Suelita, Dam of Chaldean, One to Watch at Sceptre Sessions

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Suelita, the dam of the 2,000 Guineas winning-sire Chaldean, will go under the hammer as lot 1726 at the upcoming December Mares Sale. Ed Harper of Whitsbury Manor Stud discusses the decision to send the top mare to Tattersalls.

Transcript

00:00The rich and storied history of famed broodmare Sue Alita is about to enter a new chapter,

00:05with Whitsbury Manor stud set to offer the mare for sale in the sceptre sessions of the Tattersall

00:10December mare sale. I've come here to meet Ed Harper to find out more about this remarkable

00:15broodmare. Well, Ed, she's probably one of the most well-known broodmares in the country. She's

00:20steeped in Whitsbury history. Why are you selling Sue Alita now? Well, the truth of it, Gina, is

00:25she's probably outgrown us. You know, the thing that really keeps Whitsbury growing is our

00:30reputation of building stallion careers and supporting our own stallions. And she's done

00:36a great job with that. I mean, we bred Alchomate and get ahead by showcasing and we've got a

00:40lovely colt foal by Havana Grey. But the truth of it is she's probably been to a Whitsbury

00:44stallion for the last time. She's in Foll to Frankel now. It's her perfect match. Now's

00:49the time. So she's in Foll to Frankel. She's going to the sale. The timing seems to be right

00:55for you. Was it still a very difficult decision to make, though? It was a really difficult

00:59decision. And to be honest, it was one we only made right up until the last day of entries,

01:04to be honest. We were going back and forth over it. But, you know, thinking about our

01:11young stallions, Dragon Symbol, Elite Status, Sergi, you know, we're probably better off investing

01:16the money she can realise into young mares that can go to those stallions. You know, she's far

01:21too special to go to unproven stallions. She needs to be going to the cream of the crop

01:25every time. So why not sell her to someone that can raise her offspring, enjoy raising

01:30them at the top level, and we can reinvest that money into mares that can go to our young

01:35stallions. And she's 16 now. But I mean, the way she walks around here, Ed, she looks magnificent.

01:40She's like a young mare still. Yeah, well, it's fantastic to have a superstar mare that we

01:45can genuinely recommend to our best clients and say, look, there are no holes in this mare.

01:50She gets in foal every season. She's barely missed. You only need to look at her breeding

01:54record just to see how easy it is to get in foal. She got in foal to Frankel first time

01:59this year again. She looks magnificent. Hopefully people will be able to see that and we'll be

02:03able to, you know, give everyone the assurances that, you know, I'd like to think there's lots

02:08of foals left in it.

02:09And there's a lot of evidence now for people to see in terms of the amazing horses she's

02:13produced over the years. But for you who are so close to the action with those horses

02:16from the ground upwards, what are those special characteristics? What has made her such a successful

02:22brood mare?

02:22She's so mentally tough. Even with filming today, she wants to know what's about, who's

02:27around, you know, where all the other horses is. She's always the boss of the paddock.

02:32And to be honest, funny enough, the people that have been surprised with selling her, you know,

02:38she'll actually probably get a more bespoke care at a smaller place with the higher quality

02:43mares. You know, we are a commercial stallion operation. We are built for numbers, not the

02:49odd Uber mare. And wherever she goes, we know she's going to be so well looked after. She's

02:53so special. She's in fault of Frankel, you know, wherever she goes, they're going to care

02:57for her brilliantly. So we're not worried about that. But yeah, she produces a lovely looking

03:03type, but I think it's probably the mentality she passes on, which is most special.

03:07And what's been so special about that mating with Frankel in particular?

03:11Well, I think physically the mating with Frankel probably is the perfect match. She's a neat

03:17type as you've seen. And that bigger Scopia type of horse with a bit more leg. You know,

03:22Chaldean himself is not a big horse, but he's an absolute beauty with a big walk. And then

03:27the foal last year, who broke the record of the highest price foal, you know, she was a special

03:33foal. You know, I'd bet she'd throw just the same type again. She very much throws to

03:39the stallion. So, you know, there's no better stallion around than Frankel. So, you know,

03:45hopefully she'll just produce another one like it.

