Stallion parades return to wow Victorian breeders
For the first time since 2019, Victorian stud farms were able to open their doors in a traditional stallion parade setting, and thoroughbred breeders turned out en masse to witness sires of the calibre of Shamus Award (Snitzel) and Written Tycoon (Iglesia).
Rosemont Stud hosted about 300 guests on the lawns of the Geelong farm on Friday. Hanseatic (Street Boss), whose first foals are on the ground, and Strasbourg (I Am Invincible) joining Shamus Award, the sire of three Group 1s last season, and newcomer Extreme Warrior (Extreme Warrior). Yulong Stud welcomed breeders to its state-of-the-art breeding operation at Nagambie yesterday.
At Yulong, which has a broodmare band numbering an extraordinary 450 mares acquired in a relatively short time with the investment of founder Yuesheng Zhang, second–season sire Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) and shuttler Lucky Vega (Lope De Vega) captured onlookers’ attention while champion sire Written Tycoon appeared to be in as healthy as ever.
Grunt (O’Reilly), Yulong’s foundation sire, and Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice) also paraded in front of a large crowd.
Yulong chief operating officer Sam Fairgray was delighted to have stud supporters on the farm yesterday after the 2020 parade was not held and last year’s was abandoned at the last minute when Victoria was plunged into another Covid-related lockdown in early August.
“It is great to finally have breeders on the farm to be able to showcase the stallions and let them see the new facilities,” Fairgray told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“Obviously, for the past couple of years it’s been difficult, but we’re through that now, and we’ve got some lovely stallions and it was great to have all the breeders here today.”
Rosemont Stud principal Anthony Mithen was equally pleased that so many people made the trip to inspect the roster of four stallions as well as a first foal by Hanseatic, the most supported first–season Victorian stallion in history, covering 195 mares last year.
“We had about 100 more (attendees) than we’ve ever had to a stallion parade before,” Mithen said.
“They say momentum builds momentum and we feel like we’re a little bit in that space at the moment. We are hopefully doing a few things right and we’ve got a good team of people behind us helping on all fronts, be it bloodstock, horsemanship and to our farming team, so it’s a credit to those guys for the momentum we’re building and hopefully it’s only bright times ahead.”
Aquis Farm in Queensland also held stallion parades at Canungra across three days at the weekend and they too were well supported by breeders inspecting the likes of Pierata (Pierro) and shuttler Aclaim (Acclamation).
The Victorian parades will continue this week with Woodside Park Stud, Widden Victoria, Swettenham Stud, Leneva Park, Cornwall Park and Darley’s Northwood Park all showcasing their stallions.
The Hunter Valley also begins its public viewing of the studs’ galaxy of stars with Arrowfield Stud parading stallions this weekend, prior to rival farms opening the gates the following week to all and sundry.