Without Parole set for strong support as big breeders reveal early mating plans

Without Parole, the St James's Palace Stakes-winning son of Frankel, has returned home from the US stable of Chad Brown and is settling into life at Newsells Park Stud in Hertfordshire, where he will begin stallion duty at an introductory fee of £10,000.

The five-year-old was bred by John and Tanya Gunther and has now come full circle having been born and raised at Newsells. It is not only a warm welcome that Without Parole can look forward to back at Newsells, as connections have revealed their plans to support the Royal Ascot winner during his second career.

Speaking during a press conference call organised by Great British Racing International, Newsells Park's general manager Julian Dollar explained that the operation had some choice mating plans in place.

Without Parole steps off the lorry at Newsells Park StudCredit: Melanie Sauer

Dollar said: "Our plans still have to be finalised but we've got quite a few lined up for him. There's an interesting mare called Dynaforce, a dual Grade 1 winner in the States whose best produce to date is Aljezeera, who's by Frankel; a nice Oasis Dream mare called As Good As Gold, she's a half-sister to Eminent and her Frankel yearling made 480,000gns this year.

"There's also a nice young Group 2-winning mare called My Special J'S, she's done very well; there's a nice stakes-winning Exceed And Excel mare called Rhagori; and then possibly Date With Destiny, a daughter of George Washington whose first foal by Galileo is Beautiful Morning."

Dollar was joined by breeder Tanya Gunther, who also outlined her own mating plans for Without Parole. She said: "We have a handful of mares already planned to go to him and I'm here for the mares sale as well so we hope to pick something up for him there too.

Tanya and John Gunther: breeders of Without ParoleCredit: Laura Green

"We're sending a couple over from the US - a stakes-winning mare and a half-sister to a Group 1 winner - and one mare who's already located at Newsells, the mother of Policy Of Truth, who was fourth to Van Gogh in the Criterium, will go to Without Parole as well. We're breeding lines such as Selkirk, Scat Daddy and Medaglia D'Oro to him.

"A key mare we're sending is from the family of Justify, a half-sister to Stage Magic by Street Cry, she's an exciting young mare. We bred her to Tamarkuz - Without Parole's half-brother - in the US and the resulting colt is the highest selling yearling by Tamarkuz [at $280,000] to date."

Although Gunther and her father breed on something of a boutique level, their talents have been showcased by an exceptionally high number of their graduates earning berths at stud having excelled on the racetrack.

They are, of course, best known for breeding unbeaten US Triple Crown hero Justify, but have also produced the likes of Justify's Coolmore studmate Mo Town, Tamarkuz, Without Parole's Speightstown half-brother who stands at Shadwell in Kentucky, and Spendthrift Farm resident Vino Rosso.

Without Parole taking it all in at Newsells Park StudCredit: Melanie Sauer

"It's a very exciting time for us right now as we have Justify's babies, the first ones sold at Keeneland November, as did Mo Town's, another horse that we bred on the farm, then Vino Rosso's babies are coming next year," said Gunther. "We've bred to all of them so it's an exciting time to see them coming through the sales and knowing they're going to be hitting the racetrack soon.

"My dad doesn't have a very big broodmare band and to have that many stallions come off the farm - including Stay Thirsty, who's from the same family as Without Parole and Tamarkuz, and from a different family there's First Samurai - is really exciting. I'm just dreaming about having little Without Parole babies and thinking about Royal Ascot. Not to aim too big, but how exciting would that be?"

Expanding on the qualities Without Parole offers breeders, Dollar added: "Here we have a winner of the St James's Palace Stakes, a traditional stallion-making race, who was a brilliant three-year-old.

"He's by arguably one of the best stallions in the world in Frankel, he's got a lot of speed and a wonderful US pedigree; these US pedigrees have been tremendously influential on the European breed over the years so we think that's important. And, just as importantly, he's a beautiful-looking horse."

Julian Dollar: 'We're very fussy about the stallions we get at Newsells'Credit: Laura Green

Although Without Parole is now safely ensconced in the Newsells Park stallion yard alongside Nathaniel, Dollar said he had not always been entirely confident about securing the Group 1 winner's services, with that Royal Ascot success capturing the imagination of bloodstock agents far and wide.

"The day of the St James's Palace was a big day for Newsells and John and Tanya," he recalled. "It was a really tense day with worry and nerves and anxiety, but then he won so well.

"I didn't really enjoy it afterwards. I did initially, but then it was like an attack from sharks with every single bloodstock agent on top of John and Tanya. I was saying, 'Get away, get away, these are our clients!'

"It was amazing, the feeding frenzy that went on when this horse won. He was probably the hottest three-year-old prospect in Europe at the time."

He added: "We're very fussy about the stallions we get at Newsells as they have to make sense for our broodmare band and have to make sense financially as we're an operation that has to be self sufficient.

"We have a great relationship with John and Tanya, who are fantastic clients and have been wonderful to work with, and thankfully over the course of the next 18 months it became clear we were going to get the chance to stand him."

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