The colts vindicating Ridgmont's approach to stallion prospect selection

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Studs and syndicates wait year after year for a good stallion prospect to come along, and for Ridgmont, two have come along at once.

There is plenty that can go not to plan between yearling sale purchase and the resultant colt retiring to stud, so it is some feat for the same buyers to celebrate a pair of important Group victories with stallion prospects across two states on Saturday.

In partnership with trainer Bjorn Baker, Ridgmont and their bloodstock agent Jim Clarke (FBAA) remarkably signed the docket for both G2 Run To The Rose winner Warwoven (Sword Of State) and G3 Poseidon Stakes winner Paradoxium (Extreme Choice) at the 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

With Group 1 goals on the horizon for both colts, and one having already landed a stud deal, it could turn into a particularly fruitful spring for the partnership.

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The types you love to buy

The Cunningham family’s Ridgmont operation only purchase a handful of yearlings every year, and the majority are fillies bought with the intention of earning a spot in the broodmare band. Their investment in colts is, by comparison, much, much smaller.

“Ridgmont doesn’t buy a lot of colts, but the focus is on stallion prospects,” Clarke said. “Fortunately, we have made some good decisions over the past few years and they have been handsomely rewarded for it.”

From 11 yearlings with Ridgmont’s name on the buyers’ ticket in 2025, five were colts and four were purchased at the Gold Coast. Warwoven and Paradoxium were both particularly impressive specimens for the Cunninghams, Baker, and Clarke.

Warwoven, the first foal out of the Group 2-winning mare Needle And Thread (Makfi {GB}), was a $380,000 purchase from Kia Ora Stud, while Silverdale Farm was the vendor of $400,000 yearling Paradoxium, whose stakes-performed dam Paredo (Better Than Ready) is a half to the dams of Private Harry and Don Corleone. Not ones to let a good horse pass by, Kia Ora Stud retain a small percentage of the former.

“We fell in love with both of their physiques at the sale,” said Ridgmont’s Mitch Cunningham. “They have very different profiles - one being by one of the best stallions in the world in Extreme Choice, and one being by a first season sire, Sword Of State. There was a little more speculation with Warwoven than Paradoxium, but both horses equally blew us away.”

“He’s a very well-bred colt, he’s a very imposing horse physically,” Clarke said of Warwoven. “He has a lovely female family and Sword Of State did very well with his first 2-year-olds, not just with Warwoven. I loved him as a type at the sales, and fortunately he has been able to deliver.”

“The group gave them both top marks at the sales,” Cunningham said. “We felt like they were both very well bought. When we imagined their racing profiles, we wanted them to both be competitive at two, and both won key lead-up races for the Golden Slipper, even with interrupted preparations.”

Both Paradoxium and Warwoven were scratched late in the game from tilts at the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic, but their autumns made up for it. Paradoxium returned to be an emphatic winner of the G2 Todman Stakes first-up, while Warwoven won the G3 Pago Pago Stakes - on a red letter day for his breeder Kia Ora, whose own Pembrey (Prague) won the G3 Magic Night Stakes on the same card.

Syndicating a stallion

Both performances pricked more than a few ears and Paradoxium is destined for retirement at one of Yulong’s two locations, after the leviathan breeding and racing operation bought a majority share in the colt after the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes. The entity already stands a son of Extreme Choice in G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Devil Night, who serves his first book of mares at Yulong’s Segenhoe location.

“After he won the Todman, there was good interest in him from a number of farms, but the turnaround from the Todman to the Slipper is very short, so we held off,” Clarke said.

“After the Slipper, a number of farms had seen the horse and fortunately we were able to negotiate a deal with Yulong to buy a majority interest in the horse. It's great to get things off on a winning note as a 3-year-old with Yulong as new major partners in him.”

Ridgmont retain a small percentage in the colt, who was not disgraced when beaten five lengths in the Slipper, before finishing sixth in the G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes to round out his juvenile season.

“The Todman might not be a Group 1, but it has got a phenomenal record of producing very, very good stallions,” said Clarke. “Although we didn't get the rub of the green in the Slipper, I think the way he won the Todman certainly cemented Yulong's decision to pursue the horse.”

Paradoxium is not Ridgmont’s first rodeo with stallion syndication; the Cunninghams were part of the racing syndicates for State Of Rest (Ire), Wild Ruler, and Profiteer, and it was in their colours that Coolmore Stud’s Storm Boy went on his three-start demolition of the summer 2-year-old features in 2023/24.

