As covering season commences, two Newmarket operations have added new strings to their bows. We heard from Michael Swinburn, whose Genesis Green will be standing a stallion for the first time.
As preparations for a new breeding season are made over New Year, the announcement of additions to Newmarket stallion ranks is nothing new.
What is new, though, is that two stallions have arrived at studs where hitherto there were none in residence.
Tom Blain’s Barton Stud has acquired Scorthy Champ, winner of the 2024 National Stakes at The Curragh. The Swinburns’ Genesis Green will stand Royal Scotsman, winner of the Richmond at Glorious Goodwood in 2022 and placed in both that year’s Dewhurst and following year’s 2,000 Guineas.
“For me, there are two things,” declared Michael Swinburn, asked whether two studs starting stallion operations in the same country at the same time was merely coincidence.
“Firstly,” he explained, “the GBB Bonus has been a great incentive. At the end of the day, the owners have to get something out of racing. They can’t just be robbed the whole time.”
“The GBB Bonus has been a great incentive. At the end of the day, the owners have to get something out of racing. They can’t just be robbed the whole time.”
“Secondly,” he continued, “there’s the fact that we sent about 14 mares to Ireland last year. With all the paperwork and so on, it’s becoming about twice as expensive as it used to be and, at this level, people are probably looking to breed more in the UK as a result.”
Swinburn, speaking with breeding season almost officially underway and with Willie Carson ready to pay him a visit, happily admitted that he had approached the year with no intention of breaking new ground by standing a stallion, but had followed Royal Scotsman’s career since he was raised at the stud and sold for 125,000gns in 2021.
“He was a beauty of a yearling,” remembered Swinburn. “When I heard he was going to be standing in France [at Haras du Taillis], I called Alex Cole [racing manager to Jim and Fitri Hay, Royal Scotsman’s owners] a couple of names. I was disappointed that he wasn’t going to stand in England, because I wanted to use him.”
Swinburn recalled that Cole told him Jim Hay had wanted Royal Scotsman to stand in England but couldn’t find anyone.
So he came up with a solution: he’d stand him.
“I know he wasn’t a Group 1 winner,” Swinburn accepted, “but he was a proper Group 1 horse.”
Swinburn said he’d received an influx of positive comments in the wake of Royal Scotsman’s trip to Tattersalls last week, where he was on parade during the EBF stallion parade that preceded the February Sale.
“He seems to have caught on,” said Swinburn. “I’m very pleased with the way things are going.”
Dr James ‘Jim’ Hay was, Swinburn shared, thinking of sending several mares his way. Genesis Green also has plenty of its own mares who can be called upon and there were around “15 definites” signed up.
“We thought that if we got about 30 or 40 mares going to him, that would be a good start,” Swinburn continued, “but it looks like being way over that, which is great.”
Ensuring necessary infrastructure was in place for the standing of a stallion was, Swinburn stated, straightforward.
“The infrastructure has been there,” he confirmed. “We’ve plenty of barns and have converted one to a covering shed. That’s the easy part. The hard part is getting good quality mares because the top horses are covering hundreds of mares. And good ones. It does make it harder for stallions at our level to get a good mare.”
“We’ve plenty of barns and have converted one to a covering shed. That’s the easy part.”
Swinburn added that Royal Scotsman’s progeny should be “big, fine, strong horses” if they turn out anything like their sire. Some, perhaps, will be ready to be sold abroad, a “massive” part of Swinburn’s market.
“Sometimes those ‘wham, bam’ two-year-old types sell as yearlings,” he explained, “but once their two-year-old career is over, there’s not much left for them. That’s what makes it attractive for me to stand Royal Scotsman, because I think it’s where he’ll excel.”
Scorthy Champ, the fellow new stallion at a stud with a new stallion arm did, unlike Royal Scotsman, manage to bag a Group 1. He stands for £8,500, while Royal Scotsman commands £6,000.
Both, clearly, are in a lower league to many of their Newmarket neighbours, not least residents of Dalham Hall and Banstead Manor.
Are there mares enough at that level to support them? Perhaps there’s optimism to be taken from Swinburn’s words.
Because it’s mares you need. As Swinburn stated, simply standing stallions is the easy part.
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Last week, Nick Luck heard from Usha Stud’s Ameeta Mehra
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