Tarzino gets an increase as Westbury Stud release 2025 fees
Westbury Stud have released their stallion fees for the 2025 breeding season and the roster is once again headlined by triple Group 1-producing sire Tarzino (Tavistock) who will stand for $25,000 (all fees plus GST), increased from $20,000 in 2024.
Progeny of Tarzino enjoyed a stellar season on the track, which included the emergence of MyRacehorse-owned stayer Willydoit, who scored an emphatic victory in the New Zealand Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) before making the trip to Sydney for a gallant fourth-placed finish in the Australian (Gr 1, 2400m) equivalent. He became the second Derby winner for Tarzino joining 2022 SA Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) scorer Jungle Magnate. Tarzino has also produced the fellow Classic winner Gypsy Goddess, winner of the 2022 Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2200m) and placed in the Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m).
“He has done well this season, he had another Group 1 winner. He has only got three crops that are three-year-olds and older, and he’s had three classic winners, two Derby winners and an Oaks winner. There’s not too many young stallions that have been able to achieve that,” Russell Warwick, general manager at Westbury Stud, told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“He’s by Tavistock, who left half a dozen derby winners, and he’s out of a Zabeel mare, so his pedigree says that he should be doing exactly what he’s doing. I think he’s meeting all the requirements of his pedigree. He was a Derby winner in his own right as a racehorse, so the results that we’re seeing is a fair bit of logic that his pedigree puts out.”
Tarzino not only enjoyed success in New Zealand this season, but also across the Tasman in Australia, highlighted by MRC Easter Cup (Gr 3, 2000m) winner Torranzino and ATC Christmas Cup (Listed, 2400m) winner Kadavar.
“His first two Group 1 winners were both in Australia, which was an enormous feat, with Gypsy Goddess and Jungle Magnate. He has got Chris Waller’s horse Kadavar who won the Christmas Cup and is unbeaten over 2400 metres, and I know Chris is really excited about where he could go this year as a stayer. Torranzino won the Easter Cup and then was narrowly beaten the last week in the Warrnambool Cup. Immediacy, he has won his last two starts and was a Group 2 winner as a three-year-old, so, he’s got a really good bunch of horses over there.”
El Roca (Fastnet Rock) will stand his ninth season at the Gerry Harvey-owned farm, for a fee of $10,000, down from $15,000 in 2024.
“He’s very consistent. He had a frustrating season last year where he had seven black-type performers, but they were all black type place-getters, and two of them were placed in Group 1s. He’s a son of Fastnet Rock and he’s already got two Group 1 winners to his name.”
“He’s just doing a really good job, and he’s extremely well liked in Hong Kong and he’s had good success up there. We just felt it was a time where you had to accommodate those people that could either breed to take them, not just to a yearling sale, but past that point to, whether it be, a Ready To Run sale, where they incur more costs or indeed racing them themselves.”
Redwood (High Chaparral), the sire of this season’s emphatic Toorak Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Antino, remains unchanged at $10,000 for 2025.
“He’s gone really well again this year. Antino gave him a third individual Group 1 winner, and two years before that, we had Sharp ‘N’ Smart as Horse of the Year. The last couple of years he has been going exceptionally well.
“He is just so consistent. Probably one of his most telling attributes is that he can leave a horse capable of winning a Listed race up the strait of Flemington, or he can leave you a Jericho Cup winner and everything in between. He gets sprinters, he gets milers, he gets middle distance horses, and he gets absolute stayers.
The roster is completed by Reliable Man (Dalakhani), who stands at $10,000 down from $12,500, while Swiss Ace (Secret Savings) and Ferrando (Fast ‘n’ Famous) both remain at unchanged fees of $5,000.
“His [Reliable Man] daughter Erle won the German Oaks last year, giving him his fourth individual Group 1 winner. He’s had three Oaks winners in three different countries – Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. If you get a nice colt by him, he is still very sought after in the sale ring. There is a very good market to get into Hong Kong for them and he’s got a couple of smart horses up there at the moment. And if you get a filly, you could end up owning or breeding an Oaks Winner.”
“Swiss Ace is the old boy of the group. But, even as late as last week, we’re selling horses that have won trials for healthy six figure sums by him. At his age now, he’s not probably a yearling sale horse, but everything after that, two-year-old’s, Ready to Runs, and particularly on the racetrack – he’s exceptional.
“He had three new stakes winners again last season. Grahame Begg has got a very good mare in Australia called Niance, we bred her and she has won five of her six starts in Australia. She won the How Now Stakes and the Alinghi Stakes, both good sprints around Caulfield. So once again, there’s no telling what Swiss Ace can leave you.”
“[Ferrando] is a young stallion who has got to make his mark. But he actually had another winner today [Tuesday], so he’s now up to nine winners. With a very light number of horses to race, he’s already produced three stakes-placed horses, so he has a lot of potential, and the next year or two will be quite telling for him.”