their first yearlings at auction this year, and two are by sires who have their first juveniles on the track at the moment. Pritchard-Gordon has struck lucky with the latter two; the draft contains a colt apiece by Lucky Vega and Hanseatic, both of whom have been performing well on the race track. Lucky Vega’s crop has been led for quite some time by his daughter Within The Law, who heads into the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes as a Group 2 winner, and Rosemont Stud’s Hanseatic has had two stakes performers and two winners amongst his first runners.
“A number of these mares are further along in their life cycle with us,” Pritchard-Gordon shared. “So you can happily take a punt on a first or second season sire, and hope that you catch a Lucky Vega on the way up. When you have a chance to breed commercially as opposed to just supporting your own stallions, you can make the mare better as a consequence.”
Lot 73 - Wooded (IRE) x Pure Scot (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Swettenham Stud-based shuttler Wooded (Ire), a son of superstar Wootton Bassett (GB), has made an impression on Pritchard-Gordon and he had to have one in the draft; Lot 73 is proudly stamped with the Cornerstone brand, and is out of five-time winner Pure Scot (Purrealist), who was third in the G3 Schweppervescence Trophy. He hopes that Wootton Bassett’s international appeal will entice buyers to be interested in the progeny of his sons.
“I think the Wooded colt (we have) and the Wooded yearlings that I have seen are very much like the sireline,” Pritchard-Gordon said. “They have a bit of size, like Wootton Bassett, and they seem to have very good brains, which ties in nicely with how Sydney trainers are assessing the Wootton Bassett stock. So hopefully they can see similarities, and can come make a shrewd investment in a first season sire.”
He is also a fan of the offspring of fellow first cropper Profiteer, adding, “I think he’s a stallion that will have runners early. The one I’m offering (Lot 171) is probably the sharpest in the draft. I think this time next year, you will see a jump in his (Profiteer) service fee and sales price.”
Lot 171 - Profiteer x The Mobot (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Looking ahead to the breeding season, he is also keen on Arrowfield Stud’s Hitotsu, whose first foals arrived this past spring.
“I have been quite surprised by them,” Pritchard-Gordon said. “They’ve got more substance to them than the Maurices, that might be a touch of the Redoute’s Choice coming through. I’m excited by him as a stallion, he was uniquely versatile over a range of distances. If he can keep producing consistent types like the one I’ve got, he will be one that I come back to.”
Keeping the results coming
Cornerstone Stud has 25 foals due later this year, mostly owned by the stud with a handful of long-term clients retaining mares on the farm. Pritchard-Gordon is keen to keep the numbers tight, the results high, both in the ring and on the track. In 2021, a group of clients invested in four mares that were sent to Frankel (GB) on Southern Hemisphere time before they or their progeny were sold by Cornerstone in Australia, which has laid the groundwork for Cornerstone as a serious vendor of quality stock. One of those foals sold in 2023 as a weanling to Yulong for $925,000, and Ciaron Maher Bloodstock purchased another as a yearling for $400,000 at last year's Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
“If we can offer a handful of weanlings and a handful of yearlings each year, we can continue to upgrade our stock, we can find ourselves producing better sales results and having racing results like we did on the weekend,” Pritchard-Gordon said.
“If we can offer a handful of weanlings and a handful of yearlings each year, we can continue to upgrade our stock, we can find ourselves producing better sales results and having racing results like we did on the weekend.” - Sam Pritchard-Gordon
The race track results continue to pour in - Shady Thinker (So You Think {NZ}), victor of the $122,250 Magic Millions SA 3 & 4YO Classic at Murray Bridge on Saturday at just his second career start, was a graduate from the farm’s 2023 Adelaide draft. Earlier in the same card, farm graduates Artistic Angel (Flying Artie) and Dampen (Impending) ran second and third in the $202,250 Magic Millions SA 2YO Classic to round out a big day for a boutique farm.
All Grunt (Grunt {NZ}) continued the party on Sunday with a second-placed finish in the Listed Lee Piper Stakes at Ascot, and another graduate Flanagan (Shamus Award) picked up his second win over the border in Victoria on Friday.
Shady Thinker | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“I have got to work really hard on altering the stud’s brand from standing value stallions to one that’s now producing racehorses,” Pritchard-Gordon continued. He is confident that his Adelaide draft will take another step in the right direction. “That’s the business brand now and something I have to start promoting heavily.”
