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Now based at the historic property at Diggers Rest, Victorian studmaster Mike Becker, a former President of Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria and a life member speaks to The Impact about Stockwell Thoroughbred’s participation in the upcoming sales and their past successes.
Although their farm already stands two incredible stallions - Artie Schiller & Al Maher, Mike’s Stockwell Thoroughbreds also offers breeding and foaling services for mares. They manage foals from the time they are born until they are sold onwards. They also offer stabling, agistment, spelling, post-injury-recovery care and much more.
Q: As one of the top ten vendors bringing the largest drafts. Could you please tell us more about your top 5 horses for this sale and what makes them special?
A: We have four top-quality going into the Melbourne Gold Yearling Sale. They are:
1) Lot 445 (Rubick X Indy Rock): A neat and strong colt from the Bernadini mare who has developed nicely with the delayed sale date. His sire has been popular in all sales across Australia and this colt should attract nice attention.
2) Lot 284 (Cluster X Ave Amina): A standout colt is a brown colt by the underutilized Cluster, a strongly built and loose walking colt. He is perfect for a discerning buyer.
3) Lot 275 (Super One X Arazi Belle): The sire of this powerful colt has since produced seven first season winners, while the mare has had a nice upgrade with a promising 3YO Art Major placing three times from his first four starts up to 2250 meters since that the Adelaide in March.
4) Lot183 (Puissance De Lune X Spend A Penny): This lovely colt should hold strong appeal. His sire has emerged as one of the brightest and most promising unheralded stallions in the country and this colt comes from a crop that consists of less than 50 yearlings. This colt was a backward early yearling and while looking all the part of a 3YO has colt ahead nicely and should find good competition. His sire covered 150 mares last season from the promise of his first crop 3YOs during the Spring carnival of 2019 and has continued since.
Another colt with a handy update is the Casino Prince colt from Scarletta. A 2YO Sunrise Ruby won extremely impressively against old horses at Albury this week and has immediately be targeted for some black type Spring races in Melbourne following a short let up. This colt is very closely related to the champion All Too Hard, being from the famed family of Scandinavia. His grandam is a half-sister to Helsinge, the dam of All Too Hard, and the mighty Black Caviar.
Q: Who were your sale toppers for this sale from 2019? Could you please tell us more about both those sales and where are they now?
A: A powerful Super One colt from the mare Arazi Belle met little interest when offered in Adelaide in March, but his sire has since produced seven first season winners, while the mare has had a nice upgrade with a promising 3YO Art Major placing three times from his first four starts up to 2250 metres since that sale.
Another colt with a handy update is the Casino Prince colt from Scarletta. A two-year sister, Sunrise Ruby won extremely impressively against old horses at Albury this week and has immediately be targeted for some black type Spring races in Melbourne following a short let up. This colt is very closely related to the champion All Too Hard, being from the famed family of Scandinavia. His grandma is a half-sister to Helsinge, the dam of All Too Hard and the mighty Black Caviar.
Of the less commercial pedigrees in our draft, a standout colt is a brown colt by the underutilised Cluster from the mare Ave Amina, a strongly built and loose walking colt, he is sure to catch the eye of a discerning buyer.
Q: How have the sales been for you so far? Please tell us more about the top horses you’ve sold in 2020?
A: We were represented only with a small team at Melbourne Premier in March but two nice fillies by So You Think and Star Witness sold for A$120,000 and A$80,000 respectively. Our previous sale in 2019 was our first solid draft and ended with an average of A$120,000 and 100% clearance. To date, only a few have had early starts and been spelt for three-year-old preparations but with some very promising feedback from trainers.
Q: Please tell us about the most expensive horse you’ve ever sold and the horse that been the biggest racetrack success. Also, who is your favourite horse of all time and why?
A: Our best sale result came in 2018 with a Fastnet Rock colt from the mare Silent Cash at A$290,000 and sold to the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Sadly, he was injured in an accident on arrival in Hong Kong and has not yet raced.
We have not raced a lot of horses ourselves and have only a small broodmare band, but our drafts of yearlings over the journey have won many races. The best horse we raced was the Group Two winning filly Mango Daiquiri, a cheap yearling purchase who amassed over A$250,000 in her career.
Our favourite horse of all time has to be our 31-year-old former World Champion Two Year Old Arazi. He has been with us for 16 years and is living out a happy retirement here and is still in great healthy and as cheeky as ever.
Q: How has the COVID19 situation affected your farm and your sale drafts? Do you see any long terms implications?
A: The Covid19 situation has thrown a lot of changes and continuing confusion into the market with unsold horses draining cash flow for ourselves and clients alike. We will be looking to meeting market with the Melbourne Gold sale to generate income but are happy that they are now bigger and better types than they were for the earlier April sale date.
Q: Please tell us about your top 3 broodmares whose progeny are part of this draft for each sale.
A: We will not be offering any mares at the sale this year, having cleared a few through recent online sales. We had planned to offer weanlings, our more normal choice of sale, in the Great Southern Sale but will for now retain them for yearling sales next year or begin offerings them through the ever-growing online sales which are proving so popular and successful, not to mention cheaper than onsite sales.
Q: What, according to you, does the Stockwell brand offer its clients?
A: Stockwell is a stud brand famed from its rich history dating back to the early 1960s, notably through the deeds of its former Champion sire Showdown. My son Brodie and I now lease the property from His Excellency Nasser Lootah’s Emirates Park Stud and have reverted the property back to its origins.
Q: How do you handpick horses for each of your drafts? What are the most important steps in the process?
A: Stallions have been our core business for over 30 years under this and our former Independent Stallions Victoria brand. We currently own and stand the very successful stallion Artie Schiller and also Al Maher, on behalf of Emirates Park. Both highly proven stallions with a high ratio of winners to starters and both with better than 5% stakes winner to starters.
Q: Could you please tell us more about your history and the farm’s history and a bit more about your ambitions for this farm over the next couple of decades?
A: Like most farms, we are continually reassessing our future and in the case of stallions, it is becoming ever more difficult to compete against the large and wealthy studs who are paying huge prices for almost any colt that shows promise or wins an early stake race.