Artorius’s sire Flying Artie to stand at Blue Gum Farm

Flying Artie, the sire of Saturday’s electric Canterbury Stakes-winning sprinter and dynamic Group 1-winning two-year-old Artorius, will relocate to Blue Gum Farm in Victoria this year.

In a vote of confidence for the Victorian breeding industry and Trilogy Racing’s Jason and Mel Stenning and Sean and Cathy Dingwall, who purchased Philip and Patti Campbell’s revered Blue Gum Farm late last year, Flying Artie will be the first stallion to stand at the Euroa property under the new management in a joint venture deal.

Also the sire of Oakleigh Plate placed speed machine Asfoora and the dual-hemisphere Group 1 entire Artorius, Flying Artie will remain under the ownership of his existing shareholders, including Newgate and China Horse Club, when he moves to the southern state.

Sean Dingwall said standing Flying Artie at Blue Gum Farm, a long-time stallion operation with the Campbells at the helm, would ensure the legacy of the stud continued under the new management.

“The fact that we can bring a horse of this quality back to Victoria is a real bonus for the industry as he’ll make a lovely stallion,” Dingwall said.

“Artorius has obviously been his flagbearer, being a Blue Diamond winner, and even now as an older horse winning at the highest level and there’s horses all around the place by him that are running and it’s a great time for him to come back.”

Artorius is slated to retire to Newgate Farm later this year, but not before a return visit to the UK where he was placed in the Platinum Jubilee and the July Cup during the last northern hemisphere summer, and Newgate's Henry Field said the decision to reach a deal on Flying Artie with the Stennings and Dingwalls was in the best interests of both horses. 

Trilogy Racing has fostered a strong relationship with Field over the past two years, having joined the powerful colts partnership led by the Newgate managing director and China Horse Club.

“Flying Artie is a really good stallion – and probably an underrated stallion – and to have sired even in the past few weeks a horse as good as Artorius, who won a high-class Canterbury Stakes, as well as Asfoora, who ran a huge race in the Oakleigh Plate, shows he is a proper Group 1 stallion,” Field told ANZ Bloodstock News. 

Newgate's Henry Field plans to bring Artorius to the stud when his racing career is overCredit: Getty Images

“He was a Coolmore Stud Stakes winner himself and we felt, with Artorius coming to Newgate this year, that splitting them up was a really good play.

“We’ve built up a wonderful relationship with Jason and Mel Stenning and Sean and Cathy Dingwall at Blue Gum, a pre-eminent stallion farm in Victoria, and they’ve got the energy and the passion to make it really great.

“It’s a great fit, they were really keen to get the horse and I have no doubt that Flying Artie will be phenomenally popular at Blue Gum this season.”

Dingwall said ensuring Blue Gum Farm remained as a stallion operation was part of Trilogy’s long-term plan for the stud.

“Part of our growth strategy for the farm was to get back to stallions and to create the whole enterprise as we want to run it and this opportunity is through our great partnership with Newgate,” Dingwall said. 

“The fact that Henry has got the confidence in us to send the horse down is a tribute to the farm and the overall feeling that the farm has in the industry nationally.”

Flying Artie, the 2016 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner who was also runner-up to Extreme Choice in that year’s Blue Diamond and third in the Golden Slipper behind Capitalist, covered 795 mares in his six years at stud in the Hunter Valley. 

As well as being the sire of dual hemisphere sprinter Artorius and the Henry Dwyer-trained Asfoora, who will tackle The Galaxy in Sydney at her next start, Flying Artie is also the sire of stakes winner Giannis and Flying Crazy from three crops of racing age. 

Manhattan Rain and Turffontein, Blue Gum’s most recent stallions on the roster, were relocated by the Campbells early last year to Western Australia and Tasmania respectively. A service fee for Flying Artie, who stood for A$22,000 (inc GST) in 2022, will be confirmed at a later date.

Artorius himself had not saluted the judge since his victory in the 2021 Blue Diamond Stakes but after a fruitless two years the four-year-old entire made a thrilling return to the winner’s enclosure when he came from the clouds to score at Randwick. 

Famous for his mercurial racing style, Artorius had the benefit of an inspired ride from visiting Hong Kong-based expat jockey Zac Purton, who chartered the perfect path from the back of the field to chin New Zealand raider Imperatriz in the shadow of the winning post. He had been off the track since his disappointing sixth-place finish in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.

“He’ll go to the TJ Smith then back to Royal Ascot and then he’ll retire this season. He is a wonderful horse,” said Field. “Zac just couldn’t believe the turn of foot he had. He was enormous in the last 100 metres and Zac was good enough to be able to get him to settle three lengths closer today, which was the difference.”

Purton was sought out by Field, who felt the jockey was the man who could get Artorius to jump on terms. 

"Amazing performance by the horse and an amazing performance by the genius that is Zac Purton," Field continued. "He was good enough as a three-year-old to place in a Jubilee, a July Cup, a Coolmore and a Caulfield Guineas but we just needed a rider that could get him to jump. 

"Zac is as good a gate rider as there is in the southern hemisphere. He's a great horse, he is a great rider, you put those two things together and magic can happen." 

Like Field, Anthony Freedman was pleased with yesterday’s performance, but was quick to heap praise on Purton for his handling of the four-year-old. 

"He's a world-class jockey and I didn't give him too may instructions, most of the instructions were pre-race things like keep him moving, keep him active, keep him interested," Freedman said. "He did that really well. The start is everything to this horse. If he starts he can win, nearly anywhere." 

Artorius was bought by the Freedmans and Julian Blaxland’s Blue Sky Bloodstock from the Vinery Stud draft for A$120,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2020 and he is one of two winners out of the unraced Redoute’s Choice mare Gracie’s Lass. 

Gracie’s Lass herself is a daughter of US Listed winner Grace And Power, who was also placed at Grade 1 level, and she is also the dam of Delectation, winner of the 2015 Darley Classic. 

In 2020, Gracie’s Lass produced a colt by Written Tycoon, who was purchased by Tom Magnier for A$1.4 million at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in 2022, who is now named Oistrach and has yet to hit the track. The following season the mare produced a colt by Deep Field, while last year she foaled a colt by Flying Artie and she was covered by Coolmore Stud-based sire Home Affairs last November. 

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