Matings mix: Coolmore Stud

Cover image courtesy of Coolmore

This year at Jerrys Plains three new stallions will enter the hallowed breeding barn alongside some old faces such as evergreen sire Fastnet Rock, So You Think (NZ) and Pierro, while they will once again be joined by exciting European-bred inmates Wootton Bassett (GB), Group 1-producing stallion Churchill (Ire) and Magna Grecia (Ire).

The three newest recruits are headed by Home Affairs, a dual Group 1-winning son of the newly minted Champion Sire I Am Invincible, and he will have his debut at Coolmore alongside St Mark's Basilica (Fr), the five-time European Group 1-winning son of Siyouni (Fr) and Fastnet Rock’s super-fast son Acrobat.

Gallery: The new stallions standing at Coolmore Australia in 2022

The new additions complete the already diverse roster of inmates and now the puzzle seems to be nearly completed in terms of prominent sirelines on offer within their barn.

The influential Danehill (USA) shines through courtesy of his aforementioned son Fastnet Rock and his own sons Merchant Navy and Acrobat, while the late breed-shaping sire Redoute’s Choice is also represented by King's Legacy.

The late peerless Coolmore sire Galileo (Ire) is in there too thanks to dual European Guineas winner Churchill and G1 Cox Plate winner Adelaide (Ire), meanwhile High Chaparral (Ire) is well-represented by multiple Group 1-winning champion So You Think (NZ) and the Zabeel line is taken care of through the Group 1-winning Champion Pierro.

Gallery: Some of the other stallions standing at Coolmore Australia in 2022

The list goes on. The ever-consistent Pride Of Dubai, a son of the ever-popular Street Cry (Ire), returns for his seventh season, while Deep Impact’s (Jpn) son Saxon Warrior (Jpn) will be back again for a fourth year and he will be joined by fellow shuttler, son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) in Magna Grecia, who is incidentally a half-brother to newbie St Mark's Basilica.

The roster is completed by top-class European sire Wootton Bassett - a son of Iffraaj (GB) and Yes Yes Yes, who derives from the line of the farm’s much-missed former inmate Encosta De Lago.

Meticulous planning

With a barn brimming with talent and fields stacked with some of the best broodmares on the planet, it is a wonder how Coolmore even begin to think about mating plans and Farm Manager John Kennedy told TDN AusNZ the chats about respective matings will commence as soon as six months before the beginning of the season.

“We have a pedigree book for all the mares on the farm that we own shares in and we would sit down, sometimes as early as six months away from the breeding season, and go through each mare alphabetically,” Kennedy explained.

“The Magnier family and partners have made a huge investment in quality bloodstock in Australia and we are lucky to have some of the best stallions and stallion prospects in the country to send them to. Our ultimate goal is to breed top-class racehorses and as a team we spend a lot of time trying to identify the right stallion for each mare.

“The things we consider in this process is whether they would suit a younger stallion if they are proven already; we like to, where we can, support some of our younger stallions with proven mares. We look at pedigree crosses and consider which ones work. We also look for outside opinions of what we are doing in terms of line breeding and what crosses are making sense and we would mainly go on what is working in terms of proven nicks on pedigree and racecourse performance.

“We put a huge emphasis on type. We like to look at all the mares and make sure we are breeding them to horses that are going to complement their conformation and especially for first-season sires. It's important they get a nice group of foals on the ground, especially when you are trying to fill their books in the second and third seasons. If they have a nice crop of first foals it will get breeders back to them for their second and third seasons.”

Sound advice

With a significant number of externally owned client mares on the farm, the Coolmore team also spend a significant amount of their time advising their clients how to mate their mares and each stallion of course has mares which will suit them better than others.

“When advising clients we take the same mind set. We advise them to mate them to a stallion that is going to complement them in terms of where they sit in the book and complement them physically,” he said.

“For example, So You Think is a straightforward horse to breed to; he puts quality and scope into his stock and we try and complement him with neater-style mares that have plenty of strength across their hips. Pierro blends well with those Fastnet Rock-style mares and obviously, the Danehill cross works well with him.”

Pierro does more than ‘work well’ with the Danehill-line mares. In fact, it is fast becoming one of the most potent crosses in the Stud Book. Of his 29 stakes winners, an extraordinary 19 of them have been produced by daughters of Danehill himself, or mares by one of his sons or grandsons.

However, with nine of those black-type winners a product of matings with mares by Redoute’s Choice, it is hardly a surprise to see Coolmore opt to send G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Celebrity Queen (Redoute’s Choice) to the stallion this season.

Purchased by Magnier for a whopping $2.5 million at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in 2021, Celebrity Queen is expected to deliver a foal by Wootton Bassett in the coming weeks and Kennedy said she is just one of a host of exciting mares to make up his 2022 book.

“He does so well with that Danehill-line mare and that certainly complements our broodmare band well here on the farm,” he said. “We really feel like the best is yet to come from him and his rising 2-year-olds are some of his best bred. We feel like he’s got an exciting couple of seasons ahead of him, with big things expected from the likes of Paris Dior, Pogacar and Osipenko.”

'An awful lot of belief'

Coolmore has made no secret as to the high regard they hold Home Affairs in, and as a result he is set to cover an enviable book of mares this spring. Coolmore themselves have pinpointed some of their best females on the farm to send him, including Group 1-winning mares Shout The Bar (Not A Single Doubt), Sunlight (Zoustar) and Booker (Written Tycoon), as well as Champagne Cuddles (Not A Single Doubt).

“We all think that Home Affairs is one of the most exciting horses we have stood at stud for a very long time. He was one of the first horses to come out of the stallion syndicate and we have an awful lot of belief in him. We want to make sure he gets the right start at stud and in order to do that he has to get the right mares,” said Kennedy.

