Asia success adding to stellar domestic season for All Too Hard
Hard Too Think’s Singapore Derby win is the latest triumph for Vinery Stud’s blueblood stallion
A Group 1-winning Hong Kong sprinter and a Singapore Derby (Local Gr 1, 1800m) winner have spearheaded success for Vinery Stud’s All Too Hard (Casino Prince) in the lucrative Asian jurisdictions over the last six months, success that is fueling a new commercial market for the blueblooded stallion.
The exploits of Sunday’s Singapore Derby winner Hard Too Think and progressive Chairman’s Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) victor Wellington have seen the stallion’s stock rise in the region, while overseas success has arrived in tandem with domestic accolades, where All Too Hard, propelled by Group 1 winners Behemoth and Forbidden Love, is set to secure a first top ten finish in the sires premiership at the season’s end.
“The result was fantastic,” Vinery’s bloodstock manager Adam White told ANZ Bloodstock News in reference to the Stephen Gray-trained Hard Too Think’s Singapore Derby victory.
“It’s great for Gerry Harvey, who bred the horse. And to see All Too Hard get a winner like that is no surprise and it looks like he’s going to go on to bigger and better things over there, which is really exciting.
“To have that sort of exposure in those Asian jurisdictions is really important from an ongoing point of view, for us. It gives breeders a lot of confidence that they can breed to him with the knowledge that the Hong Kong market, certainly, is going to be seeking out more of them.”
In Hong Kong, Wellington made the tough graduation from three- to four-year-old, claiming four wins from six starts this season just passed under the guidance of Richard Gibson, which culminated in his crowning Chairman’s Sprint Prize victory in April, firing his sire into the top ten in the Hong Kong stallion ranks from just 12 runners.
However, that’s a number that looks set to swell in the coming years.
“Wellington is a really fast, speed sort of horse, and then out here in Australia he’s got Behemoth who’s really effective around the 1400-metre mark and there’s Forbidden Love who won her Group 1 over 1500 and looks a good miler, and he’s popping up with some good two-year-olds as well.
“These results on the track, certainly here in Australia with a few more Group 1 winners, we’re finding them come out of their box a little more as yearlings which is great and it’s being reflected in the sales results, and especially with those results in Asia, too.”
At public yearling auctions in Australia this year, the stallion had colts out of Raischek (Mossman) and True Malt (Elusive Quality) snapped up by Hong Kong interests at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale, while last year a colt out of Nakataan (Zabeel) was purchased for $200,000 by Astute Bloodstock and is in training with Richard Gibson.
Moreover, Sandown Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) winner Allibor was the subject of a lucrative offer to head to the jurisdiction, where he has made a solitary start for David Hayes, now named Helene Allibor.
There are 13 active sons of All Too Hard in Hong Kong, six of them winners, while a further two are unraced.
And in Singapore, in addition to Derby winner Hard Too Think, he has the stakes-placed three-year-old Infinite Wisdom and six-time winner Ocean Crossing.
“He didn’t have a lot go over, particularly to Hong Kong, in the early days. I think it was just lack of opportunity,” said White.
“He always had a few good ones, but then they don’t push their two-year-olds over there at all, so he’s certainly a breed that benefits from that and then Wellington popped up, who’s obviously a serious horse, and then a few young horses that started off there and went over there.
“I think that owners and trainers over there have recognised that the stallion is doing a really good job, and with horses in Australia like Alligator Blood and Behemoth, there’s now more heading over there.”
His success in the Asian jurisdictions, who typically target horses at their four-year-old Triple Crown events, has coincided with an upturn in success in Australia, where White believes trainers now have a handle on how to get the best out of his progeny.
“They’ve taken a little while to come to hand,” said White. “The last 12 to 18 months he’s been on a real high, which is great, and I think breeders have recognised what a great source of Group 1 horses he is, and what terrific value he is around that $30,000 service fee.
“We found that talking to the trainers in the early days, they’ve got such great attitudes and I think when they were young horses, being two-year-olds in those first couple of crops, because of their great attitudes trainers actually thought they were a little more ready than they actually were and hence ran them.
“It wasn’t until the later crops came through that they realised they might be better off giving them a little bit of time. He can certainly come up with a good two-year-old, he had two stakes-winning two-year-olds last season.
“So I think the trainers have certainly worked them out.”
Buyers have been rewarded for their faith in All Too Hard, who this season has broken into the top ten on the general sires list, with his progeny earning just shy of $10 million in prize-money.
Among those stallions still active in the top ten, his service fee of $30,000 (exc GST) sees him placed $40,000 cheaper than any other and one of only two advertised at less than $100,000.
His book last year, at 191, was the highest number of mares the stallion had covered and, reflective of his on-track success, leapt from the lowest number of mares to visit him in 2019, at 109.
“We put him in where we had Mossman and Testa Rossa for a long time and they were around that $30,000 service fee and were a great source of winners and stakes winners and breeders could get a great return in the sales ring for their service fee outlay,” White said. “And that’s where All Too Hard is. He boosts our roster at that $30,000 and he’s just a great horse to have.
“I think with so many young, unproven stallions around, I think that the buying bench, your syndicators and trainers etc, they’re not going to look at a yearling draft without getting the All Too Hards out. They can buy with confidence when they’re buying an All Too Hard.”