By Katie Petrunyak
A native of a small farming community in South Africa, Lere Visagie grew up a long way from the U.S. Thoroughbred industry. Today, he sits at the helm of one of New York State's leading stud farms, as the owner/operator of Rockridge Stud in Hudson, New York, which was established just seven years ago.
While his is still a relatively new farm, Visagie said his goal is to improve the stallion market in New York through the growth of Rockridge's stallion division. This year, Rockridge welcomes two new Grade I performers to the stallion roster in Disco Partner (Disco Rico) and Leofric (Candy Ride {Arg}).
At the age of 18, Visagie moved to the United States. Soon after, he obtained an internship at Taylor Made Farm, where he was first introduced to the industry. His passion for the business grew as he went on to an internship at Lane's End followed by a move to New York, working at Questroyal, Sequel and Vinery North.
After working 20 years in the industry, Visagie established Rockridge Stud in 2013.
“When Vinery pulled out of New York, I decided to go ahead and do something on my own,” said Visagie. “Vinery sent their stallions to me, which helped me get a good leg up.”
Rockridge initially stood six stallions from Vinery including Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat) and Posse (Silver Deputy).
Much of the management and team at Rockridge has been together since before Rockridge was founded. Stallion Seasons Manager Erin Robinson worked with Visagie at Vinery.
“We make a pretty good team after working together for so many years. My experience is with pedigrees, advising clients on matings and sales, and Lere is the hands-on guy,” Robinson said. “Lere brings a wealth of experience and has a great reputation both as a horseman and a person.”
Visagie credited much of the farm's growth to high client retention.
“We stand out because owners expect great quality, so over the years we have gained a lot of new clients due to our quality of care,” he said. “Clients also like the consistency we offer, since the same crew and management has been in place for years.”
Robinson added that the farm's retention rate is also due to the authenticity the team strives to provide.
“People know that when they come to us, we are going to be honest with them,” Robinson said. “Sometimes that involves us telling a client that we may not have a stallion that is right for them. When you tell someone that, they tend to believe you and they're going to come back. There's a good word of mouth that happens when you direct people in the best way possible.”
Rockridge currently stands six stallions, several being young horses. Frank Conversation, a multiple graded-stakes winning son of Quality Road, will see his first foals in 2020; and Micromanage, a Mike Repole-owned son of Medaglia d'Oro, already has multiple winners from his first crop of 2-year-olds. The farm has a pair of new additions for the 2020 breeding season in Disco Partner and Leofric.
New York-bred turf sprinter Disco Partner will stand for $5,000 in 2020. The Christophe Clement trainee picked up seven stakes wins during his career, highlighted by back-to-back victories in the graded Jaipur Invitational S. and the Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational S. In the 2017 Jaipur, which was run as a Grade III, he set a world record for six furlongs on the turf and earned a 109 Beyer Speed figure. He defended his Jaipur title in 2018, run as a Grade III, and finished third in consecutive runnings of the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.
“Disco Partner definitely distinguished himself and set himself apart from his peers with all of his accomplishments. His track record makes him tough to compete with,” said Visagie.
Disco Partner competed successfully for five straight years from ages two to six and Visagie said that hardiness is a quality that breeders have been attracted to.
“Several breeders have called just for the reason that this was a horse that always had his game face on,” he said. “Clement told me that he never had a bad day, he always gave his best whenever he was running.”
In 33 starts over his six-year career, Disco Partner finished in the money 25 times.
Bred and raced by Patricia Generazio, Disco Partner is a son of the late Disco Rico (Citidancer), a multiple graded stakes winner who stood in Maryland for six years before moving to New York. Visagie noted that while the sire is not considered commercial, breeders have still been attracted to the pedigree.
“While it might not be the sire that everybody knows, breeders have found that if they go back and dig through his stats, Disco Rico did pretty well with his progeny that made it to the track,” he said.
Rockridge's second new stallion, Leofric, brings a unique pedigree for the state-bred program as the only son of top sire Candy Ride in New York. He will stand for $7,500 in 2020.
“This has been a sire line that everyone here was looking for,” said Visagie. “His pedigree works well with so many lines in New York because there are so many Mr. Prospector and Storm Cat lines here already.”
Leofric is out of the Unbridled's Song mare Lady Godiva, a half to multiple stakes winner Multiple Choice (Mt. Livermore). Visagie said, “You can see when you look at him that he's out of an Unbridled's Song mare. He's a very pretty horse at 16 hands, and has a very decent front end.”
Campaigned by Steve Landers Racing LLC, Leofric raced from age three to five, winning eight of 14 starts. His three graded stakes victories include the GIII West Virginia Governor's S., the GII Hagyard Fayette S. and the GI Clark H. He also placed in the GI Woodward S.
Visagie pointed to the Clark H. as Leofric's most impressive win as he defeated graded stakes winners Bravazo (Awesome Again) and Seeking the Soul (Perfect Soul {Ire}).
“This was a very strong race with some good competition,” he said. “In all levels that he ran, there was always stiff competition.”
“Most people have to go to Kentucky to breed to a horse like this, but breeders appreciate when there's a Grade I-winning sire in New York that can take them to different levels and different sales,” said Visagie. “This horse could stand in Kentucky with no problem, so we are very lucky to have him here.”
Both Visagie and Robinson emphasized their goal of creating opportunities for breeders in New York. Robinson said, “We want to continue to get better stallions in New York. We aren't just looking for 'regional prospects,' we want stallions that will be good anywhere.”
Visagie added, “The market here is so competitive. You need to have a Grade I performer to be able to stand in New York and have any impact. In the past five years, the quality of the stallions that ship in to New York is better than the year before.”
While excited to watch the success of Rockridge's current stallions, Visagie said that he is always looking for additions to improve his stallion division. “We are always trying to bring in quality stallions with a strong backing behind them. While there will always be breeders that go to Kentucky, the breeding program here in New York is so compelling that there are more and more breeders that breed to race for the New York-bred incentive program. When breeders stay here, they want a horse that can take them somewhere.”
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