Cover image courtesy of Widden Stud
There is a spring in Widden Stud’s step going into the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale this week; Schwarz, a Widden graduate and son of their flagship sire Zoustar, has just scored that all important Group 1 en route to taking his place at stud, capping off a huge March for the rising 15-year-old stallion.
It bodes well for one of the country’s premier yearling sales, and Widden Stud's Nominations, Sales, and Client Relations Manager Matt Comerford is excited for what the sale has to bring.
He shared, “the draft is very exciting. They are really nice horses, and that's what you wake up early in the morning for. All the horses and the team travel down on Monday morning, and we can't wait to show them off.”
"The draft is very exciting. They are really nice horses, and that's what you wake up early in the morning for." - Matt Comerford
Matt Comerford | Image courtesy of Inglis
The 22-strong Widden draft features 12 individual sires, with seven by their own Zoustar.
“We have a lovely mix of yearlings, and you always want a bit of diversity. There is a really good flavour to this draft.”
The shine remains on Schwarz
Schwarz became Zoustar’s 10th individual Group 1 winner on March 22, when the 4-year-old entire captured the G1 William Reid Stakes from a high quality field. Comerford and the Widden team understand the enormity of another son of Zoustar heading to stud as a Group 1 winner - the first of which was G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Ozzmosis, who retired to Newgate Farm last year.
“It was very important,” Comerford said. “Credit to Macca (Ryan McEvoy), Mitho (Anthony Mithen), and the team; the Rosemont Alliance has had great success on the track with the Zoustars, Brereton and Millane.
“But to win a Group 1 with a colt was huge. Well done to everyone involved.”
Schwarz winning the G1 William Reid Stakes | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
A $1.25 million graduate from Widden’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft, Schwarz snared his fifth stakes win with the William Reid, having won the G2 Australia Stakes earlier in the autumn.
“We always knew that John O’Shea and Tom Charlton had a big opinion of him, and he showed plenty of ability from the outset. For Schwarz to do it - with all of our close friends involved - was a big thrill.”
“For Schwarz to do it (win a Group 1) - with all of our close friends involved - was a big thrill.” - Matt Comerford
A full brother to Schwarz - Lot 198 - is one of the headline acts in the Widden draft.
“(Lot 198) is athletic and quite like Schwarz, but has a bit of mum about him also with his colour,” Comerford said. The colt’s dam, the G2 Angus Armanasco Stakes-winning Summer Sham (Not A Single Doubt), has been wedded to Zoustar for the past six seasons; she delivered a filly by him in the spring and carries another positive pregnancy to him.
“He's an attractive, typical Zoustar with a huge pedigree, and it's a great family. The mare has proven she can leave a runner and a type.”
Lot 198 - Zoustar x Summer Sham (colt) | Image courtesy of Inglis
A champion elect
Schwarz’s win in the William Reid also boosted Zoustar straight to the top of the Australian General Sires List by both earnings and winners - he is only beaten on an international scale amongst Australian sires by the exploits of Deep Field’s progeny in Hong Kong.
“He’s (Zoustar) such a good sire, he has proven he can leave a good one,” Comerford said. “Joliestar and Schwarz have been recent headliners, both winning top Group 1 sprints in Melbourne.
“He’s (Zoustar) such a good sire, he has proven he can leave a good one.” - Matt Comerford
“Commercially, he is fantastic; he leaves outstanding horses that sell well and then, most importantly, they carry on and do the job on track. It was only last year that he set the world record as the world's leading sire of individual winners and the leading sire of overall race wins in a calendar year.”
This season’s yearlings are the last of his crops to be conceived for a sub-$200,000 service fee, and it is an understandable increase; since the beginning of 2023, 47 of his offspring have amassed 68 stakes wins, bringing him to a total of 64 individual stakes winners across 10 countries in both hemispheres.
Zoustar | Standing at Widden Stud
In fact, 11 of his offspring have won a combined total of 16 stakes races in Australia in this season alone.
Comerford shone a light on two of Widden’s offerings by their star sire who could add to Zoustar’s glowing record over the next few years. Chief among them is regally-bred Lot 217, a daughter of Listed winner The Actuary (Sebring). Her dam’s half-sister has been hard at work over the last couple of years enhancing her pedigree.
“(Lot 217) is up there in being the nicest horse in our draft,” Comerford said. “She is probably the best, and she is an absolute queen.
