Group-winning son of Zoustar to stand at Telemon Thoroughbreds
Group 3-winning juvenile Sun City (Zoustar) has been retired and will stand his first season at stud at the growing Queensland enterprise Telemon Thoroughbreds, an opportunity farm principal Dan Fletcher said he could not ignore.
Fletcher secured the former Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained sprinter to join Sidestep (Exceed And Excel) and Jungle Cat (Iffraaj) on the Telemon stallion roster this year, courtesy of his strong relationship with the sire prospect’s major owner Qatar Bloodstock.
Sun City was victorious in last year’s B J McLachlan Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) with a performance that catapulted him to the top of the betting for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) before he was struck down with a joint infection.
One of three sons of Widden Stud’s Zoustar (Northern Meteor) at stud in 2020, Sun City will stand for an introductory fee of $7,700 (all fees inclusive of GST).
Sidestep, the sire of 2019 Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Kiamichi, has had his fee reduced to $16,500 while multiple Group 1 winner Jungle Cat will enter his second season at an unchanged fee of $13,200.
Fletcher, who races three-time Group 1-winning mare Sunlight (Zoustar) with Qatar Bloodstock and partners, believes Sun City is deserving of his place at stud and the syndicate behind the colt are committed to sending mares to him.
“We’re really trying to make our name through how selective we are in what we will stand,” he told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“In that sense, that determination to focus on quality hasn’t changed and won’t change, but the thing is that this horse meets our criteria and he’s affordable. For these horses to be affordable, there’s always going to have to be a bit of a story.
“There’s horses going to the Hunter this year who have ‘could have been anything’ type stories but for whatever reason things don’t go quite right and they didn’t finish up as a $50,000 first season horse.
“This guy, you pull him apart and do all the due diligence that we’ve done and the figures we’ve got, he does stack up.
“There’s every chance that he was a Group 1 horse, so that’s the reality of this market: to try and offer breeders that have got that limited capacity and can’t access Zoustar himself or spend $50,000 on a service fee, to still give them that potential. All these other factors create the price.”
His pedigree and the success of the Encosta De Lago (Fairy King) sire line also appealed to Fletcher who is offering equity and breeding right shares in Sun City.
A $525,000 yearling purchase from the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, he is out of the Listed-winning sprinter Roulettes (Flying Spur), making him a half-brother to the dual Group 2-placed sprinter Spin (I Am Invincible).
“It makes sense with what Northern Meteor’s done; what Deep Field and Zoustar himself are doing and Rubick’s another one – that’s a really potent sire line,” Fletcher continued.
“It’s every probability that’s where you need to be and the horse who went to Victoria last year (Lean Mean Machine) was really well supported, so the market’s intelligent enough to recognise that. I think the horse will work well.”
Sun City raced just six times after the infected joint hampered his career.
Tony McEvoy said Sun City’s ability was obvious from his early two-year-old career when running the second fastest closing sectionals of the meeting when runner-up in the Maribyrnong Trial (Listed, 1000m) at Flemington in October 2018.
“He was quite clearly our sharpest and best two-year-old and whilst we were disappointed he bungled the start, we weren’t surprised with the splits he ran. He could sprint at Sunlight sectionals. That’s the level of ability we were seeing at home,” McEvoy said.
Matt Rudolph, also a part-owner of Sun City, believes an agreement to stand the rising four-year-old at Telemon Thoroughbreds would give the well-bred stallion a strong platform at stud.
Rudolph said: “The farm’s record of producing exceptional stallions combined with Dan’s own success assures Sun City every opportunity.
“More than a third of Australia’s early season two-year-old races are run in Queensland so this is an ideal location for him.”
Meanwhile, Fletcher is bullish about the upward trajectory of the Darley owned Sidestep who enters his third season at Telemon Thoroughbreds after starting his stud career at Kelvinside in the Hunter Valley.
On the back of Kiamichi emerging in his first crop, Sidestep’s service fee jumped to $22,000 last year but given the coronavirus pandemic, Darley and Fletcher have elected to drop his fee this year.
“He’s a horse we think is going really well. Every time you turn around he’s got another quality runner even though he hasn’t got the depth of numbers,” Fletcher said.
“I think he’d only had three two-year-old runners this season, so we always knew he was going to be quiet in that respect, but he got a really good quality book of mares last year.
“At the fee that we’ve set him at, we think he’s probably going to benefit from these (Covid-19) conditions with people looking for that proven quality horse with the profile that he’s got but remaining budget conscious because of the economy.
“I think he’s almost in the sweet spot to capitalise on that.”
Sidestep, a dual Group 2 winner, is one of a number of sons of Exceed And Excel (Danehill) at stud and that line-up will be boosted by the addition of Microphone and Exceedance to the Hunter Valley ranks this year.
“Of the three big colts who won Group 1s last year, two of them are off to stud and I think when you compare Sidestep to them, he’s right up to the mark with Exceedance and Microphone in terms of his race record,” he said.
“He’s a proven horse who’s delivered what everyone else is trying to do. Everyone’s trying to breed a Golden Slipper winner and Sidestep can take you there – he’s proven that.”
Jungle Cat, winner of an Al Quoz Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) in Dubai and Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Caulfield for Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby in 2018, rounds out the Telemon roster.
“He’s a really fast horse with a high rating. He’s the right sort of horse for what people want to breed down here,” he said.
“He’s a beautiful horse and a really straight-forward horse and when you look at him, there’s not much that can go wrong and that’s why we will get really excited if they come out looking like he does – they’ll have to be able to run.”
Telemon Thoroughbreds roster 2020
Sidestep $16,500
Jungle Cat $13,200
Sun City $7,700
*all fees inclusive of GST