Little Brose will stand at Little Avondale Stud in New Zealand next year, becoming the first Australian Group 1-winning two-year-old colt to retire to stud across the Tasman since Darci Brahma in 2007.
Studmaster Sam Williams vowed to exit the stallion business when Per Incanto - the sire of Little Brose - was eventually pensioned, but the opportunity to stand his Blue Diamond Stakes-winning son was too hard to ignore.
Little Avondale announced the acquisition of Little Brose on Sunday, six weeks after Williams inspected him at Lindsay Park in November after the four-year-old entire returned from Hong Kong earlier this year.
Williams admitted the prospect of taking on Little Brose forced a rethink after a difficult 18 months at Little Avondale where he underwent his own health scare and Per Incanto was also sidelined for part of the 2023 breeding season after suffering a paddock injury.
“I was personally thinking about getting out of the game, not out of the industry, just out of the stallion business,” the Masterton-based Williams told The Straight.
“But then when a mate of mine approached me about the horse, I had to admit, I just went, ‘oh shivers, I could actually be really keen to be doing this’.
“When I went to (my wife) Catriona), she went, ‘really?’ but she understood completely why, and we both got really excited about it, not just because it's the son of Per Incanto, but he's a Group 1-winning two-year-old, having won one of Australia's most prestigious Group 1 two-year-old races.
“If you look at the list of winners, previous winners, it is a stallion-making race.”
Bred by New Zealander David Wallace and sold for $200,000 at the 2022 Magic Millions sale, Little Brose’s racing career was brought to an end following a tendon injury when in training with David Hayes at Sha Tin.
Little Brose raced 11 times in all, having defeated Group 1 Newmarket Handicap winner Cylinder in winning the Listed Merson Cooper at just his second start before landing the Blue Diamond two starts later, prompting huge offers from Australian stallion farms which were rejected by the horse’s Hong Kong-based owners.
Little Brose, who will stand for NZ$15,000 (plus GST) next year, is out of US Listed-winning Straight Man mare Mohegan Sky, who is from the same family as Australian Group 1 Tatt’s Tiara winner Absolut Glam and current leading South African three-year-old filly Saartjie.
It’s not only Little Brose’s race performance that excites Williams.
“Here in New Zealand, and take Savabeel out of the equation because of his age, from $80,000 to $10,000, to find a stallion that is Danehill or Sadler's Wells free, there's only three of them in that bracket, so, to me, it was a no-brainer,” he said.
“The other thing is, from the start, I've been buying all these mares for Per Incanto and he's reaching an age where I can now send these mares to Little Brose as well and carry on what we're doing here at Little Avondale to achieve what we want to set out to do.”
A 40-share syndicate has been formed to support Little Brose at stud, with every major New Zealand stud and breeder getting behind the Group 1 winner. There are also Australian and Singaporean shareholders in the horse.
Aushorse Investor’s Guide 2025
- More Races worth $1 million+ than Europe & America combined
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From humble beginnings Little Brose’s sire Per Incanto, now aged 21, has carved out a successful career at Little Avondale, siring 32 individual stakes winners to date, including seven Group 1 winners such as Belclare, Roch ‘N’ Horse and Santa Monica.
His daughter Marotiri Molly also won the Group 2 Manawatu Challenge Stakes on Saturday.
The Blue Diamond has been won by colts such as Redoute’s Choice, Bel Esprit, Star Witness, Sepoy, Pride Of Dubai and Extreme Choice and, in more recent times, Written By, Tagaloa, Artorius and Daumier.
Darci Brahma, the last Australian Group 1-winning colt to retire to stud in New Zealand, took out the 2005 TJ Smith Stakes (now called the JJ Atkins Stakes) in Brisbane.
