Cogburn to stand at Widden for $27,500
Explosive Grade 1-winning sprinter Cogburn (Not This Time) will stand for a fee of $27,500 (inc. GST) when he shuttles to Widden Stud for the first time later this year.
The son of Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway) – who announced himself as the world’s fastest horse when destroying his rivals in the Jaipur Stakes (Gr 1, 5.5f) at Saratoga last June to set a world record time of 59.80 seconds for 1100 metres – is currently standing at North America’s WinStar Farm for a fee of US$30,000 and Widden owner Antony Thompson believes his Australian fee offers great a incentive for breeders.
“He’s a hugely exciting stallion,” Thompson told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He’s everything Australian breeders are looking for or wanting, and definitely one of those considerations is the price point.
“I think to be able to breed a highly commercial yearling from a really fast good looking horse, that fee gives you a huge opportunity. He’s very well priced considering he’s $30,000 in the US, which is close to AU$50,000 – he’s half price on the world’s scale.”
It was announced in October that Congburn would shuttle from the US to the New South Wales-based operation for the southern hemisphere breeding season, and Thompson said there has already been lots of interest from Australian breeders in the speedster.
“We were keen to announce [him shuttling] early, the timing was great with a lot of the Aussie breeders in Keeneland for the November sales and we took over 30 breeders out to WinStar to inspect Cogburn,” he said.
“The response was fantastic. I think you need to educate the market to a certain degree because they haven’t seen the horse race on home soil and it’s not a horse they’re familiar with, but when you say the world’s fastest horse, that captures their attention and from there that interest has really grown.
“The feedback from everyone that has seen Cogburn has been so positive that we’ve really had a lot of support already.”
Bred by Bellary Bloodstock, Cogburn improved with every term on the track for trainer Steve Asmussen and put together an impressive three-start winning run in his final season as a five-year-old, kicking off with a win in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes (Gr 2, 5.5f) before his dynamite victory in the Jaipur Stakes.
He then easily accounted for dual Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) hero Khaadem (Dark Angel) in the Ainsworth Turf Sprint Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) on September 7, before last start saw him finish fifth, beaten a length and a half in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (Gr 1, 5f).
Out of Listed-winning mare In A Jif (Saintly Look), the stallion is from the second crop of Taylor Made Farm-based sire Not This Time and is one of his sire’s six individual elite-level winners, which headline his 38 individual stakes winners.
Not This Time boasts almost 70 per cent winners to runners and 11 per cent stakes winners to runners, and his global appeal reached new levels when his son Shareholder landed the Norfolk Stakes (Gr 2, 5f) at Royal Ascot last June.