A world champion pacer, former United States and Canadian two-year-olds of the year, and Europe’s first 1:50 trotter will join a cavalcade of well-performed, well-bred colonial bred stallions available to Australian breeders for the first time in the upcoming season.
Heading the line-up are Lather Up (1:46), the equal fastest horse of all-time and North America Cup hero; the 2018 United States 2YO pacing colt of the year and reigning North America Cup holder Captain Crunch; and 2017 Canadian 2YO pacing colt of the year and Breeders Crown champion Stay Hungry.
CAPTAIN CRUNCH
Standing at Alabar Bloodstock
The richest and fastest son of Captaintreacherous, whose first two American crops have taken all before them, CAPTAIN CRUNCH was the outstanding colt pacer of his year, earning $616,113 including successes in the $600,000 Breeders Crown 2YO Final in 1:51.6, the $469,300 Governor’s Cup in 1:50.6 and International Stallion Stakes at The Red Mile in a season’s best 1:49.4. As a 3YO, Captain Crunch recorded three winning miles in 1:48 or faster to become the first of his age to ever achieve this feat. He established a new track, race and Canadian record in winning the $1M North America Cup in 1:47.4, won the Cane Pace at The Meadowlands in 1:48, and an elimination of the Progress Pace at Dover Downs in a track record 1:47.6. From 26 lifetime starts Captain Crunch won 12 times and was six-times placed for $1,725,495 in stakes. A close relative of world champion Sweet Lou, Captain Crunch has just completed a fully booked first season in Pennsylvania, He has been acquired for stud duties by the Alabar-Nevele R partnership and will stand at Nevele R Stud, Canterbury, New Zealand.
THE STORM INSIDE
Standing at Alabar Bloodstock
A brilliant young son of Rocknroll Hanover, THE STORM INSIDE was foaled in 2013 and goes to stud after a career-ending injury. He was the dominant 2YO of his year, winning his only six appearances - including a clean sweep of the Australian Pacing Gold and NSW Tatlow Memorial series. Despite being hampered by unsoundness, The Storm Inside racked up 16 successes from 19 starts, earned $311,125 and took a mile mark of 1:50.7. He was undefeated in his first 11 outings. He is bred on a classic cross, being by Rocknroll Hanover and from US-bred Artsplace mare, Spirited Storm. She has produced five winners in Australia, including Stormed Out (Bettors Delight, 11 wins), and Firestorm Red (Somebeachsomewhere, 10 wins). The Storm Inside is entering stud duties at Alabar Bloodstock’s Victorian property.
SOHO TRIBECA
Standing at Northern Rivers Equine Veterinary Clinic
Australian-bred and group 1 winner SOHO TRIBECA will stand his first season at stud after a premature finish to his racing career. Soho Tribeca 1:53.8 ($1,103,854) is a son of champion sire American Ideal and Australian Broodmare of the Year, Pixel Perfect. He met and defeated the best pacers of his era before being struck down by injury when at the height of his career. A Breeders Crown finalist at two, Soho Tribeca really came into his own as a 3YO – winning eight of his 20 starts including the Caduceus Club Cup, and Breeders Crown and Vicbred Super Series semi-finals. Soho Tribeca was among the top bracket of pacers in the country at four and five. As a 4YO, he captured the $200,000 West Australian Golden Nugget, a clean sweep of the $120,000 final of the Vicbred Super Series, and a second placing in the Fremantle Cup, and third in the WA Pacing Cup. At five, Soho Tribeca annexed the $450,000 WA Pacing Cup, the Kilmore Cup in record time, and two Inter Dominion Championship heats, plus recorded notable placings in the Miracle Mile and AG Hunter Cup. A daughter of Art Major, Pixel Perfect has had six foals to the races for six winners. Soho Nolita (Mach Three) is a 1:53 filly with ten wins for $233,000 in earnings; Birdy Mach (Mach Three, 1:51,4 25 win)s, $230,000; Carlas Pixel (Courage Under Fire, 1:49.5, 19 wins, $80,000); Perfect Mach (Mach Three, 1:58.5, 21 wins, $187,000); and Soho Hamilton (American Ideal, 1:54.6, 5 wins, $67,000). Soho Tribeca is standing his first season at Northern Rivers Equine Veterinary Clinic at Kyabram.
