The squabble is over, Zoustar will stand permanently at Widden, in the Hunter Valley, following a court case in Sydney earlier last week.

It was a strange arrangement previously with Zoustar, he was shuttling on alternate seasons between Woodside Park at Tylden, and Widden Stud, in the Hunter Valley.

Zoustar is a highly promising sire with a huge future ahead of him; he was a brilliant sprinter and is making the transition, as a sire, with his first crop to race, trained by Chris Waller at Rosehill.

His progeny are following his racing pattern; they come to hand quickly and are showing an early return.

Zoustar heads the first season’s two year olds list with 5 winners of 9 races, from 20 runners, earning $2,390,440.

He is a sire that throws lovely yearlings, he certainly puts quality into his progeny, you can pick a Zoustar if you have any eye for a thoroughbred.  

There will be plenty of mares awaiting him in the spring at Widden

Zoustar - First season Sire

The St Leger, to be run at Flemington tomorrow, is just another race with little interest shown, an excuse to find the way to the cafeteria for a cup of tea.

That was not always the case, however times have changed, our staying races have been supplemented by sprint horses, with very few races run beyond a mile, or 1600 metres.

Whilst it is the oldest classic run in the world, at Doncaster, in Yorkshire U K, it has lost whatever status it had previously, one wonders if it can be viable at Listed level, and for how long?

The St Leger looks as it is on borrowed time, some interstate race clubs have deleted it completely from their calendar, and in some cases permitted four year olds to join three year olds to make up the numbers..

Racing for ever is changing, the Victoria Racing Club was a four day Autumn Carnival in early March, with the St Leger on the final day, and the Gibson Carmichael Stakes, over a mile for two year olds, if they had to run that distance so early in the year now most of them would topple over.

At that time the St Leger was the measuring stick to determine if a horse could stay, Spearfelt, Trivalve, Phar Lap, Hall Mark, Comic Court, and Tulloch, were never found wanting.

Racing has certainly changed with foreign investment being involved; yearling prices are selling at absorbent prices.

Service fees have risen up to $170,000, while young colts, that have won a decent Group 1 race, have recently been sold for $25 million dollars, or more.                       

Arrowfield have announced a rise in Snitzel’s service fee, from $176,000 to $220,000, for the fast approaching 2018 stud season.

No sire has ever stood for that fee in the Southern Hemisphere previously, and few sires in the world have commanded that sort of money.

This can be seen as reasonable for his progeny earnings this season stands at $26,077, 674, with still 3 months of current racing season remaining, 30 million is a possibility

Among the leading sires in the world Dubawi stands at 250,000 Euros, Tapit 300,000 US, Deep Impact 200,000 Japan, War Front 250,000 US, American Pharoah 200,000 US, he shuttled to Coolmore at $66,000, while Frankel stands at 125,000 pounds

Snitzel

There was no joy for breeders at the VOBIS Yearling Sale, held in Melbourne on Sunday, when 21 per cent of the draft failed to reach their reserve.

It was like drawing teeth from an uninterested audience, as auctioneers appeared dumfounded at the lack of response from bidders.

There were some nice horses to be offered, the lack of leading trainers didn’t help either, it was a lack lustre sale, quite disappointing.

Turnover amounted to $3.850 million, surprising the average was $19,265, however, it was the word VOBIS that really didn’t mean much when the chips were down, top priced lot was in the supplementary catalogue, Lot 248, the Spirit of Boom colt, from Moxie Doll, sold for $120,000.

Unencumbered, who had to be put down recently, sired his first winner at Echuca on Sunday, when Expedius won the Empo Plate.

It was a cruel blow for Three Bridges Stud and the Liston family, they will feel the loss as he was a lightly raced horse with a big future ahead of him, he was a popular horse among breeders that had used his services.

His first crop of yearlings was auctioned in 2017, they sold to $ 150,000 and $120,000, his draft of 31 yearlings averaged $60,000, an amazing return on a service fee of $11,000.

Unencumbered was by Testa Rossa, a brilliant sprinter and a successful sire, his progeny earnings alone amounted to over $76 million.

He was a lightly raced horse with loads of potential, whilst he had just the 10 starts, winning 5 races, and was only out of the money twice, with stake earnings of $1.908, 850.

Replacing Unencumbered could be difficult; a colt that wins a couple of races, the asking price can get mixed up with telephone numbers sometimes.

Back in the twenties the locally bred sire was known as the colonial sire, breeders preferring the imported horse, until Valais sired Heroic, he was a great racehorse and champion sire for seven seasons.

Breeders had to relent when Heroic sired Hall Mark, Nuffield, Hua and Ajax, he did sire the dual Derby winner Magnificent, that’s about all.

The imported horses were soon back on the scene where they had been previously ,until Todman and Vain appeared, the modern day breeders took a punt, and the locally bred sires are now dominant.