7th October 2025
GAME, SET, MATCH?
Thank you, ball kids and linesmen…
The opening game of the first set of this year’s First Season Sires Championship was won by Stay Inside (Extreme Choice), and isn’t it a breath of fresh air to have heard such positivity from both the Stay Inside and Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) camps. Trainers’ feedback on both sides of the net has been great.
With the depth of quality amongst Australian stallions as shallow as a creek bed in the middle of a drought, let’s hope natural selection (Charles Darwin of No Nay Never fame) can play its part and give the market a broader cross-section of options over the coming seasons.
WHO SAID HARRY?
One thing is for sure, and that is the profound inroads Harry Angel (Dark Angel) is making amongst Australian sprinting sire ranks.
Having started at A$22,000 in 2019, followed by three seasons at A$16,500, for a short rally last week, he had three of the twelve Everest slots served up (War Machine, Angel Capital & Private Harry).
One could only describe him as dynamite ready to explode, with foals to drop at A$38,500, 86 yearlings, 117 two-year-olds and his best mares under cover this year at A$66,000. All aboard the Harry Angel Express in 2026!
Most interesting is his success in Australia as opposed to Europe – the broodmare population, perhaps?
VINNIE – FUTURE GRANDPA OF THE YEAR
If you haven’t already, you are well overdue to buy an I Am Invincible or two for your broodmare band. From Paris Longchamp (Asfoora) to Royal Randwick (Incognito), the crowds drinking Blanc de Blancs could be heard whispering sweet profanities about the rise of Vinnie as a broodmare sire.
With the inherent good looks and his best crops grazing the wide open landscapes of the nation, it is possible Vinnie’s potency as a broodmare sire will even upgrade the stallion.
Unless you’re hunting around online, they do not come cheap, with I Am Invincible broodmares averaging A$573,000 at public auction this year.
WORTH A READ
Following the dizziness of Keeneland and endless references to ‘this is reminiscent of the 1980’s’ – for those who haven’t read it: Wild Ride – The Rise and Fall of Calumet Farm Inc., America’s Premier Racing Dynasty is worth the bedtime page turning. Purchase on Amazon
REACH OUT
For more market insights or how best to update your bloodstock portfolio…