IN a massive coup for the Australian breeding industry, the world’s hottest young stallion is heading Down Under.
And, unlike so many of breeding’s megastars, Cobbitty Equine Farm confirmed Confederate will physically stand in Australia in contrast to frozen semen being transported.
“That’s the most exciting part, that he will be shuttling down here. He should be here in July,” Cobbitty Equine’s Belinda McCarthy said. I can’t stress enough what a massive thing this is for the whole Australian breeding industry, not just us at Cobbitty.”
“He’s the hottest new breeding property. The fertility tests on him have shown outstanding results and he’s a big fella, too. He’s 16 hands, which will be attractive to a lot of breeders.”
“It was a robust tendering process to get him, so you can imagine how excited we are.”
The timing is impeccable, coming just hours after Confederate was crowned the Dan Patch winner as the US’s 2023 Horse of the Year, Pacer of the Year and 3YO Colt of the Year.
Confederate, by Sweet Lou out of A Rocknroll Dance mare Geothermal, raced 22 times for 18 wins, three placings and banked almost $US2.1 million. His major wins included the Breeders Crown Final, Meadowlands Pace, Cane Pace, Matron Pace and Hempt Memorial.
Confederate is also the fastest three-year-old pacer of all time, courtesy of the blistering 1min 46.2sec he paced to win at Lexington’s famed Red Mile track in Kentucky last year.
In the US, he stands for $US20,000 recieving a full book at Diamond Creek in Pennsylvania.
Also joining Confederate at Cobbitty Equine Farm another exciting son of Sweet Lou, Cannibal, who has also been supported with a full book of mares in the Northern Hemisphere for his first season at Stud.
The 1min 48.2sec winner of $US785,040 shares the same golden cross as Confederate, being out of A Rocknroll Dance mare, No More Losses. Cannibal raced 27 times for 15 wins, including the Adios Pace Final at The Meadows, along with eliminations of the Meadowlands Pace and Little Brown Jug.
He was also placed seven times, including his final race start when third in the Breeders Crown Final at Hoosier Park.
“Cannibal impresses with his great gait, wonderful disposition, conformation, and consistent performance – making him an epitome of an A Plus racehorse,” said former trainer Nancy Takter.
McCarthy said shuttling Confederate and Cannibal to Australia highlighted the strong new relationship between Diamond Creek and Cobbitty Equine Farm.
“We hope this is just the start of things,” she said. “It’s a real credit to Diamond Creek both paces have been born, raised and raced and are now sires for them.
“Confederate and Cannibal head the changes to our (stallion) line-up at Cobbitty Equine this year. We will continue to develop our product to offer breeders value for money sires, who we firmly believe will make the cut in our ever demanding climate.
“We have gone all-in this year as we want to continue to improve our product here in Australia and NZ and this opportunity to add these two stallions to our existing roster line-up is a dream.”
Cobbitty Equine has quickly grown into a major breeding force since starting, almost by chance, seven years ago.
“We started with the stallions by accident when Bling It On fell at Albion Park and required surgery, which led to a lengthy rehabilitation, so we decided to stand him and For A Reason at stud,” McCarthy said.
“In 2022 we served almost 1200 mares across Australia and NZ and last year we had 10 stallions physically standing with us and two frozen. We also continued our partnership with Haras des Trotteurs.”
McCarthy is proud of the ground-breaking Cobbitty Equine Race Series, the only of its type in Australia.
“It’s for two-year-olds – mares served last season – foals born this season will be eligible. There is a one-off fee of $330, which is cheap for the prize money. There are separate $100,000 finals for colts and geldings along with fillies. They are eligible only to the progeny of our stallions.”
For bookings to both stallions please contact Cobbitty Equine Farm.
