The Straight Daily News – Zoustar fee steady | The end for V’landys? | Perry selling down
Widden unmoved on Zoustar
Widden has retained Zoustar’s service fee at $275,000 as he chases his first Australian sires championship, while 10 of the farm’s 20 stallions across two states have had price reductions on 2024.
Zoustar fee steady as Widden reacts to market
Golden Rose winner Denman retired from stud duties
Denman will return to his birthplace in the Hunter Valley amid a decision to retire the handsome stallion from stud duties.
Winner of the 2009 Group 1 Golden Rose when racing in Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley silks, Denman has stood at Twin Hills Stud since 2019.
He will spend his days at Woodlands Stud, the Hunter Valley property where he was foaled when it was owned by the Ingham family before it was part of a bloodstock and real estate sale to Sheikh Mohammed in 2008.
“Denman has been a lovely horse to stand at Twin Hills, since he arrived here in 2019,” the stud’s principal Olly Tait posted on social media.
“Godolphin have been great partners in the horse since then and it is fitting that he will return to live in retirement where he was born, at Woodlands at Denman.”
Denman has sired the winners of nearly $60 million in prize money with 18 stakeswinners to his credit.
V’landys’ future in focus
Peter V‘landys’ future as Racing NSW chief executive may be under the spotlight, but those seeking to wedge him from the top job still have their work cut out, writes Bren O’Brien.
Comment: Is this the end game for Peter V’landys, or just another twist in his racing tale?
BRC and XXXX toast long-term sponsorship with another five years
One of racing’s enduring corporate relationships is closing in on a milestone with the Brisbane Racing Club and XXXX agreeing to terms in a new sponsorship deal.
The BRC and Queensland’s best-known brewer have inked a new five-year contract through to June 2030 that will push their major partnership to 47 years.
XXXX is a long-term supporter of sport in Queensland and a BRC partner since 1983, with XXXX Doomben Cup day one of the highlights of the Queensland winter carnival.
To celebrate their strong, longstanding partnership, XXXX and BRC are creating Brisbane’s ultimate sporting experience of Footy and Racing by opening the XXXX Sideline Beer Garden at Eagle Farm for one exciting day during The Star Stradbroke Season.
Open exclusively on Sky Racing Guineas day (3 May), the XXXX Sideline Beer Garden will combine the atmosphere of the NRL Magic Round with trackside action.
Aristia heads Perry’s latest dispersal
Greg Perry, the legendary stock picker and fund manager once dubbed the “Freak” for his ability to beat the market, is continuing his slow and structured exit from the thoroughbred industry.
Selling down – former fund manager Perry continues his exit from breeding industry
Rich Hill in commanding position despite lowering big guns service fees
Proisir and Satono Aladdin have had their service fees cut to their 2023 prices, an acknowledgment of market conditions rather than the stallions’ status and credentials, Rich Hill’s John Thompson says.
In unveiling Rich Hill’s 2025 stallion roster, champion New Zealand sire Proisir, who ended Savabeel’s eight-year reign in 2022-23, will stand for NZ$70,000 (all fees plus GST), while Japanese shuttler Satono Aladdin will stand for NZ$45,000.
The pair stood for NZ$80,000 and NZ$65,000 respectively last year and their new fees will still rank them among the top echelon of New Zealand’s stallions, just below that of Waikato’s Savabeel who stood at NZ$100,000 last season.
Little Avondale’s Per Incanto earlier this month had his fee increased to NZ$60,000 ahead of the 2025 breeding season while Super Seth, a roster mate of Savabeel, has not had his fee set after a breakout season with his first crop three-year-olds in which he has netted two Australian Group 1 Guineas winners, Feroce and Linebacker.
Proisir, the sire of three of the five highest-priced yearlings sold at this year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka sale including the NZ$1.1 million sister to Group 1 winner Prowess, has been a revelation since retiring to stud in 2015 at a fee of just NZ$7000.
From seven crops of racing age, the injury plagued twice Group 1-placed stallion has sired 23 stakes winners, six of them at Group 1 level.
Similarly, Satono Aladdin has made an impression in Australasia. From three Rich Hill-conceived crops, he has sired 11 stakes winners, New Zealand and Australian Oaks winner Pennyweka and recent Group 2 Millie Fox Stakes winner Firestorm among them.
