Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
Libertad is a Spanish word meaning liberty or freedom. It is also the (most likely self-selected) surname of Albert Libertad, an orphan who founded the French anarchist literature journal L’Anarchie in 1905.
It’s a good strong name for a stallion prospect with many potentially creative names for his future offspring. And when Libertad (Russian Revolution) won Saturday’s G1 Winterbottom Stakes in a tough battle with dual Winterbottom winner Overpass (Vancouver), the first question off Mel Stenning’s tongue was, “So he’s going to stand at Blue Gum?”
A Group 1-winning entire with plenty of options
Trilogy Racing, owned by Jason and Mel Stenning, are the majority shareholders in Libertad and they also are co-owners of Blue Gum Farm in Victoria. The answer seems obvious. Of course, they will stand their Group 1-winning grandson of Snitzel at their own farm. But the commercial market is not always so straightforward.
“We haven’t been out together as a group to discuss it yet. We haven’t had the time to debrief. We are still on a bit of a high,” Jason Stenning said.
“It’s strange because we are still mourning the loss of Sejardan, which we all took really hard. It’s feast or famine, this game. The emotional rollercoaster is real.” Blue Gum Farm’s young sire Sejardan died in a paddock accident at the start of November. His oldest progeny are yearlings.
Jason Stenning | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“We are still basking in the glow of yesterday. It’s a no brainer that Libertad will go to stud. He’s won Group races at two, three, four, and five now. He’s one of the standouts, not many have done that, so he’s well and truly qualified.
“He’s a stunning type. He’s a big strong bull, he’s from the Snitzel sireline and the industry sadly lost Snitzel recently too. There’s a place for him in the market, whether we stand him or whether we talk to some partners, or whether people approach us.
“He’s (Libertad) from the Snitzel sireline and the industry sadly lost Snitzel recently too. There’s a place for him in the market.” - Jason Stenning
“I’ve had a number of phone calls asking if he’s available, so there is interest in the market. We’ll entertain all that. As I say to people, we’re a commercial operation, all our horses are for sale. It just needs to be the right structure and valuation. We are here to trade as a breeding business.
“There are so many things to consider. The marketplace, the mare populations, where he might be best suited. It’s not just about what I want. It’s about what’s best commercially for the horse and the rest of his career.
“He’s just beaten one of Australia’s best sprinting horses who has won $13 million in prizemoney.”
Libertad | Image courtesy of Sportpix
And there’s the dilemma. Could Libertad earn more money by racing on for another season? The Everest, at $20 million, is a big draw card, even with the threat of Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) returning for another crack it.
“Do we keep racing Libertad? Is that the best commercial option for us? It’s good to have all these options.
“It’s going to be hard to stop racing him because the prizemoney is so great at that top end. It’s got to be an attractive scenario (financially) if we were to retire him. It’s great to have options, we need to have a long discussion about it.”
Where Libertad retires to stud, and when, may not be decided yet, but his story began a long time before his victory in Perth yesterday.
The journey began at Willow Park
Libertad is one of four winners for Electric Charge (Charge Forward) who was a winner over 1200 metres. She has a 3-year-old colt by Prague and 2-year-old filly Electric Bliss (Prague), but no foal since.
Electric Charge is a half-sister to G3 Adrian Knox Stakes winner Miss Darcey (Hussonet {USA}) and both are out of Listed Widden Stakes winner Miss Bussell (Danzero) who also placed in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic.
Sold by Arrowfield Stud to Princeton Stud for $100,000 as yearling at 2013 Magic Millions Gold Coast, Electric Charge retired to Willow Park Stud. They sold her at the 2016 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for $200,000 to Rheinwood Pastoral.
“Electric Charge became the 15th individual Group 1 winner from mares that we've sold at the broodmare sales,” Willow Park Stud’s Glen Burrows said.
Glen Burrows | Image courtesy of Willow Park Stud
“Ray Willis, the owner of Rheinwood Pastoral has been a great friend of mine for over 40 years. I remember when he came to my draft and asked for my advice as to which mares he should consider. Electric Charge was a very good looking mare from a good family.
“She was only a minor winner but she'd placed at Sandown at two and was a 1200-metre winner and at the end of the day Ray was on a budget so you've got to discount something. We’d sent her to Shooting To Win in his first season and she was in foal.”
