Group winner Bellevue Hill to stand in Hunter at Aquis
Aquis Farm will launch the stud career of Group 3-winning juvenile Bellevue Hill this year with the lightly–raced sprinter to stand in the Hunter Valley alongside another son of Pierro (Lonhro), the All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Pierata.
The former Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Bellevue Hill, who was victorious in the 2019 T L Baillieu Handicap (Gr 3, 1400m) at Rosehill, becomes the 19th stallion at Aquis Farm’s burgeoning three-state stud operation.
Bellevue Hill, one of only two sons of Coolmore’s potential champion sire-in-waiting Pierro ($137,500) to retire to stud so far, will stand at an introductory fee of $11,000 (inc GST) at the Murrurundi property in the Hunter Valley.
Pierata’s first season fee of $44,000 (inc GST) was announced last month.
Chief executive Tony “Tubba” Williams believes Bellevue Hill complements Pierata on Aquis Farm’s NSW roster by offering breeders access to a dominant sire line at an affordable fee.
“To my knowledge, Bellevue Hill, a son of Pierro, is the only Group-winning two-year-old son of Pierro to go to stud,” Williams said.
“He’s out of an Exceed And Excel mare and he does have Exceed And Excel attributes. He’s bay in colour, he has a lot of quality and strength.
“He’s got a lot of natural muscle, he’s got a really big hip on him with a good head and eye. He’s got a lot of attributes that people will really like and to be a two-year-old sprinting son just offers another dimension from that sire line.
“We’ve got the two fastest sons of Pierro that are out there.”
Bellevue Hill made an immediate impact on the track by winning his first start at Canberra by more than five lengths in slick time over 1000 metres before starting well in the market when runner-up to Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) in the Todman Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at his second outing.
It was then that he claimed an important stakes race victory at Rosehill with a dominant two-length win over Strasbourg (I Am Invincible) in the Baillieu.
Bellevue Hill would race just another four times, all in stakes company, before being retired earlier this month.
“He beat Strasbourg comfortably in the Baillieu and when Yes Yes Yes won the Todman this horse ran second, so he’s run second to a top-line horse who’s gone to stud at an elevated service fee by comparison and he wasn’t that far behind him,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that he went wrong and he wasn’t the same horse when he came back at three compared to what he was at two. That’s the reality of it hence his service fee reflects that.
“He does offer value and he’s a very good back-up for Pierata at the farm.”
A $400,000 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale purchase by Waterhouse, Blue Sky Bloodstock and Rifa Mustang, Bellevue Hill is out of the winning mare Bellevue Girl (Exceed And Excel) who in turn is a sister to Group 3 winner Sugar Babe and a half-sister to the Listed-placed Muscovado (Big Brown).
Pierro, the sire of 23 individual stakes winners, is currently second on the Australian general sires table behind Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice).
“If you look at the sire line right through: Octagonal sired Lonhro; Lonhro sired Pierro; Pierro’s got these two horses at stud and the sire line is getting faster probably with the influence of Danehill coming through in both our stallions,” Williams said.
“That’s injected that bit more speed into the pedigrees and this sire line is developing right through from Sir Tristram all the way down, and we’ve now got a Group-winning two-year-old and a Group 1-winning older horse.
“They are sprinters by Pierro and I have no doubt that Pierro is a champion sire in waiting and he’s an awesome racehorse and an awesome stallion.”
The partnership which raced Bellevue Hill – Rifa Mustang, Mystery Downs, Belsin Thoroughbreds, Raffles, David Rothwell, Will Manning, G1G Racing and Breeding and Kate Waterhouse – will retain its shareholding in the horse to help ensure that the stallion receives a strong book of mares early in his stud career.
“He is a horse who is going to get supported by the ownership base and we are going to offer breeding rights which I think are going to be a really good investment with the way we’ve structured them,” Williams continued.
“The breeding rights structure is evolving with each (stallion) we are selling, but I think we’re coming up with the right offer and that allows people who take a breeding right to receive really good value and become a long-term partner with Aquis and that’s what is all about.”
Aquis Farm will launch seven new stallions this year, headed by Pierata and Tasmania’s leading sire Needs Further (Encosta De Lago), as well as Dubious (Not A Single Doubt), Olmedo (Declaration Of War), Royal Meeting (Invincible Spirit) and Bellevue Hill.
Duporth (Red Ransom) has also relocated to Aquis’ Canungra base after a stint at Kooringal Stud in southern NSW.
“There are stallions at all levels of the market place from $3,000 to $40,000 and everywhere in between. All sire lines from all around the world – Japanese, Australasian, European, they are all there. It is pretty impressive, I have got to say,” he said.