A relationship forged 15 years ago through champion sprinter-miler and top sire Starspangledbanner has led to Rosemont Stud being able to stand unbeaten European two-year-old Group 1 winner Henry Longfellow in 2025.
Anthony Mithen took on Starspangledbanner for four southern hemisphere seasons from 2013, 2014 and 2015 and again in 2019, with Rosemont’s input playing an integral role in turning the Coolmore-owned son of Choisir from a fertility-challenged stallion into a potent sire from the studmaster’s Victorian breeding operation.
Coolmore’s Magnier family and Mithen have become firm friends since the early days of Starpangledbanner, but it wasn’t until last year that the Rosemont principal sensed an opportunity to rekindle the professional relationship when Irish National Stakes winner Henry Longfellow was retired to stud in Ireland.
Mithen faced an anxious wait before Coolmore signed off on the deal a fortnight ago.
“It's that fine line between going well enough for him to be out of our grasp and well enough for a market to support him, and thankfully, we were able to convince Coolmore that Victoria would be a good spot for him,” a relieved and delighted Mithen told The Straight.
“I must say I was doing cartwheels a couple of weeks ago when we finally inked the agreement. I think it's a massive coup, particularly for Victoria.”
Europe’s second highest Timeform-rated two-year-old behind City Of Troy in 2023 and a son of the influential Dubawi, the sire of last season’s Australia’s champion first season sire Too Darn Hot, the exquisitely bred Henry Longfellow is out of champion European two- and three-year-old Galileo filly Minding, who won seven Group 1 races during her illustrious on-track career.
Adding to the depth of the pedigree of Henry Longfellow, Minding is a sister to Group 1 winners Tuesday and Empress Josephine while on the track he made his own mark for Coolmore and Aidan O’Brien, recording an unblemished three-run start to his career as a juvenile.
At three, Henry Longfellow was runner-up in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and third in the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp in France.
He will stand at Rosemont for an introductory fee of $22,000 (inc GST) in his first southern hemisphere season, comparable to his “full book” fee at Coolmore Ireland of €15,000 (A$24,862).
“His pedigree is off the charts; Dubawi is off the charts as a sire of sires, and he's a Group 1 winner at two as well as being a beautiful-looking athlete,” Mithen says of Henry Longfellow.
“There wasn't a box he didn't tick and we're riding the wave of the Too Darn Hot phenomenon. There's a lot of similarities, that's for sure.”
Henry Longfellow’s sire Dubawi shuttled to Australia on just three occasions - in 2006, 2008 and 2009 - siring 234 foals of which 22 won stakes races, six of them, including Srikandi, Secret Admirer, Shamal Wind and Tiger Tees, won at Group 1 level.
Victoria’s Woodside Park Stud shuttled Cox Plate runner-up Benbatl from Japan last year while Darley’s Ghaiyyath has his first southern hemisphere-bred two-year-olds racing this season.
Night Of Thunder, who shuttled to Victoria’s Darley operation for just one season, produced six stakes winners from that single Australia-conceived crop, headed by Queensland Derby winner Kukeracha.
"I think it's a massive coup, particularly for Victoria” -Anthony Mithen on a deal to stand Henry Longfellow at Rosemont Stud
Too Darn Hot, who was rested from shuttling duties after four seasons at Darley’s Kelvinside, has been a revelation and has raised hopes Henry Longfellow can make his own mark Down Under.
“I think I was part of the advertising campaign that Darley ran in his first season because we were supporting him and I was enthusiastic about his pedigree and his chances being quite possibly the best-bred horse to ever stand in Australia,” Mithen says.
“And I'm pinching myself that I might have the second best or maybe even Dubawi’s best-pedigreed horse in Henry Longfellow who might even topple the great Too Darn Hot.
“We've been an avid supporter of Too Darn Hot and gone to the trouble of sending six mares to Europe in the last six months to get in foal to him last spring, and we'll continue to support him, but it's nice to have what we see as almost a replica horse in our own backyard for Victorians to breed to.
“I'd like to think that there might even be a few tyre marks over the border coming from the Hunter Valley as well.”