The resulting filly foal, Static (Shooting To Win) sold to Godolphin for $170,000, and Rheinwood Pastoral sent Electric Charge to I Am Invincible, who stood for $55,000 inc GST in 2016. That mating resulted in a filly who Rheinwood Stud sold for $360,000 to Snowden Racing. She was named Surething To Win and was a winner. Now at stud, she has two Alabama Express colts, a yearling and a foal.
Electric Charge | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“She’d well and truly paid for herself before Libertad came along. Two years after Ray had bought Electric Charge he again came to my draft of mares and said I'm back, but I don't have the same budget this time. I pointed him in the direction of another mare in foal in her first season. Her name was Happy Pilgrim and she was in foal to the consistent but under rated Nicconi.”
Burrows had purchased Happy Pilgrim (Congrats {USA}) as a non-winner and sent her to trainer Luke Pepper, where she won three minor races. “I said to Ray, she doesn't owe me anything and I'm putting $50,000 on her. He said great, no problem and ended up buying her for $75,000. The foal she was carrying made $62,500 and then the next one made $210,000 and then came along Private Harry!
“I’ve sold Ray two mares, and both are Group 1 producers!”
Two Group 1 winners in a calendar year for Rheinwood
Boutique farm Rheinwood Pastoral have had a stunning year with Private Harry (Harry Angel {Ire}) and now Libertad coming from their paddocks in Mittagong.
Private Harry | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Libertad was sold by Rheinwood Pastoral at the 2022 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale for $40,000 to Tal Nolen, who on-sold him as Nolen Racing at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale for $210,000 to Annabel Neasham.
“He was a later foal and just had so much improvement in him, but at the sale he wasn’t the finished product. We took him to the market, like we do with all our horses, and met the market and sold him. It was a little bit disappointing, but we were thrilled to see Tal Nolen do so well with him at the Ready2Race Sale,” Rheinwood Pastoral's Kristy Willis said.
“He’s a big boy. Funnily enough as a younger horse, around yearling sale selection time, the comments were that he was a little bit small. But he grew so much during the preparation that by the time we got to the sale, he was quite tall and lanky and he still had so much improvement to come. When we saw him at the Ready2Race sale, the time had benefited him so much. Obviously Tal, who is a great horseman, could see that at the yearling sales.
Libertad as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
“His mother Electric Charge is super tough, and he’s inherited that trait.”
Rheinwood Pastoral sold Electric Charge at an Inglis Digital sale in 2023. “She’d had a few foals and they’d all shown promise, but for varying reasons, they hadn’t hit that black type level.
“After Libertad came out and won the Group 2 so impressively, we decided it was a good time to trade out of her. It’s our business model, being a small farm, it helps for cash flow.
“We were really excited when Trilogy purchased her. We knew she’d be looked after and bred to all the best stallions.”
“We were really excited when Trilogy purchased her (Electric Charge). We knew she’d be looked after and bred to all the best stallions.” - Kristy Willis
Inglis Digital auctions extend the bidding time by five minutes every time a bid is placed after the official closing time. “It was a fun online auction. We were at Sydney at the sales when she went through the digital auction.
“We’d listed her unreserved and when it got to $100,000 we thought, that’s a great result, and then it kept going and going. We had plans to go for dinner, and we said, we’d wait to the end of the auction. But we ended up watching on the ipad after we’d finished dinner. It was the longest online auction!
“The time would count all the way down and then there’d be another bid and it would extend again. It gives people the chance to talk themselves into bidding again. Just one more!”
Kristy Willis | Image courtesy of Rheinwood Pastoral
Willis has fond memories of Electric Charge, and not just because she's produced their second Group 1 winner this calendar year. “She’s a beautiful mare. Every single one of her foals was an outstanding physical. She was very good to us.
“To me, he’s a good mix of the two. He’s definitely got her size and will and determination. He’s a very tough horse, but he’s a good mix of the two. He’s got a lot of Russian Revolution about him as well. We’ve bred a few of them and like them.
“It’s been an awesome 12 months for the farm, with Private Harry and now Libertad. Two Group 1 winners and we’ve only got 10 mares. We also had Flying Orchard stakes-placed this spring.”
“He’s (Libertad) a very tough horse, but he’s a good mix of the two. He’s got a lot of Russian Revolution about him as well.” - Kristy Willis
The selection of each mare is important for a small broodmare band.
“Our criteria, since we don’t have a huge budget, we like to buy mares who are good types from strong female families. We don’t often target stakes-winning mares, we look to buy the sisters who are winners or city-class horses but have that deep female family so you can have those upgrades around her.
