Sun Stud drops fees across the board
Fiorente (Monsun) will once again head the Sun Stud stallion roster in 2020, but at a significantly reduced fee of $17,600 (all fees inclusive of GST) as the operation seeks to support breeders in a coronavirus-affected economy.
Sun Stud last night revealed its nine-stallion roster for 2020, with the Queensland-bound Love Conquers All (Mossman) the only withdrawal from the Victorian farm’s 2019 line-up. Each one of the nine stallions has had a fee decrease, ranging from modest to marked.
“I think most farms have gone through the market over the last couple of weeks and I do think it is probably the hardest year in terms of pricing stallions,” Sun Stud’s sales and nominations manager Phil Marshall told ANZ Bloodstock News. “We’ve come to the conclusion that, as far as the economy is concerned, we need to cut the service fees across the board.
“I personally see this as a positive; we need to support the breeders as much as we can. At the end of the day, the breeders make the industry. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have one. We want to try and give a little bit back to them, as much as we can.”
Fiorente is the headline act, with stakes-winning brothers Power Scheme and Hawkshot – who now races in Hong Kong as Beauty Legacy – both performing strongly in black-type company. However, Marshall points out that, while Fiorente is generally remembered as a stayer, he was a horse with speed himself and he has proven the ability to impart that onto his stock.
“Fiorente is doing a wonderful job and he’s done a terrific job at stud from the get-go,” Marshall said. “The price decrease is just to make him better value and more customer-friendly. It’s not a reflection of the horse, it’s more a factor of the economy, and that’s the same with all of our service fees this year. It’s not really an indication of how they are going, it’s an indication of how tricky the economy is at the moment and how we want to support breeders.
“Fiorente has produced a number of talented horses and not just staying horses either. He had Hawkshot who proved to be a top-notch miler, he’s a horse that has got a lot of speed – David Hayes joked one day that he’d be able to win over 1000 metres, which would be some achievement if that ever happened. A horse like Power Scheme too, [Hawkshot’s] brother, he’s got another Group placing this year in the Carbine Club Stakes and he looks to be more of a miler.
“A lot of people will remember Fiorente for that Melbourne Cup win, it’s the race that stops the nation and the one race that people generally remember of a horse’s career. When you look back through it, though, he was very unlucky in a Cox Plate, he was a superb winner over a mile in the Feehan at Moonee Valley and a lot of people forget that he ran third in an All Aged at Randwick over 1400 metres. So he wasn’t devoid of speed himself.
“That’s why we sell him as the ‘fast stayer’ because he’s one of the few horses we’ve seen in Australia over the last 10 years that have a genuine turn-of-foot. I think that’s key. You don’t become an elite horse over any distance unless you’ve got a turn-of-foot and he certainly possessed that.”
Magnus (Flying Spur), Sun Stud’s “Mr Consistent”, has had the smallest decrease in stud fee, down only 6.6 per cent to $15,400. That comes after a year in which the rising 18-year-old produced his fourth Group 1 winner, Futurity Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) conqueror Streets Of Avalon, as well as Flemington stakes winners Kemalpasa and Halvorsen.
“Mr Consistent is exactly how we describe him,” Marshall said. “He’s a horse that doesn’t really deserve a drop in fee. We’ve simply dropped him a little bit because of the economy. He’s such a good horse. He’s been thereabouts so many years, he’s consistently a top-20 stallion. He had another Group 1 winner this year with Streets Of Avalon.
“He ticks all the boxes for breeders. They sell well, they sold up to $160,000 this year, so ten times the service fee. He produces a great type and we know that they run, they make great sprinter-milers. He’s unbelievable value for me for people of all aspects. As a breed-to-race horse, he’s perfect; as a breed-to-sell horse, he’s exceptional value.
“He’s great for people that are just entering the breeding scene, we see a lot of young breeders use him as he’s quite a safe bet. And a lot of the experienced breeders from around the country support him year on year because they just know what they are going to get.