Full story on The Straight on Thursday morning
Luck of the Irish a bone of contention for big bookie
International wagering firm Ladbrokes says it stands by a decision not to settle a winning bet of almost €320,000 ($A567,000) on a stable jumps double in Ireland.
A year since Dylan Phelan placed a €30 each-way double on Rocky’s Diamond in a maiden hurdle at Limerick and Diamond Nora in a mares’ maiden hurdle at Ballinrobe on April 19, 2024, taking prices of 80-1 and 125-1, Ladbrokes have declined the stable employee on the basis both races remain under investigation.
Rocky’s Diamond returned a starting price of 22-1 while Diamond Nora saluted at 16-1.
Ladbrokes said it took integrity matters “extremely seriously” and that the approach taken is consistent with the bookmaker’s terms and conditions.
“The (Irish Horse Racing Board) is conducting an ongoing investigation into these races and we are awaiting the outcome before settling bets related to this investigation,” Ladbrokes said in a statement to the Irish Racing Post.
“When a sporting governing body is investigating the integrity of a sports event on which we have taken notable bets, we will await the outcome of those proceedings before settling bets relating to the matter under investigation.
“We take integrity matters in sport extremely seriously and our approach is entirely consistent with our terms and conditions and how we would approach any sports event under investigation.”
In a statement, the IHRB confirmed that “winner all right was given on the day following both races” and that the investigation “is now nearing its conclusion and a decision will be taken shortly as to what further action, if any, will be taken”.
It also confirmed Phelan, who works for trainer Declan Queally, was not the subject of said investigation.
“There’s market movers the whole time and they moved a little bit, but Declan’s horses have a big following and plenty could have latched on,” Phelan said.
“At the end of the day I placed a couple of bets and I got lucky, that’s the bottom line.”
Can Overpass make it a three-peat in the 2025 Kia Quokka?
1001st winner for Street Boss
Godolphin colt Green Spaces, a three-quarter brother to multiple Group 1 winner Trekking, broke his maiden in style for trainer James Cummings at Geelong on Wednesday.
The two-year-old, having his second start, resisted a late charge from the favoured Regal Award to prevail by 0.3l in a 1212-metre maiden.
He is the 1001st global winner for his sire Street Boss, and the fourth from his current Australia two-year-old crop, which also includes stakes winners Tempted and Tentyris.
Green Spaces is the seventh foal from Redoute’s Choice mare Outdoor, whose first foal was Trekking, a son of Street Cry.
Regally bred maiden makes an Impact
The Peter Snowden-trained two-year-old Impact Zone went some way to repaying his $575,000 purchase price claiming a 900 metre maiden at Newcastle on Wednesday.
Wearing the China Horse Club colours as a member of the Newgate colt’s syndicate, Impact Zone, a graduate from the Rosemont draft at the 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale, improved off his debut second to lead all the way under jockey Tom Sherry.
“He’s got good ability. We’ve always seen that from what he’s done at home and in the trials, but he’s a big gross colt, so it’s taken a few runs for him to come to hand, but he’s done a good job today and he’s on that upward spiral,” stable representative Aaron Lau said.
The son of Exceed And Excel is the first foal to race from the Group 2-winning mare Gift Of Power, who was a $800,000 purchase for Rosemont Stud back in 2019.
She is a great-granddaughter of Group 1 winner Diamond Lover, the dam of elite-winning pair Don Eduardo and Tristalove and half-sister to Octagonal, Kaapstad and Mouawad.
Latest episode of The Debate with Bren O’Brien and Gareth Hall
Catch up via a podcast on the latest industry news with The Straight founder Bren O’Brien and Giddy Up’s Gareth Hall in their popular SEN Track segment, The Debate.
In this week’s episode, Bren and Gareth discuss the latest in the countdown to the $5 million Quokka at Perth’s Ascot racecourse on Saturday.
They also look ahead to Champions Day in Hong Kong where Mr Brightside and Royal Patronage contest the Mile while all eyes will be on Everest contender Ka Ying Rising.
Australia’s next generation of sires is also put under the microscope.
Click here for the latest episode.
Leading Australian Broodmare Sires
Source: Arion.co.nz
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