Storm Boy will race on in his current colours this autumn

Coolmore have beaten several other interested parties to secure top two-year-old Storm Boy for a reported AU$50 deal. 

It is no surprise to anyone that there has been significant interest in Storm Boy and his future, given that the unbeaten start to his career has been visually spectacular. Coolmore has won the bidding war to gain the colt for the future.   

The biggest rival to Coolmore when securing Storm Boy was the Yulong group, whose famous green and white colours have been seen winning top races globally with regularity in recent years. Coolmore had the edge on them in terms of experience despite their offers reported to be very similar in terms of money and structure.  

Storm Boy is to remain with Waterhouse and Bott 

The good news in the short term is that there are no plans to move the horse from Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. Storm Boy has taken well to his surroundings, so it makes sense that if anyone is going to get the most out of him this autumn, it will be Waterhouse and Bott. 
 
The plans for the rest of Storm Boy’s two-year-old campaign will remain the same, with the horse still running in the same colours that he has done in his first three career starts. It will be a tilt at the Golden Slipper first up and then potentially runs in the Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes later in the autumn. 
 
Part of the money on the table is in the form of kicker payments for his three-year-old campaign with wins like the Everest on the table for a bonus given how significantly that would add to his stud value.

An early move by Coolmore 

It is at a very early stage that Coolmore has put in their bid for this colt, something that they are not known for doing for a two-year-old. At this stage of their career, it is hard to see if they are indeed stars in the making or if they are far more forward and precocious than those they are racing against. 
 
The pressure from several other suitors has forced Coolmore to play their hand early to obtain the son of Justify. It is also an earlier stage than Storm Boy’s owners would have expected. Ideally, they would have waited until after the Golden Slipper to try to gain the maximum value out of their colt. Still, with the volume of money on the table at such an early stage, they have seen the sense in making an early move themselves to secure the best possible deal that they can. 

Continues the line of Justify 

One of the most popular stallions on the current Coolmore roster is the American Triple Crown winner Justify. Unbeaten in six career races, he has been one of the big-ticket sires stationed at their Ashford Stud base in Kentucky. 
 
Not only throwing exceptional progeny in North America, he has been successful across Europe and Australia, and the chance to add his best offspring here has been too tempting for Coolmore to pass up.  
 
Having that next generation will allow Coolmore to focus on where they allow Justify to go as he ages to take some of the pressure off him and have his son take over some of the long-term duties, especially here. That will all depend on whether Storm Boy can continue to do the job on the track he has done so far. 

It is very early in a career for any breeding operation to go in for a future stallion, which is especially true of Coolmore. For them to make the move so early, they think that Storm Boy will be successful - let’s hope he continues to do that on the track first.