Coolmore stands firm in the face of disaster

Coolmore Stud has emerged from the equine influenza crisis with staggering broodmare figures, according to Australian manager Michael Kirwan, who revealed this week its reduced band of stallions had covered more than 1700 mares.
"If anyone had asked me back in mid-September whether we would get anywhere near that number of mares to Coolmore I would have laughed at them," Kirwan said. "We, along with all the Hunter Valley studs, were looking at a disaster."
After racing was halted following the equine flu outbreak in Sydney,
the 2007 breeding season faced being a non-event with more than 30 world-class shuttle stallions owned by the Coolmore and Darley conglomerates stuck at Eastern Creek.
"There's no doubt that [thanks to] the help from the DPI [Department of Primary Industries], Aushorse, [Racing NSW boss] Peter V'Landys and so many others we were able to get the breeding industry on track, with the stallions leaving Eastern Creek on Monday, September 24, and commencing covering the following day," Kirwan said.
"Coolmore was pretty fortunate in as much as we had Johannesburg, Lion Heart, Dehere, Royal Academy and Tale Of The Cat, which had flown in from America, released from Eastern Creek before the outbreak was discovered.
"With Fastnet Rock [also in action], Coolmore was able to serve around 540 mares with these stallions but three returned to the US - Johannesburg, Tale Of The Cat and Lion Heart - in the first week of October. Fastnet Rock's popularity was totally unbelievable.
All up, Coolmore had bookings for 2400 mares for 2007, but our numbers were cut drastically with mares from Victoria and Queensland unable to cross the designated zones set down by the DPI."
Kirwan said last year Coolmore's stallions served almost 2200 mares, and the effort this year to get within 500 of that was quite remarkable.
Encosta De Lago, Coolmore's stallion leader, again proved to be a phenomenon. He had bookings for more than 230 mares and was able to serve more than 175.
Fastnet Rock never left Coolmore, and breeders who had their mares at the stud were quick to use the well-performed son of Danehill to ensure they would have a yearling to sell in 2010.
"Fastnet Rock covered in excess of 220 mares and his figures, which will be released by the Australian Stud Book, could see him become the most popular ever stallion in a single Australian season," Kirwan added.
"Fusaichi Pegasus's book received a boost also by commencing his stud duties on time and served close to 200 mares; Rock Of Gibraltar had more than 175 bookings; Stravinsky, who was a late addition to our Denman team when he was unable to travel to Cambridge Stud in NZ, had more than 100 mares, which was quite brilliant considering the late announcement that he would stand in NSW. And new boy Holy Roman Emperor was tremendous with 130 mares in his first Australian season.