“In a market that is uncertain at the best of times, given that you don’t know what you’re going to get at the end of the day, but certainly more so this year, breeding to a horse like Magnus makes a lot of sense; he’s a very safe option and a very good value option. Certainly in Victoria, I don’t think there’s any better value out there than him.”
Dual Group 1 winner Palentino (Teofilo) had his first yearlings go through the sales ring this year at an average of almost $65,000.
“Just like with Fiorente, Palentino was another one who on the racetrack showed a breathtaking turn-of-foot to win those two Group 1s down at Flemington,” Marshall continued.
“ He was just an elite miler, which is great to see in a racehorse. He’s gone through the process extremely well – he got to the races, he’s won two Group 1s, he’s come to stud, he’s covered an exceptionally high number of mares in his first three seasons and to top it off, he produces an excellent type.
“We’re delighted to see that a lot of those yearlings have gone into the right stables. It’s very exciting to see what his two-year-olds do. I’m not sure he’s the horse to get a really precocious type, I think they are going to be more summer or autumn two-year-olds, but I’m happy to be proven wrong.
“He’s ticked all the boxes so far; he’s produced great types, they’ve sold well, the market really likes them, they’ve gone into top metropolitan stables. Everything has gone well so far and if he does surprise us with a couple of early two-year-olds, then he is going to be an extremely popular stallion this year.”
The horse that clearly excites the Sun Stud team the most is National Defense (Invincible Spirit), winner of the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (Gr 1, 1600m) on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) undercard in 2016. He returns for his second season in Victoria, having first made the trip last year after missing the 2018 season at late notice due to injury.
“The support that National Defense received last year blew us away,” Marshall said. “We didn’t expect it. We knew he was going to be popular, but at one stage he had 180 mares booked to him. He ended up covering in the high-150s and, to be honest, we weren’t 100 per cent expecting it.
“The year before, we got dealt a huge blow when he was injured towards the latter part of the season in Ireland and we were told that he wasn’t going to be able to travel. It took the wind out of our sails a little bit. We sometimes know that it is hard for a horse that you’ve pumped up to come one year, then doesn’t, it can be hard sometimes the following year. It certainly didn’t work that way with National Defense, though.
“Of our horses here at Sun Stud, he’s probably been the most popular horse I’ve seen in terms of talk around the traps at the sales. He’s just supremely popular with all types of breeders so we’re very confident that he’s going to cover another book again. We’re only in early May but already the signs are that he’s going to probably be the most popular horse again this season.
“And really, what’s not to like about him? He’s the highest-rated two-year-old son of Invincible Spirit to ever stand in Victoria, a Group 1-winning two-year-old, he’s a lovely type. That Invincible Spirit line does look the most likely one to really come to the forefront in Australia over the next few years. He’s exceptional value in his second season and I’m very excited to see his first crop of foals hit the ground come July or August. We really think he could be the real deal.”
Fighting Sun (Northern Meteor), Thronum (Snitzel) and veteran Bel Esprit (Royal Academy) will all stand for $7,700, while Ready For Victory (More Than Ready) and Squamosa (Not A Single Doubt), sire of yesterday’s Wangoom Handicap (Listed, 1200m) winner Order Of Command, complete the roster at $4,400.
“Once again, Squamosa reminded us of the value he offers to all breeders with Order Of Command winning the Wangoom,” Marshall said. “He’s living proof of what Squamosa is capable of producing, which is a tough sprinting type. Order Of Command is so tough, as he was winning the Wangoom, and he set a weight-carrying record with his 62 kilograms, which is quite remarkable in a race that dates back to 1886. He’s now won over $600,000, too.
“Ready For Victory has only had a handful of runners and he had a very good debutant who won recently, Macleay up there in the Gerald Ryan stable. He looks like he can go on to bigger and better things, Gerald has always had a big opinion of him and he is entered for the J J Atkins so he is one to watch.”
Sun Stud stallion roster 2020
Fiorente $17,600
Magnus $15,400
Palentino $14,300
National Defense
Fighting Sun $7,700
Thronum $7,700
Bel Esprit $7,700
Ready For Victory $4,400
Squamosa $4,400
*all fees inclusive of GST