By Jessica Owers
From TDN AusNZ
Two winners in the space of a few days made it timely on Wednesday for Coolmore Australia to reveal its 2023 Australian fee for Triple Crown winner Justify. The big chestnut will return for the spring at an all-time local high of AU$77,000 inc. GST ($51,271).
Justify is part of Coolmore's 15-strong roster this spring, returning after a 2022 hiatus when he didn't shuttle to Jerrys Plains. Previous to that, he had covered books in 2019, 2020 and 2021 at fees ranging from private to AU$55,000 inc. GST ($36,622) and AU$66,000 inc. GST ($43,947).
Justify's fee release coincided with a very good week for the stallion.
At Warrnambool on Wednesday, his 2-year-old son Scentify won on debut for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace. Last weekend, his smart filly Legacies maintained her unbeaten run for Peter Moody and Rosemont Stud when winning the Listed ANZAC Day S. at Sandown.
Both of these results follow a vintage start for Justify in Australia. The chestnut stallion is currently leading the first-season sires' table by earnings, with close to AU$1.8 million banked across 11 runners. His obvious star has been the Annabel Neasham filly Learning To Fly, who won the G2 Reisling S. and G3 Widden S. through the autumn.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Justify's Australian stats sit at two stakes winners from just 11 horses to the track, with four winners for seven wins. It's a very respectable record in a sharp amount of time. While Learning To Fly recovers from injuries sustained during the G1 Golden Slipper, Legacies has been put out with an eye to the G1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield in the spring.
In the meanwhile, Justify's return is very welcome to everyone at Jerrys Plains.
“We look forward to welcoming Justify back to Australia this season at a fee that we believe represents great value for breeders,” said Coolmore Australia's Colm Santry. “All the leading breeders want to use him and he will cover a select book of mares this spring.”
“Coolmore's confidence in Justify has been well-documented and it hasn't taken long for his progeny in Australia to hit the ground running, just like they did in the Northern Hemisphere.”
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