By Diana Pikulski
Last year, veterinarian Jerry Bilinski and his wife Darlene celebrated the 25th anniversary of their purchase of Waldorf Farm, a stately property in North Chatham, New York, with hundreds of acres of rolling horse-friendly pastures and solid well-insulated barns.
Upon their purchase of the property, they also brought back its original name, Waldorf Farm, and began standing stallions and boarding broodmares.
Today, Bilinski foals between 105 to 110 mares each year.
This year, when Mr. Monomoy (Palace Malice) begins his new career at stud, he will join Bustin Stones (City Zip) at Waldorf Farm. Mr. Monomoy will stand as the property of Climax Stallions, LLC, Michael Dubb and Madaket Stables. His initial stud fee has been announced as $5,000.
When Climax Stallions set out to find a prospect to stand in New York, Mr. Monomoy checked all of the boxes as the half-brother to a two-time Distaff winner in seven-time Grade I-winning champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar).
Mr. Monomoy's sire Palace Malice (Curlin) won more than $2.6 million, raced until age five, and his titles include winner of both the GI Metropolitan H. and GI Belmont S. The Grade I-producing third-crop sire stands at Three Chimneys Farm.
A member of his sire's first crop to hit the track, Mr. Monomoy broke his maiden under trainer Brad Cox in his second start as a two-year-old at Churchill Downs going 6 1/2 furlongs and winning by 5 1/2 lengths. After finishing in the money in his next two starts, including a third-place effort in the GIII Lecomte S. behind Enforceable (Tapit) and Silver State (Hard Spun), he culminated his career with a 2 1/2-length wire-to-wire victory in the GII Risen Star S., defeating those same rivals he had finished behind in his previous start.
“We are very excited to have such a high-caliber stallion here in New York,” said Jerry Bilinski. “This is a top-notch stallion for this region. We had talked to Sean Feld of Climax Stallions about eventually having a horse that we could stand here at Waldorf. We were just holding our breath that someday, that would happen. A month or two ago, he called, and the rest is history.”
Bilinski said that Mr. Monomoy has a physical that should easily attract breeders.
“He's got great size to him and he's got a great stride,” he said. “If you look at his conformation photos, you'll see exactly what we mean–that he does have what it's going to take to be a sire.”
Sean Feld, managing partner of Climax Stallions, said that the intention was always to stand the Grade II winner in New York.
“We bought Mr. Monomoy specifically for the New York breeding program,” said Feld. “Mr. Monomoy had speed and he had speed on dirt. In New York, horses race on only dirt for almost half the year. He won going short and long. He broke his maiden going 6 1/2 furlongs and then won a Grade II going nine furlongs.”
He added that both Mr. Monomoy's sire and his half-sister Monomoy Girl have great name recognition in New York.
“His sire Palace Malice was a monster in New York,” said Feld. “He won the Met Mile and the Belmont S., and his start at stud has been good. He throws stone-cold runners and his crop of mares last year is going to be great after he had Structor win the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Mr. Monomoy will be the first of many sons out there.”
“Our business model has turned into buying siblings of really good horses,” he continued. “We started with Bullet Train (GB) (Sadler's Wells), a half to Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), then had Curlin to Mischief (Curlin), a half to Into Mischief and Beholder, as well as Editorial (War Front), a half to Uncle Mo, and St Patrick's Day (Pioneerof the Nile), a full-brother to American Pharoah.”
But Feld said that Mr. Monomoy offers unique appeal compared to most stallions that begin their stud career in the program.
“One difference is that Mr. Monomoy has a really good race record,” he said. “He was able to win going short and then win a major Kentucky Derby prep by carrying his speed around two turns at a mile-and-an-eighth.”
“Those are two major check marks that make a top sire in my opinion,” added Brad Cox, who spoke with the TDN last December.
Feld pointed to the correlation of success at stud for half-brothers of two-time Distaff winners.
“There have only been four two-time Distaff winners,” he said. “The first was Bayakoa (Arg) (Consultant's Bid), then Royal Delta (Empire Maker), whose half-brother Khozan (Distorted Humor) stands in Florida, next came Beholder (Henny Hughes), who is a half to Into Mischief and Mendelssohn and then the fourth one is Monomoy Girl. It has definitely correlated into stallion success.”
As owners, Feld said, Climax Stallions takes its marketing responsibility seriously for breeding and then later when the stallion's foals hit the sales.
“Our main source of supporting the stallions we own is our marketing,” he said. “We throw a lot of money into really branding the horse. Success comes not just in breeding. We need people to like him at all points. We will also support him at the yearling sales. Mr. Dubb kept a piece of him as did Mr. Kumin. His team can't wait for the foals.”
Bilinski reported that Mr. Monomoy has settled in easily at the sprawling upstate Waldorf Farm.
“He arrived approximately at seven in the morning and came off the van happy,” he said. “We put him in the stall. He looked around and started eating hay and it didn't faze him a bit. He has an excellent mental attitude. My farm manager Kenny Toye says he's been nothing but a gentle giant. And so, we're very happy with that.”
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