Cover image courtesy of Rich Hill Stud
The late Pentire was a remarkably versatile stallion who produced 16 individual Group 1 winners from 1200 to 3200 metres with Rich Hill and Shadai co-breeders of his 2015 G1 Melbourne Cup winner Prince Of Penzance (NZ).
“When Pentire died Shadai was keen to keep the relationship going and I jokingly said we’d take a Group 1-winning son of Deep Impact and was offered Satono Aladdin, I couldn’t turn that down,” Rich Hill’s John Thompson said.
Fast forward to Sunday’s opening session of New Zealand Bloodstock's Yearling Sale and first-crop representatives of Satono Aladdin will be offered through Books 1 and 2.
The first yearlings of Inglewood Stud’s War Decree (USA) will also go through the ring at Karaka and the culmination of a lengthy process for Inglewood Stud, who had to play a drawn-out waiting game before securing the stallion.
“He was certainly a horse we followed for a long time and chased and we couldn’t have been more happy to have got him. He’s a fantastic type, one of the best walking horse I’ve seen, and beautifully-bred,” said Gus Wigley, who operates Inglewood with wife Bianca.
War Decree (USA) | Standing at Inglewood Stud
High hopes for return
It was a smoother ride for Rich Hill Stud in securing Satono Aladdin and although COVID-19 prevented the stallion from returning to New Zealand in 2020, there are hopes he will be back this year.
“We’ve discussed it with Shadai and if circumstances allow, he will be coming back to Rich Hill later this year. It’s a complex situation with everything that’s going on, but we’re very hopeful we will see him return,” Thompson said.
“He’s been a very popular horse and he’s not a syndicated stallion so for him to serve 95 mares in his first season was a great result and he was again popular in his second year.
“He is a very elegant and attractive type and it was widely known when he was racing that he was one of the best-looking sons of Deep Impact in Japan.”
Satono Aladdin has subsequently stamped his offspring with his best attributes.
“He’s put that athleticism and quality into his progeny and the feedback we have been getting since his first foals arrived has been encouraging,” Thompson said.
Satono Aladdin (Jpn) | Standing at Shadai Stallion Station
Thompson upbeat
While it’s not the easiest of times to be launching the sale ring career of any new stallion, Thompson remains bullish while also approaching Karaka with a good degree of realism.
“We’ve got lovely videos of the yearlings online and we're really pleased with the way they have come up. Anyone who needs anything else can always give us a call and we’re happy to do anything we can for buyers,” he said.
“Everyone here on the complex has the same mindset, to sell these horses. It’s so hard to predict how the Sale will go, but a lot of the domestic buyers we’ve talked to believe it will be pretty strong.
“It may be a real opportunity for them to step up and buy some Book 1 horses where previously they may have thought they couldn’t with an Australian and Hong Kong buying bench here.
“We’ve had a lot of people at the farm parades and they are all back here again looking, so the domestic buying bench might be more active than previously thought, that will add an interesting element.”
“We’ve had a lot of people at the farm parades and they are all back here again looking." - John Thompson
Thompson said it wasn’t an easy task to put potential values on the yearlings and would remain realistic in that regard.
“We want to try and find homes for them and get them running for our stallions and broodmares.
“We’ve got five Satono Aladdin colts in Book 1 and it’s difficult to single any one out, they will appeal to different people. We are very, happy with them and they are all good, correct horses with natural strength.
“We feel we are in a really good position with our stallions and Proisir and Shocking have had great seasons and it’s well-documented Vadamos had made such a good start in the Northern Hemisphere.”
Drawn out process
Inglewood’s world-wide search to replace former resident Zacinto (GB), who stood at the North Canterbury farm from 2012 until he was relocated to Valachi Downs in 2018, settled on War Decree and then it was game on.
“We did something very similar to what he did with Zacinto and being in the South Island we felt a lot of the stallions that were being presented to us had been showed to a lot of other farms,” said Gus Wigley, who operates Inglewood with wife Bianca.
“We took the approach that we would go out and find the stallion we wanted. It’s a hobby of mine to keep tabs on all the stallions racing around the world and War Decree was one of them.
“We kept a close watch on him right from his win in the G2 Vintage S. as a 2-year-old. I made contact with Coolmore in Ireland after that win to say we were impressed with the horse and if he became available to let us know.
“We followed his career for the next 12 months and we had plenty of other horses come along in the meantime, but War Decree was the benchmark for us.
“It was made known to us by Coolmore in Australia that the horse was available for sale. It was the same week that we sold down our share in Zacinto, who was heading to Valachi, so it was all meant to be.
“We got straight on a plane and inspected the horse and loved him. He finished a really good second in a Group 2 just before we stepped onto the plane, which complicated things a bit.
“We got straight on a plane and inspected the horse and loved him.” – Gus Wigley
“I think the Coolmore Ireland boys were pretty keen to keep the horse, but they were true to their word and we had an agreement.”
War Decree was trained throughout his career by Aidan O’Brien and could have raced on for Inglewood, but time was against that.
“We had an option of racing him at Royal Ascot in the G1 Prince Of Wales's S., but we would have had trouble getting him down for the stud season if we kept him up there with quarantine so we decided to retire him,” Wigley said.
“He’s by one of the best stallions in the world and one of the best female families out of a Street Cry mare – it’s mouth-watering stuff and he was right up our alley.”
And so now the first-crop representatives of War Decree will be showcased at Karaka against a challenging backdrop, but Inglewood has left no stone unturned under the circumstances.
Gus Wigley with co-owner Kevin Hickman
“It’s terribly exciting and it’s a big moment in any stallion’s career on the big stage and he has left such a good type and a consistent line-up,” Wigley said.
“We’re very proud and obviously disappointed we can’t have the Australian buyers here. However, we’re sure the buyers on the ground will be really impressed with what they see.
“We threw the kitchen sink at promoting them and we’ve done full conformation videos from every angle you can think of with full sets of photos with vet reports and scopes.
“If we provide all the information we can and do it as professionally as we can, we will hopefully get the results and won’t walk away saying we wished we had done things differently.”
Potential headline act
One of the standout War Decrees in the draft is Lot 187, a son of the black-type winner Uddiditagain (NZ) (D’Cash {NZ}) who is the dam of the G3 HKJC Challenge Cup winner and Group 1 performer Fifty Fifty (NZ) (Thorn Park).
“He has a super pedigree and a very good type with great scope and x-rays. He is a natural running horse with a great brain and will be a horse that will appeal to the Asian market,” Wigley said.
“There’s a filly that’s my favourite out of Giggly and a 2-year-old family. She’s got a lovely head, and that’s War Front coming through, again we've got that real confidence. She’s a muscular type with a great frame and I think she will go at two.”
She is Lot 418 and her dam is a half-sister to the G2 Villiers S. winner Crack Me Up (Mossman).
Outside of War Decree, Wigley has high expectations for a son of Toronado (Ire) and a daughter of Tavistock (NZ).
“I bought the Toronado as a weanling and he was a bit unfurnished at the time and I had to imagine what he would turn out like,” he said. “He did so well during the spring and is a stunning colt, a spitting image of the stallion and I think will be really popular.
“There’s a bit of hype in Australia on the Tavistock filly’s brother in Australia and she is a beautiful type with a fantastic walk.”
He was referring to Bermadez (NZ), an impressive debut winner for Michael Moroney, and their dam Pikea (Anabaa {USA}) is a sister to the G2 Villiers S. winner Dances On Waves and a half-sister to the dam of the four-time Group 1 winner and sire Preferment (NZ).
