Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Gold Medallist, Double Pi and Reckless Behaviour were all impressive winners on Sunday for Yulong's young stallion, while Whispering Rogue also made an impact when scoring in stylish fashion last week at Doomben.
The Thoroughbred Report caught up with Yulong’s Sales and Nominations, Harry King, to discuss Pierata’s credentials and what lies ahead for the stallion. With a service fee of $55,000 inc GST, Pierata has both the numbers and the support behind him to continue developing, to keep on bringing up the winners - and to truly make a name for himself in the years to come.
A timely Sunday treble
Just before the start of a new breeding season is the ideal time for a stallion to rack up winners, and that’s exactly what Pierata is doing at the moment. On Sunday, he picked up a treble, with the Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman-trained Pierata duo of Gold Medallist and Double Pi scoring impressively at Echuca, while the Matthew Dale-trained Reckless Behaviour was successful at Wagga.
In addition to the successful Sunday, a horse that attracted attention was the Chris and Corey Munce-trained Whispering Rogue (Pierata), who was victorious at Doomben. Having his third start, after placing in both runs as a juvenile, Whispering Rogue impressed. Purchased by Munce Racing and Arthur Hoyeau at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $135,000 from Kenmore Lodge, he is a half-brother to Group 2 winner Whispering Brook (Hinchinbrook).
Harry King | Image supplied
“Pierata is flying, the horses winning on the track are doing the best kind of marketing for us at the moment, and a treble on Sunday only helps,” King said.
“Pierata is flying, the horses winning on the track are doing the best kind of marketing for us at the moment.” - Harry King
“He had three winners on Sunday, five winners and an additional three placegetters last week from only 13 runners, he is really tracking along well.”
A solid foundation for Pierata
Pierata is steadily building a strong foundation as a young stallion. From just 109 runners, he has produced 64 winners, at a solid 59% winners-to-runners ratio - with an encouraging mix of both colts and fillies being successful.
His standout performer so far is Coleman, a Group 3 and Listed winner as a juvenile, who also placed in the G1 Golden Slipper, G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes, and G3 Pago Pago Stakes. As a 3-year-old, Coleman placed in the G2 Roman Consul Stakes and the Listed Queensland Day Stakes.
Coleman | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
The Robbie Griffiths-trained Tobeornottobe won the G3 Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes as a juvenile and has placed in the top four in another seven stakes races.
Pierata has had another five horses feature at stakes level, including Fearless, Wave Breaker, Red Sea (NZ), Midnight Dynamite, and Perfectly Proper.
Last season, Pierata finished seventh by earnings among second-season sires, and second by individual winners, only behind the outstanding Too Darn Hot (GB).
“His first two crops produced more juvenile Group performers than another first-season sire, when you have a third-season sire that’s doing that, it put’s them in good stead for later on.”
Well-supported in the shed
Pierata has been well supported since his announcement at stud. He stood his debut season in the Hunter Valley, covering 169 mares, and then moved to Queensland-based Aquis Farm where he covered 143 and 139 mares in subsequent seasons.
In the past two years, he has served books of 191 and 199 mares since moving to Yulong, including an outstanding lineup of quality mares. Last season alone, he covered the likes of the Group 1 winners: Chain Of Lightning (Fighting Sun), Prowess (Proisir), Espiona (Extreme Choice), Foxplay (Foxwedge), Icebath (NZ) (Sacred Falls), Imperatriz (I Am Invincible), Viddora (I Am Invincible) and In Her Time (Time Thief), aswell as a large bunch of proven broodmares from a range of bloodlines.
“He continues to attract support, and has served two very good books at Yulong, he has 118 live foals from his 2023 book that will represent him well at next year’s yearling sales.” King said.
Pierata | Standing at Yulong
“With any stallion you have to be future focused, we ourselves have supported him heavily, but he has also been supported well from the outside, he has had a good number of mares travel down from the Hunter Valley.
“He has major upside, and a lot of nice horses to come through.
“He has also served a very diverse book, we import a lot of mares from overseas and look to add new blood to the gene pool, so he has served a lot of them as well as a lot of top-class local race mares.”
In total, Pierata has served 841 mares across his five seasons at stud. With just over 100 of his progeny having reached the track so far, there's clearly much more to come.
Fast on the track, and he trained on
A city winner and Group performer as a juvenile, Pierata was Group 1-placed over a mile as a 3-year-old in the G1 Randwick Guineas, before reaching his peak as a sprinter. His biggest win came in the 1400-metre G1 All Aged Stakes as a 4-year-old.
He also claimed the G3 Sydney Stakes, running a faster time than Redzel's (Snitzel) The Everest win over the same course and distance that day. As a 5-year-old, he won the $1 million Redzel Stakes over 1300 metres, defeating Trekking (Street Cry {Ire}), and the G2 Shorts Handicap, beating Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt). He narrowly missed back-to-back All Aged Stakes victories, finishing a short-head second to the four-time Group 1 winner Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}).
Pierata winning the G3 Sydney Stakes | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Pierata ended his racing career with nine wins from 26 starts and $5.8 million in prizemoney.
Longevity on the track is important to Yulong
For Yulong Stud, longevity on the track is a key factor. Many of their stallions raced well beyond their 3-year-old seasons, while several of their top broodmares also had long, distinguished racing careers.
“Longevity and being able to train on is very important to Yulong, on our roster we have Panthalassa who trained on to be a 6-year-old in one of the toughest jurisdictions in the world, Diatonic was similar, and Pierata locally trained on,” King said.
“Longevity and being able to train on is very important to Yulong.” - Harry king
“Decorated horses need longevity, we have had Via Sistina train on and run as an older mare, and you can name the likes of Mr Brightside, Bella Nipotina, Chautauqua, Santa Ana Lane. There is an opportunity for these horses to win huge amounts of prizemoney.
“It also shows that these horses have strong genetic breeding and sound genetics.”
“The future is bright for Pierata, he has served some fantastic mares, he has still only had just over 100 runners, his runners have shown that they can train on, he has a huge future.”
Yulong ready for a big season
With spring approaching, the Yulong team is gearing up for a busy season with a powerful roster of 11 stallions, both young and proven.
King said, “It’s all going well. We are in a pretty good place with our stallions and our roster, and the racehorses. It takes a while to get there but we are going alright which we are happy with.”
Yulong team | Image courtesy of Yulong Investments
When asked if breeders are taking longer to make decisions this year, which seems to be the current trend across the board King noted:
“One hundred percent, it’s quite fascinating, some breeders have said they aren’t breeding this year, and then they get a foal on the ground and it gets them going again.” So they can change their mind
“It’s a bit like getting a haircut, the worst part is getting it, but once you have got it, you are pretty happy with it.
“But all things are looking good, it’s very busy but we are looking forward to it.” - Harry King
“But all things are looking good, it’s very busy but we are looking forward to it.”
