Award for Shamus after stellar year on the track
After a breakout year on the track, Rosemont Stud’s flag bearing stallion Shamus Award (Snitzel) will stand for an increased fee of $19,800 (all fees inclusive of GST) in 2020.
The stallion – who won the 2013 Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) – has had a fruitful 12 months results headed by the feats of Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Mr Quickie, who also placed in the Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) and Moonee Valley Gold Cup (Gr 2, 2500m).
The son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) has sired four individual stakes winners so far this season; Moonee Valley Vase (Gr 2, 2040m)-winning Soul Patch, who also recorded third place finishes in the Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 16000m), as well as Group 3-winning gelding True Detective and Listed-winning duo Flying Award and Shamino.
The economic toll of coronavirus has seen the fees of many stallions in Australia cut back for the upcoming breeding season, however Rosemont Stud principal Anthony Mithen believes Shamus Award has earnt his 80 per cent increase.
“He certainly deserved a fee rise on the efforts of multiple Group winners including his breakthrough Group 1 winner out of his first crop in Mr Quickie who won the Queensland Derby and placed in the Makybe Diva,” Mithen told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He’s proven to be a really versatile stallion, getting horses that can sprint with the Snitzel speed but have got the stamina of a Cox Plate, so I think he’s going to be around for a while and I’m not sure he’ll be under $20,000 for too much longer either.”
Mithen confirmed that Shamus Award will cover a high-class book of mares in 2020 including Special Favour (General Nediym), the dam of Mr Quickie, and Flying Dansino (Fusaichi Pegasus), who produced Flying Award.
Shamus Award will once again stand alongside Group 1-winning Royal Ascot hero Starspangledbanner (Choisir), whose fee has been slightly reduced to $19,800 in 2020, having been offered to breeders for a fee of $22,000 last year.
The four-time elite level winner also had a terrific year, siring Prime Star, who took out the $2 million Inglis Millennium (RL, 1100m), as well as the Cheveley Park Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) winner Missile, who was the subsequently named Champion 2YO filly in Europe.
“He has the Millennium winner and he’s got a very good two-year-old that we’re lucky enough to have bred and still part own in Starosa in Brisbane who is quite high up in the JJ Atkins betting at the moment,” Mithen continued.
“He’s also got the Champion 2YO Filly in Europe which hasn’t been lost on breeders down under. It’s a shrinking world we live in and everyone knows when the good horses pop up and Missile looks like she’s exactly that.
Starspangledbanner, who is currently the leading stallion in Victoria by stakes winners to runners at over 6.3 per cent, was found to be subfertile in the early part of his stud career, but Mithen has assured breeders his fertility is back up to normal with 62 foals on the ground last year from 98 coverings in 2018.
“It’s been another stellar year for a horse with limited numbers but those numbers are certainly set to expand now that his fertility is back to A grade,” Mithen said.
“He’s a normal stallion and breeders can have the confidence that they’ll send their mare and they’ve got as good a chance (of getting in foal) as sending a mare to any other stallion. That’s going to be the positive that we really want breeders to be aware of this season.”
Meanwhile, Rosemont’s veteran stallion Starcraft (Soviet Star) will stand for an unchanged fee of $8,800 in 2020 – a price Mithen believes is extremely good value off the back of the Group 1 producer’s sale statistics earlier this year.
“He’s a horse I just can’t believe, if you’ve got multiple mares, why wouldn’t you be sending one to Starcraft every year and just helping yourself to making money,” Mithen said.
“He gets a great sales horse as evident by his sales statistics this year. I smile when I say this and I’ve got to say it with a bit more of a serious tone at times, but the greatest yearling sale ever held in the southern hemisphere was Magic Millions this year in January, and the stallion that provided the greatest return on investment in that whole sale was Starcraft for three or more sold.
“He averaged $150,000 off a service fee of $8,000, so on multiples it was the best return. Then he went to the Classic sale and sold one to George Moore for $340,000.
“There’s a well-known Asian market that snaps anything up that shows any modicum of ability at the trials or in a maiden. We’re happy to support him because we know there’s a paycheck at the other end.
“There’s been consistency over the last few years with him now trading into Asia, getting a good horse in Hong Kong every season and getting good sales results.
“I expect him to be a busy boy even though he’s nearer retirement than the start of his career. He’s still in a picture of health and working well.”
The Rosemont roster for 2020 is completed by the Medaglia d’Oro (El Prado) half-brother to dual Group 1 winner Star Witness (Starcraft) in Nostradamus, whose fee has been reduced to $5,500 in 2020.
“He’s only had a small number of runners so far so the jury is still out on him,” Mithen said. “He’s a value option and an extremely well-bred son of Medaglia d’Oro.
“It’s the right recipe that could work and he could easily be the budget stallion that blossoms and grows into money when his late crop steps out and his two-year-olds turn three.”
The relocation of Victoria’s most popular sire Written Tycoon (Iglesia) to the Hunter Valley this year, leaves a gap in the market for a local stallion and Mithen can’t see any reason why it couldn’t be filled by one of his sires.
“It was a blow Written Tycoon leaving Victoria but maybe out of the shadows step a few horses like Starspangledbanner, Shamus Award or Starcraft.
“It’s a real chance, I mean Starspangledbanner is the leading Victorian sire with stakes winners to runners and Shamus Award sits third. Two of the top three stakes-producers in Victoria shows that we’re going places with our stallion ranks at Rosemont.”
Rosemont Stud roster 2020
Shamus Award $19,800
Starspangledbanner $19,800
Starcraft $8,800
Nostradamus $5,500
*all fees inclusive of GST