Overbury Stud has announced reduced stud fees for three of its five stallions for 2021.
Ardad (Ire), who will have his first runners next season, will stand at £4,000 having stood his first three seasons at £6,500. Cityscape (GB) will also stand at £4,000, while Irish Derby winner Jack Hobbs, another with first 2-year-olds in 2021, has also had his fee reduced by £1,000 and will stand at £3,000.
The fee for Schiaparelli (Ger) will return to £2,000 after he stood last year at £1,500, while Frontiersman (GB), whose first foals were born this year, will remain at £1,000. A regally-bred son of Dubawi (Ire) and Ouija Board (GB), Frontiersman covered more than 60 mares in his first season and just over 100 this year.
Commenting on the fee adjustments, Overbury Stud's Simon Sweeting said, “Our stallions have actually enjoyed many successes in 2021, and we certainly wouldn't be reducing their fees if it weren't for the pandemic. But just about every business is having to be cautious about the future, and we hope breeders will find our fees as good value as ever.”
He continued, “Take Cityscape, for instance: his best horse so far is rated 124 by Timeform—there are plenty of stallions at far higher fees who can't boast that. And we can hardly wait to see the first Ardads get to the racecourse next spring. His yearlings went down very well with proper judges, and it's exciting to see so many trainers who are famed for their Royal Ascot 2-year-olds stocking up on them.”
Sweeting, who retired Overbury Stud's 11-time leading British National Hunt sire Kayf Tara (GB) earlier this year, added, “Jack Hobbs is, we hope, his ready-made replacement. He's been patronised by top breeders and his stock certainly look the part. As for Schiaparelli, well, his offspring are doing so well, they share the same head-down attitude to racing that he had, and it's particularly fortunate they seem to excel at Cheltenham. His Stayers' Hurdle runner-up, Ronald Pump, and Indefatigable, who won the Martin Pipe off top-weight, are two of his flag-bearers, and are horses any jumps breeder would be thrilled to have produced.”
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