A Tale of Two Continents

Double-duty stallions have reshaped the breeding industry Down Under

From humble beginnings in the 1990s, the shuttling of stallions from the Northern Hemisphere to Australia and New Zealand has revolutionized the Standardbred breeding industry Down Under in just a few short decades.

The result of last year’s A$500,000 Inter-Dominion Pacing Championship Grand Final, at Menangle, in Sydney, New South Wales, emphasizes this.

The first three finishers in the Grand Circuit event were all by sires of North American origin: the winner, Don Hugo, being by Art Major; Minstrel, who finished second, being by Rocknroll Hanover; and third-place finisher Max Delight is by Bettor’s Delight. In fact, nine of the 12 finalists in the Inter-Dominion Final were sired by dual-hemisphere stallions.

“The shuttle business has brought the breeding right up to standard Down Under, and now we are competitive with America,” says John Curtin

“Shuttle stallions have undoubtedly played a massive role in shaping the breeding industry in Australia and New Zealand,” said Brett Coffey, general manager of Alabar Bloodstock.

“You only have to look at last year’s Inter-Dominion winner, Don Hugo. He was sired by Art Major out of a Bettor’s Delight mare, who is out of a Presidential Ball mare, who is then out of an In The Pocket mare—all shuttle stallions.”

Auckland, New Zealand-based Standardbred bloodstock agent John Curtin was one of the pioneers of shuttling stallions from North America to Australasia.

“In 1993, I ventured to North America and visited all the major stud farms,” said Curtin.

“On this trip, I met Jack Rice at Pickwick Farms in Ohio, and Jack and I became great friends. Chairmanoftheboard, one of Pickwick’s stallions, was the very first one to come Down Under.”

In The Pocket arrived in the same year to stand at John and Annette Geiger’s fledgling Geiger Bloodstock before moving to Woodlands Stud at Auckland. Two years later, Bob McArdle brought in Falcon Seelster for stud duty at Nevele R Stud, in Christchurch, New Zealand.

“In my quest for better stallions, I started the stallion shuttle business between North America and Down Under, which is now annually a multi-million-dollar industry between hemispheres,” Curtin said.

“As a result of that shuttling, the Thoroughbred industry followed through with their horses, and that has become an annual billion-dollar business between the hemispheres. The shuttle business has brought the breeding right up to standard Down Under, and now we are competitive with America.”

However, Curtin sounded a warning about the future of double-duty horses.

“Nowadays, it has become very expensive to bring a shuttle stallion down,” he said.

“The shuttle business is in jeopardy long-term because of the costs. The frozen semen business is starting to take over all over the world.”

Several of Australasia’s key Standardbred breeding figures have expressed their opinion of the success of shuttlers in the Southern Hemisphere.

“When shuttle stallions were first introduced to Australia, there was a fear that they could detrimentally and financially impact the breeding industry in Australia and New Zealand,” said Kevin Seymour, one of Australian harness racing’s leading breeders, owners and benefactors.

“In fact, they have had an enormous impact on the betterment of the quality of our breeding industry. When you review our major races and who is winning them, the answer is mainly the same international shuttle stallions, as normally they offer the best quality stallion selections.

“It has been possible for anyone to set up a stallion base, and some of our most enterprising young trainers, such as Luke McCarthy in New South Wales and Peter McMullen in Queensland, are grasping the opportunities and making a success of them. We need to bring even more stallions out from the United States on shuttle duty to keep improving the quality of our breeding.”

Dr. Andrew Grierson, co-founder of Woodlands Stud, on New Zealand’s North Island, said that the farm has stood about 35 stallions since its inception in 1992.

“I would rank the top half-dozen as Bettor’s Delight, American Ideal, Sweet Lou, Downbytheseaside, What The Hill and In The Pocket,” he said. “Bettor’s Delight is No. 1 of the century, in my opinion. Art Major was always running second, and now we are seeing with Art Major and Bettor’s Delight how important they are as broodmare sires and despite being in their swansong years they are still right up there.

“I am an enthusiast for really good genetics, and the impact of the shuttle stallion has revolutionized the Standardbred in the Southern Hemisphere.

So many superstars in recent years have made our industry so exciting.”

Grierson added that almost all the stallions that Woodlands Stud has brought down from North America have been good racehorses.

“Speed is the thing,” he said.

“Our criteria is they need to be good racehorse in most cases, we are looking at 3-Year-Olds of the Year and Grand Circuit horses. In the case of Sweet Lou and Downbytheseaside, we bought in on the basis that the next best sire would be the sire that crossed with Bettor’s Delight mares.

“Bettor’s Delight has been so successful because he’s not only a producer of speed but, importantly, sound horses, and his legacy continues as the leading broodmare sire. Bettor’s Delight has a lot of offspring in Australasia, but he hasn’t been a sire-line producer like the Mach Three line. There are so many outcross options for Bettor’s Delight mares with the Somebeachsomewhere son obviously Sweet Lou, and now his sons Cannibal, Confederate, and another outcross in Always B Miki. Inbreeding is never going to be a problem.”

Grierson believes that Downbytheseaside will be the next “big thing” on the Down Under breeding scene.

“Just wait for his next two big crops of 2- and 3-year-olds that will hit the tracks in Australia and New Zealand in 2025,” he said.

“He’ll go straight up the ranks as well.”

He added that American-based studs such as Diamond Creek Farm have benefited from sending their stallions to the Southern Hemisphere.

