Zoustar team urge ambitious British breeders to 'wake up' and take notice

Sitting in a London hotel just hours before the start of Royal Ascot, it is not the five days of racing to come that is most exciting David Redvers but the prospect of welcoming one of Australia's most exciting young stallions to Britain for 2019.

Zoustar, set to be crowned Australia's champion first-season sire, will stand at Tweenhills Stud next year and Redvers, for whom that statement represents many years of work and preparation, could hardly be more excited.

In the press release circulated with the announcement last week, Redvers described the opportunity to stand the son of Northern Meteor in Britain as "the most exciting thing" he has been involved with in his career. Marketing spin it is not, as the enthusiasm is clear to see in person.

Tweenhills Stud Zoustar introduction video

"We are so convinced by him ourselves," says Redvers, referring to his and Hannah Wall's Redwall Bloodstock, which has purchased a number of Zoustar's offspring at recent Australian auctions.

"I bought two mares in Australia myself to send to him and I'll be buying and sending as many as I can get in here. You just don't get an opportunity like this."

Discussing Zoustar on the morning of the 2018 Goffs London Sale as we are is appropriate, because it was at the first edition of the boutique auction, in 2014, when many British industry participants first clapped eyes on the dual Group 1 winner, paraded as he was at the Orangery at Kensington Palace.

It was not meant to be that way. Having bought into Zoustar following his brilliant win in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington the previous November, Sheikh Fahad Al Thani's Qatar Racing team had brought the colt to Britain for an assault on a Diamond Jubilee Stakes, a race they believed he was more than capable of stamping his authority on.

"When Sheikh Fahad saw that win at Flemington, he was switched on to what an extraordinary performance that was," recalls Redvers. "When we saw the physical, he bowled us over - he's just about as perfect a thoroughbred as you could put together from a sprinting point of view.

"We were very definitely thinking about coming back here and winning the Diamond Jubilee. Getting our colours on him was very important because he appeared to be a horse who could blow apart any European sprint race."

Antony Thompson (left) with Sheikh Fahad Al Thani and Hannah WallCredit: Magic Millions

It was not to be though, as Zoustar picked up a knock at Charlie Hills' yard, where he was residing, ending the Royal Ascot dream and his racing career.

"We took the opportunity to parade him at the London Sale because we all wanted everybody to see just how beautiful he was," says Redvers.

With the original plan scuppered, thoughts quickly turned to how best to manage Zoustar's second career, which would see him stand first at Widden Stud in New South Wales before alternating on a yearly basis between there and Victoria's Woodside Park Stud.

Widden's Antony Thompson, also in London for the week, says there was a temptation to bring him straight back to Britain for the following breeding season but, in the end, the decision was taken to give the colt the chance to prove himself in his homeland first.

"We contemplated shuttling from day one because we had enormous faith in him," Thompson explains. "David was so impressed with the horse physically, there was a lot of chat about him and perhaps we could have launched him but we decided to wait.

"At that stage, his fee would not have been at a level where we would get quite as good a quality of mare to him to give him a really good opportunity, so the plan was to wait until he became champion first-season sire and then bring him up, when he's the real deal. That way, he could be standing at a better fee and getting better mares, because we'd really have traction."

Both Redvers and Thomson are mindful of the fact they are not the first to attempt to launch a stallion career in Britain for a star from Australia but believe their patience will pay off as they seek to convince British breeders.

David Redvers: will be supporting Zoustar with more mares of his ownCredit: Patrick McCann

"The vast majority of horses that have reverse shuttled have just retired off the track and therefore haven't been seen racing here," says Redvers. "As several other operations have found to their cost, getting those horses up and running is an extremely difficult task because you're asking breeders to use a horse they don't know.

"A much lesser horse, winning a much lesser race will get three times the number of mares because people happened to be there that day or saw him on the front of the Racing Post.

"From our point of view, it's been a case of doing everything we can to make him a success in Australia. Qatar Bloodstock has put a lot of money into making sure we bought nice mares and then some yearlings by him to help bring him through and he has rewarded us every step of the way.

"Now we can bring him up here and shout properly from the rooftops about him because we have a story we can convince even breeders who don't pay much attention to what goes on down below with. Anybody with even a passing interest in the bloodstock industry can see that, sale after sale, he's been producing the top figures."

For Redvers, all of the evidence is there but with Zoustar strictly limited to a northern hemisphere book of a maximum of 120 mares, he is urging ambitious breeders to "wake up" and take action.

"Anybody who wants to breed a top class horse [should be excited by this]," he says. "He wouldn't, in any other circumstances, be able to come here because economically it wouldn't make sense but because of our involvement we're able to afford that opportunity here that we wouldn't otherwise have.

"Sheikh Fahad will continue to support him 100 per cent, as will I personally. There's going to be an awful lot of support for him and from our point of view, as a stallion farm, he's incredibly exciting because there's hardly a decent mare in Europe who can't be covered by him.

"He's the strongest possible physical and the strongest possible racehorse from the country that produces the best sprinters in the world, so we've got an opportunity to really do something.

"We've seen already this year, some of the horses that have come up and wouldn't be fit to stand in the paddock with him have done really well and we hope he will go several leagues higher."

Northern Meteor - the great loss for Australia's stallion ranks

What excites breeders in Australia most about Zoustar's emergence as a serious stallion is the fact he provides a continuation of the Northern Meteor sire-line, something it was feared had been lost as a result of his untimely death.

It was at a similar stage of his own stud career, having covered only four books of mares and been crowned champion first season sire, that Northern Meteor, a Group 1-winning son of Encosta De Lago, died suddenly at Widden Stud.

The cause of death was colic and the country's breeding industry was left stunned, to say nothing of the loss felt at Widden Stud.

"To say we are shattered here would be an understatement," said Antony Thompson at the time.

No surprise then that he is so excited, and more than a little relieved, that Zoustar has stepped up to fill his ill-fated father's shoes. In fact, Thompson believes he has already proven his superior.

"I always say he's every bit like his sire, who was a huge loss to us personally and the Australian industry as a whole," he says.

"Zoustar was more impressive as a racehorse than his old man, he won the Coolmore in a better time than his old man and his grandsire Encosta De Lago, and physically he's everything his old man was and more."

Thompson continues: "Not only is he going to be champion first-season sire this season, he would have been champion first-season sire in any season. For him to get through £3 million in prize-money already, if you look at the history and all of our great sires who have come through, he's got them covered. So that's the bit that really excited me from a historical point of view.

"As a stud master, to work with this type of horse has just been a dream."

If you are interested in this, you should read:

Redwall Bloodstock make statement of intent with Australian foal spend

Why British and Irish breeders should get to know Northern Meteor