By Lewis Lesbirel, TDN
TDN AusNZ can reveal that a lifetime breeding right in Swettenham Stud’s stallion Toronado (Ire) will be offered at auction for the very first time at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale on May 4. Fresh from siring another stakes double on Friday, we caught up with Marcus Heritage, nominations at Swettenham, to discuss Toronado’s continued ascent through the Australian stallion ranks.
Just a few hours after his son Beltoro made it back-to-back stakes wins with an emphatic 4l romp in the Listed Albury Gold Cup on Friday, Toronado was provided with his 33rd individual stakes winner and seventh of the season when his talented 3-year-old daughter Papillon Club made a mess of her rivals in the G3 Alexandra S. at The Valley.
Less than a week earlier, Toronado sired the winner of the G1 The Galaxy H. for the second year in succession, with rejuvenated mare Mariamia following in the footsteps of the hugely popular Shelby Sixtysix in winning the sprint feature.
Mariamia | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Add into the mix another eye-catching win for his unbeaten son Kovrov (Fr) in France and a runner in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on Saturday night, and it has been quite the week for the Swettenham Stud stallion.
His recent run of racetrack success, combined with another stellar season in the sales ring in which his progeny have once again sold for up to $850,000, has prompted Swettenham to take a leap of faith with their flagship stallion, offering a lifetime breeding right in one of Australia’s hottest sires for the very first time.
“Such is the market’s demand for them, at the Chairman’s Sale this year we’ll be offering a lifetime breeding right, which has never happened with Toronado before,” Hermitage revealed.
“We’ll just sit back, leave it unreserved and I’m sure that Lot 1 of the Chairman’s Sale will be a very popular lot.
“It’ll be very interesting to see where the market values him at. He’s still a young sire, he’s only 13 years old so they’ll get value for money with whatever they spend on it.
“Everything that the stallion has done to date has been off a $20,000 service fee, so with the quality of mares that he received last season off the $88,000 fee, it’s very exciting.”
A season to remember on and off the track
Having stood last season at a career-high fee of $88,000 plus GST, Toronado has more than justified his fee increase this season, siring more stakes winners than the likes of Zoustar, Written Tycoon and Fastnet Rock, all of whom commanded significantly higher fees in 2022.
Toronado (Ire) | Standing at Swettenham Stud
What has pleased Swettenham the most, however, is the diversity among his stakes winners, an area in which Heritage feels that Toronado doesn’t get the credit he deserves.
“The run he’s having is super and it’s across the board,” he said. “The market’s appetite for them is strong and they’re great sales horses.
“His colts and geldings are flying in Hong Kong and in Australia, it seems to be the fillies that are flying the flag for him recently. The High Chaparral sireline is typically colt biased, but his fillies are absolutely flying.
“I think he’s had more Australian stakes winners that are fillies than colts and geldings, so he’s a very good stallion and he’s consistently producing good sorts and good runners – male and female, speed horses and staying horses.
“He can produce anything, but there’s certainly no type of horse that’s better than the other. I think it’s a great trait for a stallion to have where you can buy any horse by Toronado and the chances are they’re going to have ability.”
Toronado’s long-lasting purple patch could hardly have come at a more welcome time for the Swettenham Stud team, who announced only last year that he’d be staying in Australia permanently instead of shuttling Down Under from his previous base at Haras de Bouquetot in the Northern Hemisphere.
His progeny have been as sought after as ever in the sales ring ever since the announcement was made, providing many of Swettenham’s biggest clients with a huge windfall in the process.
“For Adam (Sangster) it’s a great reward, he really backed this stallion a few years ago and sent all of his best mares to him,” Heritage added.
“He also bought some mares and sent them to him to give him a start, and now we can sit back and watch it all unfold. Everyone else seems to be jumping in and grabbing a bit of that pie and it’s great to see some of our good clients have success.
“Three Bridges with Beltoro having back-to-back stakes wins on Friday was a great success. He has their brand and they’ve been a big supporter of ours.
Marcus Heritage with partner Charlie White
“They sold a colt by Toronado for $850,000 in January and it’s just great to see these clients of ours that have backed the stallion get some reward for what they’ve put down on him.”
Increase in quality
Further proof of Toronado’s ever-growing popularity will be evident at next week’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, where the dual Group 1-winning miler will see by far his largest contingent of Easter yearlings go under the hammer at Riverside Stables.
Having been represented by just one yearling at Easter in 2021 and only three last year, an impressive 11 of Toronado’s sons and daughters are set to be offered for sale next week, and with the likes of Group 1 winner Commanding Jewel(Commands) and the dam of Vinery Stud stallion Ole Kirk featuring among his book of mares last season, Heritage is adamant that the best is yet to come.
