Today’s Foal Focus comes from the first crop of multiple Group 1-placed Don Corleone, who stands at Eureka Stud, where his son out of three-time metropolitan winner Bleu Zebra (I Am Invincible) was born at the end of August.
Looking like a million dollars
“He’s pretty magnificent,” said Eureka Stud’s Harry McAlpine. “The mare does throw a very good sort, but he’s very powerful and he’s really well marked like his father. Don Corleone is a very good looking stallion. He’s very in the Not A Single Doubt style, so he (the colt) has plenty of that, and plenty of strength to go with it.”
“The mare does throw a very good sort, but he’s (Don Corleone x Bleu Zebra '25) very powerful and he’s really well marked like his father.” - Harry McAlpine
Second in both the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes and the G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes alongside other stakes performances, Don Corleone heads up his second year at stud at an unchanged fee of $13,200 (inc GST).
“He’s (the colt) actually quite similar to the Stay Inside colt that we sold for a million earlier this year.”
Gallery: Don Corleone x Bleu Zebra colt, born at Eureka Stud
The colt’s three-quarter-brother was a $1 million purchase at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale when snapped up by the duo of James Harron Bloodstock Colt Partnership and Tony Fung Colts, and has subsequently been named Incognito (Stay Inside). He has been given to the capable hands of Michael Freedman to train.
“Hopefully he (Incognito) might do something on the track to frank the breeding,” McAlpine said. “I believe he’s heading for his first jump-out next week, and then hopefully he’s on track for the Breeders’ Plate.”
A patient investment
The half-sister to Listed Cap D’Antibes Stakes winner Fox Swift (Foxwedge) out of a half-sister to multiple Group winner White Moss (Mossman), Bleu Zebra was a yearling acquisition for Eureka and the McAlpines at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast sale. Tony Gollan, John Foote Bloodstock, and Black Soil Bloodstock signed the docket for $600,000 when the filly was offered by Edinglassie Stud.
“She was a magnificent yearling,” McAlpine recalled. “She had a lot of speed - she used to win trials by big margins, and she won in town. Unfortunately, her knees didn’t hold up to going far with her, but she had a lot of ability. She definitely had stakes ability.”
“She (Bleu Zebra) had a lot of speed - she used to win trials by big margins, and she won in town.” - Harry McAlpine
Two of Bleu Zebra’s three wins were at Doomben, including beating subsequent Group 3 winner Tycoon Evie (Written Tycoon) at her third victory. She retired to stud in 2021 and visited Spirit Of Boom for her maiden season.
“We thought, with a beautiful mare like her, we may be better off taking her to the breeding barn than to keep rehabbing her to race,” McAlpine said. “She’s certainly been a wonderful producer in the barn so far.”
Bleu Zebra | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
Bleu Zebra's first foal - Funky Zebra - was a $220,000 sale as a yearling, followed by Incognito at $1 million, and her Pinatubo (Ire) filly was a $280,000 weanling at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale earlier this year.
“She throws a heap of oomph into her foals, but she does have to be mated correctly,” McAlpine said. “She’s a big Vinnie mare that needs a neater stallion, so Stay Inside was an obvious choice. Him and Don Corleone are very, very similar, the two are very alike, so that was the idea and it has worked well.”
The right cross
McAlpine understood the need to mate a large mare like Bleu Zebra appropriately, but a little bit of fortune went into the cross to produce her 2025 colt.
“She was meant to go to Militarize,” McAlpine said. “But 24 hours before she was ready for cover, we got a call from the stud.”
Militarize (NZ) (Dundeel {NZ}) was discovered last year to be infertile, having since made a return to racing, and plans had to swiftly change to find Bleu Zebra a new match, or miss the ovulation.
Harry McAlpine | Image courtesy of Black Soil Bloodstock
“I said to Brian (Siemsen of Black Soil Bloodstock), ‘well, the Stay Inside foal was magnificent, and we have another son of Extreme Choice at the farm’,” said McAlpine. “We might as well go back to that line and try to breed something similar.”
“Well, the Stay Inside foal was magnificent, and we have another son of Extreme Choice at the farm.” - Harry McAlpine
The results can be seen for themselves. This season, Bleu Zebra goes to Broadsiding at Darley.
“She’s actually getting on the truck tonight to go to Broadsiding,” McAlpine said. “She’s a very big, robust mare, and I think you need to be breeding to more athletic, neater stallions if you can, and Broadsiding certainly ticks the box for that.
“We’ll go there and hopefully the Stay Inside 2-year-old gets up, and we can return to him (Stay Inside) next year.”
