OK, it’s an obvious headline but I really do think that this Group 2 winning son of Fastnet Rock has a real chance of making it as a stallion.
The deeds of his sire are well known and he’s got a number of well-credentialled sons already shaping very promisingly as stallions. Hinchinbrook, for example, has already had six 2YO winners including the Group 1 winner Press Statement and the Listed winner Flippant. Stryker has a 2YO SW this season and Wanted, whose oldest progeny are now three, has 17 individual winners including a SW and two SP performers.
Highly Recommended’s dam also has a produce record to die for: 9 foals, 5 SWs by four different stallions, 8 winners and the only non-winner already the dam of a Group 2 winner. It’s hard to over-rate the importance of consistency in a pedigree, whether we’re looking for a potential racehorse or a potential stallion, and it’s difficult to find a mare that’s a more reliable producer of racecourse ability.
When a stallion has only one crop on the ground, it’s always difficult to make an accurate assessment as to the quality of his foals. Apart from the old saying of fools and foals going together, good looks and ultimate racing performance are not at all the same thing. What I can say is that I sent two of my mares down to Berkley Stud to be mated with Highly Recommended; both produced colts which appear to be very nice types in terms of conformational correctness. One foal looks very much like his dam, the other much less so. Both are well-muscled for their age but the quality that really strikes a chord for me is their temperament. I have bred over 200 foals and I can’t recall any that have been more sensible and relaxed.
All in all, breeders should seriously consider using Highly Recommended. He’s well priced and seems to have attracted strong books of mares in his first two seasons. He also has the advantage of having a pedigree which complements many of our leading bloodlines.
