QUEENSLAND'S leading stud farm for more than a decade, Glenlogan Park, Innsplain, has changed direction and will not stand stallions this season – nor in the foreseeable future.
Glenlogan has been standing stallions for the past 25 years. However a study of Australian Stud Book stallion statistics show that in 2016 the five current established sires at Glenlogan (Show A Heart, Falvelon, Rothesay, Real Saga and Jet Spur), covered 214 mares – less than half the 500 mares covered in 2012. Compensating for that massive drop, freshman sire Rich Enuff served 124 mares in his first book last season.
The stud will maintain a band of about 35 broodmares while the 200 other broodmares with outside owners will be moved to other studs. At its zenith Glenlogan contributed about $10 million to the local Beaudesert economy. Staff numbers are now likely to drop from 50 to five or six.
Making the announcement last week in the wake of the Magic Millions March yearling sale at the Gold Coast where Glenlogan was leading vendor by gross, stud principal John Haseler, said the decision was something management had been angling towards for a number of years.
“With the national scene going from strength-to-strength in recent times, now seemed like the ideal time to make the transition. Our focus will be on producing the very best yearlings and racehorses we can and presenting them at all of the major sales around the country,” Mr Haseler said
Glenlogan General Manager Steve Morley said the stud was very, very proud of what its stallions had achieved over a long period of time. "The influence they have had, and continue to have, on racing in Queensland is almost unparalleled when they are considered as an entire group. A terrific example of that was in the QTIS $1million race on Magic Millions day in January. From the 19 final acceptors, an incredible 15 of those could trace their roots directly to Glenlogan Park and our stallions! That is an amazing achievement and a real credit to the strength of the stallion roster right across the board,” he said.
Glenlogan will still maintain a close association and ownership with four sires going forward. Rothesay will take up stallion duties at Lyndhurst Stud with Jeff and Griff Kruger, Real Saga will be with Scott McAlpine at Eureka and Jet Spur has been placed at Grandview under the care of Michael Grieve. The fourth sire Rich Enuff will relocate to Woodside Stud in Victoria.
"We absolutely realise that the three local sires still have so much to offer the Queensland racing and breeding scene and having them available to breeders is imperative as they really do provide the backbone to a lot of our metropolitan racing up here," Mr Morley said.
The two "older champs", Show A Heart and Falvelon, who turn 20 and 21 respectively this year, will remain at Glenlogan. "We didn't even consider relocating them. I think it’s very fitting that two horses who have done so much to promote racing and breeding here in Queensland will now get to grow old in comfort and in partnership with each other. They may get the odd walk-on mare but basically we are retiring them," he said.
TBQA supports Glenlogan decision
THOROUGHBRED Breeders Queensland Association President, Basil Nolan believes there's an exciting future ahead for Glenlogan Park with its change of direction of not standing stallions.
"Glenlogan has been a long standing supporter of the Queensland industry for at least 25 years and havs had tremendous success as one of the State's leading studs producing many champion sires, and runners, season after season," said Mr Nolan.
"There is no doubt Jon Haseler and Steve Morley have a clear direction for their future and they will continue to support Queensland with their new endeavours. I would like to wish them the best of luck with this new breeding venture and I have no doubt the stud's success will continue as a nursery of champion race horses that will continue to be highly sought after around the country," he said
With three stallions, Rothesay, Real Saga and Jet Spur to be relocated to Lyndhurst, Eureka and Grandview respectively, Mr Nolan wished the studs all the best with their exciting new prospects. "I have no doubt breeders will continue to support these stallions, as they have a proven record and it is great to see them remain here in Queensland," he said.
The move by Glenlogan continues a growing trend in Queensland which has seen stallion and broodmare numbers in Queensland drop dramatically in the past decade.
In 2016, the Australian Stud Book listed Queensland as having 122 stallions, down on 138 from 2015 and a huge decline on the 195 that were registered in 2007, while broodmare numbers have dropped about 66 percent.
Glenlogan manager Steve Morley hopes the government takes note of the stud's decision to scale back its operation and no longer stand stallions. "It is one of the things the government needs to address. In NSW and Victoria the governments do not have as much to do with running racing as here. You get a change in government here and things change in racing. At the moment it is like a yo-yo," he said.
