Adam Sangster tells us about his innovative 'each-way bet' for breeders

Swettenham Stud in Victoria has launched an innovative scheme for the 2018 Australian breeding season.

With Foalshare/Wholeshare, as the initiative is dubbed, the stud will enter into a foal share agreement with breeders who use the stallions Trust In A Gust, Rebel Dane, Puissance De Lune or Americain.

When the foal is born, the breeder will be given 14 days to decide whether they would like to exercise their buyout clause and pay the service fee, giving them 100 per cent ownership of the foal, or press on with the foal share arrangement.

If the breeders decides not to buy out, there is no service fee payable and they will continue to raise the youngster at the location of their choice and sell at public auction as a foal, where the breeder and Swettenham Stud will split the net proceeds from the sale 50/50.

Swettenham shares the sales company commission and entry fee evenly.

We asked the stud's Adam Sangster about the incentive, as well as his superstar new recruit Highland Reel and wider industry issues.

The Foalshare/Wholeshare incentive sounds a pretty good deal for breeders. What's the catch?

Glad you asked! There's no small print or surprises on this offer – it’s a way for us to back our stallions and back our breeders to give them both every opportunity.

That 14-day period after the foal is born really gives the breeder time to make an educated decision on their investment. If they absolutely love what their mare produces, they get to reap all of the benefits by paying the service fee.

If for any reason the breeder decides that they want to sell their progeny, they don’t pay a service fee and they sell that weanling unreserved at public auction, where we will go halves in the entry cost, the commission and the eventual sales result of the weanling.

It really is an each-way bet for the breeder and something that we believe takes all of the risk out of the standard breeding contract.

What made you launch the incentive this year?

This year has been an interesting one with an increased supply into the market of weanlings and multiple disruptors to the stallion market.

We spoke to our clients over the past 12 months on our visits and took the time to understand what they really wanted, which was more choice and flexibility on terms for their breeding arrangements.

We believe that we've captured what the market wants with this offer, as the breeder really has all the power in the relationship and multiple different options.

What has the early reaction been from breeders?

While we're still in the launch phase of the offer, we've been overwhelmed with the support from existing and new clients taking this offer up. The feedback has been incredible and the breeders love not having to make a decision until after they see their product.

We're receiving calls from many breeders who were undecided on where to send their mares, with this making their decision-making process much simpler.

Putting you on the spot, what do you expect the split to be between people deciding to take the foal share or whole share?

That’s a very interesting question and something that we won’t start to know until August next year, but seeing the progeny that Americain, Trust In A Gust and Puissance De Lune are leaving on the ground and with Rebel Dane to come, I would think there will be more people deciding to buy out the foal share as these are four very commercial stallions with such exciting times ahead.

We're completely comfortable with any decision that the breeder makes as this is an offer for them, not for us.

Tell us about the four stallions included in the offer

Americain’s winners are coming through on the track – he has sired his first stakes winner along with multiple stakes placings, and he is leading Victoria’s second-season sire table by both earnings and winners.

Puissance De Lune has been extremely well received, and it is a great sign that the breeders who sold his yearlings have booked back in as well as his ex-trainer Darren Weir getting his hands on plenty of his progeny.

We're looking forward to our dual Group 1 sprinter, Rebel Dane, passing his speed, quality and tenacity to his first foals this season and love having such an incredible sprinter on the roster.

With Trust In A Gust’s oldest progeny being weanlings, we love the type he consistently produces. They look to be early runners with his signature size and strength in each and every foal. We've seen this recently with the weanling sales attracting all of the top judges trying to get one in their yard.

How did the news you are standing Highland Reel go down with local breeders?

We couldn’t be happier with the early bookings to Highland Reel this year and he is very close to being full.

When you offer the Victorian market – or any market for that matter – a magnificent looking, seven-time Group 1 winner bred on the same cross as Frankel for A$15,000 plus GST, it’s easy to see why we have been inundated.

We have a large number of mares coming down from New South Wales as well as Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand for Highland Reel. It's great to be supported by the wider breeding community.

If any breeders are looking to send mares to Highland Reel this year, please get in quickly as he'll be fully booked well before he arrives.

Interestingly, with the success of Toronado in France and Ireland and in the sales ring, breeders are having a hard time deciding between the two of them and we all know how great the sons of High Chaparral are going at stud.

Have you seen any sign of Australian breeders turning to breeding more to stamina?

The continued success that we're seeing from the Americain progeny on the track, with his three-year-olds having the turn of foot that we like to see in Australia, it really gives proven Cup-winning stallions a chance to produce horses that can win over 1,400 to 2,000 metres (seven to ten furlongs) and train on for the big two miles.

Americain’s stakes winner came over 2,000 metres and he had a winner last week at Toowoomba over 1,300m so it really shows his diversity.

As long as breeders are seeing this turn of foot in the progeny, they will continue to breed horses that have that stamina and horses like Puissance De Lune also allow the breeders to breed these horses who are able to perform over a range of distances, since he was able to win group races in Australia from 1,400 to 2,600 metres.

Recent sales and news on foal crops suggests the Australian industry is in robust health. What do you think is responsible?

The statistic that really springs to mind is that one in 244 Australians owns a racehorse or a share in a horse. This sort of participation, as well as the continued support by TBV [Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria] and TBA [Thoroughbred Breeders Association] and such positivity in the market around the industry, all assist to continue to build the demand for these foals.

In addition, as broodmare owners have initiatives such as Foalshare/Wholeshare and owners having such great incentive schemes, there are more and more reasons every year for us to breed superior racehorses for all participants in the industry.

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