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Eagerly anticipating first crop of Highland Reel selling in Melbourne and winners keep coming for fellow Swettenham shuttler Toronado
Swettenham Stud’s Adam Sangster is looking forward to the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale when he will see the first crop of young shuttler Highland Reel (Galileo) sell, while fellow Swettenham shuttler Toronado (High Chaparral) is enjoying a fantastic run on the track and he is represented by a strong draft at the Melbourne sale.
It is the second year that Swettenham Stud will be selling their yearlings in the Collingrove draft and Sangster explains that the decision not to sell under the Swettenham Stud banner gives his team on the farm a break after the breeding season and the opportunity to focus on their core business of stallions.
“After preparing and consigning horses for over 20 years at Melbourne Premier under Swettenham Stud, we wanted to shift our focus away from purely trying to sell our own horses in our own draft to a focus of helping sell our client’s horses by our resident stallions,” said Sangster.
“With our own draft it’s hard to be able to get out to all of the buyers and promote the yearlings outside of our draft so we decided to outsource our preparation. Utilising Dan Brash at Collingrove as an external business has allowed me to give the farm and my staff a break after a busy season with the stallions and focus on our core business of stallions.
“This year we’ve also given one horse to Dan Neville at Hollylodge for Premier and one to Coolmore for Easter.
“We don’t own the Collingrove brand, that’s 100 per cent Dan Brash’s business and he’s preparing yearlings not only for us, but also for some of our clients and some of his own as well. To see him kick off his first yearling sales in 2020 with the results he did was a great moment to see and we’re more than happy to continue to support him, as are our clients.”
Toronado has a 25-strong draft for Premier and the son of High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) has been enjoying a fantastic run on the track with Masked Crusader and Still A Star winning at Group level this month, whilst Solaia won at Listed level in WA and took the sire’s stakes overall stakes winners tally to ten.
“It's an enormous thrill for both Al Shaqab and ourselves to see Toronado getting the results in Australia both in the ring and on the track,” said Sangster.
“This time last year leading into Melbourne Premier, we had Still A Star flying the flag as his multiple stakes winner in Australia and since then we’ve seen the likes of Affair To Remember (Group 2 winner), Masked Crusader (Group 3 winner), Shelby Cobra and Solaia all step up to the plate and add to his tally of stakes winners.
“Toronado has magnificent muscle definition as a physical, which flows through into his progeny. We were supported by some fantastic breeders in his formative years which really gave him the best start with the likes of Prince of Sussex winning the inaugural TBV Showdown.
“He’s now ticking all of the commercial boxes, producing quality horses that can sell in the ring and most importantly, win on the track over an array of distances and surfaces.
“Another feather to his cap is the enormous demand for him in Hong Kong with Lucky Express (Prince of Sussex) being a winner following up with a narrow second in a Group 1 as well as our own homebred Master Montaro winning on debut. David Hayes said he will be an influential miler.
“With only five Australian-bred Toronado runners in Hong Kong, four are winners already and the thirst for his progeny is remarkable with a number of good judges enjoying excellent resale results to the former colony.”
COVID restrictions have meant that Sangster and his team were not able to see Toronado’s full Premier Yearling Sale draft before they arrived on the complex, however they had received positive reports.
“Unfortunately with the recent COVID restrictions in Victoria, we haven’t been able to get out to see all 25 yearlings by him at Melbourne Premier but the reports from Inglis are that it’s the best Toronado crop they’ve had catalogued,” he said.
“It’s so great to see them continue to get behind him. On paper, one of the standouts he has is a colt at Stonehouse (Lot 584) who is a half-brother to Group 1 winner Extra Brut and on type, there is a magnificent looking colt that was born and raised at Swettenham by some great clients of ours out of Miss Maggiebeel (Lot 187).
“We are really looking forward to getting out and seeing all of them at the complex but it’s hard to pick out our top lots until we’re able to get there and see them all.”
The first northern hemisphere-bred crop of Highland Reel were well received in Europe and included a colt who made 320,000gns when sold to McCalmont Bloodstock at last year’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and he has 21 lots due to sell at Premier. .
“It’s an exciting time for us and for Coolmore with the first of the Highland Reel yearlings going through the ring,” said Sangster.
“After such success in the early sales in Australia and the progeny that we have seen by him, it has cemented our views on him being a standout first season sire in Australia.
“Both Inglis and Magic Millions have remarked of his consistency in producing types that the Australian market want – tough, sound horses with speed that can train on. They’ve all got such a good hip and hindquarter, balanced individuals that walk with purpose.
“Some great agents like Paul Moroney, John Foote, Sheamus Mills and Peter Ford have all been onto him early and this momentum will continue once people are able to see the 21 at Melbourne Premier.”
Highland Reel has stood his first three seasons in Australia for a fee of $16,500 (inc GST) and covered just over 400 mares.
“Backed up by the comments of some great judges, it’s the support that he received in his third season at stud that shows that commercial breeders think of his progeny. He covered 150 in his first season, 100 in his second season and covered his largest book ever in his third season with over 160 individual mares covered,” said Sangster.
“We can say all we want about the types he is throwing but it’s these concrete numbers that show how much the Australian market, and not just Victorians, love what he’s producing physically.”
Unable to see the all the yearlings by Highland Reel catalogued for Premier before they arrived on the complex, Sangster noted a couple of initial standouts.
“Again we haven’t been able to get to see them all throughout their preparation but a couple that standout initially is the first lot through the ring, a colt out of the Dubawi mare Lady Of Sorrento (Lot 124) which was a great match of paper but the individual has been a standout since the start,” he said.
“Hollylodge also has a couple of very nice fillies that we loved as weanlings, being the Rokeby Red (Lot 294) and the Feerique (Lot 604) that are hard to split. Reports from all of the vendors on the progress of the Highland Reel progeny is encouraging and we know the buyers are targeting his stock specifically.
“My team Sam Matthews, Jason Robinson and Dr John Hurley and myself will be representing Swettenham during the sale, we can’t wait to get to Oaklands and wish all vendors all the best for the 2021 Inglis Premier Sale.”
