A tale of two stallions

Into a challenging marketplace two studs based just outside Newmarket are about to stand stallions for the first time. Not that either operation is a callow wannabe with dreams over reality. The Swinburn family’s Genesis Green Stud and Tom and Pip Blain’s Barton Stud are at the top of the game as consignors, breeders and producers of successful racehorses. Which makes the next two questions easy: “Why?” and “Have you gone mad?”

The Blains have put together a partnership of unrevealed allies to buy Scorthy Champ, the four-year-old son of leading stallion Mehmas and winner of the Curragh’s National Stakes as a two-year- old from Joseph O’Brien’s yard. He failed to win as a three-year-old, but was not beaten far in the Guineas on both sides of the Irish Sea and in two further Group 2 races.

Scorthy Champ, a full-brother to a pair of stakes winners out of the New Approach mare Fidaaha, will stand for £8,500. Genesis Green Stud’s first step into stallion ownership is via the  Gleneagles sired six-year-old Royal Scotsman, who was bred by Rabbah Bloodstock and became the fastest winner of Goodwood’s Richmond Stakes from the stables of Paul and Oliver Cole. He would have won the Dewhurst Stakes had he not been born in the same year as Chaldean – he finished runner-up, beaten a head by that horse, and he later took third place in the 2,000 Guineas, again behind Chaldean.

Royal Scotsman did not win in his three-year-old season but landed Epsom’s Diomed Stakes at four. He is returning to familiar pastures having arrived at Genesis Green Stud as a weanling. The  following year, at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale, he was consigned by the Swinburn family and knocked down for 125,000gns, at which point he became the property of well-known racehorse owners Jim and Fitri Hay.

In October last year it was reported that Royal Scotsman would stand in France at Haras du Taillis – an interesting choice given that he had not raced across the Channel – but once Michael Swinburn expressed disappointment that the horse would not be standing in Britain a new plan was hatched. The Hays now own 50 per cent of the stallion, while Swinburn owns the other half. Royal Scotsman’s fee has been set at £6,000.

A Champ in waiting

Tom Blain is determined to hand-off the ‘naysayers’ who suggest this might not be the perfect time to enter the stallion market given that the foal crop is falling and competition is fierce.

You can forgive him, for he started his consigning business from scratch in 2013 and has built it into a leading force. Now he is launching into another area of the industry, and while Barton Stud, which he leases from the Broughton family, was once home to the mighty sire Nasrullah and later to Night Shift and Most Welcome, he has recently taken out an agreement on nearby Elmswell Park Stud, which is now home to Scorthy Champ. It was formerly a stallion station for Shadwell and is fully equipped for the new boy.

Of this stallion project Blain says: “It is something I wanted to do from the minute I came here to run the farm for Jamie and Sarah Broughton. I saw the stallion yard, and while it’s taken ten years to build the business up I genuinely feel this is the next step. We have the facilities and the team.”

Blain, whose family roots are on the other side of England in the Welsh borders, completed a university degree and gained his first job at Barton Stud, where he “mucked out stables” while it was  under the managership of Phil Hayworth. He was later asked and agreed to run the 150-acre stud, but, through leasing other parcels of land – and buying a 70-acre plot with his wife – he has now created a bloodstock business comprising 950 acres stretched across seven farms that provide grazing for a boarding herd of about 70 mares. His clients include a range of “brilliant breeders”.

It is something I wanted to do from the minute I came here to run the farm for Jamie and Sarah Broughton

Blain acknowledges the difficulties in getting started in this business, not least given the challenges of acquiring land in Britain and then making it pay when you do not own it. However, he says of  the system which he has compiled: “It works well. We have a good team and we can use different farms at different times of the year. Some are drier than others, while the wetter ones make great summer land, and we have a herd of cattle and flock of sheep to help maintain the pastures.”

Of the new venture he says: “We spoke to Joseph [O’Brien] about Scorthy Champ in the spring last year, although we didn’t think we could afford him. Horses who might make a stallion are often owned by Coolmore or Juddmonte and big outfits, and you are competing against incredibly wealthy people to buy anything which might be on your list. We wanted a precocious horse with a pedigree and by a fashionable stallion.”

Interesting fact: Scorthy Champ is the youngest colt to win a Group 1 in Britain or Ireland in the last ten years. A May foal, he was two years, four months and six days when he landed the National Stakes.

That vignette of information was provided by Archie Wright, who with Blain will be handling nominations to the new sire.

