Seven days in … breeding and bloodstock – European mare imports slide

In this edition:

• Run The Numbers – When eight is enough
• Amo fires on record final day at Arqana as Godolphin lights up Deauville sales ring 
• Sherrin steps in for Siyouni filly at Arqana 
• Baker’s French foray nets half-brother to Arapaho 
• Rowe On Monday – Clarke’s French connection, South Africa goes online and Darley headline mares booked for Too Darn Hot 
• Brookdale sells its share in US Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna 
• In his Element – new owner for farm which produced Hong Kong star Golden Sixty 
• Last available Too Darn Hot nomination to be auctioned for charity 

The start of the 2025 southern hemisphere breeding season is just a fortnight away and Europe as a source of broodmares to complement Australia’s heavily Danehill-influenced pedigrees will be the lowest since the onset of the pandemic five years ago.

In 2024, of broodmares imported to Australia (including from New Zealand), 21 per cent of them were from Europe, the lowest figure since 2020 (18 per cent).

That, of course, was a chaotic year when travel between state borders for human and horse was difficult enough, let alone trying to import mares and stallions to and from different countries in the pursuit of breeding thoroughbreds.

There were seven broodmares imported from France last year, including West Australian breeder Peter Walsh’s Arqana-purchased mare Bumbasina, the dam of his Perth Group 1 winner Amelia’s Jewel, who was carrying a sister to his star mare by Siyouni.

There were also 68 mares imported from Britain in 2024, but there have been far fewer this year, with just 18 landing on our shores so far. Fourteen of them were covered by Darley’s Too Darn Hot to southern hemisphere time.

Too Darn Hot returns to Darley’s Kelvinside this year after being “rested” from shuttle duties last year and it’s as good a chance as any to give a worthy cause another plug. The last nomination available to the champion young stallion will be auctioned in aid of the CatWalk Trust charity via Inglis Digital next week.

Australian Stud Book data shows that there’s also been a decline in imports from the US, with 37 mares settling in Australia in 2024 compared to just two so far this year and the 31 who joined the Stud Book in 2023.

There could be many reasons for breeders’ being more conservative when it comes to sourcing mares from Europe for the Australian market and the cost of doing so would certainly be a major factor.

The Aussie dollar is buying 65 US cents compared to the 67 US cents it was 12 months ago and the 72 US cents it was five years ago. That represents a 9.7 per cent decrease in Australians’ bang for their buck without taking into account the rising cost of international breeding stock.

The pound is worth comparatively more today with an Australian dollar buying just 48 pence compared to the 52 pence it was a year ago and 55 pence it was worth five years ago.

One of the European race mares imported early last year, and who doesn’t figure in the above statistics as she hasn’t yet been retired to stud, is Via Sistina, a 2.7 million guinea (A$5.8 million) purchase for Yulong out of the 2023 Tattersalls December Mare Sale.

Currency exchange matters little to Yulong’s Zhang Yuesheng, who is hellbent on chasing elite race success around the world at almost any cost.

And, as Run The Numbers found, Via Sistina, who has banked $11.6 million since arriving in Australia, will be attempting to be the first eight-year-old mare (to southern hemisphere time) to win a Group 1 since the Pattern was introduced in the 1970s.

Trained by Chris Waller, Via Sistina will be out to add to her eight Australian Group 1 wins when she resumes in Saturday’s Winx Stakes at Randwick.

The declining value of the dollar has made it tougher for Australians to compete in the public and private bloodstock markets in Europe and the US, but that didn’t stop Sydney trainer Bjorn Baker and agent Jim Clarke from being active at the just concluded Arqana August Yearling Sale.

As expected, it was the heavyweights Amo Racing and Godolphin, among others, battling out at the top end, with their competition sending prices soaring and new records being set on the final day in Deauville.

Queenslander Clarke, who also bought a Siyouni filly for client Michael Sherrin at Arqana, revealed to Rowe On Monday that he and Baker would do things slightly differently when it came to managing the early career of the brother to this year’s Sydney Cup winner Arapaho.

An international player in the bloodstock market with strong Australian ties is Brookdale Racing, run by Bahrain-based Nader Hasan Moosa Jaafar Alaali, who sold his 50 per cent share in champion US mare Thorpedo Anna to John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale in a private deal last week.

Brookdale Racing has taken on all of the jailed Phoenix Thoroughbreds founder Amer Abdulaziz Salman’s Australian racing and breeding interests, including Group 1-winning mare Loving Gaby, in recent years.

Queensland’s Element Hill property, where Hong Kong champion Golden Sixty was born and raised, has also been sold. 

The Straight will be in the Hunter Valley over the weekend for the annual stallion parade weekend. Please come and say hello.

Regards

Tim Rowe

Senior Journalist

The Straight