Dynamic Whitsbury Welcome Elite Status

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Whitsbury Manor recently announced the retirement of Elite Status to their roster for 2026. The son of Havana Grey joins his sire which is a first for the stud. Ed Harper, Stud Director, and Joe Callan, Head of Bloodstock and Sales, also speak about Dragon Symbol who faces his first test as a stallion with his first crop of foals hitting the foals.

Transcript

00:00Things at Whitsbury Manor are pretty dynamic so says stud director Ed Harper. In the coming

00:08weeks they are looking forward to the first crop of foals by young stallion Dragon Symbol going

00:13through the sales rings and they've also welcomed elite status back to the farm as a new stallion

00:18for 2026. Ed Harper speaks to us about both horses and Joe Callan tells us what to expect of the

00:25Dragon Symbol foals. The amazing thing about Dragon Symbol is we covered a good full book

00:31first season with them but they actually covered more second season 150 mares we capped them at

00:36second season can't wait to show people the foals of the sales people are going to recognize them

00:42they're not all gray it's about half and half but they got a big hip a big walk he's definitely

00:47stamping them you know the all of good depth good shoulder good hip very similar heads you know but

00:52very importantly they all have a great temperament we've got some great representatives going

00:56um starting off with Goffs we have a nice bunch in our own draft but also importantly we do have some

01:01very nice ones in other drafts though actually the first Dragon Symbol through the ring is a colt out

01:06of a mare called Elin he's a very good representative of what the stallion can do very nice foal out of

01:12a mare called Mimram who he is a sibling to Azizam who's placed in the Windsor castle this year he's always

01:18been a particularly foal who stood out all year so we're excited about him it's a big test when you

01:24take the first foals to the sales we know they look right and we're very confident they get they're

01:28going to show themselves well we're excited overall but very importantly you know speaking to other

01:34breeders out there they're very happy with the foals they're bringing to the sale so i'm very positive

01:38that what we're going to see in Goffs it's going to be a good representation elite status we bred

01:43ourselves and from the get-go he was just a standout foal i nicknamed him the champ very very early on he

01:50just stood out and he sold very well at the foal sales he came back as a yearling and made 325 000

01:56guineas so he was an exceptional yearling for the carl berg board he's the highest rated runner by havana

02:02grey on rprs at 119 he's absolutely beautiful we know every inch of his pedigree he was the ultimate

02:09two-year-old he'll be the first son of a current standing stallion that we've ever stood at whithsbury

02:15he'd be just about an inch bigger all around uh than havana grey obviously he's a conquer bay just

02:23you can almost see your face in his coat but he's got that same big hip wide between the eyes

02:28um you know the the walk obviously sells them at the sails but he's just barrel chested um you know he

02:36and he might be able to cover some of the bigger mares that can't go to havana grey because obviously

02:40we have that height limit at 16 hands he was a real talking horse even before he debuted at donkester

02:46he didn't disappoint he won pulling a car at donny and then went on to win the national stakes by an

02:50absolute miles broke two track records at newbury both over six furlongs he actually broke his own

02:57track record when he was winning the hackwood and he beat some proper horses that day

03:01things at whitsbury are pretty dynamic my philosophy is get good people and let them do what they got

03:06to do five stallions heading into next year is a bit scary that's going to be busy you sort of got to

03:12go hard or go home in this game and that's what we try and do

03:22you

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