03:48And just take us back if you can, Ed. We've heard the story of Cyrilita and just what a phenomenal

03:53kind of find she was really for the farm. But just remind us of the sourcing of this mare.

03:59She's been an integral part of the building of Whithsbury over the last few years. Dad

04:05bought her. It's the last mare he bought, you know, and her legacy will live on in the

04:12stock and the infrastructure that having her has been able to build us. You know, this isn't

04:16the last chapter of Cyrilita at Whithsbury. We still have the colt foal by Havana Grey.

04:23And her legacy lives on in everything she's been able to do with the farm. But I think, you

04:27know, selling her at this point to likely an end user is the right time for her. And

04:35we'll enjoy watching what she does beyond this. We'll wish them all the best of luck

04:39and hope they've been another classic winner.

04:41Well, it's fantastic, Ed, to get a look at the latest Cyrilita superstar, hopefully off the

04:51production line, Havana Grey Colt. Tell us a little bit about him and what your plan is for him.

04:56So, yeah, this is the Havana Grey Colt out of Cyrilita. He was born on the 7th of May this

05:03year. But the plan for him, even when we did the mating, was for him to be kept as a yearling

05:08to sell, hopefully, a book one next year. Because it's Havana Grey's first uplifted crop of two-year-olds

05:17running next year, since he got the crop of mares after he showed he was a Siberia stallion.

05:21So, up until now, his first runners have only been off those lower introductory fees. He's

05:28not had any runners from anything over 8,000 as yet. And it's those first runners that we

05:33want to follow up with him at book one next year.

05:35So, I guess, as a commercial operation, you're just looking at marrying the culmination of what

05:40you've produced with Cyrilita on this farm with the culmination of Havana Grey. I mean, it's kind

05:44of finding that perfect time, I guess. Yeah, he's probably the pinnacle of what we're ever going to

05:49be able to breed here. He was sending our best mare we're ever going to have, probably the best

05:54stallion we're ever going to have. In terms of him going to the sales next year, we're expecting big

06:02things from Havana Grey's crop of two-year-olds next year, and rolling the best bred Havana Grey

06:07into the sales after that will just be fantastic. So, that's the plan. A long way out, but I wanted

06:12you to see him. Yeah, and to my mind, we saw the Frankel last year, and of course, everyone knows

06:18Chaldean and some of the other horses, some very good horses that she's produced. How typical is he for

06:24you? I can see Cyrilita in him. She does seem to stamp her stock. Yeah, he's very like his mum.

06:31He's more close-coupled, you know, and a more sprintery type than obviously the Frankels that

06:37we've produced out of her. You know, ideally Cyrilita would probably go to Frankel for the rest of

06:44her life, I imagine, but we really wanted to do this mating, produce an absolute rocket by Havana

06:49Grey, and he's, yeah, we're chuffed to bits with him. You know, he is one of the younger foals

06:54on the place, and people will be able to see that we got the mare in foal first time. She was

07:01scanned in foal off her 30th of May cover, and he's a 7th of May foal, so it just shows how easy

07:07she is to get in foal. Yeah, and temperament-wise, very similar to last year's foal, he just seems to

07:13take it all in his stride. Yeah, all the Sulitas are pretty confident. I mean, coming out here with the

07:18camera, he's not too bothered. You know, his friends are a lot older than him out in this paddock,

07:23but you wouldn't know it, he's very brave, and at the moment we're just treating him like any other

07:28foal really, but yeah, come yearning prep next year, it'll be a different story.

07:37Well, Ed, I'm sure it'll be bittersweet when she comes to the sales ring, but can you sum up what

07:43she's meant to you, your family, and the operation here at Whitsbury? Yeah, well, she's meant a huge

07:48amount to my family and all the team here. It's been an absolute privilege to own her, and hopefully

07:56there's lots more of the story to come.

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