Cover image courtesy of Newgate Stud
Glentree Thoroughbreds only select a handful of yearling fillies every sales season with the view of each filly retiring to their broodmare band at the end of a hopefully successful racing career. When they spotted a Russian Revolution filly out of GI Alcibiades Stakes winner My Conquestadory (USA) (Artie Schiller {USA}) at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January, she immediately fitted the bill and was purchased with the assistance of Badgers Bloodstock.
Residual value
“She was a filly that already had residual value with the view of entering the broodmare band down the track and that is the sort of fillies that we chase,” said stud manager Luke Simpson, who has been an intrinsic part of the Glentree operation for over a decade.
“We look for these kinds of pedigrees at the sales, so they already have that benchmark behind them, and then hopefully their racing career can add to it.”
“We look for these kinds of pedigrees at the sales, so they already have that benchmark behind them, and then hopefully their racing career can add to it.” - Luke Simpson
Lot 703, offered by Newgate Farm and subsequently named Lumbini, already boasted three stakes-performing siblings, all of whom ticked off victories as juveniles.
Lumbini’s older sister Russian Conquest has paved the way for her; a dominant winner of the $132,000 Max Lees Classic on debut and a Randwick winner on Boxing Day, Russian Conquest headed to the R. Listed Magic Millions Gold Coast 2YO Classic in January as a well favoured filly, only to be pipped by subsequent Group 1 victress Coolangatta (Written Tycoon) in the juvenile feature.
It is this path that Lumbini - trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott - looks to tread after her one and a quarter-length victory in the $250,000 Magic Millions The Debut on Friday night.
Lumbini as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“It’s a promising start, of course,” Simpson said. “And hopefully she can match the ability of her siblings and, who knows, eventually hopefully match her mother. Her half-brother was Group 1-placed in the States, and her three-quarter-sister Sakima was stakes-placed at Listed level. The mare rarely misses.”
Sakima (Snitzel) was a $1.25 million yearling, sold to Snowden Racing, who guided the careers of both her elder sister and Russian Revolution himself. Lumbini has been the first time that anyone else has gotten a hand on the ball.
“We will sit down with Gai and Adrian next week and plot out the path to the 2YO Classic,” Simpson said. Waterhouse and Bott tasted success in the race in 2024 with Storm Boy. “Whether that means she goes straight there, or whether she has another run in between, we'll just let the dust settle before we decide.”
Hot and cold
Russian Revolution in the sires’ column was more of a draw for the Glentree team than a detractor. Lumbini - bred when the son of Snitzel’s fee sat at his second highest price of $71,500 (inc GST) - was the highest priced yearling by the sire this sales season, and Russian Conquest ticked the same box when she went through the Gold Coast ring in 2021, when selling to Badgers Bloodstock and Glentree for $425,000.
“We still have faith in Russian Revolution,” said Simpson. “We never lost it. He had a juvenile Group 2 winner in New Zealand on Saturday as well, and his best books of mares are these current 2-year-olds and yearlings.
“Funnily enough, if she (Lumbini) happened to be by a different stallion at that time of year in January, she's probably a filly that would have made a lot more.” - Luke Simpson
“Funnily enough, if she happened to be by a different stallion at that time of year in January, she's probably a filly that would have made a lot more. She might have even been double the price if she was by a stallion like Snitzel or I Am Invincible. The buyers went a little bit cold on the Russian Revolutions this sales season and we thought it was advantageous to strike then.”
Russian Revolution | Standing at Newgate Farm Stud
The same could be said for the buying team who selected Saturday’s G2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes victress Lara Antipova, who cost $100,000 to secure out of Vinery Stud’s Gold Coast draft in January.
The unbeaten filly is owned by John Galvin’s Fortuna Racing, and trained by the Te Akau Racing team of Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson, the latter of whom has long expressed belief the filly could be something really special. After debuting a winner, she delivered in her step up to stakes grade, and has her eyes on New Zealand's juvenile Group 1 races in the autumn.
“The buyers were a bit cold on the progeny of Russian Revolution at the sale, but we knew he was capable of leaving Group 1 winners.” - Mark Walker
“Lara Antipova has always shown a lot of natural ability, and it was great that our buying team was able to pick her out at the yearling sales, within John’s budget,” said Walker in Te Akau Racing's Sunday bulletin. “We sort of targeted stallions and the buyers were a bit cold on the progeny of Russian Revolution at the sale, but we knew he was capable of leaving Group 1 winners.
Lara Antipova | Image courtesy of Peter Rubery (Race Images)
"She wasn’t an expensive filly, but by a good sire and there is plenty of stakes winners in the family, so now she’s joined them and really added to her value."
The waiting game
“We’ve been waiting for his fifth and sixth crops to come through,” said Newgate’s Director of Bloodstock Bruce Slade. “His fifth crop were bred off the back of the early success of his first and second crops. He covered great books of mares at $71,500 and $88,000, so for us, it’s just been a waiting game.”
