We’ve been running a series of stories on Breednet highlighting value sires that do a good job and Larneuk Stud is home to two of them and if you only have $6,600 to spend on a service fee, it’s hard to find better bang for buck than these guys.
Wandjina started life as a $1million Inglis Easter purchase for James Harron Bloodstock from Arrowfield Stud and the Snitzel colt quickly lived up to his good looks and pedigree winning the Group I VRC Australian Guineas at three.
He retired to Newgate, where the bar for success is set high and after being well supported in his first four seasons, waning interest saw him relocated to Neville Murdoch at Larneuk Stud.
The big picture for Wandjina is well worth investigating as his overall stats show him running at a whisker shy of 70% winners to runners!
His seven lifetime stakes-winners are headed by Galaxy Patch, a Group II winner in Hong Kong this season and Group II winning mare Infancy, who interestingly comes from his smallest ever foal crop of just six foals born in 2020.
Even with limited numbers, Wandjina has maintained his ability to produce winners and priced at $6,600 he gives the budget breeder access to a well credentialed and proven son of Snitzel, who is set to be crowned Champion Australian Sire again this season for the fifth time.
Larneuk is also home to Lonhro stallion Impending, who won the 2017 Group I BRC Stradbroke Handicap and then returned to Brisbane the following year to win the Group I BRC Kingsford Smith Cup.
A Godolphin homebred, he started his stud career with Darley before finding his way to Larneuk and has a similar profile to Wandjina in having been strongly supported in his first four seasons before the fickle commercial market moved on to other prospects.
Impending has had a great season producing 60 Australian winners, plus another 10 in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Malaysia with two stakes-winners leading the way in Options and Cool Memory, plus another three stakes-placed horses.
Impending is completely free of Danehill blood, but has several of the key elements that work well with it in champion sires Lonhro, Encosta de Lago and Golden Slipper winner Canny Lad, who is the sire of his grand-dam.
For a breeder on a budget looking for some genetic magic to upgrade a pedigree, Impending presents a myriad of options and is also priced at $6,600.
Also on the roster is Japanese Group I winner Lauda Sion (Jpn), whose first foals were well received. He covered 50 mares last spring in his second season and remains at a fee of $11,000.
Young Snitzel stallion Trapeze Artist has powered ahead this season siring eight individual stakes-winners, three of them juvenile stakes-winners, while his top class three year-old filly Panova won the Group I SAJC Australasian Oaks and was second in the Group I BRC Queensland Oaks.
Panova is the second Group I winner for Trapeze Artist and his first is Griff, who won the MRC Caulfield Guineas in 2023 and will stand his first season at Larneuk at a fee of $7,700.
All 2026 fees inclusive of GST
NEW Griff (Trapeze Artist) $7,700
Impending (Lonhro) $6,600
Wandjina (Snitzel) $6,600
Lauda Sion (Jpn) (Real Impact) $11,000