Commanding Jewel | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“This year’s crop of yearlings were conceived off a $25,000 plus GST service fee. For a horse to be standing at that fee and get 11 horses in the Easter Yearling Sale is an incredible performance and it’s a great reward for our clients,” he said.
“I’ve been visiting a few farms in the Hunter Valley this week and they’ve been very impressive, they’re as good a group of yearlings by Toronado as I’ve seen.
“The quality of mares that we’ve received the last two seasons as a result of his well-earnt fee rise means that we’ve got better things to come as well.
“This year he covered Group 1 winners, Group 1 producers and siblings to Group 1 winners. He covered pretty much as good a book as you’ll see across the board.”
One of the standouts in this year’s crop of Toronado yearlings is undoubtedly the half-brother to last year’s Doomben 10,000 winner and The Everest placegetter Mazu (Maurice {Jpn}), who will be offered by Parsons Creek Farm as Lot 69 on the opening day of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
The colt is out of the evergreen Flying Spur mare Chatelaine, whose five winners to date also include G1 Coolmore Stud S. winner and Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Headway (Charge Forward).
“He’s a very exciting yearling for Parsons Creek,” Heritage said of Lot 69. “Obviously the mare has been a great producer, she’s had two Group 1 winners and this colt is sensational.
Lot 69 – Toronado (Ire) x Chatelaine (colt) | Image courtesy of Inglis
“He’s got muscle on muscle with great scope and I’m sure between the Australian buyers and the Hong Kong market they’ll be very strong on him.”
Heritage also reserved particular praise for Lot 186, a colt out of the winning Rip Van Winkle (Ire) mare Karmic (NZ), who is a half-sister to G1 Rosehill Guineas hero Zabrasive (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) from the family of last year’s G1 Queensland Oaks heroine Gypsy Goddess (NZ) (Tarzino {NZ}).
The colt will be offered by Kitchwin Hills and, according to Heritage, is a perfect example of the quality that Toronado’s stock possesses.
Lot 186 – Toronado (Ire) x Karmic (NZ) | Image courtesy of Inglis
“He grew up at Swettenham Stud and he’s gone on leaps and bounds,” he said.
“He was always a standout on our farm, but to see how he’s come along in the last six months, he’s a sensational-looking animal and I think he’s got more improvement to come.
“Across the board, with the yearlings, I did see, they all had plenty of quality and I think they get that from the old man. They’ve got that good skin, they’ve got kind eyes and from what I’ve been told by all the vendors, they’ve got big raps on how well they prep up.
“They’re hard to fault, they do everything they’re asked and they’re horses that love to please. I think that’s why trainers are so keen to get them in their stables because they’re not hard horses to train.”
Debunking the myths
Whilst the vast majority of Toronado’s stock continues to get better with age, the son of High Chaparral has proven on more than one occasion that he is capable of siring a handy 2-year-old.
In the Northern Hemisphere, his son Tactical (GB) provided the late Queen Elizabeth II with a memorable Royal Ascot winner in the Listed Windsor Castle S. as a 2-year-old, before going on to land the G2 July S. at Newmarket on his next outing, while closer to home, promising juvenile Shesallshenanigans (Toronado {Ire}) followed up her impressive recent maiden win at Bendigo with a stakes placing on just her third career start earlier this month.
Those examples may not be enough to earn him a reputation as a regular source of elite juvenile talent, but Heritage remains unequivocal in his belief that Toronado is far more than a one-trick pony when it comes to his progeny.
“Toronado himself trained on, he was undefeated at two but he won his Group 1s as a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old,” he said.
“I think his progeny are very much the same, the trainers know to give them time and they’ll get their rewards.
“I wouldn’t say they’re slow maturing because they’re so well muscled and they’re easy to do things with from day one, but it’s definitely the 3 and 4-year-olds that are flying the flag for him.
“Only a few weeks ago he had a 2-year-old stakes placegetter and he can get a precocious one, but I think it’s just a matter of the trainers knowing not to push them too hard early.”
Another criticism that has previously been put against Toronado’s name is that his progeny are only effective in Australia, an assertion that Heritage believes is way short of the mark.
“I saw a graphic this morning that he’s a top-three sire in Europe on winners,” he added.
“He had Kovrov win again in France during the week and he’s now three from three. He’s out of an Exceed And Excel mare and that cross has been very successful in Australia, so to see it work up north as well is great.
“I think the word was that he’s an out-and-out Australian sire, but that’s a bit wrong because he’s having winners all across the world, but it just seems to be Australia where he’s really found a home.
“He’s had Group 1 success in Australia and there’s not too many weeks of racing going by without a stakes performer for him.”
