Good sires make good damsires: All Too Hard’s big weekend

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Vinery stallion All Too Hard has risen from a million-dollar yearling into a proven sire of Group 1 winners. He is rising 17 but still has the goods, with Listed Talindert Stakes winner Hard Kick on Saturday, while debutant winner Tough Romance heads to the G1 Blue Diamond.

On the weekend, he also stepped firmly into a new realm with Sass Appeal (So You Think {NZ}) becoming his fourth stakes winner as a broodmare sire.

Always looking for a quality filly

Finding Sass Appeal in Vinery Stud’s Inglis Premier Yearling Sale draft of 2024 for $120,000 was a bit of a team effort between Luke Wilkinson and Danny O’Brien.

“When we sold her as a yearling, Danny O'Brien purchased her and I believe that Luke Wilkinson had a hand in advising him that she was a really nice filly. I always felt that she was a good match for Danny and that's proved to be correct,” said Vinery’s Harry Roach.

Luke Wilkinson, who currently works for Kia Ora Stud, was previously with Danny O’Brien Racing as his racing manager, but by 2024, he’d already moved into the Racing Manager role at Kia Ora Stud.

“I used to be with Danny, so when I see a horse that I think will suit him, I always tell him about it,” Wilkinson said.

“Danny likes a horse with scope. And a quality individual with a bit of pedigree as well. He likes a good moving horse that has a bit of leg, and he's not scared to give (a horse) a bit of time.

“I found this filly. She was a really nice mover and I thought, ‘Here’s a 3-year-old type who will need a bit of time for her knees.’ She wasn’t going to be a horse that you could do much with in the first twelve months, but she had a great pedigree and I wrote in my notes, ‘In time, this thing will be nice.’ That’s a pretty funny note.”

Vinery Stud took 14 yearlings to the 2024 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, and Sass Appeal was their fourth top lot. The top lot, Shandong Spirit (All Too Hard) made $360,000 to Ricky Yiu and he ran third in his most recent trial in Hong Kong on February 10.

“Danny wasn't buying too many at the sales that year and I said, ‘Danny, go check out this filly at Vinery’. I was working for Kia Ora and it was a busy time but every now and again, I do send him a few titbits. I think he's pretty happy with her and there’s some nice guys in the ownership too, so I sent them all a text on Saturday afternoon.”

Sass Appeal debuted in early December as a 3-year-old, running second, and since then has won all of her next three starts including Saturday’s Listed Desirable Stakes. In second was Group 1 winner Ole Dancer (Ole Kirk) giving Vinery stallions the quinella. Celibate (Doubtland) was third.

“She's doing a great job and Vinery do such a brilliant effort with the horses that come off their farm. So it's always worth it if the horse needs a bit more time,” said Wilkinson.

Sass Appeal will likely head to the G2 Kewney Stakes next before being put away for next spring.

“I think we’ll go to the Kewney. It’s a big step to take on those horses that are seasoned up over the spring and the colts are a decent division with Observer looking top class,” Danny O’Brien said on Saturday.

“I would expect the Kewney to be her last run and then we can hopefully get her to a really good race in the spring, something like the Myer on Derby Day.”

A brilliant pedigree to back her up

Harry Roach recalled her as a yearling, with her $120,000 price-tag being the median price for a So You Think (NZ) yearling at the 2024 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.

“She was a very typical So You Think with plenty of scope and a good touch of quality and she had that depth of pedigree to back it up as well. It's just really pleasing to see that it's culminating on the track. She's a lightly raced stakes winner from only 4 starts with plenty of blue sky ahead,” said Roach.

She is out of stakes-placed Cristal Eyes (All Too Hard) who had an Ole Kirk colt this spring. Cristal Eyes is a half-sister to G3 Red Roses Stakes winner Flying Evelyn (Not A Single Doubt) and her third dam is Group 1 winner Bollinger (Dehere {USA}) who is the dam of G2 Louisiana Derby winner Friesan Fire (USA) (AP Indy {USA}) and G2 Sandown Guineas winner Villermont (All Too Hard).

“Danny is a master at that style of filly, and I would think she’d be an improved filly again in the spring. It’ll be very interesting to see what level she can get to. She's obviously got a really good depth of pedigree behind her,” said Roach.

“It's a really active family, with plenty of stakes producing broodmares in the family, and Cristal Eyes herself has always been a mare we've held in quite high regard.”

Cristal Eyes won three times and placed in the G3 VRC Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes. Her first foal, 5-year-old gelding Hydrometer (Headwater), has won twice at Wyong and Gosford, but it was her second foal who began to show the promise Vinery had hoped for Cristal Eyes.

