All Too Hard cemented his position in the top echelon of Australian stallions with a century of individual winners for the sixth season running in 2023-24.
The Vinery stallion notched 116 winners and the majority were book-ended between his Group 1 stars Alligator Blood (MRC Underwood Stakes) in September and Stefi Magnetica (BRC Stradbroke Hcp) in June.
All Too Hard wasn’t long opening his Australian account for 2024-25 when Sunyani broke her maiden at Gilgandra on Saturday. The win will boost the residual value of the Brett Cavanough-trained mare for leading breeder Greg Perry and Cavanough’s wife Lauren. Her dam Zolani (More Than Ready) won three races around the Victorian provincial circuit for Perry and Wylie Dalziel after selling through Vinery (as agent) for $100,000 at the 2015 Gold Coast Magic Millions.
Perry had tapped into the family when purchasing second-dam Nakaaya for $60,000 at the 2008 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale. “I was with Cliff Brown at Oaklands and I asked him to check out this filly by Tiger Hill,” he recalled. “I quite liked her on type and her pedigree traced back to Tommy Smith’s Group 1 filly Princess Talaria (Dignitas).
“Cliff looked at the filly and said, ‘you’ve just got to buy her’. Cliff transferred to Singapore soon after so I gave Nakaaya to Mick Price and he trained her win a Sunline Stakes (Gr.2, 1600m) at Moonee Valley.”
Nakaaya was restricted to 12 starts after injuring a cannon bone but she went right on the job at stud with her first three fillies. Zolani was followed by Group 1 winners Aristia (Lonhro) in the VRC Oaks (2500m) and Marabi (I Am Invincible) in the MRC Oakleigh Plate (1100m).
Sunyani represents the All Too Hard – More Than Ready cross which is striking at 74% and the best of them have been Champion Hong Kong Sprinter Wellington and multiple Group 1 winning mare Forbidden Love. She sold for $4.1 million as a broodmare prospect at the 2023 Magic Millions National Sale.
Former Vinery shuttler More Than Ready (USA) sired his 229th black-type winner when Loon Cry launched a last-to-first sprint to take the Sweet Briar Too Stakes (LR, 1200m) at Woodbine on Saturday. The Waterville Lake Stud homebred mare is trained by Christophe Clement whose other More Than Ready feature winners include Slipstream (2021 Belmont Futurity Gr.3), Zindaya (2015 Belmont Intercontinental LR) and Funfair (2012 Monmouth Park Colleen Stakes LR).
Vinery Stud stands All Too Hard for an unchanged $38,500 fee this year. All service fees include GST and are payable on a live foal. For bookings or further information contact Adam, Harry, McKoy or Peter on (02) 6543 8333.
This year’s Vinery Open Days are on Saturday 24 August and Sunday 25 August. Gates open at 8:30am and the stallions start parading at 9am. Registration is essential so that it can be correctly catered to avoid wastage. Contact McKoy on (02) 6543 8333 or mckoy@vinery.com.au