WHY PURCHASE SHARES IN WEANLINGS?

In 2004 I started to investigate the possibility of purchasing and syndicating weanlings as part of my overall selection strategy. My reasoning for this was simply that yearling prices appeared to me to be inflated and I have always strived to give my clients the best value for money syndications available.

I purchased my first weanling in 2006, six in 2007, five in 2008 and seven in 2009. I have been very happy with these purchases and I am of the opinion that I can offer these to my clients at the same price that I would have purchased them as yearlings. In essence I was able to offer my clients horses that would syndicate for about $25,000 less than would have been the case had I purchased them as yearlings.

At this stage the first twelve that I purchased are of racing age. I'm pleased to report that ten have raced. Eight of the ten that have raced are winners. The highest profiled of these are Believe 'N Achieve, Too Many Reds, I Am Magic, Merry Miss and Hyginus. Recently the 10th runner Pitt Street ran a terrific 4th first up at Flemington in a strong two year old race and is now being set for a crack at the Melbourne Spring Carnival. The other runner has been placed.

The two unraced are now two year olds by Starcraft and Foreplay with the reports from the trainers being quite promising.

These figures are impressive and as I wrote at the time I started this new approach to syndicating that the proof would be in the pudding. Its looking a nice pudding as I write this.

INTRODUCTION

Pictured above is a strong, athletic colt that is a half brother to our promising two year old I Am Magic and the rising two year old filly Another Concerto that has really impressed Charlie in her early work.

The colt is by the highly promising son of champion Sire Hussonet in Trotamondo (Chi).

I am very pleased to have secured this colt and also to have purchased one of the first Trotamondo's sold in Australia. Over the years we have rarely made a mistake in selecting which first season sires to support and more importantly which to leave alone.

Trotamondo was Champion 3 Year Old and named Chilean Horse of the Year in 2005. He won the Chilean Triple Crown in that year.

Trotamondo went on to race in the USA where he won at Group 3 level at Hollywood Park. He was a very exciting horse with an explosive turn of foot along similar lines to Weekend Hustler, also by Hussonet.

My early impressions of the Trotamondo's are that they have great attitudes and there seem to be no temperament issues with them. This is very important.

Trotamondo was selected by Arthur and Harry Mitchell to stand at their famous stud, Yarraman Park in the Hunter Valley. This is a terrific indication of the high quality of the horse as the Mitchells are amongst the most highly respected judges of a thoroughbred in Australia.

This is the third foal of Miss Schumann. I purchased the first foal which races as I Am Magic. I Am Magic was impressive in winning recently at Elwick and was also Stakes placed in the Listed Elwick Stakes.

I also purchased the second foal by Snippetson which is a rising two year old which has really impressed Charlie Goggin in her early work. Her name is Another Concerto.

Miss Schumann is by the well related son of Danzig in Brahms. The second dam is by Kenvain. Our promising two year old Too Many Reds second dam is by Kenvain. Kenvain is also the broodmare sire of Under Command. I see it as a positive in a pedigree with Kenvain being by Champion sire Kenmare.

This should be a very good cross as four of Hussonet's Group 1 winners come from Danzig line mares including well known Australian horses Reaan and Gold Trail. The daughters of Danzig line stallions are doing a great job here with Danehill and Flying Spur being the most prominent.

It should be of interest that Brahms daughters have had just the two runners worldwide with both being winners and one also being stakes placed. At this stage he has just the five named foals.

This colt is very well put together. He is a terrific walker and oozes class. The photograph tells a story in itself.

The colt has had a great start being bred at the highly acclaimed nursery Yarraman Park. Five of our recent winners in Believe 'N Achieve, Hyginus, Sea Coral, I Am Magic and Izacat were reared at Yarraman Park.

Our weanling syndications have been very successful with eight winners already from just ten to race. The best is Believe 'N Achieve with the good performers Too Many Reds, I Am Magic, Hyginus and Merry Miss still representing us. Our most recent weanling syndication to run was Pitt Street who looked outstanding first up at Flemington when a close 4th in very good company.

He will be trained by Charlie Goggin near Hobart.