Cover image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
Stay Inside began his stud career carrying the weight of two powerful expectations: he was a Golden Slipper winner, and he was the son of Extreme Choice, the freakish Newgate stallion whose early deeds have already reshaped the commercial sire market. That is a useful profile to advertise, but a difficult one to live up to.
On Wednesday at Warwick Farm, Stay Inside added another important piece of evidence. Our Emperor, a $280,000 Newgate graduate trained by Tulloch Lodge, jumped straight to the front on debut and kept extending, putting 3.75l on his rivals under Tim Clark. It made him Stay Inside’s seventh individual winner from his first crop and strengthened the sense that this is no longer just a stallion trading on inheritance. He is starting to build his own case.
A graduate of his sire’s stud farm and the winner of his most recent trial, the flashy grey colt leaped straight to the front of the pack and required little chasing from Tim Clark to stay there. In moves reminiscent of the turn of foot displayed by fellow juvenile silver bullet Hidrix (Extreme Choice), he only widened his gap once hitting the final furlong.
“(He’s a) very talented colt,” stated the colt’s co-trained Adrian Bott. “Always been that from the outset.”
“He has been very highly touted by a lot of good judges in Sydney prior to today’s run, and he won it with absolute domination,” said Newgate’s Henry Field. “He really looks like a Group horse in the making.”
“He (Our Emperor) has been very highly touted by a lot of good judges in Sydney prior to today’s run, and he won it with absolute domination.” - Henry Field
Our Emperor | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
Which is just what you want to see when setting a young stallion up to succeed. The victory signalled a seventh individual winner for Stay Inside from just 15 runners on either side of the Tasman, and for the Newgate team, it is a welcome symbol of success from a horse that means so much to the farm.
Setting the bar high
The tale of Stay Inside is almost cyclical in nature; bred at Kingstar Farm by Newgate co-owner Matthew Sandblom, the first crop son of Newgate’s now flagship stallion Extreme Choice was purchased by Newgate Bloodstock for $60,000 at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale. The Freedman Brothers and Rick Connolly Bloodstock outlaid $200,000 for him at the same venue the following January.
Not emerging into the public view until 12 months later, Stay Inside announced himself with easy back-to-back wins in a Randwick juvenile race on debut and the $150,000 Pierro Plate three weeks later. Ahead of his fourth in the G2 Todman Stakes, Newgate had to buy back in.
Henry Field | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“We put together a big syndicate to buy back into him,” Field said.
Their tenacity was swiftly vindicated when the colt resoundingly beat future Horse Of The Year Anamoe - and fellow future Hunter Valley sires Home Affairs, Artorius, Captivant, and Profiteer - in the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes that March.
It is wins like those that cement a horse’s place on a farm’s roster, and Stay Inside had nothing left to prove on the track to his syndicators when retiring to Newgate Farm the following year. What remained is for him to live up to his promise in the stallion barn.
Incredibly important to the farm
“He was always going to be incredibly important to the farm,” said Field. “He is the best credentialled horse we have ever stood. He retired to us as a Golden Slipper-winning son of Extreme Choice, so the expectations were high from the start.
“He (Stay Inside) was always going to be incredibly important to the farm.” - Henry Field
“Obviously Extreme Choice is nothing short of a freak of nature, so it was hugely important to the farm’s strategic vision to stand his Golden Slipper-winning son.”
Stay Inside | Standing at Newgate Farm
The bar was set high from the start, and 189 mares dutifully patronised Stay Inside in the first year, producing 123 foals who are now 2-year-olds. The bar was raised again in 2025 when those foals first walked through the sales ring as yearlings, with a top price of $1 million paid for a colt subsequently named Incognito, who has already made strides towards repaying buyer James Harron, who purchased the colt at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale for his colts partnership.
A narrow third at the first 2-year-old trials of the year on the Kensington track, Incognito drew first blood for his sire with a win in a sizzling edition of the G3 Breeders’ Plate.
