Widden gear up for the new season as Cogburn joins Zoustar in the Hunter
Widden Stud are gearing up for the imminent breeding season and have recently welcomed a new acquisition to their Hunter Valley in the shape of the record-breaking sprinter Cogburn (Not This Time).
The US speedster arrived off the back of a remarkable career in which he won nine of his sixteen career starts, earning more than US$2.4 million in prize-money. He was rated the joint world’s best sprinter on the 2024 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings and clocked a world-record 59.8 seconds over 1100 metres last year in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga.
Cogburn’s arrival represents a significant coup for Widden Stud and owner Antony Thompson, with the son of Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway) bringing genuine international credentials to the Hunter Valley, having just covered his first book of mares at WinStar Farm in Kentucky.
Thompson said: “He’s a very popular horse at WinStar Farm, where he’s just covered his first book of over 190 mares. He’s the world’s highest rated sprinter, and he brings a real outcross and a new sire line to Australia.
“Not This Time is a real rags to Richard’s story in America, where he went to stud at $15,000, and with six crops of racing age now, his service fee is over US$175,000. So, he’s been a phenomenon over there – he’s had three champions, seven Group 1 winners, and Cogburn for us, was his number one son.”
Thompson said the stallion’s physique and athleticism have also struck a chord with breeders since his arrival at Widden last week.
“He is the world’s fastest horse, he loved the turf. He is just fabulous looking, you can see why he was so fast. A real class horse, great presence, lovely action. A really exciting horse to bring to Australia, and the response from the Aussie breeders has been fantastic and the response certainly today has been enormous, really overwhelming,” he said.
Thompson believes the sprinter’s introductory fee of $27,500 (inc GST) presents good value for breeders.
“The hype is speed, the outcross, he’s going to suit so many of our mares,” he said. “The value of his fee, he is a horse that’s going to stand equivalent of US$50,000, which is half price to his US fee. He is going to have a lot of international appeal and a lot of local appeal. He’s going to be a horse that’s really sought after in the sale ring, and I’m sure he’s going to be a horse that makes a big impact on the track.”
Widden, along with a number of respected breeders, will support Cogburn strongly in his first Australian season.
“We’re sending some beautiful mares to him. We’ve got 22 mares of our own going to him already. He’s nearly fully booked, so the response has been terrific. There’s not too many noms available in him,” Thompson continued.
“He has had great support from a lot of the breeders who have seen him in Kentucky or seen him here since his arrival last week. John Muir is sending three mares to him, the Ferguson family at Bell River have seen him and are going to support him, and Inglis CEO Sebastian Hutch was in awe of the horse when he saw him the other day. So really positive comments out there and really nice things being said about Cogburn.”
Cogburn will stand alongside recently-minted Australian champion sire Zoustar (Northern Meteor), who continues to set the standard both in the sales ring and on the racetrack.
The son of Northern Meteor (Encosta De Lago) gifted Widden Stud their first title since Marscay (Biscay) won his second in 1993, an achievement which Thompson said is immensely satisfying.
“It’s a huge personal achievement,” he said. “Widden has a very proud history of having champion sires, and for me to now add Zoustar as another champion sire on my time at the helm is enormously satisfying and something I’m really proud of.
“It’s been a great team effort. Certainly the shareholder support, the breeders who’ve got behind him and all the buyers and trainers who have really helped us on the way, and the team here at Widden – they’ve obviously really worked hard and take enormous pride in being able to say we’ve got Australia’s champion sire here at Widden this week. It’s lovely to bring him out and show him off, he’s such a stunning horse, he’s such a lovely horse to work with and so popular.”
The rise of Zoustar has not only reaffirmed Widden’s historic reputation as a producer of champion stallions, but also highlighted his growing influence as a sire of sires, with eight sons already at stud.
At the same time, he is quickly establishing himself as a valuable broodmare sire, with his daughters proving highly sought after at every level of the market.
“He is champion sire at the age of 14, so he’s historically quite young to be champion sire, and looking at it now with eight sons at stud, that’s happened pretty quickly. I think he’s had over 11 mares make more than a million dollars, so the Zoustar fillies are precious too,” Thompson said.
“Of course, Zougotcha was the highlight this year when she sold for $5,250,000, but we’ve seen a lot of other very nice Zoustar mares sell extremely well. With eight sons at stud already that sire line through Northern Meteor is so influential and continues to expand and through the sons of Zoustar, I’m sure it’ll really leave its mark on the Australian industry.”
Zoustar’s influence is now being felt well beyond Australia, with his stock attracting strong international investment. At the recent Magic Millions Virtual Sale, global racing and breeding operation Wathnan Racing secured Olentia for $2.6 million, a result that further proves the demand for Zoustar progeny both domestically and abroad.
“It’s exciting for the whole industry,” Thompson said. “To see Ollie Tait be able to introduce Wathnan to the Australian market and industry is a pretty important day and they were under bidders on a couple of other really nice Zoustar mares in Queensland.
“They did well to buy a beautiful Zoustar mare online the other day and although she’s heading back to Europe shortly, hopefully we can see more involvement from some of the new big players in the industry globally. They’ve just put their toe in the water in Australia, but that’s exciting first steps and hopefully we can see more involvement for them in the future.”
Widden have also introduced their ‘No Risk, All Reward’ initiative for 2025, available across 11 of their 20 stallions in New South Wales and Victoria. The scheme allows breeders to defer the service fee until the foal is sold at auction, with the breeder retaining the first $25,000 of the sale price before the advertised service fee is deducted. Any surplus is then split 75 per cent to the breeder and 25 per cent to Widden.
Thompson said the initiative reflects Widden’s long-standing support for smaller breeders.
“I think we have to be positive. Widden’s been built on a lot of smaller breeders and they’re great supporters of all our stallions. I think it’s important the foal crop maintains a really healthy level and for breeders to continue to mate their mares. We don’t want to see them not mating their mares and then in turn going out of the business. So it’s a really exciting offer to be able to breed your mare to one of our nice stallions, if she suits, and we enter into a partnership,” he said.
“I think that’s very generous terms. A lot of people have asked us what’s the catch, and there is no catch. If you don’t get a result, if the foal should die, or if something should happen, you don’t owe us anything. If the yearling only makes $25,000, you keep the $25,000 and we get nothing.
“So, it’s very heavily weighted in the favour of those breeders and I think now is the time to be able to go into partnership with them, support them, give back, and I’m sure we’ll breed some very nice horses and I’m sure a lot of our clients will have a lot of success and that’s what we want because then we can share in it.”
Widden also hosted their Victorian stallion parade last Friday, where they introduced their new addition, Southport Tycoon, a dual Group 1-winning son of Written Tycoon (Iglesia).
“It was lovely to unveil Southport Tycoon at Widden Victoria at our open day last Friday, and the response from the Victorian industry and the whole Australian industry has been fabulous. We have had a lot of mares from New South Wales down there and a lot of Victorian breeders behind him,” Thompson said.
“Written Tycoon stood his first five seasons at Widden Victoria and then to stand a horse like Southport Tycoon, one of his best performed sons, and a horse that is very much in the mould of his sire back in Victoria, I think shows Widden’s commitment to the whole Victorian industry.
“I think he’s got the makings of another champion sire and hopefully a champion sire at Widden Victoria would be another great day on the back of being able to have a champion sire and the Hunter this year.”