“Extreme Choice is obviously one of the world’s most elite sires”
Son of Not A Single Doubt’s fee rises to $330,000, as Newgate set prices for 16-strong roster
The extraordinary feat of siring the winners of the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) and Blue Diamond (Gr 1, 1200m) this season has helped push Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) to an equal-record Australian service fee, with the stallion due to stand at Newgate Farm for $330,000 (all fees inc GST) later this year.
Boasting outstanding ratios of Group 1 winners and stakes winners to runners, and with a phenomenal rate of hatching commercial stallions, Newgate’s sub-fertile sensation has come in for the increase after standing the past three seasons at $275,500.
His new fee, which includes GST, matches the national high set by his grandsire Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) in 2007 and 2008.
It comes alongside two notable drops on Newgate’s roster for this spring, with Capitalist (Written Tycoon) going from $66,000 to $44,000 and Russian Revolution (Snitzel) from $66,000 to $33,000, while Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) rises from $55,000 to $66,000 in his fourth stud season.
Newgate managing director Henry Field compared Extreme Choice to both his breed-shaping forebears – Redoute’s Choice and Danehill – in announcing the farm’s 2025 fees, with the rising 12-year-old’s remarkable CV boosted this year by the triumphs of Knights Choice in the Melbourne Cup and Devil Knight in the Blue Diamond.
“Extreme Choice is obviously one of the world’s most elite sires,” Field told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He’s got the highest Group 1 winners to runners ratio of any stallion in the world, at north of four per cent. He’s got the highest stakes and Group winners to runners ratio of any sire in Australia.
“And he’s done all that off a pretty small mare base. His fertility last season was as good as it’s ever been. It’s obviously a strictly limited book, but we feel that’s a very fair fee, and it gives high end commercial breeders a great chance to make a lot of money.”
Extreme Choice’s yearlings averaged $490,000 in Australia last year. The dual Group 1 winner, whose victories included the Blue Diamond, is running with an average of $428,000 this year, but that may well rise with 13 lots to come at next week’s Inglis Easter sale, seven of them from Newgate.
Of course there’s a difference between the two sires who now share the service fee record. Redoute’s Choice sired 133 and 114 live foals in his two $330,000 seasons. Extreme Choice had 52 live foals off 108 covers in 2023 – at a fertility rate of 56.6 per cent.
He’ll likely cover roughly the same amount of mares this spring – around the 100 mark – as Newgate continues to manage the stallion to maximise his effectiveness despite his well documented fertility issues.
“With age and maturity and with us now really having a great handle on the horse, he’s never gone better,” Field said.
“Certainly, he’s an extraordinary stallion. This season he’s had the Melbourne Cup and Blue Diamond winners. It’s the rarest of air.
“He’s probably been the most elite stallion we’ve seen in this country since Danehill and Redoute’s Choice.”
From his small numbers, Extreme Choice is crunching some eye-catching statistics.
His five Group 1 winners from 114 Australian runners come at 4.38 per cent, with his 14 stakes winners at 12.28 per cent and ten Group winners at 8.77 per cent.
But while he still has only five crops running, there’s another statistic Field said powerfully reflects the achievements of Newgate’s flagbearer.
Among his 55 colt runners thus far, Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Stay Inside and Tiger Of Malay stand at Newgate, the latter in his fourth season this year at an unchanged $11,000. Extreme Warrior stood his third season at Rosemont last year for $16,500, Don Corleone covered 133 mares at $13,200 in his debut season at Eureka Stud, while Devil Night has franked his credentials for his owners stallion barn with his Blue Diamond win.
“Extreme Choice has had 55 colts run for him, and he’s already produced five highly commercial stallions or stallion prospects,” Field said.
“So, one in 11 colts running by him ends up being a highly desirable stallion or prospect at a highly commercial farm. And we’re not just talking any old stallion prospect; we’re talking Golden Slipper and Blue Diamond winners – the real stuff.
“When you consider that there’s about 6,000 Australian colts born every year, and you get about six commercial stallion prospects out of them, that’s incredible.
“There’s never been a statistic like that and there probably never will be again.”
Stay Inside’s fee rises to $66,000 this spring without any runners on the ground, with his first crop yearlings averaging $221,000 this year – including a $1 million son bought by the colts syndicates of James Harron and Tony Fung at Magic Millions Gold Coast – and with another 13 lots to come at Easter.
“Stay Inside has been incredibly well received with his first yearlings,” Field said. “He was a Champion two-year-old Golden Slipper winner by Extreme Choice, who’s throwing extraordinarily good looking stock. He double-ticks every box. He’s got every chance of being successful.”
