While all the accolades were for Mossfun on Saturday, and rightly so after a resounding win in the Golden Slipper Stakes at Rosehill, let’s not forget her sire, the perennial Mossman.

Mossman is a remarkable stallion, he is bordering on 19 of years age, a time when it would be expected the majority of stallions are scaling down, yet this old fellow is like the Mississippi, he just keeps rolling along ,he can still mix it with the best, as illustrated with the success of Mossfun .                                  

He has retained his fertility and pre-potency, he is from a family that produced a Golden Slipper winner in Guineas.

Mossman originally stood at Peter Moran’s Noble Park Stud, at Innisplain, Queensland, before going to Vinery in the Hunter Valley.

His first season in the Hunter was almost a non event, he covered just 20 mares, soon after he suffered a severe attack of colic and was fortunate to have survived.

He showed the same tenacity in illness as he did when racing, he was tough as his race record shows, and his progeny display that same toughness as shown by Mossfun in the Slipper.

Mossman is by Success Express, his greatest claim to fame was his success in the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile Group 1 at Hollywood Park, his pedigree, you could walk away from, yet he would rate reasonably well as a sire when you include Polar Success, a Golden Slipper winner, Savannah Success and Staging into the mix.

Three top race mares, you cannot do much better than that, siring three Group 1 winning mares

The late Robert Holmes a’Court imported Success Express to stand at his palatial stud farm at Wallan, but that never came to fruition due to his premature death.

Success Express stood at several studs thereafter, but could never quite find a permanent home, he even stood in New Zealand for a time.

He was at Widden 11 years ago and had time at Vinery before fading away into obscurity.

Mossman at Vinery