Rowe On Monday – An Affair of consequence for Rogers, Home run to a fee hike and Derby-winning Ibis proves a columnist’s best friend

An Affair to remember for Rogers

Quietly spoken Ballarat-based agent Jeremy Rogers, who helped select Golden Slipper-winning colt Guest House, always held Coolmore stallion Home Affairs in high regard from the time the colt stepped foot on the racetrack.

Although he never laid eyes on Home Affairs at the yearling sales, the opinion of a close friend made him watch closely when the Inglis Easter graduate hit the racetrack for Coolmore and trainer Chris Waller.

Firstly he missed the I Am Invincible colt when he was scheduled to sell at the Magic Millions sale on the Gold Coast only to be withdrawn. Then, when Home Affairs went through Inglis’ sale ring at Warwick Farm, Rogers was stuck in country Victoria during lockdown due to the government-imposed pandemic restrictions.

But it was that valued assessment of Home Affairs, the sire of Guest House, that played a small role in the consideration of the first crop yearlings by the stallion.

“My mate, he’s a good judge, he said (Home Affairs) is the best colt he’s seen in 30 years,” Rogers told this column. 

“He was racing in the same year as (Rogers-purchased) Profiteer as well, so I always took notice of him. 

“I wasn’t out to necessarily buy a Home Affairs last year, but I was interested to see what they were like and geez, they were good types.”

The unidentified friend told Rogers after inspecting Home Affairs that he’d be out of reach for the agent who acts for a small band of clients including syndicator Roll The Dice Racing, whose colours Guest House wears.

“He was just an absolute bull, but he just had everything in proportion, he had the good hind quarter, the good strong back, the good length of rein, he just had everything,” Rogers recalled.

“He just said we won’t be able to buy him but he’s as good a colt I’ve seen in 30 years.”

As for Guest House, who was bred by Love Racing, G1G Racing and Breeding’s Gary Diamond and Henderson Racing and Breeding, it was the colt’s demeanour as much as his physique that won Rogers over at the Magic Millions sale last year.

“I reckon he’s got a very good brain on him and you see him after the Slipper. He was just walking back like he was on a Sunday stroll,” Rogers said.

“I don’t deal with him day to day, but he does seem to have a very good temperament.”

Guest House sums up what Rogers looks for in a yearling.

“The first thing they’ve got to have is I like them to have a good hindquarter, good girth and good rein, and above all else, they’ve got to have a good head on them, a good brain on them,” he said.

“If they’re flying around like kites out of the sales, they might be hard to work with (as racehorses).”

Rogers, whose Slipper win is yet to sink in, will be at the Easter sale this week and perhaps with a bigger budget than he thought he would have had last Friday.

What service fee will Home Affairs stand for this year?

A first-crop Golden Slipper winner for Home Affairs via Guest House puts him in the company of champion stallions Extreme Choice and Danehill.

It also puts him alongside Stratum, himself a Slipper winner, Sidestep, Marauding and Crown Jester.

So what does Guest House’s Group 1 win, making him a probable $25 million-plus colt, do for his sire’s Home Affairs’ 2026 service fee?

When he retired to stud at a fee of $110,000 (all fees inc GST) in 2022, it made him the highest-priced Australian-bred first season sire to go to stud – a figure since eclipsed by Anamoe a year later ($121,000) – so it’s a sure bet he’ll go above that when fees are announced in the coming weeks.

Extreme Choice is a unique case given his fertility issues and he stood on a fee on application basis in 2021 after Stay Inside’s Slipper win. Last year he stood for an advertised fee of $330,000.

Danehill, who sired back-to-back first and second crop Slipper winners with Danzero and Flying Spur in 1994 and 1995 and another in 1999 with Catbird, also stood for a fee on application basis in the spring following his first crop breakthrough.

Sidestep is another interesting case in that he’d already had one season at Telemon Thoroughbreds in Queensland, having been relocated in a deal with Darley, only for Kiamichi to come out and win the Slipper.

His fee went from $7700 to $22,000 on the back of his Group 1 success and a first season sire title.

A better case study might be Widden’s Stratum whose daughter Crystal Lily won the 2010 edition, with her emergence allowing Antony Thompson and his management team to almost double the stallion’s fee from $33,000 to $60,500.

For the record, without any inside running, this columnist’s estimate is $165,000 (inc GST) with the reasoning for the substantial hike being that there is a lack of proven stallions in the market.

Wootton Bassett and Snitzel are no longer with us, Written Tycoon (if he stands this year) is private, effectively Extreme Choice is too, and Too Darn Hot, Zoustar and I Am Invincible will almost certainly be $200,000-plus again this year.

There’s a dearth of stallions in the $100,000 to $200,000 range, with only Anamoe falling into that last year and it’s a bracket in which Coolmore’s new recruit Super Seth is also likely to fit into as well.

All hail HK Derby winner Invincible Ibis

Now, to be self-indulgent for a second, Sunday’s Hong Kong Derby was of special significance, with many close family and friends and I breeding the winner, Hellbent’s son Invincible Ibis.

The last foal out of My Dear Friend, who we bought as a two-win tried horse, has provided our large syndicate with many tremendous experiences from on the track, to the sales ring and now a signature race in Hong Kong.

After winning nine bush races for us, My Dear Friend spent the majority of her breeding career at Widden Stud, whose team looked after her and her foals and guided us throughout the process. We needed it as the majority of us were breeding novices when she went to stud.

It could have been different as Willow Park’s Glenn Burrows made an offer to buy My Dear Friend towards the end of her racing career, but the syndicate’s “inner sanctum” decided against selling her. 

Thankfully, we weren’t registered syndicators, as the wider ownership group was not informed of the offer.

Fifteen years after buying her from an Inglis tried horse sale in Melbourne, My Dear Friend continues to bind together a large group of friends with dormant WhatsApp groups reignited via the emergence of the Mark Newnham-trained Invincible Ibis.

My Dear Friend is living out her days in a paddock in North East Victoria where she’s well-cared for.

Hong Kong Derby winner INVINCIBLE IBIS is SW11 for Hellbent

Dam 1/2 to Gr1 Harry’s Son

4th dam Gr1 Miss Clipper@mark_mnracing @HugeBowman @inglis_sales @widdenstud @Kilgravin @KarakaChat @yarramanpark @HongKong_Racingpic.twitter.com/80jexgakql

— Pedigree Update (@pedigreeupdate) March 22, 2026