Criterion Brother An Easter Star

Glenn Burrows has seen it all on both ends of transactions in the bloodstock business, having spent 20 years working for Inglis before opening Willow Park Stud 15 years ago, and Burrows could well be in line for his biggest coup yet when he offers a Pierro (Aus) half-brother to four-time Group 1 winner Criterion at the Inglis Easter sale as part of his nine-horse draft.

“There's no doubt he's going to be my sale topper,” said Burrows of the dark bay colt. “The mare has been such a phenomenal producer and she has one of the current champions around who is going to stud this season and will be very keenly sought after.”

In addition to Criterion, who will attempt to defend his title in the A$4 million G1 Queen Elizabeth S. on the second day of The Championships Apr. 9, lot 399 is a half-brother to G2 QTC Cup winner Varenna Miss (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}) and listed winner Silently (Aus) (Anabaa). Their dam is the now 17-year-old Group 3 winner Mica's Pride (Aus) (Bite The Bullet).

He is a member of the first crop of 2-year-old Triple Crown winner Pierro (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}), who was the leading first-season sire with more than one sold at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January with 37 selling for an average of A$262,568, including a pair of seven-figure youngsters.

“This colt is going to make great appeal being also by a very well-credentialed first-season stallion in Pierro,” Burrows added. “He's a really nice colt, he improves every day. He's a later foal, being a Nov. 14 foal, and he's just come ahead in leaps and bounds. He's been very well received at the early inspections on the farm. He's an attractive horse, correct in front with no issues.”

The colt was bred by Criterion's owner/breeder Sir Owen Glenn, a New Zealand businessman and philanthropist who founded Vanguard Logistics Services, the largest neutral non-vessel operating common carrier in the U.S., and among the top five in the world. He also supports numerous charities worldwide through the Glenn Family Foundation.

Glenn, who bought Mica's Pride for A$300,000 in foal to Reset (Aus) at Inglis's Australian Broodmare sale in 2009 and bred her to Sebring to produce Criterion the following year, began boarding his growing broodmare band at Willow Park, north of Scone in the Hunter Valley, about a year ago. Burrows noted Glenn's broodmare band currently sits at 15, but he said Glenn is stocking up on quality mares to breed to Criterion when he retires to nearby Newgate Farm later this year.

“He's building up his broodmare band particularly buying mares for Criterion, who he basically treats like his son, he's so proud of him,” Burrows explained. “Criterion is going to go to stud at Newgate, but not a hair out of the horse's tail was sold; [Glenn] couldn't bear to part with any of him so he's standing by arrangement at Newgate.”

Burrows noted that Mica's Pride's Pierro colt is being offered as a means to keep Glenn's Thoroughbred investments profitable.

“This whole thing is getting bigger now with his investment into really decent quality broodmares and he just wants to make it all pay for itself,” Burrows said. “As a consequence, once Criterion gets a number of foals on the ground, I think he'll find it hard to part with a large number of them so he'll probably be racing quite a few of them. To make it a profitable business, every now and again you have to sell some of your top-end stock.”

Glenn will also offer lot 128, a Pierro filly out of stakes winner Upon This Rock (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), through Willow Park at Easter. Upon This Rock is a daughter of Joleur (Aus) (Bite The Bullet), a full-sister to Mica's Pride. Glenn bought the now 8-year-old Upon This Rock off the track, and she coincidentally was a Willow Park graduate, having cost agent James Bester A$225,000 as a yearling. Upon This Rock is now back at Willow Park as part of the Glenn broodmare band and her dam, Joleur, still resides at the stud and is paddock mates with Mica's Pride.

“Mica's Pride and Joleur are two older girls who need a bit of special attention and so they're in a paddock together, the two sisters, and they're owned by completely different entities–it's purely coincidental,” Burrows said. Of the Pierro filly, he added,

“This filly is a spectacular first foal. She oozes class and the mare has a really nice Sebring filly and is back in foal to Lonhro. I think that filly will create a whole lot of interest as well.”

Burrows pointed to lot 440, a colt by Pierro's sire Lonhro (Aus), as another standout of his draft. He is the fourth foal out of the stakes-winning Noesis (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), whose Street Cry (Ire) colt was bought by agent George Moore for A$1 million at Easter last year. Sun Bloodstock bought a full-brother to this colt for A$520,000 at the 2014 Magic Millions Gold Coast sale. Now named Art Of Perception (Aus), he is in training with David Hayes.

“He's an absolutely stunning individual,” Burrows said of lot 440. “And the cross has been successful already with Lonhro out of Exceed and Excel mares, something like 33% stakes winners to starters. His dam was a very fast racemare and the yearlings have been selling very well out of her. The 3-year-old colt is in work with David Hayes and he's got a very big rap on him, and the 2-year-old colt we sold at the sale last year by Street Cry, and he made A$1 million. This colt is every bit as good as them conformation-wise; he's got a real presence about him. He's dark in colour, no white, a real eye-catching kind of guy.”

Willow Park will also offer a New Zealand-bred colt from the second crop of Sepoy (Aus) (lot 352). He is the first foal out of Irish Blues (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}), a full-sister to G1 Australian Derby and G1 Australian Guineas winner Shamrocker (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}) and Group 2 winner Bohemian Lily (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}), and a half to G1 Auckland Cup winner Rock Diva (NZ) (Lucky Unicorn {Aus}). “He's a mature, powerful, early running type,” Burrows said.

Should the aforementioned youngsters fulfill their potential on the racetracks, they would not be the first high-class graduates of Willow Park. Burrows planned the mating for and raised and sold dual Group 1 winner Samantha Miss (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), who is the farm's most expensive yearling graduate to date at A$1.5 million. Burrows also planned the mating on and sold dual Group 1 winner Cosmic Endeavour (Aus) (Northern Meteor {Aus}) and G1 Railway S. winner Bounding (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}). It was announced Thursday that Bounding–who represents the previously mentioned Lonhro/Exceed and Excel cross–would be offered again through Willow Park at this year's Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale in June, and Burrows said, “She's just a beautiful mare, she was a standout from the time she was a foal. There's much more American interest in our horses now than ever before, and with the currency exchange Americans are essentially getting a 30% discount on a mare like this. To get something of that quality, by the time you turn it into U.S. dollars it's not so bad compared to what you're going to pay in America.”

Burrows, who spent 20 years managing the bloodstock department at Inglis, also serves as an independent bloodstock advisor for farm and outside clients. He left Inglis to start Willow Park Stud in 2001. The farm is 600 acres–boutique by Australian standards–and is home to around 60 broodmares, with the team taking pride in the individual care that can be offered to each horse. With such attention to detail being put into each graduate, it would not come as a surprise to see Willow Park's Group 1 honour role continue to grow.