Fifth home's a charm for Cinque

6 min read
Alassio's stakes breakthrough in the G3 Triscay S. has proven a bonus for Briddon Park, who took a leap of faith when they bought her dam Cinque for just $2000 a couple of years ago.

When stakes-winning mare Cinque (Red Ransom {USA}) came up for sale at the 2017 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, her breeding career was at the crossroads, having produced just one live foal in her past seven seasons.

Having been bought in foal to Fastnet Rock for $220,000 by Milburn Creek eight years earlier, she was then sold for $150,000 in foal to Foxwedge to Emirates Park in 2013 and then again to Aquis Farm for $10,000 three years later.

When she missed to Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) in 2016, she was back to the sales ring looking to find the fifth home of her breeding career.

Cinque

Looking for a mare to send to his own stallion Danbird, Briddon Park's Wayne Slattery parted with just $2000 for Cinque and almost immediately realised what a good investment it had been.

"A few days after I bought her, her filly Alassio (Foxwedge) had her first start at Kembla Grange and I went down and had a look and she won impressively. I thought there might be a bit more in the tank there," Slattery told TDN AusNZ.

That Cinque could produce a good horse wasn't the issue, that she could produce at all, was however. But Slattery and his wife Ingrid backed their knowhow, and the ability of their vet Andrew Black, to get Cinque back in foal.

"On pedigree view, the mare was a well-performed mare. We don’t mind speculating on a mare like that. She'd been a good mare, she'd been to some good stallions," he said.

Cinque and her 2018 Denman filly

"We have the benefit of being a smaller stud and we got to spend a bit more time with her. The vet I use in the Highlands, he's one of the best in the country, Andrew Black. You’d go a long way before you find a better vet than him."

"We seem to have a bit of luck with mares that haven’t produced for a while, so I bought the mare out of Gold Coast with the intention to send to my stallion, Danbird."

"We seem to have a bit of luck with mares that haven’t produced for a while." - Wayne Slattery

But Alassio's debut win had got Slattery thinking and he opted to instead send Cinque to Darley's Denman.

The result was a filly foaled last October, her first live foal since Alassio.

"She's a beautiful filly. Real neat, muscly, and just what you want to see. She's thrown back to the mare which Alassio did as well. I'm pretty happy with the filly we’ve got on the ground," he said.

Pedigree gets an upgrade

Her pedigree page has also been done a massive favour by Alassio, who claimed her first stakes win in the G3 Triscay S. at Randwick on Saturday, taking her record to five wins in nine starts for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Alassio

Also doing great things for the page has been Dealmaker (Dundeel {NZ}), who is out of Cinque's first foal, Sport Chic (Redoute's Choice). Three-times stakes placed, he looms as leading chance for the upcoming G1 Australian Guineas.

For a breed-to-sell operation like Briddon Park, such updates are a huge bonus ahead of that Denman filly heading to the yearling sales in 12 months' time.

"She’ll be for sale, 100 per cent. She ticks a lot of boxes on type and pedigree, and if we can get her into a good sale, she should do well. Where that is, we’ll see," Slattery said.

Cinque is one of around 12 broodmares Briddon Park own at their property near Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands of NSW.

The resident stallion

Danbird, the G2 winning full brother to Golden Slipper winner Catbird, is the resident stallion having arrived at Briddon Park after Slattery picked him up for just $2000 at the 2014 National Racehorse Sale.

While the 15 or so mares he serves a season are far from the 125 he served at his peak at Eliza Park, he still has a handful of breeders that are keen to support him, according to Slattery.

"He's got his loyal followers and those people who are breeding to race. They are real purists. They are astute breeders. He goes alright. You couldn't ask for a better stallion to have," he said.

Danbird

Slattery's connection with Danbird stretches back to when he helped break the then $1.1m yearling colt in.

"He's got his loyal followers and those people who are breeding to race. They are real purists. They are astute breeders." - Wayne Slattery

"I rode him when he was broken in at Rick Worthington’s and when he came up for sale, I said to Ingrid, we are having him!" he said.

"He's just a gentleman. Whoever the stallion manager was at Eliza Park when he was there, did a fantastic job with him. He's very fertile, mares only have to walk past him and they get in foal."

Slattery said the Danbird 2-year-old filly out of Cakewalkin (Orpen {USA}), called Danzure is showing considerable promise for Goulburn-based trainer Danny Williams.

Breeding and selling

Meanwhile, Briddon Park sold three yearlings through the sales last year. One of those three graduates from last year, a colt by Warhorse (NZ) out of Nirvana Lass (Elvstroem) was described by Slattery as the best foal the farm had produced. He was sold to Price Bloodstock for $97,500 at the Premier Sale and is headed to Hong Kong.

They will take a similar number to the sales this year, most likely via the National Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast, where they will also look to sell a couple of weanlings and a couple of broodmares.

Warhorse x Nirvana Lass colt

While the successes of Alassio, and by association her dam Cinque, may offer Briddon Park an excellent opportunity in the coming years, the ambition of the Slatterys remains firmly grounded.

"I'm a farrier. I'm still shoeing horses and Ingrid runs the stud, We do a bit of breaking in and prep and that sort of stuff. It’s all what we can manage. We are not a big operation and don't want to be. We’ve probably got as much work as we want," he said.