If your goal this spring is to choose a stallion that can breed you a nice winner with upside it might not be as expensive as you think.
The Australian Third Season Sires List has a dominant leader in Too Darn Hot (GB), who is light years in front of his peers and priced accordingly with a service fee of $275,000.
Look further down the list and you will see some young stallions doing a pretty good job and one of the best priced is Newgate Farm’s Brutal at $16,500.
A Group I winning miler at three, Brutal is one of only two stallions in Australia by Champion New Zealand sire O’Reilly and the other stands in Victoria.
Completely Danehill free, he has had good opportunity in terms of numbers, covering 453 mares in his first three seasons before hitting a flat spot on season four with a book of just 69 mares (resulting in current season yearlings).
His last two books have been solid again with 154 mares covered in 2024 and 126 in 2025 so there is ongoing potential there for the momentum he is building to continue.
His five stakes-winners so far (three of them this season) have been successful from 1000m to 2400m with Group I ATC Champagne Stakes winner Nepotism his best to date ahead of Group II WA Derby winner Sentimental Legend… that’s the sort of versatility that made his sire O’Reilly such a runaway success for Waikato Stud.
His Group I placed, stakes-winning daughter Harlem Queen was offered at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale last week where she made $400,000 to the bid of Gilgai Farm, who have already enjoyed success with Brutal having bred and sold Nepotism.
Gilgai Farm’s Rick Jamieson is widely regarded as one of the most successful and innovative breeders in the country in terms of his stallion selection, so his tick of approval for Brutal means something.
Adding another string to Brutal’s bow has been the encouraging efforts of his progeny in Hong Kong with four winners from just six starters.
Brutal has very similar SEASONAL stats to his peer Alabama Express (2026 fee $66,000) in terms of runners and stakes-winners, but the 60 winners for Brutal gives him a seasonal winner to runner strike rate of 57.1% which is the best of all stallions in the Top 10 by earnings of this division.
Check out the series.
