Rosemont Stud enjoyed a stellar 12 months on and off the track in 2021 and with a highly-credentialled group of youngsters to sell at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January the farm is poised to further its progression. The Victorian operation’s draft is an all-male affair and features representatives of resident sires Shamus Award and Starspangledbanner.
Both stallions continued to make a serious impact in 2021 with Shamus Award’s son Incentivise a spring star with Group 1 triumphs in the Makybe Diva Stakes, Turnbull Stakes and the Caulfield Cup and a runner-up finish in the Melbourne Cup-G1. His other elite performers include dual G1 winner Mr Quickie, Oaks winners Duais and Media Award and multiple G1 placed Soul Patch and Swats That.
Starspangledbanner also made his mark during the spring with his son State Of Rest claiming top honours in the Cox Plate-G1 while Brooklyn Hustle carried the Rosemont colours to victory in the Dane Ripper Stakes-G2 and the Proud Miss Stakes-G3. Further afield, Castle Star and Hermena Estrella were successful at Group 3 level in Ireland.
“It has been very rewarding to see the rise of both horses to premium-class stallions. They’re still standing at Victorian market rates, I’m not sure for how long though,” Rosemont principal Anthony Mithen said. “Those breeders that have sent mares to Shamus Award and Starspangledbanner this season will be pretty pleased with themselves and well done to them.”
Shamus Award will be represented by a quartet of colts, lots 52, 269, 390 and 693, in Rosemont’s draft at the Gold Coast and all four are expected to be hot ticket items. “Magic Millions were pretty keen to raid our paddocks and get some nice Shamus Awards to the Gold Coast to showcase him and they will be popular,” Mithen said.
Starspangledbanner has a colt, lot 473, in the draft and he is a brother to the five-time winner Starosa with their dam the Iffraaj mare Sardaaj. She was successful on two occasions and showed her class when runner-up in both the Levin Classic-G1 and the Eight Carat Classic-G2. “We race Starosa with partners in Queensland and she’s on track for a black-type campaign through the summer carnival,” Mithen said.
“It will be good to see her in stakes races and promoting her brother.”
There is also a unique individual in the consignment with lot 795 the only representative of global super sire Frankel in the sale. The colt is a half-brother to multiple winner Edited with their dam Bellwether is a half-sister to The Metropolitan Handicap-G1 winner Mirage Dancer [Frankel], while the second dam Heat Haze won twice at the highest level in North America.
“The talk horse in our draft will no doubt be the Frankel. It’s taken a lot of effort and holding our breath to get a Frankel this far and well done to our team for foaling him down and nurturing him through,” Mithen said. “Well done to the office crew as well who oversaw the importation of the mare in foal to Frankel, we bought Bellwether at the Tatt’s Broodmare Sale from Juddmonte and sent her back to Frankel and got a lovely product. A couple of people who have seen him have already got him as the stand-out.”
Another high-quality offering from Rosemont will be lot 645, who hails from the legendary Eight Carat family. “The I Am Invincible is a belting colt, the first foal of True Excelsior who is Group 1-performed Exceed And Excel mare.
It’s a beautiful family and he’s a speedy-looking type and the culmination of I Am Invincible and Exceed And Excel, that’s what you like to see,” Mithen said.
“There’s also a Snitzel colt who is a full-brother to a two-year-old stakes winner and he’s a big, strong colt who will be well found.”
Lot 873 is a full sibling to the Talindert Stakes-Listed winner Prairie Fire with their dam Consistency an unraced half-sister to the Adelaide Guineas-G3 winner Nina Haraka, dam of The Thousand Guineas-G1 runner-up Extension Of Time. It is the family of the Lightning Stakes-G1 winner Snitzerland and the Aurie’s Star Handicap – G3 winner Sooboog.
“We’re very happy with the draft and as it’s turned out they are all colts. We will be racing quite a few yearlings that we have bred and it just so happened that the precocious types we had on the sell list were all colts,” Mithen said.
Standing alongside Shamus Award and Starspangledbanner at Rosemont is the Blue Diamond Prelude-G3 winner and Blue Diamond Stakes-G1 runner-up Hanseatic, Starcraft, Strasbourg and Nostradamus.
“We really do want to become one of the premium stallion farms at least in Victoria, if not the country. Hanseatic is a beauty – a son of Street Boss and the family of Black Caviar with precocious two-year-old speed,” Mithen said.
“Starcraft keeps churning out winners and giving breed to race guys a horse at an affordable fee, Strasbourg covered 120 mares last year and over 100 this year so he’s a live ticket in the lottery, which we know it is, so he’s popular enough and Nostradamus is going well. We very much appreciate the support of all breeders as our stallion division is relatively new on the scene. It’s nice that we are getting the recognition, we’ve got good stallions that are competitively priced and can get you the real deal.”
Mithen is also excited about two future stallion prospects in Galileo’s son Maximal, who was sixth from the outside gate in the Golden Eagle in his Australian debut, and two year-old stakes winner Brereton.
“Maximal will end up on our roster if he’s good enough and we’ve agreed terms with Juddmonte that he’ll end up here. He has to do it on the track in the autumn and give us a big moment in the sun and I’m sure he will,” he said. “Brereton as well for the Rosemont-led Victoria Alliance has obviously got good stallion potential.
“He’s a precocious two year-old and is still in work and we could see him in the Merson Cooper Stakes or the Magic Millions in the months ahead. Winning the Maribyrnong Plate is no mean feat for a Zoustar colt and he is a significant horse for our future as well.”
