Victorian-based stallion Toronado (Ire) topped the sire’s list by gross over the two days with 13 sold for $3.68 million, while Zoustar and Written Tycoon came in second and third with almost identical aggregates at $2.18 million and $2.16 million respectively.

“I absolutely love him,” said Gilgai Farm’s Rick Jamieson of Swettenham Stud’s Toronado (Ire) and whilst we may put that down to this week’s stellar results as the reason for that, the fact is that Jamieson has been on the Toronado bandwagon from day one.

He bred the G1 Sussex Stakes and G1 Queen Anne Stakes winner’s first Group 1 winner Masked Crusader; the G1 William Reid Stakes winner who he sold for $340,000 to the Hawkes stable at the 2018 Inglis Premier.

Three of his 11-strong draft at this year’s sale are sons of Toronado and each sold well, exceptionally so in fact with the equal sale-topping $1 million colt being a Gilgai product.

He went through the ring on Sunday whilst another two sold well on Monday; Lot 322, a three-quarter brother to Masked Crusader fetching $475,000 to the bid of Mulberry Racing and Lot 449 $400,000 to Upper Bloodstock (discussed below).

“Our Toronado colts are beautiful,” Jamieson enthused, “the stand-outs of our draft.”

Sending “six or eight mares to Toronado,” Jamieson currently has six in foal to the horse he said is his “second favourite stallion after Ole Kirk (who he bred).

There is, he told us, so much to like about Toronado.

“He is fertile, he gets them in foal and he sires good types. When a stallion does that, it’s a good start; you are a fighting chance.”

“And I don’t think we have seen the best of Toronado yet as the quality of his books has improved over the last few years.”

“Adam Sangster deserves a lot of credit, he has supported Toronado all the way through.”

Swettenham Stud’s Sam Matthews was understandably delighted by the demand for Toronado colts though also a bit disappointed in the response to his fillies.

“The Hong Kong factor is a major part of his sons selling better than his daughters,” he said, “and the fact that he doesn’t yet have a good son at stud.”

“But we are big believers in his fillies as well.”

Matthews is fully aware of the perception that the sire line of High Chaparral (Ire) – and Sadler’s Wells (USA) before him – has been much better represented overall by its boys than its girls, but believes that has been overstated.

Matthews loves the consistency of the stock sired by Toronado.

“You can send a 15.3hh mare to him or a 16.3hh mare and you are going to get the same good type. He has been consistent right from the start. He gets great sales results and they can run.”

He is looking forward to even better performances with this yearling crop the first sired by Toronado when his fee was raised from $49,500 incl GST to $88,000 incl GST.

Ross Lao of Upper Bloodstock is an unabashed Toronado fan and when he put in the successful $400,000 bid for Lot 449 it was the fifth time he has bought one of the bay’s yearlings.

Another nice one from the draft of Gilgai Farm, the colt is out of the placed Exceed And Excel mare Segosha whose dam is a half-sister to the Group 2 gallopers Chinchilla Rose (Lion Hunter) and Ferocity as well as the Group 3-winning high-class broodmare Leone Chiara (Lion Hunter).

Lao purchased the horse for Hong Kong where Toronado has been represented by 23 individual winners of 67 races; three stakes winners including the Group 1 sprinter Victor The Winner.

There are several traits of the breed that make Toronado an attractive proposition for Hong Kong racing, Lao noting that “they are very tough, they have the right action, they are a good size with a strong girth and they handle the firm tracks.”

“They are robust and they have great temperaments which makes them so suitable for racing in Hong Kong.”

View the full article here: https://www.ttrausnz.com.au/edition/2025-03-04/five-things-we-learned-on-day-2-at-inglis-premier

Breednet.com – Tara Madgwick – Tuesday January 7

Queensland farm Daandine Stud have bred and sold a lot of good horses including Golden Slipper and Magic Millions 2YO Classic winning sire Capitalist and a mare they purchased at the Magic Millions Broodmare Sale in 2023 for $250,000 produced a great result for them on Tuesday at the Gold Coast.

Lot 103, a flashy chestnut colt by Toronado (IRE) from Write the Score caught the eye of all the good judges and was duly knocked down to the Hong Kong Jockey Club for $400,000.

He is the first foal of young Written Tycoon mare Write the Score, who was purchased on the advice of Boomer Bloodstock in foal to Toronado with the star colt the result of the mating.

From the family of Group I winners Yell, Microphone and Holler, Write the Score had no foal last year after missing in 2023, but is now in foal to Russian Revolution.

Hong Kong bloodstock agent Willie Leung had a big hour at Karaka early on Thursday afternoon, spending more than $1 million to secure two well-credentialled colts at the NZB Ready to Run Sale.

