BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

When Malcolm Fraser said life wasn’t meant to be easy he was obviously talking about racehorse ownership too.
Imagine how the crew at Gooree felt on Saturday when their Fastnet Rock colt – Smart Missile – was scratched at the barrier in the $3.5 million Golden Slipper when second favourite after defeating eventual winner Sepoy at their previous meeting.
Gooree representative, Andrew Baddock, said post race that the decision to scratch the colt probably cost them “$20 million” in stud value.
However, it has served to highlight the boom on Danehill stallion Fastnet Rock who had five of the 16 Slipper entries line up on Saturday (unfortunately, Fast and Sexy – another of the Fastnet Rocks – was also scratched at the barrier).
Still, according to this morning’s ANZ Bloodstock News, Fastnet Rock still has three of the top four rated 2YOs in the country.
This is clearly the ‘new’ Danehill branch and augurs well for his first crop son and 2010 Newmarket Handicap-G1 winner Wanted, who had three mares sold in foal in Perth last week: selling up to $205,000 and averaging $161,666.
If they’re paying that much for mares in foal, imagine what his first crop yearlings will be making!

Wanted