A superstar colt in Australia, purchased from the Segenhoe Inglis Easter draft for $350,000, Merchant Navy was foaled and raised at Segenhoe for his breeder Chris Barham and took the brand global in June when winning the Group I Royal Ascot King's Stand
Stakes."We are more than proud of horses reared at our farm and it is a testament to the property and all the team involved," said Segenhoe Stud General Manager, Peter O'Brien.
"Our motto is breeding athletes and that is our sole purpose. We are not into breeding paper tigers at Segenhoe and the Maloney family are long-term thinkers so we spend an extraordinary amount of time and research on pedigree and conformation compatibility.
"The absolute target is racecourse performance and not necessarily sales
performance , however both have gone hand in hand for us with last year's
results ( 60 sold from 63 sent to sale for an average of $ 273,333 ) having
exceeded our expectations."Merchant Navy was the obvious flagbearer but the farm has also bred, raised or raced Voodoo Lad, California Turbo , Eagle Way , Deploy, Tumultous , Pakistan Friend , Whypeeo ,Run Naan , Winter Bride and California Raider to name but a few, although it is the current three year old crop that has the farm more than excited.
Three year-old Segenhoe graduates or purchases include Pretty in Pink, Chabreet , Granny Red Shoes , Witherspoon, Oohood (a homebred for Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum) and Enbihaar (Dorrington Farm bred, but sold by Segenhoe).
"Last weekend we had five winners and five placegetters from 14 runners across three states and it is the durability and soundness from Segenhoe raised horses that we are most proud of," O'Brien added.
"It is early days with the two year olds, but colts out of Our Songbird , Mining Tycoon and Sweetener look like they will get to the early trials and we know fillies out of Swiss Rose, Vegas Showgirl , Pattini , Adio and Sunset Rock are exciting their trainers."
Segenhoe Stud only have 60 to 70 graduates from the farm annually and it certainly looks like the Maloney family vision is right on track.
