By Bren O'Brien
When Nick Wakim of Hilldene went to last week's Inglis Chairman's Sale in Sydney, his aim was to secure an A-Grade broodmare from a non-Danehill outcross to bolster his own high-quality band back on the farm near Seymour in Victoria.
As discussed in TDN AusNZ a few months back, Wakim's strategy as a purchaser is very select and it was no surprise to see him playing at the top end of the market and mixing it with the big boys at the Riverside Stables last Friday.
Nick Wakim with his latest purchase, Aloisia
He was in the thick of the bidding for Norzita (NZ) (Thorn Park), beaten in the end by Arrowfield who spent $1.7m on the dual Group 1 winning mare, and was also an underbidder on Srikandi (Dubawi {Ire}), who went to Coolmore for $2m.
The third mare on his list was Aloisia (NZ) (Azamour {Ire}), the G1 Thousand Guineas winner who looked the premier current racemare of the sale.
Wakim landed the punch he so desired when bidding $1.2m for the 4-year-old, a move which adds another touch of top-end quality for Hilldene.
"We’ve got quite a select broodmare band already. We are Danehill-heavy at the moment. We were specifically looking for high quality outcross mares," he told TDN AusNZ.
"We are Danehill-heavy at the moment. We were specifically looking for high quality outcross mares." - Hilldene's Nick Wakim
"At the Chairman's Sale, we were specifically looking at horses like Norzita, which I was the underbidder on. Arrowfield bought her for $1.7m, and I went to $1.6m. We were also one of the underbidders on Srikandi, again an outcross pedigree being a Dubawi mare, and we had Aloisia in mind as well."
Aloisia in the ring at the Inglis Chairman's Sale
"Those were the three we had targeted as outcrosses to the Danehill-line so we can introduce that outcross type of mare into our broodmare band."
That pedigree - being one of 51 Southern Hemisphere foals born by Azamour (Ire) during his one season stay at Brighthill Farm in New Zealand - out of a stakes-placed Perfectly Ready mare, combined with her racetrack performance, especially her dominant 3-year-old spring, makes her a perfect acquisition for Hilldene.
"First and foremost, she's a Thousand Guineas winner, she is a classic winning 3-year old filly. Those don’t come on the market very often, anywhere in the world," Wakim said.
"It was a chance to get a mare of that quality to move forward with."
Racing days not over
And her racing days may not be over, with Wakim saying she will be given every chance to show she is still up to her best 3-year-old form, when she returns as a 5-year-old mare in the spring.
"We bought as her a broodmare prospect, but we’ve always identified a few things ourselves that will allow us to potentially race her on. The plan is to give her a rest now and we’ll bring her back for a spring campaign and we will try and race her in early spring," he said.
Aloisia will be given every chance to return in the spring
"She will be headed for a Group 1 campaign. If she comes up and she performs, she will carry on and if she shows us she's had enough and doesn’t recapture her 3-year old form, we will send her to the breeding barn this coming season."
"If she shows us she's had enough and doesn’t recapture her 3-year old form, we will send her to the breeding barn this coming season." - Nick Wakim
Hilldene has pretty much a full gamut of potential stallions to choose from and Wakim said he is already having conversations with several studs having formed a shortlist.
He prefers to keep that private with discussions ongoing and her racing future as yet undetermined.
Refreshing the band
Building that top-end quality means onselling some of the current Hilldene broodmare band at the upcoming Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast.
Thud, a Snitzel mare in foal to Lonhro, Meridian, a Lonhro mare in foal to Hellbent, She's Got Power, a Redoute's Choice mare in foal to Written Tycoon and Rainbeam, a Fastnet Rock mare in foal to Russian Revolution, will be offered by Glastonbury Farms at the National Sale on Hilldene's behalf.
"It will be an opportunity for buyers to pick up some very well-bred mares in foal to commercial sires. It just allows me to further refine that strategy to retain those top-line, A-Grade mares for our own band," Wakim said.
Rainbeam (Lot 445 by Written Tycoon) and Thud (Lot 575 by Astern) will also have their most recent foals for sale at the National Weanling Sale as part of Glastonbury Farms' draft.
Selling as well as buying
Glastonbury Farms was also the agent of choice at the recent Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, where Hilldene sold Lot 296 for $500,000, the equal highest priced I Am Invincible filly of the sale, out of Sweet Sister (Snitzel), the sister to Sweet Idea and Showtime.
Lot 296 I Am Invincible x Sweet Sister
"We were very happy that Dean Hawthorne bought her for Jonathan Munz and Anthony Freedman is likely to train her. Anthony trains all of our fillies, so we will be able to keep a close eye on her. She’ll have a great home, get every opportunity and I still have the mare, who is in foal to I Am Invincible again, and she has a More Than Ready (USA) colt on the ground," he said.
"You can’t race all the horses you breed, so you still have to do some trading." - Nick Wakim
"We are really an owner-breeder, and not a commercial breeder per se, but you still have to trade. There is still an element of commerciality involved with it, because you are always trading mares in and out."
"You can’t race all the horses you breed, so you still have to do some trading. I think we are starting to get a reputation in the market for select offerings, and I think people can take comfort if a Hilldene horse goes to a sale it will be quality at every level. That's how we would like the market to perceive what we are doing."