Field said with shareholders set to “use Stay Inside aggressively” this season, only a limited number of outside bookings would be taken for the rising seven-year-old.
“We’re going to endeavour to give people who’ve used him previously priority access, because we’ll have to turn away a lot of mares away this season, given his popularity,” he said.
Newgate has shown its confidence in Ozzmosis (Zoustar) – who won four of his first five starts capped off by the stallion-making Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) – by leaving him unchanged at $44,000, after he served 192 mares last spring.
“He’s a horse who covered a phenomenally high quality book of mares last season, and he was very fertile,” Field said.
“He was an unbeaten two-year-old, a Coolmore Stud stakes winner, by a champion sire, and [trainer] Bjorn Baker had incredible faith in his ability.
“I think Ozzmosis is a real no-brainer. I really feel he’ll be a very important stallion for us, and he’s probably the stallion we’ll be breeding the biggest chunk of our own mares to in 2025.”
Capitalist’s decrease to $44,000 will surprise some, given he’s tracking towards a similar general sires’ table finishing position to last season’s personal-best of ninth with only his fourth crop of runners, and currently sits fifth by winners.
“We definitely could’ve kept his fee higher, but we just want to put him into the market so he’s a no-brainer for breeders,” Field said. “We’ve priced him at a fee where breeders pretty much have to use him.
“He’s always among the leading stallions by winners. He’s an exceptional two-year-old stallion, but he’s also getting horses to train on and is doing a terrific job in Hong Kong.
“At $40,000, there’s a real lack of stallions who can be in that top ten active sire category and throw commercial stock in that fee range. We’ve priced him that way to make him a real slam dunk for breeders.”
Halving Russian Revolution’s fee to $33,000 might also raise eyebrows. He was champion first and second season sire in 2022 and 2023, and ranked third among three-year-old sires last term.
Currently 29th on the general sires’ table, he’s on target to better last season’s 115 winners, but his third and fourth crops have so far shown dips in winners-to-runners. Field attributes this to mare owners having taken a watch-and-see attitude in his third and fourth seasons at stud.
“He’s had a much quieter 12 months, which we think is the result of him getting fairly ordinary third and fourth books of mares,” Field said.
“He’ll be back. His fifth and sixth books were better than his first and second, and his first and second made him champion first and second season sire.
“At that price, it really gives breeders a good opportunity to use him at a heavily discounted price, with all his upside still prominent.”
Capitalist and Russian Revolution’s fee drops come alongside others at Newgate such as State Of Rest (Starspangledbanner) from $27,500 to $22,000, and North Pacific (Brazen Beau), from $16,500 to $11,000.
Others have stayed the same, including King’s Gambit (I Am Invincible) at $22,000, Tassort (Brazen Beau) at $38,500, and Wild Ruler (Snitzel) at $27,500. Cosmic Force (Deep Field), who’s had an encouraging six stakes performers from 58 runners in his first two crops, has risen marginally from $11,000 to $16,500.
Field said Newgate’s overall fee structure had reflected that the yearling market had largely held up this year, while also recognising smaller breeders were finding business harder amid the current economic climate.
“It’s certainly been tough for breeders in the last 12 or 18 months, and there’s probably been a consolidation by a lot of breeders in respect to their bands of mares, and refocusing their strategies,” he said.
“But the commercial end of the market has been holding up particularly well. We saw a strong Magic Millions sale, Classic and Premier were definitely good markets, and we expect Easter to be a strong sale.
“In general, the top half of the market is in pretty healthy shape. Our feedback is that our horses at $30,000 and above are going to be booked up very quickly and will be very popular, given that sector of the market is very strong.
“But the feedback is also that smaller breeders are doing it tough, and a real core focus this year from our team is to do everything in our power to help small breeders do as well as they can during this period.
“We’ve got a lot of Group 1 horses standing between $10,000 and $25,000, really good stallion prospects with great credentials, and we’re going to work our hardest to help and incentivise small breeders, and give them the best opportunity to be profitable, by putting together some really good programs and packages around those stallions. We’ll start rolling those out in the next few weeks.”
All Newgate fees come on the basis of a live foal or the service fee is refunded.
Newgate Farm fees for 2025
(all fees inc. GST)
Extreme Choice: $330,000
Stay Inside: $66,000
Ozzmosis: $44,000
Capitalist: $44,000
Tassort: $38,500
Russian Revolution: $33,000
Wild Ruler: $27,500
In The Congo: $27,500
Artorius: $22,000
State Of Rest: $22,000
King’s Gambit: $22,000
Brutal: $16,500
Cosmic Force: $16,500
Tiger Of Malay: $11,000
North Pacific: $11,000
Profiteer: $11,000