The deal, negotiated by Clarke, was reported to be worth over $50 million at the time that the son of Justify (USA) transferred into the royal navy silks.

“We sold to Coolmore off the back of an incredible Magic Millions win and an enormous run in the Slipper, and we have supported him heavily with our broodmare band since he came to stud,” Cunningham said. “We like to keep shares in the stallions that we race, and we have done so with Storm Boy. We have a few foals on the ground by him now, and the early indications are really strong.”

“There’s a lot of similarities between Storm Boy and Paradoxium,” Clarke said. “They’re both by elite stallions, both had very good pedigrees, and were really precocious, sharp 2-year-olds right from the outset.”

State Of Rest - who is having a year off from shuttling down under - is another that the Cunninghams have well supported with their mares, and they have also purchased several newly turned 2-year-olds to further support the sire this spring.

“He's getting some significant, eye-catching winners over in the Northern Hemisphere and while he obviously profiles as a 3-year-old sire, I reckon there might be a few horses who jump out of the ground as 2-year-olds,” Cunningham said. “It’s a sharp enough sireline and State Of Rest himself won as a 2-year-old.”

Turning up the heat

Two-year-old speed is one thing, but the Classic season is where proper, well-rounded prospects are made.

“Both had very exciting 2-year-old campaigns, but both also looked like they could go on with it as 3-year-olds,” Cunningham said. “Paradoxium is definitely that quintessential sprinter, whereas Warwoven has a little bit more stamina in his pedigree, and while he’s proved himself over those sprint trips, he’s the sort of horse who could run an enormous race in the Guineas.”

Fortunately, both delivered on their promise, with Baker bullish in his comments in the lead-up to the runs. Warwoven showed the same turn of foot that had benefitted him as a juvenile to down previously unbeaten St Gotthard (Snitzel) in his G1 Golden Rose Stakes prep run, while Paradoxium proved he had the straight track credentials in the Poseidon Stakes to warrant a tilt at the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes.

“You hope you can win at least one of these races, but to have both of them win important early 3-year-old races on the same day is really great,” said Clarke.

Juvenile success attracts attention, but Cunningham is well aware that they have to deliver that promise again at three to be a truly commercial prospect.

“You already have your grand final in mind for a horse, and these key lead-up races give you a good indication of where you're at and whether you can be competitive in races like the Coolmore or the Golden Rose,” he said.

“We were all pretty nervous going into the day - you're always nervous with the 2-year-olds about whether or not they're going to progress into their 3-year-old campaign strongly, but both horses really stepped up.”

“You always hope for that next step, and those wins are both steps in the right direction towards hopefully knocking off a Group 1,” Clarke said.

Building on serious credentials

While the deal has been sealed for Paradoxium’s future stud career, Warwoven has yet to be locked in.

“I think any stallion farm would fall in love with him like we did if they saw him in the flesh,” said Cunningham. “He's a gorgeous individual, he's got a great pedigree, and he's really getting the right runs on the board. I think he's the sort of horse who will finish his career with a pretty well-credentialed racing profile.”

While the Golden Rose is the chief goal for the colt’s immediate future, Cunningham sees the potential to roll him out over a little further and try his hand at a G1 Caulfield Guineas - a race that would also enhance his stallion profile.

“Those sorts of versatile horses are usually very well found when they go to market, so we are quite excited to be involved in him,” he said. “The Caulfield Guineas is a target beyond the Golden Rose, and then there’s the Cox Plate if he went that way. But also if he shows himself to not be right for those trips, we know he can still sprint very well.”

For Clarke, Paradoxium is already the “ultimate package”, and the Coolmore would be the icing on the cake. In his post-race comments, Baker drew comparisons to his previous Coolmore winner Ozzmosis, who is entering his third season at Newgate Farm.

“Bjorn's placed him very well for a Coolmore preparation,” Clarke said. “He's had a look down the straight now and he handled that very well. He already ticked the 1200-metre box with the Todman. He's versatile, and he's got a phenomenal temperament, which has carried him a long way. I think it's a trait of the Extreme Choices.

“We're really hoping he can win a Group 1 in the spring and if he does, congratulations to Yulong, because they took the leap of faith in him as a 2-year-old and at the moment it looks like they are going to be handsomely rewarded.”