Vinery says farewell to More Than Ready, a stallion who built the Hunter Valley stud
Champion sire heads back to US after 19 consecutive shuttle seasons to Australia
Remarkable stallion More Than Ready (Southern Halo) left the Hunter Valley at 4am yesterday for the 19th and final time bound for WinStar Farm in Kentucky on a charter flight, leaving a long-lasting legacy on the Australasian thoroughbred.
The Vinery Stud mainstay in June received the unlikely all-clear to return to Australia this year after his 2018 season in the country had been declared his last, with breeders not missing the opportunity to access the dominant More Than Ready blood.
But unlike Australian singer-songwriter Johnny Farnham, one comeback for More Than Ready appears to be it. There will almost certainly not be one more time, says Vinery Stud general manager Peter Orton.
Not that a lack of demand has anything to do with the decision. The 23-year-old More Than Ready, who recently sired his 200th individual stakes winner, covered 100 mares this year, up significantly on the 65 he served in his previous southern hemisphere season.
“Logic tells you that it is last year but I said that last year as well. The assumption is that it will be his last time,” Orton told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“(Nineteen shuttles) is definitely a record and you wouldn’t think it would be knocked off again because he is a horse who stayed a young healthy horse all the way through and that doesn’t always work with stallions.
“It is unlikely that you will get a stallion who is as successful as he is throughout his career and in both hemispheres. The first thing that stops them is that they don’t do as well in one hemisphere.
“That is the first barrier and then the next one is that they aren’t commercially worthwhile or in one particular country they are more commercially viable and they would rather stay there.
“Over all these years we had a mild temperature that came and went about seven years ago in California and that is about as dramatic as his travel has been.”
Orton said that More Than Ready had handled the quality book of mares committed to him this year in a season where a number of other stallions had been unable to cope.
“He got good and better support than the previous year in a way because the top-end of the stallion ranks is getting narrow and quite a few of the stallions struggled to get through their books this year,” he said.
“We had him capped at 80, but he is a horse that doesn’t matter how many you set him, he covers what he wants to cover. You can never really hurt him.
“His fertility and conception rate is up there like it usually is, either leading or very close to it. He moved through those 80 and then he ended up covering a number of extra mares coming off other farms whose stallions weren’t able to get a look in.”
Of More Than Ready’s 24 Group/Grade 1 winners, 14 were southern hemisphere bred, including Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winners Sebring and Phelan Ready, while Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and ATC Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Prized Icon started his first season at stud in 2019.
He also has sire sons Better Than Ready – the leading first season sire in 2018-19 by winners – Ready For Victory, Kiss And Make Up and Pluck, who stands at Vinery.
More Than Ready is also a leading broodmare sire, with his daughters responsible for producing 83 stakes winners including this season’s Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Bivouac (Exceed And Excel), and fellow Group 1 winners Miracles Of Life (Not A Single Doubt), Rebel Dane (California Dane), Delectation (Shamardal) and Atlante (Fastnet Rock).
More Than Ready has had an enormous impact on the development of Vinery Stud in Australia since he first shuttled in 2001.
“We said that at the very beginning, that we hoped he would get to a level of success because his pedigree and physique is ideal for the sort of horses that we have here in Australia,” Orton said.
“Every farm depends on a More Than Ready, a Danehill or an I Am Invincible. They set the farm up as More Than Ready did for Vinery.”
With the likelihood that More Than Ready’s days in Australia over, Vinery staff acknowledged the champion stallion last week.
Orton said: “We had a big photo shoot with him a week ago with all the staff who spent a lot of time with him, so they have got memories to keep and we had our Christmas party on Saturday night where we also paid tribute to him.”
Orton believes Vinery Stud is in a strong position to capitalise on the Australian market in the next few years, with first crop two-year-olds by Press Statement (Hinchinbrook) and Headwater (Exceed And Excel) stepping out this season and the first yearlings by Star Turn (Star Witness) to be offered in 2020.
“It is a bit early yet, but we are always looking for one to fly the flag to promote the horses, but generally for a group of young horses the trainers are very happy with them,” he said.
“In the next two months we will start to see some action.”
More Than Ready stats
Stakes winners 200 (88 southern hemisphere)
Group/Grade 1 winners 24 (14 southern hemisphere)
Winners 1855
Broodmare sire: 83 stakes winners
Leading sire of 2YOs in US 2010
Leading sire of 2YOs in Australia 2007-08 and 2008-09,
Second on Australian champion sire table 2007-08
Progeny earnings worldwide: $231,696,503
Progeny earnings (southern hemisphere bred): $104,205,029