Zoustar holds steady as Widden Stud announce 2025 roster in keeping with current market
Widden Stud have announced their roster for the 2025 breeding season, with the stud choosing to keep many of their stallions at the same level as 2024 or slightly below – including Zoustar (Northern Meteor) who will stand for an unaltered fee $275,000 (all fees inc. GST).
With the unstable global economy and breeders at the lower to middle end beginning to feel the pinch, Widden’s 20-strong roster across both their New South Wales and Victorian-based farms aims to offer middle-market breeders the chance to access quality stallions at affordable prices.
The stud’s long-time flagship stallion Zoustar sees his fee unchanged for 2025, despite the son of Northern Meteor (Encosta De Lago) sitting second in the general sires’ list behind Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry). With still a lot of prize-money to play for, Zoustar could yet to be crowned Australia’s Champion Sire for the first time at the end of July.
Now a rising 15-year-old, Zoustar has once again produced a stellar season to date, siring 12 stakes winners in Australia – with eight of those winners at Group level including two top-flight winners in Schwarz and Joliestar, which has helped his progeny amass over $20 million in prize-money.
“Zoustar is a champion sire for both the racetrack and sales ring and his progeny have the precocity Australian buyers expect coupled with the constitution to see them train on, with outstanding four-year-olds Joliestar and Schwarz collecting Group 1 wins this season,” Widden Stud principal Antony Thompson said.
“He has covered books of outstanding mares in recent years as his star has continued to rise and we believe he is well placed to establish his standing amongst the great Australian sires of this century.”
Regarding the decision to keep Zoustar at the same fee he stood for last season, Thompson told ANZ Bloodstock News: “Whilst the top of the market is very good and strong – and there’s certainly enormous demand for Zoustar and the elite stallions – across our roster we’re a lot more middle-market and small breeder focused.
“We’re a farm that I think are really in tune with that and we can understand that the rising costs in production have really been felt across the board, so it’s definitely not the time to increase service fees and add to that cost base at that level. So we’re very conscious of that and I feel it is reflected in those fees.”
Of the stallions that could be considered at being aimed toward that middle bracket of breeders, Zoustar’s top-class son Zousain is also unchanged at $27,500, while Written By (Written Tycoon) is another standing at his 2024 fee of $22,000 and Portland Sky (Deep Field) – whose first yearlings sold for up to $320,000 – has had a slight reduction to $16,500 from $19,800.
“I guess not just for Zoustar but for all our stallions, it’s important that our clients and the breeders do have that opportunity to get considerable upside,” Thompson continued.
“And while Zoustar is the headline, I guess we spend a lot more time focused on the other stallions and those breeders in that middle market so we’d like to see the breeders come to the likes of Portland Sky, Written By and Zousain.
“There’s a lot of young horses on our roster as well, so it’s exciting times for them and across the two farms there’s a lot of good things happening.”
Alongside the regular sires seen in recent years will be a pair of new acquisitions in dual Group 1 winner Southport Tycoon (Written Tycoon) – who will stand in his father’s home state of Victoria – and Grade 1-winning American speedster Cogburn (Not This Time) – who rates as a hugely exciting addition to the stud’s NSW base.
Southport Tycoon, a top-level winner at both three and four, will stand at an opening fee of $38,500, while Cogburn – who stands at WinStar Farm in Kentucky back in his native America – is introduced at $27,500.
“We see it as important that new stallions like Southport Tycoon and Cogburn are priced at a point where breeders can support those horses and help us launch them, but also give them the chance to make really solid returns on their investments,” Thompson said.
“There’s been fantastic support for both across the two states. I’d say the Victorian industry as a whole has shared our enthusiasm on Southport Tycoon.
“Obviously, Written Tycoon has been a great stalwart for the entire industry and the flagbearer for the Victorian industry as a whole, so you now have a lot of his best sons standing in Victoria ready to fill those big shoes that Written Tycoon has as he enters the sort of twilight of his breeding career.
“With the job that Ole Kirk is doing currently as a sire-son of Written Tycoon, there is great enthusiasm about Southport Tycoon in Victoria.”
Thompson also revealed that Cogburn had received plenty of support himself, with breeders attracted to the fact that the son of Taylor Made Farm stalwart Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway) is being offered at a fee nearly half that of his Kentucky price (when taking into account currency conversions).
“In the same way [as Southport Tycoon], the breeders have seen Cogburn, enquired about him and watched his races,” Thompson said.
“I guess there’s a very exciting sire line [in Not This Time] and an incredibly fast and good-looking American sprinter coming down that is very new and very interesting.
“He’s been incredibly popular and incredibly fertile in Kentucky and the noises coming from there are just about what a fantastic horse he is and how popular he is.
“That gives the breeders here great confidence that they can use a world-class sire prospect that I’d say is at a very good value fee.
“He is offered at [nearly] half-price in Australia compared to the US and to get a stallion like that for that price looks too good an opportunity not to capitalise on.”
Emerging young sires Doubtland (Not A Single Doubt) (VIC), Dirty Work (Written Tycoon) (VIC) and Anders (Not A Single Doubt) (NSW) will all sit at the $13,200 mark for 2025.
Dirty Work has had three winners to date, including stakes winner Do I Feel Lucky, while Doubtland also has three winners and Anders has four – with Frothy Macaw most recently running fourth at stakes level and Casino Bay winning the $125,000 Pat O’Shea Plate (1200m) at Toowoomba last month.
Widden’s showcase stallions also have a more than capable supporting cast, with proven sires of winners Trapeze Artist (Snitzel) (NSW) set to stand for reduced fee of $33,000, Russian Camelot (Camelot) (VIC) and King Colorado (Kingman) (VIC) have both had their fees clipped to $16,500, while Jacquinot (Rubick) (NSW) has also had his price slightly lowered for his third season and will command a fee of $24,200.
Meanwhile, proven Group 1 sires Nicconi (Bianconi) (VIC, $13,200), Rebel Dane (California Dane) (NSW, $8,800), and Gold Standard (Sebring) (VIC, $5,500) all see their fees reduced to fit the current market climate.
“There are stallions that sat at a low base that have sired Group 1 winners and that are doing a great job, Nicconi, Gold Standard and Rebel Dane, and it’s attractive that you can breed to a proven Group 1 sire at a low fee,” Thompson said.
“It’s vitally important for the whole industry that breeders can breed a mare to those proven stallions and have good commercial success and also good success on the racetrack.
“That has always been very important for us and what we do. We have a lot of mares ourselves that could be bred to those stallions but, while we may breed a few of our mares to Zoustar, the majority of mares are bred to those stallions in the middle market.”
Widden’s 2025 roster is completed by Sweet Ride (Deep Field) (NSW, $11,000), Supido (Sebring) (NSW, $9,900), Bruckner (Snitzel) (VIC, $9,900), and Star Witness (Starcraft) (VIC, $8,800).