‘He’s the best Group 1 stallion on the planet’ – Apocalyptic adds to Extreme Choice’s remarkable Group 1 record
Newgate Farm boss Henry Field spent Sunday revelling in the glow of one of the stud’s most special days on the racetrack, after twin triumphs suggesting their “freak of nature” stallion is on his way to confirmation as a sire of sires.
Sub-fertile sensation Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) brought up his sixth elite winner when Apocalyptic – the latest exciting female in a landscape full of them – took out the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
With only 137 starters worldwide, Extreme Choice has a Group 1 winners to runners ratio of 4.4 per cent – something many stallion owners would be satisfied with as a stakes winners to runners figure.
But of extra significance to Newgate was that four races earlier on the Randwick card, Extreme Choice’s son Stay Inside became a stakes-winning stallion with his first runner.
Incognito, who also happens to be Apocalyptic’s stablemate in the Michael Freedman yard, and who was Stay Inside’s highest priced first crop yearling when bought for $1 million by James Harron and Tony Fung’s colts syndicates, launched his sire perfectly by landing Australia’s first two-year-old race of the season, the Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m).
It was a dream weekend for Newgate, who can hold high hopes of having a dynastic line of stallions, after the successes of their top two priced sires.
Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Extreme Choice is now covering his ninth book at a national-high fee of $330,000 (inc GST), up from his $275,000 figure of the past three years, through which his fertility rate averaged 45 per cent.
And Stay Inside – who became his father’s first top-tier winner by taking the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) in 2021 – is full for his fourth book at a fee increased from $55,000 to $66,000 (inc GST), putting him second among Newgate’s 16 stallions.
Many a stud farm has prospered by nurturing not just stallions but stallion lines. Arrowfield has had three generations of champion sires in Danehill (Danzig), Redoute’s Choice and Snitzel. The Autumn Sun – who raised his fourth elite winner on Saturday with unbeaten mare Autumn Glow’s Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) success – is another son of Redoute’s Choice at the stud, while Dundeel (High Chaparral) and Castevecchio are another Group 1-winning father-son sires double act at Arrowfield.
Yarraman Park is striving for similar success with their top-level winning father-son sires I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) and Hellbent, while Widden Stud has reigning champion sire Zoustar (Northern Meteor) and his son Zousain, who’s had three black type victors so far.
Now Newgate are hoping not only that they have their own powerhouse version in Extreme Choice and Stay Inside, but also that the former can prove himself a sire of stallions far and wide.
Newgate also stands another Extreme Choice son in the Group 2 and Group 3-winning Tiger Of Malay, their $11,000 (inc GST) stallion whose first crop, like Stay Inside’s, are also now two-year-olds.
Likewise Group 3 and Listed winner Extreme Warrior, standing at Victoria’s Rosemont Stud for $13,200 (inc GST), has begun his first season with runners.
Up north, Blue Diamond runner-up Don Corleone is covering his second book at Queensland’s Eureka Stud, in a joint-venture with Newgate, for $13,200 (inc GST), while Extreme Choice’s standing sire sons, listed in the Australian Stud Book, are rounded out by Gold Coast winner Extremaarty, who’s at Rockhampton’s Toward Stud for $5,500 (inc GST).
“Our results on Saturday were fantastic, and Extreme Choice just keeps going from strength to strength,” Field told ANZ News.
“But even more special that he’s now looking like he’s a sire of sires. I remember [Coolmore chief] John Magnier telling me when I was younger, that getting a champion sire is one thing, but getting a sire of sires is a whole different thing altogether. It shows the power and longevity of the line.
“And the signs are good with Extreme Choice’s first son with a runner siring a Breeders Plate winner with his first runner. It was one of the most special days I’ve had on a racetrack.
“Extreme Warrior and Tiger of Malay have got two-year-olds and we’re getting really good vibes about those two. They’re stallions at a much lower price bracket, but certainly their stock look like they have ability. And the reports on Don Corleone’s foals so far have been really strong.
