Firing Toronado on top of Swettenham Stud stallion roster
Swettenham Stud’s emerging stallion Toronado (High Chaparral) will remain at an unchanged service fee in 2020, despite the shuttler siring a number of exciting southern hemisphere-bred first crop three-year-olds this season.
The Al Shaqab-owned Toronado heads the six-stallion Swettenham roster at $27,500 (all fees inclusive of GST) while the Adam Sangster-led farm’s newcomer I Am Immortal (I Am Invincible) will stand his first season at a fee of $13,750.
Swettenham Stud announced the acquisition of the former Anthony Freedman-trained sprinter, who won the Blue Diamond Preview (C&G) (Listed, 1000m) and Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (Gr 3, 1100m) at two, in February but confirmed his service fee and that of his five barn mates yesterday.
The service fees for Akeed Mofeed (Dubawi) ($16,500), who relocated from Goldin Farms in South Australia to Victoria last season, Highland Reel (Galileo) ($16,500) and Trust In A Gust (Keep The Faith) ($6600) all remain unchanged.
Toronado is the sire of brilliant four-time Tasmanian stakes winner Still A Star, the stakes-placed Laverrod, Heaven’s Bonus and Sassy Salitage as well as inaugural $1 million The Showdown (1200m) successor Prince Of Sussex in his first Australian crop.
Potentially his best horse could be the Hawkes Racing-trained Masked Crusader, a three-year-old gelding who resumed with an impressive victory at Bendigo yesterday to make it two wins from three starts.
Sangster admitted there was much debate about increasing Toronado’s Australian fee this year, particularly with the appeal his progeny carry in Hong Kong, but the stud has instead elected to keep it unchanged.
“Breeders have had strong rewards all the way, from the ones who sold in his first season through to the yearlings who have sold this year. His return on investment has been exceptional and he has done it on track as well,” Sangster told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“We wanted to make sure that breeders were looked after and breeders get every opportunity – it’s not about us, it’s about breeders continuing to be successful.
“We thought the fairest thing to do was to keep him at the same fee, even though he probably does warrant an increase.”
Swettenham is also home to another young stallion on the rise, with Puissance De Lune (Shamardal) having his fee more than doubled to $19,800 this year on the back of stakes success from Edward Manifold Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) winner and VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) placegetter Moonlight Maid as well as the stakes-placed Southern Moon and Heart Of Puissance who also burst onto the scene last spring.
That momentum was not missed by breeders last year, with Puissance De Lune covering 154 mares, up from 40 in 2018, at a fee of $8800.
“His earnings per runner is easily the best of any second season sire if you take out The Everest which skews it a little for Rubick,” Sangster said.
“He’s $55,000 per runner which is amazing for a horse whose progeny are just three-year-olds. He doesn’t have the numbers there, but he still manages to keep up with the big boys. I think he is 55 per cent winners to runners and he’s had a winner over 800 metres and they can get out to a Derby and an Oaks trip. He can throw just about anything.”
Early feedback from breeders about Swettenham’s decision to purchase I Am Immortal, one of a likely small number of first season sires to be launched in Victoria this year, appears well founded, with shareholders embracing the rising four-year-old by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).
“He’s the only dual stakes-winning two-year-old colt by I Am Invincible and he’s exactly what people want,” the studmaster said.
“He’ll get a Slipper-type horse, he’ll get you an early two-year-old, which is what people are chasing. He’s that bold front-running horse and he’s bloody good looking. You will be hard-pressed to find a better looking horse than him in Australia. He’s exactly what you want to see.”
Sangster said Akeed Mofeed, the sire of this season’s talented stakes-winning juvenile Jyoti, would again be well supported by the stallion’s owner Pan Sutong as well as other breeders this year while shuttler Highland Reel’s first crop weanlings were leaving a positive impression.
“Highland Reel’s weanlings have sold really well in the northern hemisphere, up to $300,000 Australian, for his weanlings. We’ve had Inglis and Magic Millions out to look at them and they have commented that he has one of the best crops of weanlings from a freshman sire that they have seen,” he said.
“They are really powerful horses. He was known for his longevity in his racing life but people forget that he was a Group 2-winning two-year-old over 1400 metres. He should be able to get a few of those early runners and there’s some really nice colts and fillies that we have seen that we would have liked to have got to the weanling sales in a perfect world if it wasn’t for coronavirus.”
Shuttler Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy) will not be returning to Swettenham Stud this year after one southern hemisphere season.