$50 million-plus deal brings Super Seth to Coolmore

Coolmore has purchased Waikato Stud’s proven sire Super Seth in a deal believed to be worth well north of $50 million as the Australian arm of the international operation attempts to rebuild its stallion roster.

The sire of four individual Group 1 winners, three from his first crop and one from his second, Super Seth has emerged as a leading New Zealand stallion who had been anointed as the successor to Waikato Stud’s champion sire Savabeel.

But the nine-year-old stallion’s future will be at Jerrys Plains in the Hunter Valley, with Super Seth set to gain the support of Australia’s leading commercial breeders after fast-moving negotiations which took place this week.

With Randwick Guineas winner Linebacker, Australian Guineas winner Feroce and Queensland Derby winner Maison Louis all Group 1 winners in his first crop as well as second crop New Zealand Group 1-winning juvenile La Dorada, Super Seth’s record had become too hard to ignore.

He stood at an increased fee of NZ$75,000 (plus GST) last year, his first season since the four Group 1 winners in the first half of last year, covering 197 mares in his biggest book in six seasons at stud. 

It’s believed that Coolmore’s high-stakes play came together in just a matter of days, with the Magnier family determined to secure the pin-up stallion to support their band of high-class broodmares.

Tom Magnier, however, said Super Seth had been on Coolmore’s radar for some time “and he strikes us as a stallion that
can make a significant impact on the Australian breeding industry”.

“For a young horse, the trajectory that he is on is something that is very rarely seen. To produce three Group 1 winners in Australia from his first crop including two Guineas winners and follow it up with a champion two-year-old in his second is an amazing achievement,” Magnier said.

“(Coolmore stud manager) Justin Carey and I went over to see him and his young stock at Waikato this
week and we are very impressed by what we saw. He is going to be ideal for so many Australian mares, both physically and on pedigree.”

Coolmore’s stallion ranks were dealt a significant blow last spring after the shock deaths of shuttler Wootton Bassett and champion racehorse turned sire So You Think in quick succession, putting pressure on its roster and limiting options for a high-class broodmare band the operation had built up through acquisitions in recent years.

It has the promising Home Affairs, whose first crop two-year-old Guest House is a leading hope in Saturday’s Group 1 Blue Diamond, as well as Golden Slipper winner Shinzo and Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Switzerland but its ranks are devoid of proven sires.

Last week, Waikato Stud’s Mark Chittick was effusive in his praise for Super Seth who has eight stakes winners in his first two crops. 

“Super Seth had a start like no other stallion has. In fact, somebody told me (last week) his stats at the same stage are exactly the same as Redoute’s Choice, and only second to Danehill, in kicking off a stud career in Australasia,” Chittick told The Straight last Friday.

“If that’s a fact, it’s a pretty big call.”

A purchase price north of $50 million puts him among the two or three most expensive Australasian thoroughbreds of all time.

A scenario such as Super Seth is not unfamiliar territory for Coolmore who paid about A$70 million for Wootton Bassett in 2020 as a proven source of Group 1 winners and deemed a readymade replacement for its champion Galileo. 

The Magniers bought Victoria-based sire Encosta De Lago in 2004 after the son of Fairy King had proven himself with four crops of racing age and seven at Blue Gum Farm near Euroa.

Similarly, Super Seth possesses a proven sireline for Coolmore, with his grandsire being High Chaparral, who began his southern hemisphere shuttling career at Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand before transferring to Jerrys Plains in 2010 on the back of his early success at stud.

Another selling point for Super Seth, who was a $280,000 Inglis Easter purchase by agent Dean Hawthorne for GSA Bloodstock’s Jonathan Munz, is that of his eight stakes winners to date they are out of mares with six different sires. 

Trained by Anthony Freedman carrying Munz’s red and white striped silks, he won five of his 12 starts including his career-defining 2019 Caulfield Guineas in which he ran down Alligator Blood.

Chittick negotiated with Munz to stand Super Seth at Waikato, with a syndicate formed to support the Group 1 winner at stud. Munz joined a syndicate which included Pencarrow Stud’s Sir Peter Vela and Australian owner and breeder Richard Pegum.

A number of the syndicate members, including Munz, have retained equity in Super Seth with Waikato Stud also vowing to continue to support the stallion.

Chittick credited stallion manager Ryan Figgins and his family for helping in Super Seth’s stud career, declaring how proud he felt to have developed the horse into a world-class stallion upon confirmation of the deal.

“This is a massive achievement for the New Zealand industry, our fellow breeders and Super Seth’s shareholders who went all-in to help Waikato develop this world-class stallion,” Chittick said.

“It’s very hard to make a stallion, let alone to do it during the COVID-19 pandemic where there was so much uncertainty; it’s a very big achievement for New Zealand. It makes the early mornings and long nights a little easier knowing what we’re doing is working.

“On behalf of the Chittick family, thank you very much to the Magnier family and Coolmore team, whose enthusiasm to support New Zealand will continue through joining us in Return To Conquer. And to our breeders, very well done – it’s a privilege to be part of this industry with you all.”