Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions
Bond, who runs the Wyreema based Kenmore Lodge with his wife Kellie, is confident on the back of strong results at the Magic Millions and Inglis Easter sales that the sales will be well-attended and strongly supported.
“There is just so much good prizemoney on offer that people want to get involved, they want to invest,” he said.
“And those who have done well at the yearlings sales will be out there looking for their next good one.”
Bond is proud of the good results Kenmore Lodge has provided pinhookers and is keen to again be of service in that regard.
Cameron and Kellie Bond | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“We love it when people do well out of our horses, it means they will be repeat customers for us.”
Pinhooking success stories
Three members of last year's draft fared particuarly well at this year's yearling sales.
A Too Darn Hot (GB) filly out of the city winner Alnaas (Not A Single Doubt) was purchased by Sledmere Farm and Cangon Stud Farm for $175,000, then on sold at Inglis Easter to Sutton Racing and McKeever Bloodstock for $360,000.
Too Darn Hot (GB) x Alnaas (filly) was one of the successful pinhooks out of a recent Kenmore Lodge weanling draft | Image courtesy of Kenmore Lodge
A Churchill (Ire) colt out of the placed Laeta (All Too Hard), daughter of the dual Listed winner Happy Hippy (Shamardal {USA}), was secured by Carlaw Park for $45,000 and later by Riversley Park for $120,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.
And an Ilovethiscity half-brother to the Listed winner My Khalifa (Pride Of Dubai) was picked up for just $28,000 by Upper Bloodstock and Shane McGrath Bloodstock, he fetched $100,000 to the bid of L Olson at Inglis Classic.
Bond likes to present the Kenmore weanlings in good order with plenty left for the pinhooker to go on with, telling us that “we take a bit of a different approach to weanling sale preparation.”
“Our horses do not spend much time in the box,” he said, “they are mostly in the paddock.”
“We do a lot of horsemanship style work with them, they are ponied, also spending time in the round yard where we can get a feel for how they are going.”
“We do a lot of horsemanship style work with them, they are ponied, also spending time in the round yard where we can get a feel for how they are going.” - Cameron Bond
Whilst Bond just “loves selling horses,” he does enjoy noting the response to the progeny of first season sires.
“Those stallions are fresh in everyone's minds,” he said, knowing that breeders and owners are often keen to check these youngsters out at the sales in order to get an idea of how those horses are shaping early in their stud careers.
Anamoe filly stands out
Kenmore Lodge are selling weanlings by four such stallions; colts by Coolmore Stud's triple Group-winning Snitzel horse Best Of Bordeaux and Newgate Farm's G1 Golden Rose Stakes winner In The Congo (also by Snitzel) and fillies by Arrowfield Stud's triple Group 1 winner Hitotsu and Darley's star Anamoe.
Bond is impressed by what he is seeing in his weanlings by each of those stallions with Lot 200 one he is especially excited about.
Lot 200 - Anamoe x Secret Doubt (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
A half-sister by Anamoe to the multiple city (Sydney and Hong Kong) winner Sing Dragon (Written Tycoon) out of the metropolitan winner Secret Doubt (Not A Single Doubt) is a filly he can't wait to showcase.
“We have been hearing such great things about the Anamoe foals and this filly is a stand-out. And she has been from day one,” he enthused.
“She is a cracking type with a beautiful temperament,” he said of the granddaughter of the G1 Railway Stakes winner Covertly (Metal Storm {Fr}).
Earlier in the day Kenmore take through the ring the first of the sale's weanlings by Best Of Bordeaux; Lot 33, a colt out of the speedy race mare Holdin' My Own (Spirit Of Boom) whose full sister Chinny Boom won at Listed level last winter.
Lot 33 - Best Of Bordeaux x Holdin' My Own (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“He is a big, strong, early maturing type,” Bond said.
Kenmore also have the first of the sale's In The Congo weanlings; Lot 75 out of Laeta whose Churchill colt was one of last year's good pinhooking results.
“The In The Congo weanlings looks to be early types and this is a pretty nice colt with good strength.”
Lot 75 - In The Congo x Laeta (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
There are a handful of the first crop of Hitotsu at the sale including Kenmore's filly, Lot 190 who is the second foal for the six time winner Run Pam Run (Sepoy) from the prolific My Tricia (NZ) (Hermes {GB}) family.
“She is a very well put together filly, a very nice mover.”
Bond is pleased with his selection of weanlings by first season stallions, always happy to have them in the Kenmore draft.
Lot 190 - Hitotsu x Run Pam Run (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“We like to have a few every year,” he said.
He also likes to have the progeny of proven stallions also on offer and Kenmore Lodge certainly have a nice array of those for Sunday with weanlings by So You Think (NZ), Spirit Of Boom, Justify (USA), Tassort, The Autumn Sun and Cool Aza Beel (NZ) as well as a filly by the popular Stay Inside whose first yearlings attracted plenty of attention.
Golden Slipper winners a recipe for stud success
“We love breeding to Golden Slipper winning stallions, especially in their early years,” Bond said, “they always seem to succeed at stud.”
“We love breeding to Golden Slipper winning stallions, especially in their early years, they always seem to succeed at stud.” - Cameron Bond
Lot 267 is one of the three Stay Inside fillies at the sale, a daughter of the lightly raced Wannabe Loved (Sebring) whose dam Wannabe Grand (Ire) (Danehill {USA}) won the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket.
The Justify colt, Lot 13, is also highlight of the Kenmore draft with Bond describing him as “another stand-out.”
“He is the first foal for a really nice, city winning Zoustar mare (Free Flying Star),” he said as he waxed lyrical about Justify.
“Kellie and I visited him at Ashford Stud in Kentucky, he has this massive aura about him, he is just an international superstar.”
Gallery: Some of the weanlings by first season sires in the Kenmore Lodge draft, images courtesy of Magic Millions
There is, Bond said, a lot to be said for timing when selling horses and he was pleased to see Cool Archie (Cool Aza Beel) record such an impressive win in the G2 Champagne Classic at Doomben last weekend with Lot 348 being the only Cool Aza Beel colt in the sale.
A son of the Listed winner Discreet (Show A Heart), he is a colt Bond is looking forward to selling, noting that “any recent success for a stallion helps you in the sales ring.”
Other members of the Kenmore draft likely to prove popular with buyers include Lot 9, a So You Think half-brother to the stakes-placed Blaze A Trail (Criterion) and Lot 333, a The Autumn Sun colt from the family of Pierro.
As well as a couple of youngsters by the stallion Bond describes as “so genuine,” Spirit Of Boom; Lot 19 out of daughter of the dual stakes winner Paprika (General Nediym) and Lot 150 out of a winning daughter of the Listed winner Princess Margaret (Spectrum {Ire}).
Gallery: Some of the weanlings who are predicted to be popular in the Kenmore Lodge draft, images courtesy of Magic Millions
Plenty busy!
With a roughly 50/50 split of weanlings being sold on behalf of clients and those out of Kenmore's own mares, the farm has plenty of work on, so much so that the Bonds have not had to actively seek new clients.
“We are already plenty busy enough!” he laughed, adding that selling horses as weanlings does help with the work load, they taking less time to prepare than do the yearlings.
“It is getting harder and harder to get skilled works on board,” he said, though he is pleased to have a group of loyal staff members whilst also having new blood on the horizon.
“We have one of the 'Fast Track' members starting with us next week,” he said.
“They have been in Scone for the last couple of weeks and when they got in touch for us to take someone we were happy to do so. We have trained lots of kids up over the past.”