From the results of Russian Revolution’s first crops - which, aside from Russian Conquest, turned out the likes of G1 Randwick Guineas winner Communist, multiple Group winner Revolutionary Miss, and 10-time winner and million dollar earner Brudenell - the Newgate team knew that the stallion could pull out all the stops when given a quality mare to work with. It was just a matter of time before he had his resurgence.
Bruce Slade | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“His progeny have been winning lots of races recently in Australia, but what the market really wanted to see was that quality coming back through in his offspring,” said Slade. “I think we have started to really see that this spring. Lumbini is now second favourite for the Magic Millions next month and we saw Lara Antipova in New Zealand absolutely kill them in the Group 2 - both sensational performances.
“People will be going to the sales with a much more open mind for him (Russian Revolution) as a sire.” - Bruce Slade
“It continues the momentum from Libertad winning his Group 1 last month and a couple of nice winners for him in Hong Kong, and I think the people who supported him at $88,000 will be a lot better off this sales season. People will be going to the sales with a much more open mind for him as a sire, and he served his best book of mares in 2023, so that is a great opportunity for buyers in January.”
A quality mare
Some stallions struggle to ride out the waiting game, and it is for this reason that Slade emphasises continuing to a horse like Russian Revolution a quality book.
“Mare quality matters a lot for most stallions,” said Slade. “They can make a good stallion very good, and make an average stallion look good. The only ones that seem immune to that are those truly elite stallions. Russian Revolution might not be an elite stallion, but he is a good one, and if you bring him the right kind of mare, he will get you a good 2-year-old, a good 3-year-old, and a horse that will train on.
“If you bring him (Russian Revolution) the right kind of mare, he will get you a good 2-year-old, a good 3-year-old, and a horse that will train on.” - Bruce Slade
“If we can price him accordingly going forward so that he keeps getting decent mares, he'll have a strong position as a proven young stallion in Australia, hopefully for the next decade.”
My Conquestadory is a perfect example of the quality that Slade references. SF Bloodstock and Newgate Farm paid US$1.5 million ($2.27 million) to secure the multiple Graded winner at Keeneland in 2016, carrying a filly foal by Tapit (USA), who would partially return their investment the following year when selling as a weanling for US$775,000 ($1.17 million).
My Conquestadory | Image courtesy of Keeneland
Her first foal Bourbon War (USA) (Tapit {USA}) - a US$410,000 ($619,000) weanling - would achieve black-type placings up to Grade II level, running fourth in the GI Florida Derby, and she visited Russian Revolution at his first season at stud in 2018. Since then, all five of her runners are winners, three with black-type performances, and it seems set in stone that Lumbini will continue the trend.
“She’s been to Snitzel, she’s been to a top American stallion in Tapit, and her two most talented performers so far are by Russian Revolution,” Slade said. “She's just doing such a good job with him.
“Her (My Conquestadory's) two most talented performers so far are by Russian Revolution.” - Bruce Slade
“The same can be said for the dam of Lara Antipova, she was a proper metropolitan class galloper herself and she has been to a few good stallions too, and now that she has been to Russian Revolution, she has produced a Group 2 winner. Her Russian Revolution is the best she's produced. That speaks volumes about what he can do with a great mare.”
Russian Conquest | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Russian Conquest and Lumbini being the highest priced Russian Revolutions of their respective years is another confidence boost for buyers, as well.
“I think the market takes a lot of confidence out of a stallion when the ones that look like they will be good ones, the ones you go and pay a bit more for, they are the ones that gallop,” Slade added. “It gives you the confidence to go out there and buy the ones bred the most commercially.”
For the future
Lumbini’s debut victory has sealed her place in the Glentree broodmare band at the end of her racing career, and Slade believes that Russian Revolution has the potential to be a potent broodmare sire like his sire and grandsire before him.
“He carries some beautiful female lines,” Slade said. “He is from the family of Flying Spur and Encosta De Lago through Fanfreluche, so you could duplicate that incredible damline. He has Stravinsky as his broodmare sire, and then he’s by Snitzel, so you have Snippets and Easy Date there as well. He’s going to be a nice horse to mate with, as a broodmare sire.
Lumbini | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
“In fact, the best yearling in our Magic Millions draft is out of a Russian Revolution mare, by State Of Rest. He's an absolute cracking colt, I think he will be one of the most sought after first crop State of Rests.”
“In fact, the best yearling in our Magic Millions draft is out of a Russian Revolution mare, by State Of Rest.” - Bruce Slade
Whether Glentree Thoroughbreds purchases another by the sire in the coming sales season remains to be seen, but they have kept the faith at home by patronising him with their boutique band of mares.
In 2023, they sent him Another Charm (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a full sister to G2 Curragh Cup winner Sword Fighter (Ire) and half to dual Listed-winning juvenile Big Audio (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}), and in 2024, she foaled a colt that has Simpson excited.
“We will give him his chance and keep our fingers crossed,” he said.
