Fully booked Wootton Bassett to stand for $71,500 as Coolmore releases 2021 fees
Dual Group 1-winning Redoute’s Choice colt King’s Legacy has introductory fee set at $33,000
Europe’s rags-to-riches sire sensation Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) and Coolmore Australia’s other newcomer, dual Group 1-winning juvenile King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice), will stand for $71,500 and $33,000 (all fees inc. GST) respectively in their maiden southern hemisphere seasons at stud.
So You Think (High Chaparral), the sire of 11 stakes winners this season including George Ryder Stakes (Gr 1, 1500m) winner Think It Over, has had his service fee doubled to $77,000 in 2021 after being the country’s most active stallion last year, while Pierro (Lonhro) will also stand for a slightly reduced fee of $110,000.
Champion Fastnet Rock (Danehill), the sire of three southern hemisphere-bred Group 1 winners this season among 17 stakes winners, will remain at an unchanged fee of $165,000.
Coolmore, meanwhile, acquired Wootton Bassett from Haras d’Etreham in France last year and he is standing his first season in Ireland for a fee of €100,000.
The Coolmore hierarchy made the call to shuttle the son of Iffraaj (Zafonic) to Australia and Colm Santry, Coolmore Australia’s sales and nominations manager, revealed they had been swamped by breeders to send mares to Wootton Bassett in recent weeks.
“We announced Wootton Bassett in the lead up to the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale and he was incredibly well received,” Santry said.
“He is already fully booked and will cover a high quality line-up of mares. Statistically, he is an incredible sire and it is a great show of faith in the Australian breeding industry from the Magnier family to bring a horse of his calibre down.
“He stands for the equivalent of AU$155,000 in Ireland and is great value for a proven Group 1 sire at this introductory fee.”
King’s Legacy, a $1.4 million Magic Millions graduate for the James Harron Bloodstock colts syndicate, justified his big price tag with a stellar two-year-old season starting with a victory in the B J McLachlan Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) in Brisbane before completing the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m)-ATC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) double.
With the bloodlines behind him, being closely related to the now pensioned Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice), Coolmore moved on a deal to clinch standing rights in King’s Legacy after his Sires win.
“Redoute’s Choice is one of the greatest Australian-bred stallions of all time, and arguably the best sire of sires since his own sire, Danehill,” Santry said.
“The combination of his great looks, stallion’s pedigree and superior two-year-old form make King’s Legacy a mouth-watering prospect.
“Our team feels like he is well priced to give breeders the chance to make a significant return on their investment.
“We all know the importance of ‘type’ at the yearling sales and King’s Legacy is an awesome physical specimen, as reflected by his own yearling sale price.”
So You Think, who covered 261 mares last year, has, according to Santry, “undoubtedly developed into one of the best stallions in Australia”.
“He has had an incredible season on the track with 11 stakes winners and eight Group winners in Australia, and in the ring with his yearlings selling for $1 million, $900,000 and $800,000,” he said.
“He is an incredibly versatile stallion, with Group winners from 1200 metres to 3200 metres this season, and with a number of large, well-bred crops coming through the system, he is only going to continue to get better.”
Justify (Scat Daddy) ($55,000) and Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact) ($13,750) are also returning for a third season in Australia.
“The unprecedented quality of mares covered by Justify in his first two seasons has been well documented and his first weanlings are something to behold,” Santry said.
“He is well represented at the upcoming Inglis and Magic Millions weanling sales with a number of high-class individuals on offer.
“His third season represents a great opportunity for breeders to cash in on the back of arguably the two best books of mares ever covered by a young stallion in this country.”
American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) ($49,500), Churchill (Galileo) ($22,000), Magna Grecia (Invincible Spirit) ($19,250) and Calyx (Kingman) ($13,750) will also shuttle to Coolmore.
Coolmore stallion roster
2021 2020
Fastnet Rock (Danehill) $165,000 unchanged
Pierro (Lonhro) $110,000 $137,500
So You Think (High Chaparral) $77,000 $38,500
Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) $71,500 new
Justify (Scat Daddy) $55,000 $66,000
American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) $49,500 $55,000
Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) $38,500 unchanged
King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) $33,000 new
Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock) $33,000 $44,000
Vancouver (Medaglia d’Oro) $22,000 $30,250
Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) $22,000 $38,500
Churchill (Galileo) $22,000 $19,250
Magna Grecia (Invincible Spirit) $19,250 $22,000
Calyx (Kingman) $13,750 $17,600
Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact) $13,750 $17,600
Adelaide (Galileo) $5,500 $8,800
*all fees inclusive of GST
Standing at Swettenham Stud in association with Coolmore
Rubick (Encosta De Lago) $27,500 $33,000
Highland Reel (Galileo) TBC $16,500
Rubick joins Swettenham Stud
Rubick (Encosta De Lago), the sire of 2019 Everest (1200m) winner Yes Yes Yes, will relocate to Swettenham Stud this year.
Coinciding with the release of Coolmore’s 2021 roster, Swettenham principal Adam Sangster last night confirmed that the Group 2-winning sprinter would switch states in 2021 after six seasons in the Hunter Valley.
Rubick, who is also the sire of the Patrick Payne-trained Group 2 winner Rubisaki, Listed winner Condo’s Express and the stakes-performed Excess Funds and Biscara, has 174 yearlings and another 174 weanlings to come through. He will stand for a fee of $27,500 (inc. GST) after being advertised at $33,000 last year.
Swettenham will stand Rubick in association with Coolmore, continuing the long-standing relationship between the Sangster family and Coolmore with Adam’s late father Robert racing Shoal Creek (Star Way) and later selling her in foal to Fairy King (Northern Dancer) carrying Encosta De Lago, Australia’s leading sire in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
Sangster Sr also bred and raced Fairy King, a brother to another influential sire in Sadler’s Wells, both of whom stood at Coolmore in the 1980s.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled, to continue the strong relationship between the Magnier and Sangster family,” Adam Sangster said.
“Some of Encosta De Lago’s best years were when he stood in Victoria and we all know how successful he was at stud.
“And the majority of Rubick’s success on the track has been down here in Victoria and it’s really been the unofficial home for Encosta and his progeny.
“Yes Yes Yes started his racing career in Victoria, winning two of his first three races in Victoria before joining the Sydney stables of Chris Waller where he won The Everest.”
Sangster is confident Victorian breeders will embrace Rubick at Swettenham’s Nagambie property.
“The success he has had on the track from a more modest service fee shows that the most exciting aspect is that the best is yet to come for him,” he said.
“He is a workman and an absolute gun – fertility wise and number wise. To be able to produce an Everest winner at any stage of a stallion’s career is great and only Snitzel and Not A Single Doubt have done it.
“And Rubick did it from his first crop. There is plenty of excitement there for the breeders.”
Swettenham Stud is yet to confirm the service fees for the remainder of its line-up which is led by shuttler Toronado (High Chaparral), who last month experienced a breakout Group 1 win through sprinter Masked Crusader in the William Reid Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley.
He stood for a fee of $27,500 (inc. GST) last year but that is certain to be increased in 2021.