“Those studs that haven’t embraced the double-duty stallions have been disadvantaged,” he said.

“The availability of fresh semen is a distinct advantage over frozen with a significantly higher percentage per cycle than frozen and less expensive vet input.

“The only downside is the cost of air fares and the five-week quarantine period. The trip back and forth has not impacted the longevity of stallions, and both Art Major and Bettor’s Delight are testament to that, both being over 25 years old and still active in the breeding shed. Being able to use artificial in  semination in the Standardbred code allows full books to be covered with semen collections spread out once a day, on every second day, over the working week. Fertile stallions can easily serve in excess of 15 mares from one collection, so only 12 serves per month for a busy fertile stud.”

John Coffey, president of Harness Breeders Victoria, said that he was gobsmacked with the announcement from Pepper Tree Farms that Art Major, by the legendary Artsplace, would be shuttling to Australia for the 2005 Southern Hemisphere breeding season.

“This was off the back of Art Major being voted the 3-Year-Old and Aged Pacer of the Year in North America in the 2002 and 2003 seasons and then serving a full book of mares at Blue Chip Farms in his debut season in 2004,” Coffey said.

“Up to this point, there had been previous stallions to shuttle Down Under—among them In The Pocket and Falcon Seelster—but they hadn’t been in the highest echelon of stallions in North America. So, Art Major became the trailblazer for many other champion stallions to commit to double-season stallion duties, and none more notable than Bettor’s Delight and Mach Three.”

Art Major recently became the first stallion in the history of Australian breeding to sire the winners of Australian-bred progeny to win over $100 million a  remarkable achievement, as purse money in Australia is only about a quarter of what is distributed in the United States on an annual basis.

“Bettor’s Delight and Mach Three, along with Art Major, probably dominated many other stallions from getting a foot in the door,” Coffey continued.

“But there is no doubt that the availability of the very best pacing stallions in the world over the past 20 years has significantly raised the bar on the quality
of Standardbreds bred in the Southern Hemisphere. Unlike the modern-day greats Bettor’s Delight, Art Major and Sweet Lou, the first batch of shuttlers to
Australasia were still establishing themselves as sires in North America.”

The influence of North American stallions in Australasia is profound in nearly every indicator: total services of mares, the sires’ premierships, the yearling sale arena, and elite racetrack performers. The number of mares served by shuttlers is a prime example of the huge impact being made on the breeding and racing scene in Australasia by dual-hemisphere stallions.

In the 2022-23 season in Australia, the total number of mares served was 4,592. Of these, 1,304 services—almost one-third of the total—were covered by
shuttle stallions, as shown in Chart A.

Yet another example of the terrific influence exerted on Standardbred breeding in Australia and New Zealand is the sire premiership tables for the 2024 season. Of the top 10 stallions on the all-age money-winning list in both countries, eight of them—including the leading three sires—shuttle from North America.

Incredibly, Bettor’s Delight has been the champion sire in Australia and New Zealand for the past 13 years. The son of Cam’s Card Shark has also topped the broodmare sire’s list in Australia for the last three years and was the leading broodmare sire in New Zealand in 2023 and 2024. Furthermore, Art Major has headed the 2-year-old earnings list in Australia on a record eight occasions; Bettor’s Delight has three 2-year-old titles; Mach Three two; and Armbro Operative, Presidential Ball and Sweet Lou one each. Bettor’s Delight has topped the 3-year-old sires’ list on a record 12 occasions in New Zealand and eight times in Australia.

The trotting stallion Majestic Son, like his Alabar studmate Art Major, began his siring career as a shuttle stallion. He has been the leading Australian sire on his gait since 2016 and the premier sire in New Zealand for the past seven seasons.

Other notable Alabar shuttle horses have been Mach Three, who shuttled between Canada and New Zealand and shaped harness racing in both hemispheres; Always B Miki, a current leading sire in Australia and New Zealand; and, in an earlier decade, Armbro Operative, who shuttled between Australia and Canada before going on to be Australia’s leading stallion on two occasions.

The list of the leading stake earning pacers bred in the Southern Hemisphere shows that 10 of the top 20 all-time richest Australasian Standardbreds are progeny of shuttle stallions.

Incidentally, Lazarus, who sits atop the list, is the only Australian-bred stallion to shuttle back to North America.

The third-placed Leap To Fame is still racing and looks certain to overtake Lazarus in the next few months, as shown in Chart B.

From a yearling sale standpoint, 14 of the 25 yearlings to sell for A$150,000 or more in Australia were by shuttle stallions. Bettor’s Delight was responsible for six, including the secondhighest priced colt at A$245,000 (Max Delight); Art Major had four, including the leading filly at A$160,000 (Follow Our Dreams); American Ideal had two; and Captain Crunch and Rock N Roll Heaven one apiece.

The past five Australian Grand Circuit champions were sired by shuttlers: Leap To Fame (2023, by Bettor’s Delight), King Of Swing (2020, 2021 and 2022, by Rocknroll Hanover), Tiger Tara (2019, by Bettor’s Delight), Lazarus (2017 and 2018, by Bettor’s Delight) and Lennytheshark (2016, by Four Starzzz Shark).

So, whichever way you look at it, North American stallions have left an indelible mark on the Australasian breeding and racing scene, and their influence will continue to be felt for many years to come.

by Peter Wharton for Hoof Beats.

Reprinted with with the permission of the US Trotting Association monthly magazine Hoof Beats.