“She is a three-quarter-sister to Zougotcha, who’s a superstar, and she has a lot of presence about her. She has been very popular on the farm.”
Lot 217 - Zoustar x The Actuary (filly) | Image courtesy of Inglis
Widden have retained a share in eight-time winner Zougotcha (Zoustar), who took all before her last autumn, winning the G2 Millie Fox Stakes, the G1 Coolmore Classic, and the G1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes.
“She fits the bill in terms of what everyone likes and is similar to Zougotcha, if not a shade stronger. She is a stunning type and has the pedigree; she is a star.”
Another lot with a serious pedigree is Lot 310, a full sister to G1 Robert Sangster Stakes winner Climbing Star (Zoustar). Furthermore, her dam Bryony (Fastnet Rock) is a full sister to the Group 1 winner and sire Heroic Valour.
“This filly is bred on an exceptional cross, Zoustar has linked so well with Fastnet Rock, it’s just incredible,” Comerford said. The cross is so far responsible for Zougotcha and Joliestar (Zoustar), as well as Climbing Star.
Lot 310 - Zoustar x Bryony (filly) | Image courtesy of Inglis
“She is a lovely, powerful filly, and has handled the whole preparation well, she should be very well-received and will sell well.”
Climbing Star was recently announced as a headliner for the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale.
"I am sure she will be hot property,” Comerford added.
Active pedigrees to the fore
“Our broodmare band and our clients’ broodmares are always bred commercially, and we often go outside to bring in different bloodlines, and that probably shows in the draft,” Comerford said.
The Widden stud often patronise Australia’s other leading stallions; amongst the draft is two lots by Arrowfield Stud’s four-time Champion Sire Snitzel, including Lot 40, a half-brother to Rosie Rouge (I Am Invincible), who made headlines at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale when selling for $1.7 million to the United States’ Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm.
Lot 40 - Snitzel x Madam Rouge (colt) | Image courtesy of Inglis
That figure comes as no surprise when considering that her dam, Madam Rouge (Zoustar), was a $2.4 million broodmare who won several Group races, including the G2 Tristarc Stakes, and placed in the G1 Stradbroke Handicap.
“(Madam Rouge’s) first foal made a lot of money and has ability,” Comerford said. “The mare was Group 1-placed, and this colt is big, strong and very forward. He is a powerful type.”
Widden has also, as always, been keen to invest in the progeny of Yulong’s Written Tycoon, whose dual Group 1-winning son Southport Tycoon has joined the Widden roster this year. Comerford indicated Lot 296, the first foal out of Group 1-winning sprinter Bella Vella (Commands), as one to watch.
Lot 296 - Written Tycoon x Bella Vella (colt) | Image courtesy of Inglis
“There will be plenty of eyes on this guy, he is big and strong,” Comerford said. “He is a really nice colt and is a really good-sized first foal.
“Written Tycoon had three runners in the Slipper this year (Tycoon Star, Military Tycoon and Skyhook) and the sire line is outstanding. It is a sire line that Widden Stud have invested in.”
Resilience at the top
As has been well documented throughout the sales season so far, the top end of the market has remained resilient and thrived at times, while the middle and lower tiers have faced increasing pressure. The question now is whether the 2025 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale will prove immune to that trend.
Widden’s drafts have always been a fertile hunting ground at Easter; it is through this sale that they have offered the likes of Zougotcha, Climbing Star, R. Listed Inglis Nursery victor Odinson (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), and Sweet Ride, who stood his first season at stud in 2024.
Gallery: Some of the recent stakes winners from Widden Stud's Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale drafts
Last year’s draft was the source of recent Listed St Albans Stakes winner Prestige Forever (Ole Kirk) and multiple stakes-placed juvenile Price Tag (Zoustar). Judging by their record, it is no surprise that Comerford believes that Easter will fare better than its preceding sales.
“The market trend has certainly gone to the premium quality yearlings of the year,” he said. “The advantage of Easter is that the majority of these yearlings in a small selected catalogue are of a premium quality already.
"The advantage of Easter is that the majority of these yearlings in a small selected catalogue are of a premium quality already." - Matt Comerford
“I think this will bode well for the buyers and vendors going into the sale, knowing full well that this is effectively an extremely select, elite catalogue of which there's not much of a tail end.”
Perhaps “immunity” is the wrong way to talk about the sale.
Comerford added, “I don't know if it will be immune as such, but I certainly feel and see that the market should hold fairly strong for an Easter sale this year.”