“He has had some sensational trial winners, particularly at the first 2-year-old trials, and then we saw Incognito repeat that in the G3 Breeders’ Plate,” Field said. “He has had a range of high profile horses so far. He’s had two stakes-winning fillies, and there has also been Eviction Notice who was second in the Silver Slipper Stakes and third in the Canonbury.”
Eviction Notice may have yet to win, but all four of his runs so far have been at Group level and, in his G2 Silver Slipper Stakes second, he split Stretan Ruler (Wild Ruler) and G3 Canonbury Stakes winner Hidrix.
Hidrix | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
Across the Tasman, Lassified was quick off her mark with a debut victory in November, and added a second stakes winner to Stay Inside’s credit in January when claiming the Listed Wellesley Stakes.
“From 16 runners, he’s had seven winners and three stakes winners, one of which has been in New Zealand,” Field said. “It’s a sensational start. We really need these young stallions to kick goals early in their careers.”
“We really need these young stallions to kick goals early in their careers.” - Henry Field
A superstar in the making
The latest addition to Stay Inside’s string of stakes horses is Blue Door, who was first seen in late March where she skipped away from a six-horse field to win her sole preparatory trial by over seven and a half lengths.
Trainer Bjorn Baker saw enough in the filly to set her for the G3 Kindergarten Stakes first up and she dutifully delivered on her promise, beating subsequent Listed Dalrello Stakes victor and much more race-hardened The Next Episode (Written Tycoon) by a neck. Impressively, the run was four lengths faster than the standard time for the race.
Blue Door | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
“Bjorn Baker’s filly produced her G3 Kindergarten Stakes win off just one barrier trial, and it has been one of the highest rated 2-year-old performances of the year,” Field said. “The horse she beat, The Next Episode, looks like a star in his own right, so for her to have done that off of just one trial is phenomenal.”
“We don't often ask a 2-year-old to go straight into a stakes race on debut, but she's (Blue Door) very good.” - Bjorn Baker
Bjorn Baker with Ozzmosis | Image courtesy of Bjorn Baker Racing
“We don't often ask a 2-year-old to go straight into a stakes race on debut, but she's very good,'' Baker said at the time. "They don't often trial like that, as the punters will know, and I like them to be there and have a raceday test, we make no secret of that, but the way she did it and the time she ran, she looked to have plenty left.
“She's shown exceptional ability since we've had her.”
“I know Bjorn very well, and the last time he spoke about a 2-year-old like this, that horse was Ozzmosis when he won on debut,” said Field. The first weanlings of G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Ozzmosis have been hitting the auction rings this year and so far have proven popular.
“The last time he (Baker) spoke about a 2-year-old like this, that horse was Ozzmosis.” - Henry Field
“If that filly has half the ability that Bjorn thinks she’s got, then she is going to be an absolute superstar.”
A coming of age
The paddock beckons now for Our Emperor, with Bott already starting to circle potential stakes targets in the spring for the colt.
“I think no doubt he's going to be aimed up at the spring,” he said. “So it's just about what's the exact path to get there, what is the exact target, what's his best distance, you know, will we look to stretch him over a little bit further or just keep him to the short explosive trips with the sustained speed he showed.
“So a couple of good problems to think about, so we'll work that out shortly.”
It isn’t a bad problem to have, when you train a horse so sharp over a sprint trip.
“I think it's obviously beneficial to give him a nice little break and, you know, particularly what we want to try and achieve with him as a 3-year-old,” Bott said. “We want to make sure we do everything to give him that best chance.”
Adrian Bott | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Every chance is precisely what Newgate has given to Stay Inside, and their faith has been well repaid within the first season that the stallion has had runners.
His figures echo those of his sire at the same stage of his career; at this point in 2021, Extreme Choice's 13 runners had delivered five runners, with his two stakes winners being Listed-winning Xtremetime and Stay Inside himself. His two further stakes performers Tiger Of Malay and Extreme Warrior would earn their spots at stud with later stakes wins.
The breeders have echoed the farm's faith in their youngest proven star, and Stay Inside served his second biggest book of 181 mares in 2025.
“This season has really been his (Stay Inside) coming of age.” - Henry Field
“He is such an important horse for the farm,” Field was emphatic. “This season has really been his coming of age.”
