‘He just keeps doing these special things’ – Extreme Choice hits $385,000 as Newgate sets roster fees

Newgate Farm has recognised the extraordinary feats of its roster-leading sire Extreme Choice by increasing his service fee to an equal Australian record of $385,000 (inc GST).

The continued elevation of Extreme Choice – the sire of Group 1-winning filly Apocalyptic, Todman Stakes-winning colt Paradoxium and Canonbury Stakes winner Hidrix this season – comes as Newgate focuses on the continued narrowing of the commercial yearling market.

Of Newgate’s roster of 15 stallions, Extreme Choice was the only sire to have his fee raised ahead of the 2026 breeding season.

His fee matches the late Coolmore shuttle sire Wootton Bassett who stood for the same figure last year. Yearling buyers clamoured for his latest crop, with seven selling for $1 million-plus at the Inglis Easter sale last month.

A colt out of stakes-winning mare Pretty Brazen also topped the sale at $3 million.

“He just keeps doing these special things from limited numbers and people have been more and more inclined to send their special mares to him as opposed to sending a nice mare,” Newgate Farm’s Bruce Slade said. 

“In the last few years he started to get the best mares and probably Pretty Brazen’s a pretty good example of that.”

Extreme Choice’s fertility challenges are well-documented, with the stallion covering one mare a day. He served 111 mares at $330,000 last season – his second largest ever book and Slade made the point that he is open to all breeders, not just shareholders.

“What we basically say to people is, ‘listen, we’re happy to book the mare and we’re happy to certainly get her bred, provided she’s cycling perfectly’,” Slade said. 

“And of course we pick the best candidate day to day for him to cover, because he only covers the one a day.”

For those who can’t access Extreme Choice, his Golden Slipper-winning son Stay Inside could be an option, with Newgate electing to keep his fee at an unchanged fee of $66,000 after promising signs with his first crop two-year-olds.

Stay Inside is the sire of Breeders’ Plate winner Incognito, recent Kindergarten Stakes-winning filly Blue Door and the New Zealand Group 2 winner Lassified.

“He has made a cracking start to his career. He’s had 11 runners so far for three stakes winners and four stakes horses and he’s currently the leading first crop sire by winners and stakes winners in Australia,” Slade said. 

“He had another good sale season again, with his colts selling up to $850,0000 and his fillies up to $750,000. He’s been a horse that probably has had the best set up in Newgate history in terms of just quality support year in, year out. What you see now is probably the tip of the iceberg.” 

Capitalist, Australia’s leading sire by winners this season, also remains at an unchanged fee of $44,000, the same figure as Zoustar’s Coolmore Stud Stakes-winning son Ozzmosis will stand at in his third season at stud.

Ozzmosis covered 339 mares in his first two seasons at Newgate Farm and Slade believes buyers attending the upcoming weanling sales in Sydney, on the Gold Coast and in Melbourne will be impressed by what they see.

“They’ve got lots of quality and he’s adding leg to his mares,” Slade said.

“He’s actually very much like Anamoe in his physicality and what’s happened there is it’s allowed people to be very accurate in the style of mare that’s going to suit him. 

“Those neat square, sharp mares really suit him because he’s going to give you leg, he’s going give you the most magnificent head on your foal, just a beautiful, high quality horse and he’s a real Zoustar in that respect.”

Tassort has had his fee reduced slightly to $33,000, the same fee as Russian Revolution, the sire of Group 1 winners Libertad and Lara Antipova this season.

Wild Ruler, whose first crop son Stretan Ruler won the Silver Slipper, finished runner-up in the Todman behind Paradoxium and a gallant fifth in the Golden Slipper, remains unchanged at $27,500.

The son of Snitzel is also the sire of the stakes-placed two-year-old Savage Look from his first crop juveniles.

Cox Plate-winning shuttler State Of Rest, Artorius, In The Congo and King’s Gambit will all stand for $22,000. Brutal and Cosmic Force will both stand for $16,500 while Tiger Of Malay and Profiteer will stand for $11,000.

Slade said Newgate had made it clear to its large client base that they should endeavour to breed horses that would be considered to be in the top 30 per cent of foals born each year.

The Straight reported in March that the 2025-born foal crop was 11,283, down 4.84 per cent year on year, with a prediction that the number could decline by about 900 foals this year based on the Australian Stud Book’s mare covering data.

“I think the market’s pretty clear, and this is how we’ve spoken to our clients, that you need to be in the top 3000 foals in Australia, and that gets you into those major sales or the top-end of the middle range sales,” Slade said. 

“That’s the number one thing, and that from that point of view, we have stallions with the numbers coming through that can certainly put themselves in that position in two to three years’ time.”

Breeders also face the prospect of fewer first season sires retiring to stud in 2026, opening the door for young stallions yet to prove themselves.

“It’s too early to actually give you the numbers on those (first season stallions), but just from our insight and intel, it looks that way, and on the back of that, breeders are going to have to look to second, third, fourth crop sires that they like the look of, that they like the profile of, that are well set up, and back them in,” he said.

“I think that’s where our stallions at Newgate are really going to sort of come to the fore.” 

Newgate stallion roster 2026

Extreme Choice $385,000 ($330,000)

Stay Inside $66,000 (unchanged)

Capitalist $44,000 (unchanged)

Ozzmosis $44,000 (unchanged)

Tassort $33,000 ($38,500)

Russian Revolution $33,000 (unchanged)

Wild Ruler $27,500 (unchanged)

State Of Rest $22,000 (unchanged)

Artorius $22,000 (unchanged)

In The Congo $22,000 ($27,500)

King’s Gambit $22,000 (unchanged)

Brutal $16,500 (unchanged)

Cosmic Force $16,500 (unchanged)

Tiger Of Malay $11,000 (unchanged)

Profiteer $11,000 (unchanged)