For a stud farm that falls neatly into the “boutique” category, George Altomonte’s Corumbene Stud continually produces horses of a quality which are the envy of some larger operations. Just this season the likes of Standout and Bottega have carried the orange, brown spots and white sleeves to Stakes success while Corumbene has also delivered two Golden Slipper winners, Overreach and Sebring who went on to a stellar stud career. No doubt the farm’s 2021 Magic Millions draft offers the opportunity to secure horses of similar talent.
The past twelve months have been a challenge for many, but for the team at Corumbene it was very much a case of business as usual. Hot on the heels of strong results on the Gold Coast last January came the eye catching win by Standout (Exceed And Excel) in the Gr.2 Expressway Stakes at Randwick where a dazzling turn of foot saw the colt leave the likes of Gr.1 winners Alizee and Kolding in his wake. Although worthy of a spot in The Everest it wasn’t to be and then nobody watching the consolation Gr.3 Sydney Stakes doubted who should have won, instead Standout was beaten a luckless head.
Luck too deserted his stablemate Bottega (Snitzel). The colt looked an Autumn star on the rise with a pair of Group placings, defeat by a mere head an on unsuitable heavy track in the Gr.3 Frank Packer Plate in a praiseworthy effort. Targeted at the Golden Eagle, the racing gods again failed to smile on Bottega, rain on the day providing bottomless ground, despite which the horse came in a close up and gallant fifth. Undaunted, hopes remain high that both horses get their opportunity to display their full potential in the Autumn.
And so we look to the next generation of Corumbene stars and one of the overall highlights of the Gold Coast sale is Lot 619, a Corumbene offered colt by four-time Champion sire Snitzel out of the stud’s homebred Golden Slipper winner Overreach. The second foal of the dam and the first to go to auction, the colt carries the blood of two of Australia’s foremost current speed lines, Snitzel and Exceed And Excel.
With her Slipper and Gr.2 Reisling Stakes’ wins and a close up third in the Gr.1 AJC Sires’ Produce, Overreach was the dominant filly of her generation and as such won the award for the Champion 2YO Filly for the 2012/13 season. Her dam, the Snippets mare Bahia, is fast gaining the reputation as a “blue hen” with six foals to race for five winners including Standout. And the one runner that remained a maiden was Outreach who only faced the starter once breaking down when runner up in the Gr.3 Canonbury Stakes to that year’s Golden Slipper winner Vancouver in a very high rating race.
There are three generations of consistent success in this family, Bahia’s dam Miss Prospect, by influential speed sire and Golden Slipper winner Rory’s Jester, a three-time Listed winner at two and dam of the Gr.1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Reward For Effort, himself a three-quarter brother to Overreach. And there is proven Gold Coast success in the family as well, Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Catnipped (Rory’s Jester) being a three-quarter sister to Miss Prospect.
Buyers looking for a farm with proven Golden Slipper credentials should have Corumbene at the top of their list, for besides Overreach, they also bred and sold the 2008 winner in Sebring, and their draft on the Gold Coast will start with Lot 18, a smashing Epaulette filly out of his More Than Ready full sister Adria.
A glance down the catalogue page confirms each generation of this family throws up a Stakes winning two-year-old. Adria’s dam Purespeed (Flying Spur) foaled Sebring, her dam Lady Moulin produced the top West Australian sprinter and Gr.3 Illawarra Classic winner Surtee (Memento) and in turn her dam Willowy (Better Boy) won the now Listed Fernhill Handicap before foaling Gr.2 Silver Slipper Stakes winner Giostra (Imperial Prince). Those playing the percentages will know there is a better than average chance of Adria getting a high-class juvenile sooner rather than later.
The impact of Charge Forward as a broodmare sire of precocious types can’t be overestimated; think Golden Slipper winners Estijaab and She Will Reign, both out of mares by Charge Forward. Corumbene will offer a colt by Yes Yes Yes’ sire Rubick out of the young Charge Forward mare Avanzar as Lot 71. A handsome colt with an early foaling date, this fellow counts the Gr.1 winners Wandjina (Snitzel), Inspiration (Flying Spur), Masked Party (Marscay), Festal (Vain) and Dracula (Quest For Fame) amongst his relations.
The buyers of Lot 785 will also be banking on getting an early comer given he is by Choisir, a consistent source of speed, out of Sheer Style. A fast daughter of Snitzel, Sheer Style’s three career wins included success in the Magic Millions Ballarat Clockwise Classic along with a third in the Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic, a Restricted Listed race.
Corumbene will offer two colts by Sebring’s son Dissident, the former Australian Horse of the Year and sire of recent Gr.2 Moonee Valley Fillies Classic winner Yes Baby Yes.
The first to be offered will be Lot 1011, a striking colt who descends from one of the best families in the Australian Stud Book. His unraced dam Mossarama is a Mossman three-quarter sister to the outstanding broodmare Staging (Success Express), dam of the Stakes winners, and all later stallions, Duporth (Red Ransom), Excites (Danewin) and Tickets (Redoute’s Choice) and also to the grandam of multiple Gr.1 winner and sire Delago Deluxe (Encosta De Lago).
The other son of Dissident sells as Lot 1195 and is the second foal out of Celestial Choice, twice a winner up to 2200 metres in Sydney and a daughter of Redoute’s Choice. This colt carries the blood of the great Galileo through his second dam Sidereus Nuncius, a winner in New Zealand, while his third dam is the Gr.1 New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas winner Foxwood (Centaine), a solid producer of black type performers.
So You Think is continually reminding us of his ability to sire a good horse and Corumbene will offer a colt of his out of Romincka, an unraced daughter of More Than Ready. Two from two with winners to runners, Romincka is a daughter of the Corumbene raced Hasna who was third in a Golden Slipper before carrying off the other two legs of the juvenile Triple Crown, the AJC Sires’ Produce and Champagne Stakes. The colt will sell as Lot 1061.
Lot 1131 from the Dunedoo farm is a son of the ultra-consistent Epaulette and the winning Written Tycoon mare Vanderlune, a half-sister to the grand old campaigner Testashadow (Testa Rossa), winner of over A$1.5 million in prizemoney. There is plenty of potential in this family which has also given us Zoustar.
The recent Doomben track record breaking win of Jonker reminded potential buyers of the class of horse his young sire Spirit Of Boom is capable of getting. Corumbene’s Spirit Of Boom filly out of the Sepoy mare Divinity has the genes to do something similar and will sell as Lot 1227. A first foal, her grandam Brothers Dream is a Redoute’s Choice half-sister to the previously mentioned Charge Forward. Their dam Sydney’s Dream won the Gr.1 Fillies Futurity in South Africa for the juveniles and her three-quarter sister Marskin won the Gr.3 Gimcrack Stakes before going on to produce the Corumbene raced Donna Natalia, another winner of the Gimcrack.
Exosphere’s stallion career has started in the best possible fashion siring the Gr.3 Magic Night Stakes winner Thermosphere. The purchasers of Lot 1142, an Exosphere filly out of Wings Of Success will be hoping that run continues. Wings Of Success is a daughter of Flying Spur and a three-quarter sister to the Gr.1 Coolmore Classic winner Alverta.
So, it can be seen that the Corumbene Magic Millions draft is both diverse and exciting. Who knows, there might just be another Overreach, Standout or Sebring amongst them.
