Top colts join Newgate roster as fee rationalisation takes place
Newgate Farm will launch three new stallions in 2024 – Group 1 winners Ozzmosis (Zoustar) and Militarize (Dundeel) and Group 2 winner King’s Gambit (I Am Invincible) – as the Henry Field-led stud reacts to the changing market dynamics by rationalising the service fees of its large roster.
In confirming Newgate’s “strongest, biggest and best roster ever”, Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Ozzmosis will stand at an introductory $44,000 (all fees inc GST) as the farm’s highest-profile first season sire among a trio of new recruits.
Ozzmosis’s new barnmate, Group 1-winning two and three-year-old Militarize (Dundeel), will also be retired from racing at a fee of $38,500, while Roman Consul Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner and Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m)–placed King’s Gambit (I Am Invincible), who defeated Ozzmosis at Randwick to claim his biggest stakes success, will stand for an introductory fee of $22,000.
The 17-strong stallion roster, Newgate’s largest since its inception under the management of Field, will once again be helmed by “statistically Australia’s best stallion” Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), who will remain at an unchanged fee of $275,000.
But in reaction to breeders’ changing fortunes throughout 2024’s yearling sales, Newgate has slashed the service fees for Capitalist (Written Tycoon) and Russian Revolution (Snitzel) as well as a number of its second and third-year sires who also had their fees decreased.
Tassort (Brazen Beau), however, the current second leading first season sire by earnings behind Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), will have his fee increased to $38,500 (all fees inc GST) in 2024, from just the $11,000 he stood at for in his first four seasons, on the back of his two-year-olds’ stunning emergence on the racetrack, with his five individual winners headlined by ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Manaal.
Russian Revolution and Capitalist will stand for $66,000, down from $88,000 and $77,000 respectively, and their Golden Slipper-winning barnmate Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) will stand his third season at Newgate, the leading Australian stud last breeding season by market share, for a reduced fee of $55,000, down from the $77,000 he stood for in 2023.
The Bjorn Baker-trained Ozzmosis, just as Field and his partners did with Stay Inside in 2021, entered the Newgate-China Horse Club colts partnership after two blistering victories in the late autumn, performances that came well after initially intended given the veracity of his barrier trial effort at the first official Sydney two-year-old barrier trial session in September 2022.
Ozzmosis lived up to his part of the bargain after the new group of owners joined forces with Darby Racing, with the colt winning the Heritage Stakes (Listed, 1100m) first-up at three, defeating this autumn’s revelation Celestial Legend (Dundeel), finishing third in the Roman Consul prior to his 1.25-length show of sustained speed in the Coolmore.
“Ozzmosis will retire at an identical fee to his own sire Zoustar who retired with a very similar body of work to his own sire, having won the Coolmore dominantly in an almost identical rating to his sire in doing so,” Field said of Ozzmosis.
“He was a horse that Bjorn Baker absolutely and genuinely felt was the best he’s ever trained, so we are excited about the fact that he’s the fourth generation of Coolmore Stud Stakes winners for the sireline being Encosta De Lago, Northern Meteor, Zoustar who are all outstanding sires and we couldn’t feel more confident that Ozzmosis will follow in their footsteps.”
Ozzmosis may command a higher first season fee than Militarize, who was himself a $550,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase, but he’s no less admired by Field and his co-investors.
Trained by Chris Waller, Militarize completed the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes-Champagne Stakes double, having had his Golden Slipper hopes railroaded by severe interference, before returning at three to claim the Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m).
He also ran well in this season’s Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) and was three times Group 1-placed during the autumn, in the Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), the George Ryder (Gr 1, 1500m) and Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m).
“We thought long and hard about going on to a Golden Eagle or a Cox Plate as a four-year-old, but given he’s the most accomplished colt of his generation he didn’t have anything more to prove on the racetrack,” the studmaster said of Militarize.
“Being by Dundeel out of a Dubawi mare, he is a pure outcross, which is of huge value.”
The “phenomenally talented” Peter and Paul Snowden-trained King’s Gambit, meanwhile, burst onto the scene with a five-length procession in the Debutant Stakes (Listed, 1000m) in the October of his two-year-old season and was later placed in a Canonbury Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m), the Silver Slipper and the Golden Slipper behind his recently retired peers Shinzo (Snitzel) ($55,000) and Cylinder (Exceed And Excel) ($44,000).
“Since we’ve been involved with the Snowdens, I have never seen them so confident going into a Golden Slipper with a horse than they were with King’s Gambit,” Field said.
“His run indicated that their confidence was [justified] running third to Shinzo. He didn’t have the rub of the green in the race, but he was a very dominant winner on debut and won a very strong edition of the Roman Consul, beating home Celestial Legend and Ozzmosis. He’s a highly talented horse described by [Newgate stud manager] Jim Carey, who I have a huge respect for as a judge, as almost a perfect ten [physically].
“We didn’t see the best of him on the racetrack, but I’m sure we’ll see it in the breeding barn.”
As for Tassort, the sire of five winners and three stakes horses from 15 starters to date, Field suggested that the increased fee for the Golden Gift (1100m) winner who raced just twice compared favourably against his contemporaries.
He said: “We think we have been unbelievably competitive compared to the other stallions in his generation who he is fighting out the champion first season sires’ title with.”
In other changes to the Newgate Farm fee structure, Cox Plate-winning shuttler State Of Rest (Starspangledbanner) ($27,500), Golden Rose (Gr 1, 1400m) scorer In The Congo (Snitzel) ($27,500), Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) winner Wild Ruler (Snitzel) ($27,500) and dual Group 1-winning sprinter Artorius (Flying Artie) ($22,000), who won the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at two, have all seen reductions ahead of the 2024 breeding season.
Field indicated Newgate had deliberately set its service fees “ultra competitively”.
“The yearling aggregate [in sales] this year compared to the past two is very similar. But we’ve spoken to a lot of breeders and the feedback is that costs have gone up and it’s really important for our business that we can keep breeders profitable,” Field said.
“We’ve got seven Australian Group 1 winners at stud who are either in their first, second or third seasons and that’s basically the same number as all of our competitors combined and we’ve priced those horses, every one of them, between $22,000 and $55,000, so we have reduced nearly all of our fees with the exception of Tassort.
“The majority of we’ve sharpened the pencil on and brought down and we’re doing that because we absolutely do not take for granted that without breeders, we’re out of business.”
Newgate Farm stallion roster
2024 2023
Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) $275,000 unchanged
Capitalist (Written Tycoon) $66,000 $77,000
Russian Revolution (Snitzel) $66,000 $88,000
Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) $55,000 $77,000
Ozzmosis (Zoustar) $44,000 new
Militarize (Dundeel) $38,500 new
Tassort (Brazen Beau) $38,500 $11,000
State Of Rest (Starspangledbanner) $27,500 $44,000
In The Congo (Snitzel) $27,500 $33,000
Wild Ruler (Snitzel) $27,500 $38,500
King’s Gambit (I Am Invincible) $22,000 new
Artorius (Flying Artie) $22,000 $27,500
Brutal (O’Reilly) $16,500 $22,000
North Pacific (Brazen Beau) $16,500 $22,000
Cosmic Force (Deep Field) $11,000 unchanged
Profiteer (Capitalist) $11,000 $16,500
Tiger Of Malay (Extreme Choice) $11,000 $16,500