By Kelsey Riley
Coolmore Stud is one of the most recognized names in the bloodstock industry globally, and its Australian satellite has certainly kept pace with the staggering success achieved in Europe and the U.S. In fact, 2015 proved a banner year for Coolmore Down Under. Coolmore Australia produced 25 stakes winners in 2015 and the winners of eight Group 1 races. Those Group 1 graduates include Cox Plate, Epsom H. and Queensland Oaks winner Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) and G1 Golden Slipper winner Vancouver (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro), who were both sold at Magic Millions. Pride of Dubai (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) solidified huge credentials when winning the G1 Blue Diamond S. and G1 Sires' Produce S. and another Coolmore grad, Japonisme (Aus) (Choisir {Aus}), took the G1 Coolmore Stud S., the country's most important 3-year-old sprint.
“That's quite amazing by anybody's standards,” said Coolmore Australia General Manager Michael Kirwan, reflecting on the farm's success over the last year. “It's a source of enormous pride for everyone throughout the farm. It's a collective effort.”
“There are instances when every ounce of hard work going into everything pays off, and that's been the case the last couple years,” Kirwan added. “The effort that everyone has put into it over a prolonged period of time has paid off, which is great for the farm and great for our clients.”
An operation as successful as Coolmore doesn't make progress by looking back, however, and with a Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale consignment described by Kirwan as “the strongest draft we've ever brought to this sale,” Coolmore's sights are clearly set towards the future. The farm will send out 45 yearlings this week, 25 of which are the progeny of or siblings to black-type horses, including full-sisters to Group 1 winners Foxwedge (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) (lot 242) and Miracles Of Life (Aus) (Not A Single Doub {Aus}) (lot 148) and a half-brother to 3-year-old sprint sensation Zoustar (Aus) (Northern Meteor {Aus}) by exciting first-crop sire All Too Hard (Aus) (lot 745).
Another exciting sidebar to the sale for team Coolmore will be the sale of first-crop yearlings by its resident stallion and 2-year-old Triple Crown winner Pierro (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}).
“The enthusiasm for Pierro has been great,” said Kirwan. “Australia is synonymous with speed and this horse was the ultimate speed colt. He was wonderfully precocious but had the mind and physical attributes to let him progress again further at three. He's potentially the foundation of our roster for quite a long time, should he materialize and develop into the sire we hope he will.”
One well-bred member of the Coolmore draft by Pierro is a filly out of Monsoon Wedding (Aus) (Danehill) (lot 448), the full-sister to champion sire Redoute's Choice (Aus) who cost Coolmore A$2.3 million carrying this filly at Magic Millions's National Sale in 2014. The 14-year-old Monsoon Wedding has produced four stakes horses, including the Group 3-winning Precious Lorraine (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}). In addition to Redoute's Choice, Monsoon Wedding is also a sibling to Group 1 winners Platinum Scissors (Aus) (Danehill) and Manhattan Rain (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}) as well as Sliding Cube (Aus) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), the dam of new Coolmore sire Rubick (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}). Kirwan noted the filly has the physical characteristics to match her pedigree.
“The filly measures up to everything you'd want her to be when you see her in the flesh,” he said. “It's a privilege to be able to take a filly of that caliber to a sale like this and not just offer her to the best domestic investors but potentially some of the most significant international investors as well. She's a quality filly with a beautiful head and fantastic hindquarters–everything you'd look for in a quintessential speed filly.”
Other standouts by Pierro in the Coolmore consignment include lot 152, a colt who is the third foal out of the stakes-winning Delta Girl (NZ) (General Nediym {Aus}); lot 331, a colt who is the second foal from G1 Thousand Guineas winner Irish Lights (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), a descendant of the star producer Fall Aspen; and lot 492, a filly who is the second foal out of stakes winner Paprika (Aus) (General Nediym {Aus}).
Kirwan said the Coolmore team has found Pierro's stock to be “very much in his own mold; strong, athletic, purposeful movers with good limbs.”
“I couldn't overstate the excitement leading into this sale around a horse like him,” Kirwan added. “Everyone in the industry I think would like to see him work, given the fact that he's Danehill-free.”
The dominance of Danehill in Australia has created a situation where breeders are now in need of outcrosses to that line, and another young Coolmore sire with promise in that regard is Uncle Mo. America's champion freshman sire of 2015 by a wide margin, Uncle Mo has made an exciting start with his first Australian runners. He currently sits third on the Australasian first-crop sire list with the season half-over, and has notched two winners from two starters including Conchita (Aus), a Coolmore/Magic Millions graduate who is set to contest the Magic Millions 2YO Classic.
“What's exciting about a horse like [Uncle Mo] is that he's Danehill-free,” Kirwan noted. “Conchita is out of a mare by Danehill Dancer so it paints a really clear picture to people that if this horse can prove himself a consistent source of quality runners in this part of the world, he's going to be a very important stallion for Australasia because we're crying out for quality outcrosses. Horses like Uncle Mo, Pierro, So You Think–they're fundamentally important to our operation and to the industry as a whole.”
Coolmore also stands the champion European first-crop sire Zoffany (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), and Kirwan pointed to a colt out of Green Mirage (Aus) (Green Desert) (lot 275) as another highlight of the draft.
“It's interesting that Green Mirage is a Green Desert mare, and Zoffany has already shown in Europe a very strong affinity with mares from the Green Desert line,” Kirwan pointed out. “He has a couple of smart stakes winners out of granddaughters of Green Desert so it'll be interesting to see to what extent that nick carries over here.”
While Coolmore has a number of exciting up-and-coming stallions, its flagship sire is no doubt the champion Fastnet Rock (Aus). Long an established sire Down Under, the 14-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough year in Europe in 2015, with Group 1 winners Qualify (Ire), Diamondsandrubies (Ire) and Fascinating Rock (Ire) to his credit.
“He's a stallion international investors have been aware of for a long time,” Kirwan said. “A lot of American investors have invested in him and European breeders have been familiar with him for a long time. He's a world-class stallion and what's happened this year has just served to illustrate that perfectly.”
Coolmore will offer 10 by Fastnet Rock this week. A highlight will undoubtedly be the aforementioned full-sister to Foxwedge, and another who carries the same successful cross as her is lot 551, a colt out of Ronan's Bay (Johannesburg).
“This horse is bred on something of a magic cross for Fastnet Rock, given he has shown such an affinity for mares carrying Storm Cat,” Kirwan said. “He's a colt with outstanding quality and a real presence about him. He doesn't necessarily look sharp, but he's so athletic, it wouldn't surprise were he to show some class as a 2-year-old. That said, he's going to develop into a beautiful 3-year-old.”
Of Foxwedge's full-sister, Kirwan added, “She's the real deal physically. She's a beautiful filly with a beautiful head and fantastic hindquarters–everything you'd look for in a quintessential speed filly.”
With some of Coolmore Australia's greatest successes in 2015 traceable back to Magic Millions, Kirwan was quick to praise the effort of that company in making its sale a world-class fixture.
“Gerry Harvey, Vin Cox and their whole team there deserve enormous credit for the manner in which they've gone about promoting the sale and their company over the last number of years,” he said. “I'd be amazed if there was a bloodstock professional in the world who didn't know what was happening on the Gold Coast the first couple weeks in January, such is the scale and scope of the promotion they've put in place many months in advance of the sale. It creates a tremendous confidence among vendors when you see a sale company investing that much time, effort and money into promoting a sale.”
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