Sleepless nights for stud masters at this time of year are hardly what you’d call a rarity.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s big farm or small – whether it’s an army of foal watchers or Robinson Crusoe snatching forty winks next to a foaling alarm – thoroughbred folk are poised to move at a moment’s notice from mid-July to November.
However, there’s always the added worry in spring for those farms awaiting the first foals of a prized stallion. Plenty of tossing and turning.
Well, you can multiply that concern by three for a stud like Coolmore Australia which is welcoming the initial foals of star imports, Calyx and Magna Grecia, along with local hero Yes Yes Yes.
Group 2 winning 2YO Calyx – the fastest son of Kingman ever – was certainly a welcome addition to the roster and we all know how well the Invincible Spirit line in Australia is working.
With quite of few of his foals now on the ground, it’s interesting to note that Bob McKay and Emma Weston – whose well-related 5-time winner, Lead Husson produced a cracking Calyx filly last month – have quickly booked his mare back to Calyx this spring.
“That’s always a very good sign when a foal is only a few days old and the breeder decides to send the mare back to that stallion,” Coolmore Australia’s Marketing & Nominations Manager, Tom Moore, enthused.
“Bob McKay and Emma Weston have produced two outstanding Calyx foals already this season, and both mares will return to him in the coming weeks, which is a great show of faith in the stallion. I think it is a great play, because not only does Calyx represent great value, he was also an incredibly precocious horse, who is likely to produce early runners, so supporting him in his second season represents significant upside."
Moore is likewise pleased with the handful of foals thus far by Invincible Spirit’s Group 1 Irish 2,000 Guineas hero, Magna Grecia.
“Magna Grecia is a stunning individual and he has already left a number of high quality foals, both at Coolmore and throughout the Hunter Valley,” Moore points out.
“Magna Grecia covered 122 mares last year so there are plenty more to come, but given that is the only Invincible Spirit to win Group 1 races at both two and three years, we’ve got high hopes for him.”
And while the news is promising about Calyx and Magna Grecia, it’s probably fair to say the anticipation about Yes Yes Yes’s foals is through the roof, particularly given he was the busiest first season sire last spring – covering a whopping book of 205 mares.
“It was something of a given that Yes Yes Yes would be popular, and that certainly turned out to be the case," Moore recalls.
“He's the first winner of ($14 million) The Everest to retire to stud, and he deserves the support he received. He is incredibly popular once again this season with yet another high class book of mares and the support of some of Australia's most successful breeders
“Naturally there are quite a few of them on farms throughout Australia which we’ve seen photos and videos of but those born at Coolmore have given us a great deal of encouragement. We’re already looking forward to the sales in 2023!”
All Coolmore Australia stallions have a ‘Premium’ listing on the Breednet Online Stallion Directory which Moore believes is a massive “visual” advantage: “the data is so up to date and Australasian results are posted within half an hour of the race, while the listing of accepted and nominated runners is something I look at every day.
“However, arguably the biggest plus at the moment is the ability to post any number of photos or videos for each of the stallions and that’s where the ‘gallery’ for a stallion’s first foals comes into play … obviously there are restrictions on broodmare owners visiting farms at the moment but ‘Stud Media’ gives us the opportunity to showcase those much anticipated foals.”
