Rich pickings at changing Glenlogan

By Bren O'Brien

The transition of leading Queensland stud Glenlogan Park continues to gather momentum, with general manager Steve Morley predicting a significant change in what buyers see at the sales from the iconic vendor in the coming years.

Having offered seven yearlings at the recent Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale, Glenlogan will take another seven to the upcoming Inglis Classic Sale in Sydney which starts on Saturday.

In 2017, Glenlogan Park announced it will no longer stand stallions at the Innisplain-based stud and would focus on developing yearlings and racehorses.

As such, the 2019 crop is the final one from sires based on the farm, including Rich Enuff, who was based in Queensland for his first season before moving to Woodside Park in Victoria on a permanent basis in 2017.

Glenlogan sold three Rich Enuffs at the Gold Coast, including the highest price of any of his first-season crop at the sale, the $300,000 paid for the colt out of Show Affection (Show A Heart).

It will take three more, all fillies, to Sydney for the Classic Sale, with its two Rich Enuff colts withdrawn.

"We've been thrilled with what Rich Enuff has given us in his first crop and it's quite exciting. We presented the first yearlings by him at the Magic Millions Sale and they sold up to $300,000," Morley said.

"The one thing that was very evident was that all trainers from every state were fully aware of Rich Enuff's ability on the race track and were really impressed by the yearlings they saw by him."

"He produces individuals that are all consistent. They are all athletic, they are all strong, they look like racehorses."

Best of the Rich Enuffs

Of the three Rich Enuffs that Glenlogan Park is offering, Morley is particularly taken with Lot 713, the filly out of Smile of Desire (Red Ransom {USA}), making her half-sister to Group 2 winner Vo Heart (Show A Heart).

"She's a half-sister to a Group 2 winner from a really, really good family. She's a really athletic filly, She's correct. She's got a great shape. She's got a good, keen attitude about her and she uses herself really well. She looks like a racehorse already." he said.

As well as Rich Enuff, Glenlogan will offer lots by young sires in Hallowed Crown, Exosphere, Wandjina and Dissident at the Classic Sale.

Morley said there wasn't a specific strategy to target emerging stallions, but that was how things have turned out as Glenlogan moves to using a broader range of options.

"With any farm, there’s a balancing act between getting as many as you can with proven stallions and putting your faith in the younger horses that you can think will do the job," he said.

"Glenlogan is certainly active in stallion ownership, although we won’t stand horses at the farm. We've got a good percentage in Rich Enuff, we’ve bought into Zousain, we race Brave Smash (Jpn) with Aquis and we’ve invested with Vinery and Newgate with young horses that are coming through."

"Going forward in the future, we would look to have percentages of ownership of a few stallions and those stallions will be spread over a number of different farms."

Dissident filly shines through

In terms of the highlight from the other four yearlings on offer at Classic, Morley said Lot 668 by Newgate's Dissident, is one he is looking forward to seeing hit the sales ring at the Riverside Stables.

"She's a filly that comes from the same family as the Rich Enuff - Smile of Desire filly. She's the mare's first foal and she's not overly big, but she is certainly big enough. Very strong, really deep through the girth, great shoulder and hindquarter on her and lots of substance and she walks really well," he said.

The make-up of the stallions Glenlogan Park is utilising is not the only change with significant updates made to the broodmare band in recent years.

That has meant a temporary drop in terms of number of yearlings it has on offer.

"There are probably only 16 or 17 yearlings to go to the marketplace this year. We moved on a lot of mares and we kept the better mares. Going forward, I think we mated 55 mares this year and all of them were in that high-end bracket," Morley said.

"There will be a big difference with what Glenlogan as a farm will present in the coming years as to what we've got this year, just purely in numbers."

Morley said Glenlogan Park's return to the Classic Sale in 2019, having sat out in 2018, was a sign of things to come.

"The Classic has grown more in the last four or five years than any other sale in Australia. Its averages have gone through the roof," he said.

"Ten years ago, it was a different type of sale, whereas now, it’s a premium sale, where you can send high quality horses to it, knowing that there are plenty of buyers there who are out there looking for quality horses."

"The extra numbers should mean there are plenty of opportunities for buyers as well. especially in the middle market. If the buyers go there and do their work, there will be some really good opportunities for those guys."