Trained by Annabel and Rob Archibald, 4-year-old Cristal Clear (Exceedance) has won five of his 15 starts and over $590,000. He was most recently seen when sixth in The Big Dance, having also run sixth in Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun)’s Golden Eagle the start prior.

“He actually had quite an exciting 3-year-old prep and is obviously a city winner and ran in some pretty tough races. He’s showed a bit of stamina as well. So it’s not surprising to see that the mating with So You Think has resulted in a really progressive middle distance and possibly staying filly. When Danny purchased her, we thought it was a really nice match given that he's got such a strong record with those middle distance fillies.”

Sass Appeal is Cristal Eye’s third foal, while she wasn’t served following the birth of Sass Appeal, then missed the following year. Her latest foal is the aforementioned Ole Kirk colt.

All Too Hard as a broodmare sire

Sass Appeal is the fourth stakes winner for All Too Hard as a damsire, following King Of Pop (Farnan), Man Crush (Manhattan Rain), and Listed Maribyrnong Trial Stakes winner Tremonti (Hellbent).

“He's a perfect example of that logic that elite stallions make elite broodmare sires and that's really starting to take shape. It's something we've certainly focussed on from a Vinery perspective. We bought two proven race mares by All Too Hard last year with that in mind, knowing that he gets physically, generally nice, roomy mares, and mares that train on. It's pretty easy to see why they would make nice broodmares physically,” said Roach.

“It (broodmare sire success) is something we thought would happen at some point, but to see it take shape and start to really culminate is proof in the pudding and I think there'd be a lot more to come as well.”

From a bloodline point of view, All Too Hard, being a grandson of Flying Spur from the famed Black Caviar family, has plenty to offer as a damsire, particularly when taking into account Vinery Stud’s other stallions.

“Focussing on our stallions for him in that role isn’t necessarily something we’ve focused on. I think it’s a nice bi-product that he works with Exceedance and Hawaii Five Oh. And also to a lesser extent with Ole Kirk, which obviously has the double breeding of Helsinge quite close. That’s an interesting tactic or approach that a few people have bred to.

“We’ve had success previously with some elite broodmare sires, namely More Than Ready who is one of the more prolific broodmare sires of all time.

“Your belief in your own stallions flows into their broodmare daughters as well, and it's proven successful up to this point with All Too Hard as a well-credentialled sire.” A four-time Group 1 winner, All Too Hard has sired 32 stakes winners, with five of those at Group 1 level.

“All of his Group 1 winners are multiple Group 1 winners, and he's always got a good horse knocking around,” said Roach. Alligator Blood won seven Group 1 races, and Behemoth won three. Forbidden Love also won three Group 1 races, while Wellington won four Group 1 sprints in Hong Kong.

All Too Hard’s most recent Group 1 winner Stefi Magnetica won the G1 Stradbroke Handicap at three and added the G1 Doncaster Handicap last season at four. She resumed for the autumn on Saturday with a fifth placing behind unbeaten Autumn Glow in the G2 Apollo Stakes.

Two nice juveniles coming through

All Too Hard doesn’t have a reputation for producing boom juveniles, but he has two exciting prospects with Hard Kick and Tough Romance.

“They aren’t typically 2-year-olds, but I do find that the ones that can run on natural talents early are generally a strong indicator of what's to come further down the track. That bodes really well for both those two horse’s futures,” said Roach.

It was announced by Lindsay Park on Monday that they wouldn't be paying up the $55,000 late fee for the G1 Blue Diamond with Hard Kick.

“We had a good look at him on Sunday morning and we were happy, but we are thinking it is not the best option for the horse,” co-trainer Ben Hayes told racing.com.

“We really wanted to and considered it but we just thought he'd had three hit-outs and a race in a relatively short amount of time and a back-up might be a step too far.”

“Hard Kick is a horse we’ve been following closely from the jump outs and we felt he could step out somewhere and be competitive. It was great to see him be so dominant in the Talindert on debut. They way he did it looks like a horse whose got a lot a more to come, especially knowing that breed. To think that he’s up and doing this now and beating some sharp 2-year-olds is promising for the horse going forward,” said Roach.

“All Too Hard is also likely to be represented (in the Blue Diamond) by Tough Romance from the Tony McEvoy camp.”

Tough Romance, trained by Tony and Calvin McEvoy, won on debut at Pakenham on January 29. His trainers along with Belmont Bloodstock purchased him for $60,000 from Motree Thoroughbreds’ Magic Millions Tasmania Yearling Sale draft.

For breeders thinking about broodmare sires of the future, All Too Hard has just put up his hand. And if Sass Appeal improves again as a spring 4-year-old, it'll be too late to grab an All Too Hard mare at the broodmare sales in May and June.