Broodmares

Group 2 winner Raspberry Ripple with her first foal, a handsome colt by Fusiachi Pegasus Group 2 winner Raspberry Ripple with her first foal, a handsome colt by Fusiachi Pegasus

First Falbrav foal born in Australia, a lovely filly out of Sequin First Falbrav foal born in Australia, a lovely filly out of Sequin

Highgrove Stud has enjoyed remarkable success with a squadron of stakes winners bred at the superbly-appointed boutique property in the heart of Darling Downs horse country.

But the litany of black type horses bearing the Highgrove imprimatur is the result of exhaustive research, careful planning and a sound business strategy that has enabled the farm, established in 1997 to achieve such a meteoric rise.

Ron Gilbert and his wife Debbie initially purchased Bletchingly filly Verocative. She obliged by providing multiple stakes winner Jet Spur as well as stakes-placed Critical List and Miss Brinkley.

Highgrove’s other two foundation mares are Decidity – the dam of stakes winners Legally Bay and Time Out and grand mare Antelliere – the dam of the Gilbert’s first top-drawer horse, Coolmore Classic (Gr 1) winner Porto Roca as well as Group 1 winner Bluebird The Word and stakes placed Aristocracy.

“The farm is going exceptionally well and our focus right now is breeding, not racing, and we’ve been buying stakes winning fillies off the track and yearling fillies with top class pedigrees.” says Gilbert.

One such purchase was Sequin, a $100,000 daughter of Lure and Machiavellian mare Subterfuge who began to look like distinctly good value after her three-quarter siblings Scintillation won the Hong Kong International Mile (Gr 1) and multiple Group 1 placegetter Shania Dane.

“Since we bought Sequin, Scintillation won and then Shania Dane came out, and Sequin’s first foal is a two-year-old stakes winner called Get To Work so all of a sudden the whole family really lifted,” says Ron.