Newgate Farm released the 2025 service fees for their 16-strong stallion team on Sunday, with Extreme Choice (Aus) leading the way at A$330,000 (inc GST), the joint-highest fee for an Australian-based sire in history.
“He's had a massive year,” Bruce Slade, Newgate's director of bloodstock, said of Extreme Choice, who stood at a fee of A$275,000 (inc GST) last season. “He's had a Blue Diamond winner and a Melbourne Cup winner and that's from a foal crop that averaged 30 foals in his first three seasons. He has the leading Group 1 strike rate in the world, ahead of the likes of Dubawi and Frankel.
“We think he deserves to be the highest-priced sire in Australia when you consider his record, but also when you consider the scarcity around him. We like to get outside support for him and we have to look after his shareholders and the horse first and foremost.”
Likewise, Extreme Choice's G1 Golden Slipper-winning son Stay Inside (Aus) has seen a small fee rise from A$55,000 (inc GST) to A$66,000 (inc GST), while Cosmic Force (Aus) is the only other stallion on the roster who has had a fee increase. He returns to his first-season fee of A$16,500 (inc GST) in 2025, up from A$11,000 (inc GST) last season.
Of the four stallions who will stand at a reduced fee this season, Capitalist (Aus) remains one of the most expensive sires at Newgate, despite a 50 per cent reduction in his fee to A$44,000 (inc GST).
“Capitalist is just a horse who always has something happening–constant winners, stakes runners, stakes results, new two-year-olds popping up all the time, at the trials and races,” said Slade. “He's a great horse to get a mare off to a fast start. He's been a leading sire of juvenile winners in Australia for the last five seasons, second only to Snitzel. At a really nice, good value fee this year, he will have the heat back on him and people will appreciate the value he offers.”
Meanwhile, the globetrotting four-time Group 1 winner State Of Rest (Ire) will stand for a fee of A$22,000 (inc GST)–down from A$27,500 (inc GST) last year–when he returns to Australia from his Northern Hemisphere base at Rathbarry Stud. The first State Of Rest weanlings bred in the Southern Hemisphere will be on show at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale in May.
“There's a time lag between the demand for the first book and the first runners,” Slade added. “In the middle, people are taking on more risk, and we have to adjust the prices accordingly. Too Darn Hot, Wootton Bassett, Ole Kirk, they were all trading at their lowest [service fee] at this point in time [in their third season] and they've all sold incredibly well this year.”
The fees for the other nine stallions on Newgate's 2025 roster all remain unchanged, headed by the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Ozzmosis (Aus) at A$44,000 (inc GST) as he awaits his first foals.
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