“Any time you get a son of Extreme Choice who’s won a Golden Slipper, you’d have high hopes he’ll make it as a stallion himself.
“And certainly the feeling about Stay Inside is a positive one. The proof of the pudding will come on the racetrack, but his stock look like they’ve got a fair bit of talent.
“It’s early days but you couldn’t ask for a better start.”
Seven-year-old Stay Inside may have inherited many things from his father but, mercifully, low fertility isn’t among them, having hit in excess of 70 per cent in his three completed seasons.
Harron and Fung made a bold play by spending seven figures on the progeny of a first-season sire when they purchased Incognito at Magic Millions Gold Coast. He was Stay Inside’s most expensive first crop yearling by far, with the second top being $675,000.
Posting another result for the burgeoning broodmare sire career of I Am Invincible, Incognito is the second foal of the triple champion stallion’s daughter Bleu Zebra, a half-sister to Melbourne Listed winner Fox Swift (Foxwedge).
Third dam Pay My Bail (Justice Prevails) was New Zealand’s Champion 3YO Sprinter of 2003-04, a five-time stakes winner, and threw two black type victors in White Moss (Mossman) and White Sage (Reset).
“He was well purchased by James Harron and his crew, which was great,” Field said. “We were actually the underbidder on him, but I’ve never been so happy to be underbidder on a Breeders’ Plate winner than I was on Saturday, seeing the first son of Stay Inside look like he’s a very good horse.
“Full credit to James and his team. It was a big price for a yearling by a first season sire and they’re got the perfect start.”
Field said Incognito had progressed commensurate with his price tag under Freedman, who also trained Stay Inside when in partnership with brother Richard.
Bearing Harron’s familiar green with gold epaulettes, Incognito loomed up to win his heat at Sydney’s first official two-year-old trials before fading slightly into third.
But the colt showed the benefit of that outing with his determined finish to take the Breeders’ Plate, by 0.3 lengths from the favourite by another keenly awaited first season sire in I’m Ya Huckleberry (Home Affairs).
“From what I understand, at the trials he ran out of condition, but he certainly ran to the stable’s opinion yesterday and the feeling is he’s got further improvement to come,” Field said.
“I knew Michael Freedman had a huge opinion of the horse, so it didn’t surprise me when he put them away like he did.
“His improvement from the trial to the Breeders’ Plate was enormous and if he can take that next step again he’ll be a genuine Golden Slipper contender, you would hope.”
Extreme Choice, meanwhile, continues to achieve the extraordinary, from his limited opportunities.
Apocalyptic, who’s won her past three of four starts, is among his 16 stakes winners worldwide, at 11.6 per cent. She’s also one of his two stakes victors since September 20, after Chris Waller’s colt Estremo took the Caulfield Guineas Prelude (Gr 3, 1400m).
With a winners-to-runners ratio of 68.1 per cent, Extreme Choice sits tenth on this season’s nascent Australian general sires’ table, after a personal-best finish of 21st in 2024-25 – when his 87 runners ranked as the lowest number in the top 25.
Between his 1200-metre Group 1-winning two-year-olds Stay Inside and Devil Night, and his Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) hero Knight’s Choice, Extreme Choice now has two 1600-metre elite winners, with Apocalyptic having joined She’s Extreme. That mare counts as the sire’s top performer having won the ATC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at two, and the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m).
Apocalyptic’s Flight victory means Extreme Choice’s Group 1 winners are evenly balanced – three male and three female – which largely echoes the 12-year-old’s overall stakes winners gender split of nine and seven.
“He’s the best Group 1 stallion on the planet, based on Group 1 winners to runners,” Field said.
“He’s nothing short of a freak of nature. He’s had a Golden Slipper winner, to a Melbourne Cup winner in Knight’s Choice, and everything in between.
“And now Apocalyptic is so exciting. I know Michael Freedman thinks she could be one of the best horses he’s put a bridle on, so it’s all very special.”