“We try to buy mares who are in foal to a relatively commercial pregnancy. When we bought her, she was in foal to Shooting To Win which was his first crop, and we had a great result with the foal she was carrying. We always hope to recoup what we’ve paid with the pregnancy she’s carrying. It doesn’t always work out that way.
“We ended up with Happy Pilgrim the same way. She didn’t set the racetrack alight, but she had the good sisters going to good stallions. We bought another mare called Defar in foal to Dissident and bred her to Exosphere that resulted in Upper Limits. She’s a half-sister to Nurse Kitchen, a $1.7 million earner. She has the residual pedigree.”
With a stakes horse coming off the farm every year in the last six years, Rheinwood Pastoral’s record is incredible from a small broodmare band. “They don’t all have to be stakes horses. We bred Midnight Dynamite who won at Kembla the other day and I think he’s won $300,000 for Darby Racing.”
Midnight Dynamite | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Midnight Dynamite (Pierata) has won five of his 16 starts and over $330,000. He placed in the Listed Gosford Guineas last season. Rheinwood Pastoral sold him at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale for $100,000.
Potential overseas mating for Electric Charge
Trilogy splashed out $360,000 to buy Electric Charge in that long Inglis Digital auction in April 2023. “Unfortunately she slipped her Ozzmosis foal last year. Hopefully she can have a nice healthy foal next season. She went to Toronado, but she’s not in foal and the sands of time are almost done on this breeding season,” said Stenning.
“We are looking at other options now. Whatever she has next will be a half to a Group 1 winner, an extremely valuable commodity, so we are probably looking at a higher level of stallion than we were initially. (Overseas) is always an option. It’s already very late in the season, so that offshore option, NH time, has been discussed.”
Electric Charge | Image courtesy of Inglis
Sending an empty mare to the Northern Hemisphere is an option that many highly commercial operations consider for their top mares.
“We just love the whole process.”
The win by Libertad is the first Group 1 winner for Trilogy in their own colours. They’ve raced several Group 1 winners across partnerships. Libertad is the second Group 1 winner for his sire Russian Revolution, a Group 1-winning son of Snitzel.
“It’s good proof of concept that the way we do things is working. We’ve only been doing it a few years.
“We were actually underbidder to Annabel on him (at the Inglis Ready2Race Sale), so when the hammer fell, I was on the phone to them saying, I’m taking 55% of him. We just had to have him, and our confidence was rewarded really early.
Annabel Neasham | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
The Inglis Ready2Race sale was on October 11, 2022. Libertad had a short spell, and was first at the trials in February 2023. He won on debut in March, then added the G3 Kindergarten Stakes a fortnight later.
“He’s always responded well to pressure and puts in the effort. He steps up to the challenges, and it’s what you want. You want that tenacity and precocity, and early colonial speed which is what the market demands.
“When you own the horse, you always have a big opinion him. But he keeps flying under the radar, he’s never spruiked, even after winning his first three starts, two of which were Group 3s. He won the G2 Victory Stakes paying $90 or so. The ownership group has made an absolute fortune off him because we’ve always known how good he is.”
“When you own the horse, you always have a big opinion him. But he keeps flying under the radar, he’s never spruiked, even after winning his first three starts, two of which were Group 3s.” - Jason Stenning
On his longevity and whether the market is beginning to value durability in stallion prospects, Stenning hopes so. “Most of colts get retired at three. You’ve don’t get to see if they have that sustainability and durability. We’ve got a commodity that is rare and proven. He’s got all that two and 3-year-old Group form too, which the commercial market wants.
“Jamie (Mott) exhibited a masterclass in that steer. It was the strategy that we’d all discussed, and we got the exact run and it played out to strategy and everything happened perfectly. As soon as I saw Libertad come off Overpass’s heels, I was very confident.
Jamie Mott | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“We’ve seen him fight back before. In the Kindergarten on that heavy track, when Saltaire overtook him and everyone thought it was over, and I said, he’ll fight back. He does not quit. We saw that tenacity in him again yesterday. It’s something that comes through that Snitzel line, it’s the heart of a champion.
“The big takeaway for us is the form line. The breeding season is over, we’ve got the autumn to go through and let’s see what happens. What happens if he can add a Sydney Group 1? Then it’s another level of conversation.”
As exciting as that is, Stenning is quick to point out that planning with horses is only part of the journey.
“We’ve just gone through three years of sending 40 mares to Sejardan to back him and ensure he gets every chance, and that’s totally disappeared. You can plan and strategise and de-risk but you can’t guarantee any outcome in this game.”
