Natalma backs US bloodlines in six-lot Inglis Easter draft
John Ferguson’s Natalma Bloodstock will take its latest step into the Australian yearling market at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, with a select group of six to be offered as part of Arrowfield Stud’s draft.
Founded in July 2021 and named after the dam of the truly breed-shaping sire Northern Dancer (Nearctic), Natalma was first active in the US and the UK and made its first foray as a trader in Australia at the 2022 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale.
That occasion saw the operation sell three European-bred mares – Bawaady (Dubawi), Under Wraps (Kingman) and Elvic (Siyouni) – for a combined $2.1 million, going for $700,000 apiece.
The former chief executive to Godolphin, Ferguson aims to nurture a bloodstock portfolio that appeals across global markets, and has curated another internationally attractive group to go through the ring at Riverside in Sydney.
American bloodlines have proved a success story in Australia in the past. Group 1 winners Russian Revolution, Little Brose and King Colorado are just a small few among the leading performers in the country whose dams were bred in the US.
Five of Natalma’s six yearlings on offer are out of American mares – which Ferguson told ANZ News is a business model he believes can be successful in Australia.
“I think there’s no question that fast American bloodlines and pedigrees have proven that they work internationally,” he said. “I think that’s just an accepted fact, and therefore it makes sense that we have mares that are attractive – they’re the right shape, they’ve got good limbs and they’re athletic. We believe that they’re the right type to produce nice horses in Australia.”
Among the standouts of the draft are Lots 176 and 230, a pair of chestnut colts in the mould of their champion sire Gun Runner (Candy Ride).
The former is the first foal from Listed winner Violenza (Violence), while the latter is the third foal out of the stakes-winning juvenile Been Studying Her (Fast Anna), herself a half-sister to Graded winners Sneaking Out (Indian Evening) and Grecian Fire (Unusual Heat) as well as to stakes winner Smuggler’s Run (Straight Fire).
Violenza was a US$210,000 pickup for Natalma at the 2022 edition of the Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale, while the operation parted with US$330,000 to secure Been Studying Her at the same sale the year before.
While yet to have a runner in the southern hemisphere, there seems to be market confidence behind Gun Runner – who covered a handful of mares at his Lane’s End Farm base on southern hemisphere time – in Australasia, with all four of his yearlings offered in 2025 selling at an average of $408,750 across Inglis Easter and Magic Millions Gold Coast.
“It makes sense to breed them to stallions that we believe are going to make an impact in Australia,” Ferguson said.
“I tell you exactly where the logic is there [breeding to Gun Runner]. Gun Runner has been an extraordinary success in the United States. As a type, he is the most beautiful animal and would look as much like a turf horse as a dirt horse.
“He’s by Candy Ride, who has produced so many good turf horses. So I firmly believe Gun Runner is a stallion who can do really well. And on top of that, from his first five crops at stud, he’s produced 12 Grade 1 winners, which is more than any stallion has ever done in the history of American racing. That, to me, is an incredible stat when you go back through to Bold Ruler, who had 11, and Northern Dancer, who had seven.”
Ferguson was effusive in his praise for Gun Runner and said the opportunity to buy a colt by the 11-time Grade 1 winner in Australia is one not to be understated.
“We all dream, but if you had a Gun Runner colt who ended up being top class in Australia, his value as a stallion prospect would be off the charts,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to have a colt that could just be a game changer for the Australian bloodstock industry.
“I think it’s so important that the best and the greatest sire lines from around the world are exposed to the Australian market and Australian racing conditions in order that they can prove themselves, as so many good mares have done in the past.”
Also on offer is a Kingman (Invincible Spirit) colt out of winning More Than Ready (Southern Halo) mare Dubai Blue, who is catalogued as Lot 274. Ferguson highlighted the success the leading European stallion has had in Australia from limited representation and anticipates bigger things to come.
“He’s had two Group 1 winners from 23 runners in Australia,” Ferguson said. “King Colorado was a JJ Atkins winner and Zardozi was more typical of a Kingman in the sense that she was winning over further distance and over more time. So I think the sire is a really, really exciting horse for Australia.
“He’s a fast stallion and she’s a really attractive American mare from a good family. It’s just basically quality and quality should work everywhere.
“It made sense at the time to breed them after [King Colorado took out the JJ Atkins in 2023] and we’ve been so lucky in that we’ve been given a beautiful colt. So, fingers crossed, he will turn out to be a top-class race horse. We’ve got these in Australia now and we want to see them go on and produce great results on the race course, because that’s what this whole thing is all about.”
Other colts set to sell in the draft are Lots 139, a son of Maurice (Screen Hero) out of an unraced American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) half-sister to Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) heroine Irish Lights (Fastnet Rock), and Lot 186 – a son of Dundeel (High Chaparral) out of Winter Freeze, a Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) sister to Group 2-winning filly Zloties.
Also a half-sister to fellow Group 2 scorers and Sebring (More Than Ready) pair Catch A Fire and Seaburge, Winter Freeze is a granddaughter of Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) winner La Volta (Laranto).
Lot 278 is the sole filly of the draft by the mighty Frankel (Galileo) and out of Easy Silence, a stakes-placed daughter of leading American sire Constitution (Tapit) from the family of Travers Stakes (Gr 1, 10f) winner Alpha (Benardini).
Ferguson said his draft reflects the nation’s internationalised bloodstock scene and hailed the quality of the stock on the ground at Riverside.
“I think I would say that the Australian bloodstock market has developed unquestionably over the last 25-30 years,” he said. “And the more it is internationalized, the more successful it’s becoming.
“I think Easter is a world-class sale and there are some world-class pedigrees and individuals. They’ve done a great job of getting some beautiful yearlings to the sales. It’s not too big, so it’s manageable and I’ve been really impressed by the horses that I’ve seen overall at the sale.”
One could hardly be in Sydney and not head to Rosehill to watch the brilliant Autumn Glow and having done so last Saturday, Ferguson named the mare by Arrowfield’s The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) as one of the best in the world.
“I couldn’t put my finger on a better filly or mare racing anywhere in the world right now,” he said.
“And it’s not so much the fact that she’s won 11, it’s the way in which she does it, and it was no more impressive than last Saturday and I was so glad to be there.
“What is so interesting about The Autumn Sun is, obviously he stands at Arrowfield with John Messara. John does an amazing job of getting the best mares and he supports them with his own mares. He does an amazing job, but it’s been a wonderful journey, and I’m so thrilled that somebody like John owns that filly because he appreciates how hard it is to have one like that. She’s been amazing.”
“The thing about John Messara and the Messara family is that first and foremost, they’re breeders and secondly, they’re traders. What that means is when they get a stallion, they get behind him – not only by buying yearlings, but also by consistently supporting those horses in years two, three, and four.
“So, you know if you go to that stallion in year four, you’ve got so many good mares in front of you, so many well-bred foals, so many well-bred yearlings, which are going to hit the track, which give you such a great chance of success.
“So basically, it’s an all-round package, whether it be finding the right stallion to stand, and he obviously has to really believe in that stallion, then having the mares to support that stallion, and then buy the best ones as yearlings subsequently. It’s a world-class operation and I have nothing but admiration for them.”