Scorthy Champ scores on precocity and his sire’s profile, and while his dam, Fidaaha, failed to win in four starts she has foaled three stakes winners by Mehmas, the other two being Horris Hill  takes winner Knight and Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte winner Malavath. Fidaaha was bred by Jim Bolger the man who made her sire, New Approach. That stallion’s genes are evident in a quick glance at Scorthy Champ.

Given that mare owners invariably look around for choice, can a stud achieve success with one stallion? “I’m an optimistic person,” says Blain. “Everything I’ve done in this  industry and all you  can ever do is your best. We started consigning from virtually nought with just two horses, so the answer is ‘Yes, I think we can’.”

Did he consider standing his first stallion at a commercial stud to get him off the ground before bringing him home. “No,” he says, “that’s not what we’re about. We want to stand a stallion and  that’s what we’re going to do. I think we can build a client base. Chris Harper [Whitsbury Manor Stud] had to start somewhere.”

Interesting fact two: Scorthy Champ is one of only two juvenile Group 1 winners to retire to stud in Britain this year, the other being Rosallion, who also won the Irish 2,000 Guineas at three and will stand at Dalham Hall Stud for £40,000.

Of Scorthy Champ’s £8,500 fee, Blain says: “He’s the least expensive Group 1 winner to stand in this country. We wanted to make him affordable to British breeders. “We’re selling 23 breeding  rights and about half have gone already – we’re really pleased with the way that’s going. When people see him they often want to get involved. Between the ownership group we have about 50 mares lined up for him. He’s got to have good mares and we know the foal crop is falling, but if you were to listen to all the naysayers you would never do anything.”

Interesting fact three: unlike any other son of Mehmas currently standing at stud, or that excellent sire himself, progeny of Scorthy Champ are eligible for the revamped Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot. The race has been upped in distance from five to six furlongs and sires of entered horses must have won over at least seven furlongs at two or at least a mile at three or older.

Blain says: “The changes to the Windsor Castle are controversial and I’m not entirely sure I agree with them. A small breeder has been able to breed a potential winner of the Windsor Castle by a  speedy stallion and to sell that horse at Goffs or the Somerville.

Breakfast with the Champ

“The TBA Board on which I serve was against the changes, but they have materialised for reasons that have been given. However, we can take advantage of the changes because Scorthy Champ is going to be one of the most precocious stallions whose progeny will qualify for that race. That is an exciting option, although we did not buy him for that reason.”

The marketing of Scorthy Champ is underway, with Blain saying: “We’ve put money aside and will do as much as we can afford. We’ll be using social media, getting on the phone when needed and inviting people to come and see him.”

How about ‘Breakfast with the Champ’? That catchy slogan is heading an invitation to breeders to visit Scorthy Champ during the Tattersalls February Sale (on February 5 and 6), although he will  not be joining the annual TBA parade at that auction. Blain says: “We’re selling 20 horses at the sale anyway, and since a lot of breeders won’t have been here we felt it was better to invite them to come along over any of three days, have some breakfast and see him at home.”

Mehmas’s influence is spreading and he now has seven sons at stud. It is said you can never have too much of a good thing, and Blain says: “We’re excited about Minzaal [Shadwell’s son of  Mehmas] who had some really nice foals and yearlings. Mehmas has a lot of runners, but I’m a big believer in the horse and in Tally-Ho [Stud], which is a great model. I think Mehmas is going to have another wonderful year and he’s from a proven sire line with Acclamation, Dark Angel and so on, although I do accept it comes down to the individual stallion [as much as their lineage].

“It’s a small industry and we’re all in this great game together. We’ve all got to give it our best shot. It’s not about competition, but about doing the best you can. What else can you do? It’s as simple as that.

“I believe we can grow this side of the business. That doesn’t mean we are going to be looking at a new stallion every year or every other year, but we will stand horses when we find the right one.

“A stallion was always going to be the last piece in the jigsaw. I can’t say I sat here with a grand plan at the start, but I’ve been very lucky, because some amazing people have helped me along the way and I feel very privileged.”

Royal ride at Genesis Green

Ask Michael Swinburn if 12 months ago he envisaged adding a stallion to his family’s Genesis Green Stud business and he pauses before saying: “Three months ago I didn’t have an inkling.

“It was only after I had spoken to Alex Cole [racing manager to Jim and Fitri Hay] at the Horses-in-Training Sale that the idea of standing Royal Scotsman started to come together. Jim was keen to stand him in Britain so he could cover his own mares and so we came to an arrangement just before the December Sale.

“The goodwill that has been shown to us has been remarkable and very touching.”

Swinburn concedes that if Royal Scotsman had won the Dewhurst Stakes, instead of being beaten a head by Chaldean, or landed the following year’s 2,000 Guineas, in which he finished third, he  would not be standing in a box not far from his office window.

