'213 Irishmen couldn't have been wrong' - Sangster questions Sioux Nation rating

The below is an extract from the Rowe-View, in Friday's edition of ANZ Bloodstock News

It’s been a good season for Swettenham Stud stallions. Toronado’s rise continues, Highland Reel had his first stakes winner with first-crop three-year-old High Approach at Flemington on Tuesday and Rubick, who joined the Victorian farm’s roster last year, has enjoyed a resurgence.

Adam Sangster is delighted with where things are at for Swettenham but he laments breeders’ decision to desert one-season shuttler Sioux Nation, a Coolmore-owned stallion who was on his roster in 2019 at a fee of A$17,600 (£9,800/€11,400).

“It is one of my gripes in the industry. Breeders, and I don’t mind you saying this, Sioux Nation this year in Europe is the most popular stallion of 2022. He covered 250 mares,” Sangster told us.

“Our breeders down here, when Coolmore allowed me to have their best sprinting stallion in 2019 because we’d done a job with Highland Reel, on the morning of my stallion parade, we had 90 mares booked into him. A week after the stallion parade we had only 60 mares booked into him and we ended up with only 54 mares because the industry said he wouldn’t suit Australia.

“The so-called good judges said he wouldn’t work down here. Although in that year, he’d served 213 mares in Ireland, so 213 Irishmen couldn’t have been wrong and they’ve proved they weren’t wrong.

“The annoying thing is, we’ve lost that bloodline. He might not work in Australia, Sioux Nation, but the fact is Coolmore, who were very good, wouldn’t bring the horse back because we didn’t get the support from breeders that we expected.”

Victorian breeze-up exponent Tal Nolen sold a Sioux Nation colt, one of only 39 born in 2020 in Australia, for A$250,000 at the Magic Millions 2YOs In Training Sale on the Gold Coast last month.

More satisfying for Sangster, who had homebred Queen Air finish third in the VRC Oaks on Thursday, was the emergence of Highland Reel’s three-year-olds in recent weeks.

“Archie Alexander [High Approach’s trainer] has always said this horse had a lot of potential and Archie is a great conditioning trainer and he toughed it out [in the Listed TAB Trophy],” said Sangster.

“It really does look like once these horses excel once they get over a mile, and the trainers have had the patience to look after them, so he’s got every chance, that stallion.”

As for Rubick, the sire of Golden Rose winner Jacquinot, Sangster said: “We went blue in the face trying to get mares to Rubick, telling people the numbers were coming through, and whatever he covered last year [42], you can put a one in front of that number this year.

“It’s a fantastic industry we’re involved in and there’s no better judge than the winning post.”

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