As studs gear up for the 2013 breeding season, there have been plenty of announcements in the last few weeks regarding new stallions and those on the move.
Sepoy, one of the best two-year-olds seen in Australia in recent years
The British and Irish ranks will be boosted by three Australian sires next year with news that Darley plans to shuttle Sepoy and Helmet, while Whitsbury Manor Stud has signed Foxwedge to its team.
Sepoy and Helmet were contemporaries at the stable of Peter Snowden, Darley’s private trainer in Australia. Between them they won the key Group 1 two-year-old races of the season. Sepoy, who shares his sire Elusive Quality with Darley’s exciting first-season sire Raven’s Pass, won the Blue Diamond Stakes and Golden Slipper, while Helmet, a son of another Darley sire, Exceed And Excel, landed the AJC Sires’ Produce Stakes and the Champagne Stakes. At three, sprinter Sepoy went on to vanquish his elders in dominant fashion in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes and Helmet claimed Classic success in the Caulfield Guineas.
The Darley team is always innovative in its promotion of new stallions and Sepoy and Helmet have a microsite devoted to them in order to familiarise European breeders with the extent of their success down under.
In Foxwedge, Whitsbury Manor Stud has the privilege of standing a very fast son of Australia’s new champion sire, Fastnet Rock. Winner of the Group 1 William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley in March, Foxwedge was also runner-up by just a head to Sepoy in the Group 1 Ascot Vale Stakes last October.
“To stand the best son of the sire who is currently taking the Australian bloodstock industry by storm is phenomenally exciting,” said Whitsbury Manor Stud’s Ed Harper. “It pains me to say it, but the Australian sprinters have been outperforming the Europeans for a number of years now and I hope this deal will go a long way in helping to redress the balance”.
While Foxwedge joins Whitsbury Manor, Avonbridge is on his travels and will move to stand at his owner/breeder John Deer’s Oakgrove Stud in Wales. Also heading to Wales is Arlington Million winner Debussy. The son of Diesis will stand at the Hodge family’s Llety Stud while David Brace’s Dunraven Stud has signed promising National Hunt sire Brian Boru, who moves from Coolmore’s jumps roster in Ireland.
Another Australian is making his way to Europe but Redoute’s Choice, who will stand at the Aga Khan’s Bonneval Stud, is already proven in his home country, where he has twice been champion sire.
Presuming the QIPCO Champion Stakes is to be Frankel’s last race, we can expect to hear a very exciting stud announcement from Juddmonte in the coming months but in the meantime its Banstead Manor Stud has welcomed the consistent homebred sprinter Bated Breath. The son of Dansili has been retired from Roger Charlton’s stable with six victories to his name, including the Group 2 Temple Stakes, and he has been runner-up in Group 1 company on four occasions.
In France, the quickly growing Haras de la Cauvinière has announcd that it will stand Linamix’s son Rasjaman alongside Le Havre and Air Chief Marshal, while Gilles and Aliette Forien’s Haras de la Reboursière et de Montaigu, which stands popular National Hunt sire Martaline, adds No Risk At All to its roster. The five-year-old son of My Risk is another stallion who will appeal to jumps breeders as he is a half-brother to top-class steeplechaser Nickname.
Also on the move, from Ireland to Germany, is Irish Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Hurricane Run, who will stand at his breeder’s Gestüt Ammerland. The son of Montjeu is the sire of this season’s Group 2-winning two-year-old First Cornerstone.
