Can’t imagine why anyone would think it’s so hard?

Well, unfortunately, while we hate to burst your bubble this early in the book, we have to tell you it’s just not that simple.

Truth be known, there are no guarantees in thoroughbred breeding and if you did have the formula for success, you’d undoubtedly be reading this copy of Victorian Stallions on your yacht in the Bahamas.

Here’s a ‘given’ though – a stallion standing at a fee under $10,000 can give you just as good a shot at the Holy Grail as a sire standing for $100,000 plus. Don’t think so?

Back in April, the inaugural $1 million The Showdown for twoyear- olds was staged at Caulfield, featuring seven VOBIS races of $180,000 or greater. Amazing day … you should have been there!

Anyway, the penultimate race on the program – the $280,000 IRT VOBIS Gold Mile – would be won by Widgee Turf who took his earnings to over $1.1 million with that day’s performance.

Value? His sire, Turffontein, stood for just $8,800 the spring Widgee arrived on turf, while among the beaten brigade in the Gold Mile was a horse whose sire stood at $66,000.

A one off? Hardly. Take the day’s main event – The Showdown – which would be won by Prince of Sussex, a nifty two-year-old by multiple Group One winning first season sire, Toronado. He stood his first season at $22,000.

Two of the runners in The Showdown were by a stallion who  will stand in 2019 at a fee of over $150,000. Toronado’s fee, meanwhile, has risen to $27,500 since winning the coveted race.

However, the greatest ‘local boy makes good’ story would have to be Written Tycoon. Sure, a few of us are a Lotto win away from the 2019 fee of $110,000, but it’s worth remembering that $62 million and 28 stakes winners ago, Written Tycoon initially stood at a fee of $8,250 which, two years later, dropped to $6,600.

Written Tycoon has consistently highlighted the depth of quality in Victoria’s stallion ranks and, for at least his first nine seasons at stud, was a viable option for those breeding to sell or breeding to race.

Both Written Tycoon’s progeny who now stand at stud, the Golden Slipper winner Capitalist, who stands for $55,000 and his Blue Diamond winner Written By, who stands for $24,750, were conceived when he himself stood for a fee of less than $16,000. The same goes for Written Tycoon’s 2019 Group One winning sprinter, Despatch.

More examples? We’ve got plenty … For instance, Magic Albert stallion, Ilovethiscity, is yet another shining example that fee doesn’t rule success.

From a crop of just 26 live Ilovethiscity foals came El Dorado Dreaming, last year’s Group 1 ATC Sires’ Produce winner and, courtesy of multiple Group 1 placings, the winner of

nearly $1 million in stakes. Ilovethiscity’s other stakes winner, Moonlover, has won over half a million and, yep, there were 39 foals in that crop. Ilovethisstate – oops, we mean city – stands at just $5,500.

Bel Esprit, the sire of racing immortal Black Caviar and 680 other winners, is now standing at $11,000, while Danerich – with 65% winners to runners and eight stakes winners – commands a fee of only $6,600. King of Prussia has produced the winners of nearly $10 million … he stands at $2,200.

Then there’s Artie Schiller with 70% winners to runners (70% … we had to read it twice too!) and 47 stakes winners of $65 million who can be accessed this spring at $13,200.

And what of the tried and true that are now calling Victoria home? Shortly after arriving in what we consider the promised land, Manhattan Rain was represented by a Golden Slipper winner (She Will Reign), a champion middle distance horse in South Africa (Whisky Baron), and a multiple stakes winning ‘stayer’ in Runaway. Fee? $16,500.

Indeed, proven stallions Foxwedge and Shamus Award are new to Victoria in 2019, but within weeks of the announcements of their relocation Foxwedge had a Group 2 winner, while Shamus Award had his first Group 1 success via Queensland Derby hero, Mr Quickie.

Yet, if there is one thing that stamps Victoria as THE place to be, it’s the level of investment over recent years. North American giant, Spendthrift Farm, introduces multiple Group 1 winning two-year-old, Bolt d’Oro, this spring, while Asian interest is at an all-time high with Aquis Farm (Lean Mean Machine and Siege of Quebec) and Yulong Investments (Grunt) both opening their doors for business in Victoria in 2019.

Bottom line, the ‘V’ doesn’t just stand for Victoria and, as you mull and muse over the following pages, you’ll see for yourself that there is no greater value than in Victoria!

by Greg Tobin