POSTER BOY
Standing at Northern Rivers Equine Veterinary Clinic
POSTER BOY will make it a family affair at Northern Rivers Equine in the Goulburn Valley. He will stand alongside his half-brother Yankee Rockstar, with each being out of US-bred mare Aston Villa. Boasting an all-American pedigree, Poster Boy (1:49.1, $803,310) is fresh from a decorated racing career and will go to stud as 6YO. He is the richest and fastest progeny of Aston Villa, the dam of the winners of more than $1.5 million. The grand-looking son of Somebeachsomewhere was a Group 1 winner at two, three and four, and a dual Vicbred Super Series champion. He won seven races at two including the Vicbred Super Series final, Edgar Tatlow Memorial and Victoria Youthful Stakes, while his 3YO campaign produced successes in the NSW Derby, Vicbred Super Series final and Victoria Sires Classic, earning him Australian 3YO Colt of the Year honours. Poster Boy won four of his five outings as a 4YO, including the Chariots of Fire and Victorian 4YO Bonanza, and a creditable third in the Miracle Mile. In all, Poster Boy won 22 races with seven placings from 30 starts and had he raced without interruption there is little doubt he would have added considerably to his bankroll.
JILLIBY KUNG FU
Standing at Goodtime Lodge
The winner of $529,710 and with a record of 1:48.8, JILLIBY KUNG FU is unquestionably one of the best-bred, best-performed colonial-bred stallions to become available to breeders. A brilliant pacer who possessed undoubted speed and stamina, Jilliby Kung Fu was sparingly raced owing to injury, but showed himself to be among the top bracket as a two, three and four-year-old. At two, he won the Australian Pacing Gold consolation and a Vicbred Super Series heat and semi-final, while at three he numbered among his six successes the $100,000 Vicbred Super Series final and finished a nose second in the Breeders Crown final. As a 4YO, Jilliby Kung Fu earned $332,790 and was the highest stake-winner for his age, sex and gait in the 2017-18 season. He took his record of 1:48.8 winning the $200,000 Chariots Of Fire, won the $100,000 Victorian 4YO Bonanza in 1:51.9 at Melton, and finished second in the fastest-ever Miracle Mile and the Vicbred Super Series final. The second richest Australian-bred son of the Cam Fella line horse, Four Starzzz Shark, Jilliby Kung Fu is out of a mare (Slip Slop Slap) who has left six in 2:00 from a strong American family. Jilliby Kung Fu served a few mares privately last season and is lining up for his first public season at the stud.
STAY HUNGRY
Standing at Empire Stallions
STAY HUNGRY, the 2017 Canadian 2YO of the year, will be available to Australasian breeders via frozen semen through Empire Stallions. The son of Somebeachsomewhere defeated the best of his generation on his way to accumulating 12 wins and six placings from 25 lifetime starts at two and three, while banking over $1.3 million in earnings. From the minute Stay Hungry (1:47.6, $1,303,709) first stepped onto a racetrack, it was evident he was destined for greatness. In his first 2YO trial at Woodbine Mohawk, he blew by his competitors with a 27.4-second final quarter to win in 1:55.0. Stay Hungry went onto win on debut in 1:53.2 at Mohawk. His 2YO season was highlighted by his sweep of the $600,000 Breeders Crown at Hoosier Park, Indiana – winning his elimination in 1:50.8. He lowered his lifetime mark to 1:47.6 as a 3YO, in a season where he captured two legs of the Pacing Triple Crown – the Cane Pace (1:47.6) and The Messenger Stake. (1:52.2). Stay Hungry retired at three to begin stallion duty at the prestigious Hanover Shoe Farms and has two full books there. His pedigree is pure royalty, with the ill-fated Somebeachsomewhere leaving 750 winners from 943 foals in eight US crops – 605 in 1:55 and 97 in 1:50 or faster. Stay Hungry’s dam is the world champion, My Little Dragon 1:48.2 ($2,318,623) – one of the greatest mares ever to grace the racetrack with 24 wins as a multiple Breeders Crown winner, US 2YO of the year and North American Older Pacing Mare of the Year in 2008. Her world record of 1:48.2 was the fastest mile ever by a female pacer. My Little Dragon is the dam of seven foals of racing age for six winners.
