Widden launches Group 1 winner Portland Sky on Hunter Valley roster
Antony Thompson believes Oakleigh Plate-winning son of Deep Field offers ‘terrific’ value at opening fee of $27,500
Widden Stud has unveiled its Group 1-winning sprinter Portland Sky (Deep Field), who will stand at its Hunter Valley property for an introductory fee of $27,500 (inc GST) for the upcoming breeding season.
Stud principal Antony Thompson said it was a ‘tough decision’ but believed the Matt Laurie-trained Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winner and best-credentialed son of Deep Field (Northern Meteor) was most ideally placed in New South Wales, where he offers an attractive proposition for those breeders who have successfully bred to Deep Field previously, a stallion that last year commanded a fee of $88,000 (inc GST) having stood for an opening fee of $22,000 (inc GST) when first retired to stud in 2015.
“We certainly gave great consideration to standing him in Victoria. A lot of Victorian breeders were very keen to have him based in Victoria. But I just thought the number of breeders that have had good success with breeding to Deep Field in the Hunter, off a similar sort of introductory fee to when Deep Field first went to stud, there are a lot of those mares that went to Deep Field in those early days that produced very good looking yearlings, that have sold very well and have gone on to become high-class racehorses,” Thompson told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“A Group 1-winning colt with his looks and his performances represents terrific value. The breeders that have bred to Zoustar and Deep Field and have had success on that sire line, they know they’re such commercial horses.
“Deep Field’s price is as such that those breeders are thinking that it might be a bit prohibitive to go back to Deep Field, and they see Portland Sky as a very good option, and that’s certainly the response that we’ve had.”
In a ten-start career, nine of which in Victoria, Portland Sky became the first elite-level winner for Deep Field when he bravely held on to dead-heat with Celebrity Queen (Redoute’s Choice) in the time-honoured Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield as a three-year-old. It was a victory that backed up success in the Manfred Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) on his previous start – in which he defeated Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) – while the imposing colt claimed a first black-type success in the Red Anchor Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Moonee Valley during his first racing preparation that spring.
With an abundance of tactical speed, Portland Sky led from start to finish in each of his Group 3 successes, winning by a three-quarter-length margin over Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) in the Red Anchor Stakes while he prevailed by the same margin in defeating Aysar (Deep Field) in the Manfred Stakes.
In the Oakleigh Plate, he jumped from barrier five to travel on the speed in a fiercely-run race, with Ancestry (The Brothers War) on his inside and Anders (Not A Single Doubt) to the outer, but as their challenge wilted to finish 12th and 15th, Portland Sky showed traits of toughness and desire to ensure he was not headed at the post from the closing Celebrity Queen.
“He’s that sort of horse, he did it at both ends. It was a high-pressure race; he soaked that up when others compounded around him, so again, that’s what you’re looking for. That’s what the trainers are looking for, it’s what the breeders are looking for; a really good looking, tough, fast colt,” Thompson said, whose historic operation is famed for the colonial speed stallions it has stood, including Portland Sky’s ill-fated grandsire Northern Meteor (Encosta De Lago), whose son Zoustar is the stud’s current flagbearer.
“He’s a perfect fit for our roster,” Thompson continued. “He does have the speed that we look for and physically he’s such an impressive horse. Breeders are just going to love him and I’m sure those breeders that do breed to him will be rewarded with commercial yearlings down the track and I’m sure they’ll be top class racehorses as well.”
In winning the Oakleigh Plate as a three-year-old, Portland Sky followed in the footsteps of champion sires Fastnet Rock (Danehill) and Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice), the 2005 and 2006 winners of the race, while prior to Portland Sky the last three-year-old colt to taste success in the race was successful Rosemont Stud and Coolmore stallion Starspangledbanner (Choisir).
The winning time of 1:02.70 seconds is bettered only by Fastnet Rock among three-year-old-winning colts of the race.
The stallion also proved his credentials at weight-for-age level next start when finishing second to Masked Crusader (Toronado) in the William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) – a race possessing eight individual Group 1 winners – while he returned to Moonee Valley in the spring of his four-year-old to finish second in the McEwen Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m), beating recent William Reid Stakes winner September Run (Exceed And Excel).
“This horse got the big Group 1 win as a three-year-old against the older horses and historically that stands them in great shape to go on and be great sires,” Thompson said
“It’s a very tough race to win and to do it with a three-year-old at that time of year is a big ask and the race has a good record (of producing stallions). So that was a big tick, the weight-for-age performance was another big tick and if a colt can do that then there’s a very good chance they’ll be a good stallion.”
An $85,000 buy for Laurie from the 2019 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale, Thompson also lauded Portland Sky as a physical specimen and said it was the decisive factor in their decision to buy the stallion and stand him on their roster following his retirement in September last year.
“When you see a horse win a Group 1 and beat the older horses, that gets your attention. We were certainly interested then,” he said. “But when we went and inspected him – a great head and jowl, a lovely masculine shape of forearm and gaskin – that just sort of said Australian speed. The way he carried himself with such lovely movement, he really was the complete package.
“Matt Laurie did an outstanding job with this colt, having found him, purchased him and then trained him. He’s effusive in his comments and in his admiration for this horse. I know how much he loved him and Matt was thrilled to see him go to Widden as he believes he’ll be a really good stallion.”
Widden is offering shares and lifetime breeding rights in Portland Sky.