Written by Paul Vettise
Kingstar Farm hasn’t wasted any time in throwing its support behind new stallion Unite And Conquer with the Hunter Valley operation already active in the market to source mares for the son of Hinchinbrook.
The Matthew Sandblom-owned Kingstar Farm has set the introductory fee for Unite And Conquer at $6600 (inc GST) with lifetime breeding rights also available.
Associate stallion Bull Point has earned an increase from $7700 to $8800 (inc GST) while Lord Of The Sky’s fee has been reduced from $7700 to $4400 (inc GST) and Salade’s price is available on application.
A well-performed 2-year-old, Unite And Conquer is seen as the perfect fit for Kingstar by Farm Manager Adam Cook, who said the stallion’s acquisition continued the progression of the stud.
“We’re always on the look-out and this fellow pricked our ears immediately. He was a very high speed horse that won exceptionally well in the Listed Maribyrnong,” he said. “When he became available, we immediately went and had a look at him and were impressed.
“With his conformation and that early speed, both Matthew and I agreed that he would be a very good chance of making it in the Hunter Valley so we went ahead and bought him.”
Unite And Conquer winning the Listed Maribyrnong S.
Kingstar has also been scouring sales with success to acquire additional consorts for the stallion.
“We’ve been buying at the broodmare sale and getting mares that will physically suit Unite And Conquer. Since we agreed to buy the horse, we’ve purchased 17 mares and we’ve already got over 100 mares on the farm. A lot of them will complement him as well.
“Since we agreed to buy the horses, we’ve purchased 17 mares and we’ve already got over 100 mares on the farm.” – Adam Cook
“We’re still looking for more broodmares as well. Unite And Conquer is a dead-set 2-year-old looking stallion. He’s 16 hands and really good length, big hip, big shoulder, short canons and short pasterns.
“We’re looking for mares with athleticism to bring out that muscle that he’s got. We think his fee is a very, very good price.
“If you look at comparative horses to him that are going to stud this year like Tassort, whose fee is $11,000, and then Sun City at $7700, and this horse beat him in the Maribyrnong so he represents amazing value as far as I'm concerned."
Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Unite And Conquer followed up his debut win in the Maribyrnong Trial S. with success in the Listed Wyong Magic Millions Classic before he suffered serious injury in the Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic.
“The Wyong race has been a very, very good indication of how horses will perform at the Gold Coast and he beat Exhilarates fair and square,” Cook said.
“The Wyong race has been a very, very good indication of how horses will perform at the Gold Coast and he beat Exhilarates fair and square.” - Adam Cook
“He started favourite in the Magic Millions and unfortunately broke down and that was a career-ending run. Exhilarates went on to win that race and the form around him in a short career does stand out.
“Sun City came out and won a Group 3 so this horse was a proper 2-year-old.”
Encountabull
Bull Point has earned a fee increase off the back of positive performances of his first-crop 2-year-olds with three winners and four placgetters from seven starters.
“Encountabull ran second and was very unlucky in the Inglis Banner and then hit a wet track in the Millennium when he was equal favourite,” Cook said.
“He’s also got a very, very good horse called Yourpoint, which has had one start for one win and unfortunately went shin sore after that and then things were shut down with the coronavirus.”
Yourpoint (NZ) | Image by Kenton Wright courtesy of Race Images
The Jamie Richards-trained Yourpoint (NZ) easily won on debut at Matamata and the third placgetter Vernazza (NZ) (More Than Ready {USA}) subsequently won the G2 Matamata Breeders’ S. and ran second in the G1 Sistema S.
Kingstar is a relatively young farm, but has steadily grown both its acreage, stallion roster and broodmare band.
“We’ve been going for four years and our original purchase was 220 acres and two years in we bought a property of 400 acres across the road,” Cook said. “It’s been developed with a foaling unit and barn and we’ve got staff accommodation to go in later in the year.
“It’s a very progressive farm with an extremely passionate boss who is most enjoyable to work for and is keeping Kingstar Farm in the right direction.”
