Cogburn’s breeding season cut short by fertility issues

Record-breaking US sprinter Cogburn has been pulled from service by Widden Stud, with the young stallion’s poor fertility leading to the decision to send him back to America just weeks into his maiden southern hemisphere season.

The fertility issues Cogburn suffered, which began to surface in recent weeks as his September-covered mares were being scanned to confirm pregnancies, have come as a shock to Widden principal Antony Thompson and WinStar Farm in Kentucky.

By boom American sire Not This Time, Cogburn won the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga in June last year in a blistering time of 59.8 seconds, a performance that led Thompson to broker a deal with WinStar Farm to shuttle the sprinter to the Hunter Valley.

Cogburn’s shock fertility issues at Widden are in stark contrast to his maiden season in Kentucky where he proved popular with American breeders and had 143 mares in foal.

Thompson and WinStar Farm’s Elliott Walden agreed the best course of action was to have Cogburn return to the northern hemisphere as soon as possible so veterinarians could try to ascertain the cause of his fertility problems.

“We are all terribly disappointed not to have been able to fulfill the obligations to the breeders who had supported Cogburn with a full book, but it’s important we do what is in the best interests of Cogburn and the syndicate and resolve this temporary issue,” Thompson told The Straight. 

Walden said initial testing and examinations of Cogburn had failed to provide reasons for the sudden drop in his fertility.

“We want to get Cogburn home to do more testing to prepare him  for his second season at stud,” Walden said. 

“I want to thank Antony and his team for the care of Cogburn during his time in Australia. 

“The test results of his semen have been very good, but we need to dig a little deeper to  understand what is going on. 

“He is an important horse for our future and we want to get him ready for 2026.”

In what has been a difficult year for Australian breeders, Arrowfield’s champion sire Snitzel died in June and Coolmore has been dealt a double blow with the deaths of Wootton Bassett and So You Think in quick succession.

Widden hosted a group of Australian breeders at last year’s Breeders’ Cup in America where Thompson showcased Cogburn as the stud’s new recruit and his re-entrance into the shuttle stallion market since Anabaa in the early 2000s.

In April, WinStar’s Liam O’Rourke told the Straight Talk podcast that Cogburn was a rare offering. 

“He had some really unique elements that we thought would set him apart, and it has in Kentucky,” O’Rourke said. 

“He has plenty of good qualities that we thought would suit the Australian market with his speed and we thought he would suit the Australian breeders physically. 

“We were very pleased when Antony brought his group in November to the farm and got a look at him and they really gave their stamp of approval that this is the kind of horse that people would really like in Australia.”

Cogburn’s Taylor Made Stallions-based Not This Time is the sire of 59 stakes winners from six crops of racing age including nine Grade 1 winners and buyers have gravitated to his stock at unprecedented levels during the current American yearling sale season.

This year, his yearlings have averaged A$1.035 million, double last year’s figure.

Cogburn was standing in Australia at a fee of $27,500 (inc GST).