Houldsworth and Aristia Park’s Guscic snap up daughter of Nathaniel
Late on Tuesday evening, Matt Houldsworth of Howson & Houldsworth Bloodstock teamed up with John Guscic of Aristia Park Bloodstock to purchase Summerfields, an unraced filly by Nathaniel (Galileo), for 65,000gns (approx. AU$130,706) during the first session of the Tattersalls July Sale.
Catalogued as Lot 254 and offered as part of the Godolphin draft, the three-year-old is out of the Listed winner and Group 1-placed mare Suez (Green Desert), making her a half-sister to Lyric Of Light (Street Cry), who landed the 2011 edition of the Fillies’ Mile (Gr 1, 1m) at Newmarket.
Suez is a half-sister to a group of horses who have thrived in the southern hemisphere, with her half-sister Polish Princess (Polish Precedent) having landed a Listed race in New Zealand, while she also ran third at Group 1 level in the land of the Long Cloud.
Polish Princess is, herself, the dam of two-time AD Hollindale Stakes (Gr 2, 1800m) winner Leebaz (Zabeel), fellow Australian Group 2 scorer Polish Knight (Encosta De Lago), who also finished second in the Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m), and Euro Angel (Rip Van Winkle), a winner of a Group 3 event at Caulfield. The mare also produced the New Zealand-bred Zebrowski (Savabeel), who won last year’s The Centenary Vase Handicap (Gr 3, 1800m) at Sha Tin.
Houldsworth said the mare would be set for a date with Aga Khan Stud-based sire Siyouni (Pivotal) on southern hemisphere time, before foaling down in Europe and she will then either head back to the son of Pivotal (Polar Falcon) or to Juddmonte Farms’ Kingman (Invincible Spirit) in 2024. Thereafter, the mare will then be shipped back to Guscic’s Victorian-based farm.
“She has been bought to go to Siyouni southern hemisphere time and then she will likely stay here and foal down here before probably go back to Siyouni or possibly Kingman, then she will ship down to Australia,” the agent told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“She will be kept by [Guscic]. He wants to build up the broodmare band, increase the quality and get some new blood into Australia, which is quite important.
“She was a lovely mare and she is from a deep family. It is nice to buy a Nathaniel, who is a nice stallion from a Group 1-performing mare, who has already bred a Group 1 winner. She is free of Danehill, which obviously means there are a lot of options for her when she gets to Australia.”
Siyouni is the sire of 16 winners from 37 starters in Australia, headed by four stakes winners, including Perth’s Group 1-winning star filly Amelia’s Jewel, who is set to have her mettle tested on the Eastern Seaboard this season.
Meanwhile, Kingman has had 14 winners from 21 starters, headlined by three stakes winners, including King Colorado, who landed the JJ Atkins Plate (Gr 1, 1600m) last month.
Houldsworth said the performances of the progeny of both stallions has resulted in their commercial value being sky high in Australia.
“The Australians seem to love Siyounis as types and he is very current and in people’s minds with that good filly Amelia’s Jewel, who is only going to get better as time goes on,” Houldsworth said. “He is just a phenomenal stallion. Kingman’s had that Group 1 winner in Australia and I think at £40,000 southern hemisphere time, it’s good value for a stallion of Kingman’s calibre.”
At the time of going to press, Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins, trainer of Vauban (Galiway), the ante-post favourite for the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m), made their presence felt on the second day of the Tattersalls July Sale yesterday when they teamed up to buy wild card entry Ethical Diamond (Awtaad) for 320,000gns (approx. AU$643,478).
Consigned by Baroda Stud as Lot 516A, the three-year-old gelding ran three times for Irish-based trainer Michael William O’Meara, finishing fourth and third in his first two starts respectively, before shedding his maiden tag at his most recent start in a maiden at Limerick on June 24.
The gelding is the only winner out of the winning mare Pearl Diamond (Areion), herself a half-sister to dual German Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Precious Boy (Big Shuffle).
Kirk, who had to beat off fierce competition from the likes of Stuart Boman, said plans for the gelding are fluid and believed he could excel both on the Flat and over the obstacles.
“He is going to Willie Mullins for an existing client and to be a dual-purpose horse. He will run over hurdles and then head back on the Flat and be a good stayer,” he said. “He is a ‘new’ horse, he has improved every run.
“He is a gorgeous horse, he stays well and won very well last time and travels well. Hopefully, he will make up into a Cup horse on the Flat – take us one day to Royal Ascot and one day to Cheltenham!
“He was the one I came for, I can go home now! I knew we’d have big opposition from Australia and I think that is what happened. Australia can’t get them all, and Willie likes taking horses to Australia!”
Kirk said Mullins was intent on building his string of jumpers and top-class Flat horses, including candidates for the Melbourne Cup, having saddled Max Dynamite (Great Journey) to finish second in the Flemington showpiece in 2015 and third in the 3200-metre contest in 2017.
“We are trying to build up a string of Melbourne Cup horses as well as jumpers. Even though we had the Royal Ascot winner this year, for a couple of years during Covid we missed buying a dual-purpose type of horse, and there has been a bit of a gap for that sort of horse at Willies.”