High-class sprinter Ingratiating, a horse who beat home his champion Godolphin stablemate Anamoe in a Blue Diamond (G1), before running third in a Golden Slipper (G1), will take up stud duties at Oakland Park Stud in Western Australia.
Studmaster Neville Duncan believes Ingratiating, by American multiple grade 1 winner Frosted , the same sire as brilliant homebred juvenile Bustling, is the best-performed Australian 2-year-old racehorse to ever go to stud in the West.
The Oakland Park Stud principal has reached a deal to buy the former Godolphin-owned and raced Ingratiating, a first-crop son of Darley's Northwood Park shuttler Frosted (Tapit ), to take up residence at his renowned farm.
During his seven-start juvenile season, the James Cummings-trained Ingratiating won a Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (Listed) on debut and the Talindert Stakes (Listed) at Flemington before backing up a week later to finish second in the Blue Diamond at Caulfield. Ingratiating also has the Vain (G3) and Bletchingly (G3) stakes on his CV in a 25-start career in which he earned AU$1.9 million in prize money.
Duncan said Ingratiating was an ideal stallion for the Western Australian broodmare population to target the valuable Westspeed bonuses on offer in the state.
"He's the best Australian-bred 2-year-old to ever retire to Western Australia and that's a pretty big coup, I think, and he's a good-looking animal as well," Duncan told ANZ Bloodstock News.
"I often look at horses on the East Coast and I look at what they've won on track and then I compare some of our horses, and they're good horses but not anywhere near as maybe some that have come over, yet the stake money they've earned is pretty similar, so you've got to say our Westspeed scheme is pretty good."
Out of the juvenile scorer and Light Fingers (G2) and San Domenico Stakes (G3) winning Lonhro (AUS) mare Obsequious, the 16-hands Ingratiating will stand for an introductory fee of AU$9,000 (US$5,963, AU$1=US$0.66)). Lifetime breeding rights are also being offered in the stallion by Oakland Park Stud.
Darley's head of sales, Andy Makiv, described Ingratiating as a very sound and good style of horse who deserved his chance at stud even if it wasn't on Sheikh Mohammed's dual-state stallion roster.
"There's plenty of colts out there that have the credentials to be given an opportunity," Makiv said. "We've got Golden Mile and Cylinder retiring to Victoria and Native Trail and Triple Time retiring in NSW, who are all group 1 stars in their own right, so there's only so many horses that you can launch.
"Therefore, it is nice that horses (such as Ingratiating) can get an opportunity in another jurisdiction."
The Western Australian market already has exposure to America's highly successful Tapit sireline, with his son A Lot making a solid start to his stud career from limited opportunities, with his oldest crop rising 5-year-olds. Now standing at Phil Ibbotson's Westbury Park, A Lot is the sire of the Trevor Andrews-trained Western Australian Derby (G2) winner A Lot Of Good Men and as well as four other stakes horses from just 40 runners.