Leung paid $400,000 under his Magus Equine banner to buy Lot 271, a Russian Revolution colt from the draft of Ohukia Lodge, then followed that up with a $625,000 purchase of Lot 288. The latter colt was offered by BMD Bloodstock and is by Toronado out of the Zabeel mare Attractive, who is a half-sister to Gr.1 Goodwood Handicap (1200m) winner Velocitea.

Francis Lui and Willie Leung at Karaka Photo: Ange Bridson

“I rated that colt one of the best horses in the sale,” Leung said. “Toronado is going very well in Hong Kong, and it’s great to secure such a high-quality son of that stallion for Francis (Lui, trainer).”

Toronado stands at Swettenham Stud for a service fee of A$88,000. He has sired 22 winners from just 37 runners in Hong Kong, headed by Gr.1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) winner Victor The Winner, Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) and Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) winner Helios Express, and Group Three winner and Gr.1 Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) placegetter Senor Toba. Leung hopes his new recruit could develop into a candidate to join that black-type list.

“The type of horse that he is, the dream is a race like the Hong Kong Derby (2000m),” he said. “He’ll probably stay here in New Zealand through until the end of next winter, and then we’ll take things from there.

Lot 283, a colt by Toronado out of Attractive Photo: Trish Dunell

“Francis and I have had some great luck at this sale in the past with horses like Golden Sixty, so let’s hope for some more.”

Golden Sixty was a $300,000 purchase from the 2017 Ready to Run Sale and went on to win 26 of his 31 starts including 10 Group One triumphs. He broke Hong Kong’s all-time prizemoney record with more than HK$167 million (NZ$34 million).

Leung added another purchase to his list not long after that big-priced double, paying another $180,000 for the Embellish gelding catalogued as Lot 299.

Leung spoke highly about this week’s 2024 edition of the Ready to Run Sale.

“It’s been a strong sale,” he said. “There are some very good quality horses here, and you have to be prepared to pay quite a bit of money to get the ones that you want.”

View the full article here :  https://www.breednet.com.au/news/34606/million-dollar-hour-for-leung-at-nzb-ready-to-run

Theblade (AUS)

3 c Toronado – Brigite by Casino Prince

O: R & C Legh Racing Pty Ltd (Mgr: R P Legh), Exset Racing (Mgr: J Bartolo), R Smith, Gilgai Farm (Mgr: R R Jamieson), Glentree Racing (Mgr: B W C Wilson), Murray Thoroughbreds Pty Ltd (Mgr: P A S Murray) & Wright Racing (Mgr: P J Wright)

B: Gilgai Farm

T: Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes

W: Street Boss @ Darley Handicap, 1150m, August 14, Randwick-Kensington

Co-trainer Michael Hawkes believes bigger and better things lie in wait for Theblade (Toronado) after the colt made a hugely impressive debut at Randwick-Kensington on Wednesday.

Starting as the $3 favourite for the 1150-metre maiden handicap, the Team Hawkes-trained three-year-old streaked clear of his five rivals to beat Alpine Ski (Exceed And Excel) by 5.7 lengths, with a further 0.5 lengths back to Johnny The Kid (Trapeze Artist) in third.

Theblade had been set to make his debut in the final weeks of last season, but was scratched at the barriers for a two-year-old race at Warwick farm after hitting his head.

“It’s disappointing when you set horses for races and that happens,” said Michael Hawkes, who trains in partnership with his brother Wayne and his father John.

“It was all about trying to win as a two-year-old with him, but once that backfired two weeks ago, we’ve had to opt towards this race and we didn’t expect the rain.

“We’ve always said to the owners, the horse has got plenty of ability, we’re yet to see it. Today we’ve seen it, obviously on a wet track, which is another positive.

“He is the real deal and hopefully he can go on to bigger and better things.”

Hawkes said having another member of All Too Hard’s family in their care was special, especially given the involvement of Gilgai Farm’s Rick Jamieson, who bred Black Caviar.

“It is another generation and with these colts, we’re lucky enough to train them and have the patient owners that we do,” he said.

“But when you get a family we’ve had a lot to do with – and Gilgai [Farm] is in the horse as well and they’ve bred this bloke, Rick Jamieson obviously knows how to breed a winner – it’s exciting to think that a horse like this and of this calibre, could hopefully get to the top one day.”

Bred by Gilgai Farm, the son of Toronado (High Chaparral) is Black Caviar’s (Bel Esprit) nephew, being out of the champion sprinter’s unraced half-sister Brigite (Casino Prince), herself a sister to Team Hawkes’ former top-level racer turned successful sire All Too Hard.