LATHER UP
Standing at Woodlands Stud NZ via Northern Rivers Equine Veterinary Clinic
A grandson of Bettor’s Delight, LATHER UP raced on 37 occasions for 23 wins and seven placings, and ran up stakes of $1,735,623. He established six track records at two, three and four years, and retired as North America’s fastest and second richest pacing entire for 2019. A winner in 1:51.2 as a 2YO, Lather Up returned with a vengeance at three, winning 11 of his 18 starts and $893,512 in stakes highlighted by a dominant front-end score in the $760,000 North America Cup in 1:48.2 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Among his other successes at three were the $275,000 Ohio Sires Stakes final, a Little Brown Jug heat in 1:49.6 (followed by a close third in final), the Director of Agriculture Pace at Scioto Downs in a track record 1:49.8, the Somebeachsomewhere Pace in 1:50.6 at Woodbine Mohawk, and Ohio Sires Stakes divisions in 1:50 and 1:50.4. As a 4YO, Lather Up took the harness racing world by storm with a series of jaw-dropping performances at The Meadowlands. Competing in the $250,000 Graduate Series final, he stopped the clock in 1:46 – matching Always B Miki’s world record and hoisting a new standard for four-year-olds. Lather Up established his second world record with a 1:59.2 overall time over nine furlongs in the $230,200 Sam McKee Memorial, sandwiching a win in the $423,000 William Haughton Memorial between his world record-breaking performances. He continued his record-setting trend with a 1:47.4 clocking to equal Sweet Lou’s Hoosier Park track and race record in the $330,000 Dan Patch Invitational. A son of the Little Brown Jug heat winner I’m Gorgeous, Lather Up served a full book of 140 mares in America this year, and will stand his first season down under at Northern Rivers Equine at Kyabram under the Woodlands Stud banner.
BOLD EAGLE
Standing at Haras des Trotteurs
Champion French trotter BOLD EAGLE will be available to Australian breeders for the first time via frozen semen through the Victorian-based Haras des Trotteurs at Cardigan near Ballarat. Now in his last year of racing, Bold Eagle is a son of the mighty Ready Cash and has won an amazing 21 Group races in France, Sweden, Belgium and Canada, and almost $10 million in stakes with 46 career victories. The three-time leading European stakes winner lists the Prix d’Amerique (twice), European Derby, Prix de l’Atlantique (twice), Prix De France (twice) and the US Breeders Crown among his successes. He is also a French trotting Triple Crown champion. Bold Eagle is already the sire of Group 1 winners in France and Sweden. He stands for a fee of 20,000 euros in France and 16 euros in Sweden, and is fully booked in both countries.
BRILLANTISSIME
Standing at Haras des Trotteurs
BRILLANTISSIME is a French-bred son of Ready Cash and closely related to Bold Eagle. Brillantissime won three Group 1 races in France and Italy, and amassed almost 1 million euros in earnings. He is the leading first-crop sire in France, where there are 1,500 stallions at stud, and second only to his sire, Ready Cash, in the 2YO category. His fee in France is 15,000 euros and in Sweden 8,000 euros, and he is booked out in France and has only a few remaining bookings in Sweden. He will be available to Australian breeders for the first time via frozen semen at the Victorian-based Haras des Trotteurs.
First published in Trackbred July 2020
