Widden Stud

Widden’s brilliant commercial sire Zoustar capped a memorable Spring with his daughter Joliestar’s decisive win in the elite fillies Classic, the Gr1 1000 Guineas over 1600m at Caulfield. Her victory followed closely on the Gr1 win of Zoustar’s flying son Ozzmosis in the stallion-making Coolmore Stud S over 1200m down the Flemington straight. They were satisfying and wonderfully timed wins for Widden and Zoustar with the 2024 Magic Millions Sale fast approaching and Ozzmosis’ win had a touch of of deja vu about it. Not so long ago in 2018 Zoustar supplied the trifecta in the same race to emphatically announce that he had arrived as a major force on the Australian commercial breeding landscape. His previous winner was the mighty filly Sunlight; this time it was the colt Ozzmosis, completing the circle. Although good news often comes in threes, for Widden it extended to fours. For not only did $1.25 million 2022 MM graduate Schwarz, also by Widden’s Zoustar, score an impressive stakes success for the Rosemont-Victorian Stallion Alliance at the prestigious Victorian Spring Carnival, but a few days later at Rosehill, Spywire, a $520k graduate from the 2023 MM sale, by Widden’s young gun Trapeze Artist, recorded a brilliant “all the way” first-up win at Rosehill for his high profile ownership group led by Ozzie Kheir.

Widden’s Matt Comerford commented, “These are wonderful results for our farm as we head to the 2024 yearling sales. These feature wins by our proven sires will keep the spotlight firmly on their next crop, but all of us here at Widden are just as excited to be able to present the first sales crops of our young sires Anders, Doubtland, Dirty Work and Russian Camelot. There will be some wonderful opportunities for buyers who can count on the Widden quality continuing with their stock.”

Widden, now operating in both NSW and Victoria, with the farm’s headline act being Zoustar based in the Widden Valley, the valley of champions, ably supported by his son Zousain who ran a gallant second to Sunlight on that earlier memorable occasion.

Widden will send a premium draft of 77 lots to MM 2024, 40 colts and 37 fillies by Australia’s leading commercial sires. The draft includes 43 lots by Widden’s own sires, 11 by Zoustar, 12 by Trapeze Artist, nine by Zousain, six by Written By, two by first season sires Anders and Doubtland and one first season sire Russian Camelot. There are also youngsters by champion sires I Am Invincible and Snitzel as well as by Deep Field, Wootton Bassett, Farnan, Pierro, All Too Hard, Capitalist, Spirit Of Boom and Peltzer, among the many highlights.

Schwarz by Zoustar scores at Flemington in Spring to become another successful Widden MM graduate.

Yearlings from some of Australia’s best thoroughbred families include an I Am Invincible half-sister to Gr3 winner Sisstar who is a full sister to Widden heroine Sunlight. There’s a ¾ brother by Zoustar to his own Gr1 colt Zougotcha, a ¾ sister by Zoustar to Gr1 winner Mizzy and an I Am Invincible filly who is the first foal of multiple Group winning $1.4 million earner Madam Rouge.

With such a large draft there will be something to suit all buyers who can purchase these yearlings with full confidence knowing they have been raised on a great farm, prepared by expert people who have a proud track record of selling premium yearlings for up to $3million. Each and every one of these yearlings have been raised with the same care and attention to detail that has become synomymous with Widden’s JT over lazy 2 brand.

Matt Comerford spoke to Bluebloods about the 2024 Magic Millions.

How would you sum up your 2024 draft?

“It’s full of quality and diversity by our own commercial sires and those from other farms. There are 43 quality youngsters by the Widden sires Zoustar, Trapeze Artist, Zousain, Anders, Doubtland and Russian Camelot as well as yearlings by Snitzel, I Am Invincible, Farnan, Deep Field, Ole Kirk and Wootton Bassett just to name a few.”

What makes the Magic Millions sales and races special?

“The Gold Coast is such a great place to sell horses, owners and buyers can combine a holiday along with the hard work that goes into the whole sales process. And the race series offers such tremendous prizemoney.” Which app on your phone do you use the most?

“Thoroughworks, which makes my life so much easier at the sales, it gives me instant control of all the information I need to communicate with clients.”

Which past champion do you wish you could have seen at the races?

“Definitely Vain, he’s buried at Widden and is such a legend around the place. Stories still circulate about his record breaking feats on the track and what a wonderful temperament he had when retired to our NSW farm. A lot of respected judges still rate him as the benchmark sprinter of modern times and his bloodlines still feature in champions such as Black Caviar, Written Tycoon and Ole Kirk.”