“We are incredibly excited about him. His combination of blistering speed, sire-producing pedigree and imposing physique make him a stallion prospect that you can only dream about, and he will be supported accordingly.”

This heavy support comes in the shape of multiple Group 1 winner Sunlight, who was bought by Coolmore from the Widden Stud draft for an eye-watering $4.2 million at the Magic Millions National Sale in 2020, while they outlaid $2 million for Group 2 winner Champagne Cuddles at the same sale.

Having produced colts by Justify in 2021, Sunlight and Champagne Cuddles were both covered by Wootton Bassett last season and will have their third matings with Home Affairs this spring.

Dual Group 1 winner Shout The Bar - a $2.7 million purchase at this year's Inglis Chairman’s Sale - will have her maiden cover to the son of I Am Invincible, while Group 1 winner Booker, who was purchased for $1.6 million at the same sale in 2020, visits the sire for her third mating having been covered by his father for the past two seasons.

Gallery: Some of the Group 1-winning mares set to be covered by Home Affairs

The right fit

Coolmore will also throw their support behind St Mark’s Basilica and Kennedy said Australian breeders were queuing up to book their mares to the son of Siyouni from the very first day he was announced on their star-studded roster.

“He is an outcross for the Danehill line and I think he is a stallion that will suit the Australian mares. He was a precocious horse, who was a good 2-year-old himself. The Siyouni line has worked very well down in Australia and on paper he just looks like the right fit,” he said.

“The response from breeders since the day we announced him was overwhelmingly positive, he was more or less filled in a matter of days.”

That positive response from breeders again comes as no surprise, given his glittering CV on the track, which includes a juvenile Group 1 in the G1 Dewhurst S. to go with his four other Group 1 victories. The Siyouni blood is a rare commodity Down Under, but is fast becoming one of the most sought after, especially given that it has proven time and time again to work.

In Australia, the Aga Khan’s stallion has been represented by nine winners from 19 starts, with three of those winners landing races at stakes level.

Testament to the belief Coolmore holds in the stallion, they will be supporting him with some of their best broodmares including Nechita (Fastnet Rock).

A winner of the G1 Coolmore Stud S. and G3 Silver Shadow S., Nechita was purchased by Tom Magnier for $1.55 million at the 2013 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, and she was then sent to Ireland where she produced a number of foals by Galileo.

She returned in foal to Juddmonte’s superstar Frankel (GB) in December 2020, producing a colt, who was purchased by Evergreen Rich for $650,000 at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale in 2022.

Covered last year by Justify, Nechita has already proved herself a good broodmare, having produced G3 Premier’s Cup winner Harpo Marx (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and G3 Princess Royal S. winner Forbearance (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the choice to book her to debutant St Mark’s Basilica falls in line with Coolmore’s school of thought that they like to support their newer stallions with proven mares where possible.

This approach will also be taken with Sea Siren (Fastnet Rock), who, like Nechita, also enjoyed a foray overseas for a number of years and she will also be one heading St Mark’s Basilica's way this spring.

A three-time Group 1 winner in Australia, Sea Siren, had, up until last season, been mated exclusively to Coolmore’s late breed-shaper Galileo, producing two winners headed by Group 3-placed filly Celestial Object (Ire). However, she has returned to Coolmore Australia this season and is due to deliver a foal by Coolmore’s Camelot (GB) in the coming weeks.

Growing reputation

For many seasons now, So You Think has been quietly carving out a reputation as one of the best stallions in Australia.

Last season, So You Think was represented by 13 stakes winners and the group were spearheaded by elite-level-winning trio Think It Over, Niamlee and Knights Order (Ire), who in the space of 80 minutes, landed consecutive top-flight races on the final day of The Championships at Randwick in April.

Due to his fine season, So You Think finished second behind I Am Invincible in Australia’s Leading Sires’ Championship by prizemoney, earning him a fee hike and he is set to stand the upcoming breeding season for a career high fee of $93,500 (inc GST).

The G3 Ottawa S. winner Invincible Star will be one of many high-class mares booked into the son of High Chaparral this year.

The daughter of I Am Invincible was purchased by Magnier and James Bester for $1.45 million at the 2019 edition of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale and her first two covers where with Justify, foaling a colt by the Triple Crown winner in 2020, and will be expecting her second foal by that same stallion any day now.

“He was very unlucky to get touched off in the championship this year and we had a very exciting couple of months following him along at the racetrack,” said Kennedy. “Thankfully, he is now starting to come to recognition, not just on the track, but also in the sales ring and his book of mares will reflect that this season."

Quality for quality

As the saying goes: ‘If ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ and in breeding terms this can be applied to mares who seem to click with certain stallions. This is very much the mantra followed when the farm chose this year's mating for the New Zealand Group 1 winner Savvy Coup (NZ) (Savabeel).

Fastnet Rock has for a number of years now been one of the headline acts among the Coolmore Stud stallions; a stalwart, who continues year after year to produce fine racehorses.

The stallion will once again cover a lovely group of mares and they will include the G1 New Zealand Oaks winner Savvy Coup, who is booked in for her second date with the son of Danehill, having produced a filly by the stallion last year.

“She has an outstanding by Fastnet Rock, who is very nice and we are breeding back on the strength of the foal she has on the ground by him. She’s a young mare and she seems to work well with him so we thought we would go back there again.”

Meanwhile, dual Group 1-winning mare El Dorado Dreaming (Ilovethiscity), who was acquired by Magnier for $1.35 million at the 2021 Inglis Chairman’s Sale, is also booked to Fastnet Rock.

Table: Some of the matings Coolmore is planning for the 2022 season