The goodwill that has been shown to us has been remarkable and very touching

“Sometimes these things just happen to drop your way – they are meant to be,” he says, before refuting the suggestion that the horse is little more than a private stallion for mares owned by the Swinburn and Hay families. Both sides of the partnership have an emotional attachment to the horse because he was raised and consigned from Genesis Green Stud and became a top-notch performer in Fitri Hay’s colours, yet Swinburn says: “Not at all – he is very much here as a commercial stallion and one that we hope will remain so for many years.

“When we discussed the matter I said that if we could get 30 mares to him it would be a fair start, but the way things are going we could well be looking at 50 to 60 mares. He’s not going to be  champion first-season sire with those sort of numbers, but he could well be right up there in the table of winners to runners.

“We will be sending him ten to 15 mares of our own, and Jim is talking of sending ten mares, so we have a good platform. He is very good looking with a wonderful action and at 16.1 [hands] he is a good size. Ed Sackville has booked a mare to him and Luke Lillingston rang me and said, in a very nice way, ‘Do you realise what a well-bred horse you have?’

“When agents like that are being positive about the horse it gives you confidence. David O’Callaghan, who is now standing Mill Stream, another son of Gleneagles, at Yeomanstown Stud, said he  looked at the horse [Royal Scotsman] although at the timehe wasn’t available.”

The timing of Royal Scotsman’s stud debut is well placed, for his sire Gleneagles has enjoyed a revival, not least through the outstanding Calandagan and aforementioned Mill Stream. On the  dam’s side there is a solid Cheveley Park Stud background. His dam, the Pivotal mare Enrol, showed plenty of speed and won three races at six and seven furlongs as a three-year-old and she was twice placed at Listed level the following year. She is one of seven winners and four black-type earners out of Cheveley Park Stud’s Gone West mare Constitute.

And since the Windsor Castle Stakes changes have been in the news, it is right to point out that Royal Scotsman’s progeny will also be eligible for that Royal Ascot race. Swinburn says: “He is the highest-rated two-year-old to retire to stud this year having achieved a rating at that age of 119, yet we have set his fee at a rock-bottom price.”

Despite that £6,000 fee, one that should be within budget of most breeders, Swinburn will not be accepting just any mare. While a cheque would be handy, and winners can come from any source, he says: “I’ve turned down four mares who just didn’t have the right profile. One had produced four foals and the best had been placed in a 0-50. That’s not going to help the breeder or the stallion.

“I’ve always been an admirer of the way Tim Rogers handled stallions. He set an affordable fee and picked the mares, and I think that can still work today, despite the big books being covered by some sires in Ireland.”

Has there been any discussion about creating a bonus or offer of the kind seen recently to help lift a new stallion off the ground? Swinburn says: “No, but it could be something for discussion down the line. This has all come together rather quickly, and we missed the stallion book, although he is in the French stallion book.

“He will join the stallion parade at Tattersalls during the February Sale and my son Jake and daughter Cara have been putting together a plan for social media coverage. That wouldn’t be my strong point, and in fact Jake has been a key part of way in which Royal Scotsman has arrived here.

I’ve always been an admirer of the way Tim Rogers handled stallions

“When we heard the horse was going to stud we had a chat about mating plans for 2026 and looked at the cost of sending our mares to Ireland to be covered by €10,000 to €15,000 stallions. Those costs have risen considerably, and we thought, what if we were to stand the horse and cover those mares at home?”

Swinburn says there are no plans to offer breeding rights in his stallion, reasoning: “I’d be very cautious about doing that because you can lose control of the mares he covers, particularly in his  second and third seasons.”

The Swinburn family have mined gold from so many corners of the bloodstock and racing industries. Michael’s father Wally and brother Walter were both top-table jockeys, and Walter later  achieved success as a trainer. Genesis Green Stud has become a byword for longevity and good practice in the business of breeding, boarding and consigning foals and mares, and Michael’s passion for the industry is evident when he beseeches the government to recognise its contribution to the rural and wider economy.

It can be summed up by his phrase: “They can’t make this product in China.” His parents, Wally and Doreen, bought Genesis Green Stud in the early 1980s “as a boarding stud for small, individual breeders”.

That humble ambition has been upstaged on a number of occasions through sales of high-end foals, in particular a couple of millionaires who have been traded at the Tattersalls December Sale  since the turn of this decade.

Now one of the stud’s former alumnus has returned in an unexpected capacity – it will be fascinating to see how the tale unfolds.