Looking to North America – Is the time right for Australian breeders to target US-based stallions?

The global thoroughbred industry, they say, is becoming ever smaller and Australian breeders are increasingly open-minded about where and how they source broodmares and the stallions they may access.

Frankel, Deep Impact and Lope De Vega have all influenced the Australian Stud Book despite never standing Down Under. 

Two years ago, when Darley and Watership Down Stud elected to rest Too Darn Hot from shuttle duties, Australian breeders still supported him by sending mares to the UK to be served by him to southern hemisphere time.

As breeders contemplate how to manage their broodmare bands this year, American stallions such as Gun Runner and Not This Time could be under greater consideration from Australasian-focused breeders this year.

US bloodstock agent Case Clay, who also acts as Wathan Racing’s American adviser and racing manager, oversees a portfolio of Australian-based mares and has supported Gun Runner to southern hemisphere time in the past and could do so again in the future.

Earlier this year, the Arrowfield and Clay’s Breckenridge Ventures-bred Gun Runner-Eulogy colt sold for $260,000 to Bourbon County Bloodstock at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, three months prior to the stallion siring his first Australian winner.

That honour went to the Glenn Hale-bred and Yulong-owned Genesis Runner, a two-year-old colt trained by Richard and Will Freedman.

“Eulogy was a mare we bought up here privately (in the US) and I thought I’d breed her to southern hemisphere time since the southern hemisphere seasons tend to be discounted off the northern hemisphere fees and I thought I’d just give it a go by breeding to Gun Runner,” Clay said. 

“I may have been a couple of years too early just because there’s not a big sample size down there of Gun Runners but, and the sample size of Gun Runners on the turf is going to get bigger because Coolmore bred some very nice mares to him and there will be some Gun Runners running over in Ireland. 

“So, I’d be anticipating some success for Gun Runner on the grass.” 

Gun Runner, who stands at Three Chimneys in Kentucky and is the sire of 58 stakes winners, is expected to be available to southern hemisphere time at a fee of about US$90,000. 

Clay also advocated for Not This Time, the sire of 13 Grade 1 winners including brief Australian shuttler Cogburn, believing the stallion has the right credentials to be a success in the southern hemisphere.

But that proposition might not happen this year.

“I’m breeding and selling out of those (Australian-based) mares at the moment, so I’m not actively looking for another one,” he said.

“If something came up that was a great opportunity, I’d look at it. But I’m in the lifecycle of these partnerships where they’re down there, they’re breeding and we’re selling yearlings now.”

Other breeders have already made plans to make the most of Not This Time’s southern hemisphere availability.

British agent Matt Houldsworth, a regular at the Inglis and Magic Millions sales, last month bought Wander Woman via Fasig-Tipton’s online sale for US$100,000 on behalf of Australian interests.

The stakes-placed daughter of Blame, the broodmare sire of Coolmore’s Group 1-winning Snitzel stallion Switzerland and his promising three-year-old brother St Gotthard, will be served by Taylor Made-based Not This Time to southern hemisphere time later this year.

“Not This Time is a generational stallion, and I believe he can have the same impact in Australia as he has in America and Europe,” Houldsworth said.

Taylor Made’s director of stallion nominations and operations Brock Martin confirmed Not This Time would be open for southern hemisphere matings at a fee of US$100,000 this year, less than half the US$250,000 he stood for during the just gone northern hemisphere season.

“Not This Time has covered a handful of southern hemisphere mares the past three breeding seasons and we’ve received quite a bit of interest from breeders already looking to utilise him this year”, Martin said.

Lane’s End’s Flightline, an unbeaten son of Tapit who rounded out his six-start career with a phenomenal Breeders’ Cup Classic performance in 2022, would also be of interest to breeders looking to capitalise on his talent and expose him to the Australasian market.

However, Flightline will be off-limits come September 1, the start of the southern.

“We’ve historically not bred mares (to) southern hemisphere time here at the farm,” Lane’s End’s Chris Knehr confirmed this week.  

“There were some initial inquiries about Flightline, but we declined to offer him southern hemisphere in the off season.” 

Across the Atlantic, Haras de Bonneval’s champion French stallion Siyouni – the sire of Australian Group 1 winner Amelia’s Jewel – won’t be in commission to southern hemisphere breeders this year.

“Unfortunately, Siyouni won’t be covering southern hemisphere mares this year, despite the few demands we received,” Aga Khan Studs’ Pierre Gasnier said. 

“We feel, at this stage of his career, it’s in his best interest to look after his health and therefore give him a long break after a busy northern hemisphere breeding season. 

“He is in very good form indeed. He covered 138 mares this season and he will turn 20 years old. 

“We can only hope he will be able to perform his duty as long as possible for the breeders and our operation.”

UK-based Juddmonte is considering how to manage Frankel and Kingman’s southern hemisphere duties this year, with confirmation of their availability and service fees expected to be announced in the near future.