Winnasedge gives Cliff’s Edge breakthrough stakes winner

It’s been a little while coming, and his opportunities haven’t been vast, but the stakes winner has arrived that Bombora Downs stud hopes will spark the interest to back their belief in their stallion Cliff’s Edge (Canford Cliffs).

Winnasedge, a first-cropper for his rising 12-year-old sire, claimed Saturday’s Sir John Monash Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) at Caulfield to end a tantalising wait for Bombora and the four-year-old’s connections, after his two previous Group placings amid 16 starts.

Cliff’s Edge, who won two Group 2s and two Group 3s from 30 outings, has only had 22 runners from three seasons of starters.

This comes amid a neat 50 per cent winners to runners after essentially only two seasons of runners, since only two starters came in his debut season of two-year-olds, and with most of his stock hitting the track at three.

Cliff’s Edge’s first crop is tracking at 55.55 per cent, with 10 winners from 18 starters, while his second has provided just four runners so far, for one win.

And as a Danehill-free stallion – who’s also the only son of Canford Cliffs (Tagula) standing in Australia – Cliff’s Edge makes strong outcross appeal at his 2026 service fee of $6,600, says Bombora Downs owner Christoph Bruechert.

“It’s early days still and he’s not had that many runners, but I do think he’s a good stallion,” Bruechert told ANZ News.

“He did enough with his first few runners for me to think he’s a good horse. Whether or not we get to find that out is probably out of my hands at this point, but the only thing holding Cliff’s Edge back is opportunities.

“At one stage he was running at 66 per cent winners to runners for his first crop, which is good going. Now it’s at 55 per cent, which is still good going.

“There’s lots of stallions who get good opportunities and in large part the mares make the stallion. Cliff’s Edge probably hasn’t had enough runners to make me really think this, but in my guts I think he’s one of those horses who upgrades mares. He’s had very limited opportunities, but he’s done a good job.”

Cliff’s Edge joined Bombora Downs in the third of his six stud seasons so far, after two years at the now defunct Cornwall Park. After covering just 15 mares in his first two springs at the Mornington Peninsula farm, he served 23 in 2024 at $3,300 – and at a fertility rate of 90 per cent. The success of his earliest runners led to a fee doubling last spring, when he covered 17 mares.

While he’s still only had three two-year-old runners in total, first-croppers including Winnasedge, Escarpa and Verona Rupes – all now city winners – were quick to hit their straps on debuting as spring three-year-olds.

“It’s looking like his stock are early three-year-olds, as opposed to two-year-olds,” Bruechert said.

“They’ve taken a little bit of time to mature, obviously, and the market’s hard on that. But he’s getting them over the right distance. His winners have pretty much all been between 1000m and 1600m, mostly around the 1200m mark, so that’s the distance our market seems to like.

“The market does like them precocious. We can’t say his stock have been terribly precocious, but they’re worth the effort.

“I’m a big believer in winners to runners, and with what he had early on, he’s been ticking that box. At one stage he had nine winners from about 13 starters. Most stallions in their first crop struggle to get 50 per cent.”

Cliff’s Edge debuted as a May two-year-old, and scored three of his stakes wins at three, ranging in distance from Caulfield’s Manfred Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) to Moonee Valley’s Alister Clark Stakes (Gr 2, 2040m). Verona Rupes has hinted at the stallion’s versatility as his only winner beyond 1600m, also scoring over 2040m at Moonee Valley.

Bruechert’s farm operates at the lower end of the budgetary scale, with six sires whose “primary function” is to service the mares of those stallions’ owners.

But he expects that first stakes victor Winnasedge will spark an increase in interest from commercial breeders in his sire for the coming spring.

That will bump up further if the gelding – who’s now won six of 16 starts including four in Melbourne city class – can score another black type win in the race identified by his trainer Nick Ryan for his next start, the Bletchingly Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Caulfield on July 25.

“There’s two markets – the commercial market and then not much else after that,” Bruechert said. “The breed-to-race market has been diminishing over the last 20 years, to the point where there’s not a lot of it left, and the commercial market is extremely rigid. You don’t have to be far off the radar to be off the radar.

“But having a stakes winner should help Cliff’s Edge’s commercial appeal. I’m expecting a few bookings this week because of that.

“Plus, he’s never been expensive. We’re not giving him away, but I’d rather have the mares than the dollars.

“He’s got a bit more to do to attract more commercial interest. But from a breed-to-race point of view, he looks like one of the best horses on offer around the place, from a value for money perspective.

“And I would’ve thought that for commercial breeders, if they’ve got a mare and they haven’t decided which stallion to send him to, and they don’t want to spend much money, I think he’s worth a punt.”

Bruechert said the “exceptionally well-mannered” Cliff’s Edge stamped his stock, physically and mentally.

“He’s a bit deceptive in size,” he said. “He’s a bit over 16 hands, but he’s neatly put together and quite well balanced, and doesn’t look so big.

“His progeny are in same mould – neat horses – which is what I personally like.

“He’s got a great temperament, he’s great in the shed and good in the paddock – he’s just a cool dude to work with. Anyone on the farm can go up and catch him.

“And his progeny, from the dealings we have with them up until yearling stage, they’re in the same sort of mould.

“He’s a good looking horse and his babies can run. There’s nothing to not like about him as far as I’m concerned.”

Bruechert said Saturday’s stakes victory for Winnasedge had brought a satisfying piece of validation for the faith he’d had in his farm’s leading stallion.

“It’s a good start, so I’m very pleased with that. To do what he’s done off the numbers he’s had has been pretty damn good,” he said.

“Right from his first runners, I have felt pretty confident about the horse, though I was starting to think, ‘When’s it going to happen?’

“I do believe in him, but I’m only one man, so I’ve got to get other people to agree with me. But results like Saturday’s should help.”