I love getting feedback from the elite, well respected trainers and breakers from around the country on how the new season sires prodigy are going ahead of their race debuts early next year.

One such young stallion Fly Like An Eagle has a lot of people talking and the common feedback has a remarkable corresponding message  “We Just Love Them“.

When we called Josh Turnbull this week for what rising 2Y0’s had impressed him, he firstly asked if I knew of any deals for Fly Like An Eagle service fees this coming season. Turns out, Josh broke in two Fly like An Eagle yearlings from the Bathurst sale, one for Amanda and one for Mitch.  Josh went on to say “ I just love them, while they clearly  have an abundance of speed and talent, they also display a willingness to learn and display traits more common in much older, successful horses”.  Josh also stated “I am keen to breed to him because these are the type of affordable horses that get you excited about the future of the sport”. 

Fly Like An Eagle was an extremely talented young star of the track.  He was NZ 2yo of the year and is a four time Group One winner and defeated the best pacers of his time including Christen Me, Smolda, Sushi Sushi, and Sir Lincoln. He held the New Zealand record as the fastest two year old over 1700 metres with a mile rate of 1:55.9

While his sire line (Volomite along with Meadow Skipper) are the hottest sire lines on the planet right now and these two lines will dominate breeding in the years to come.  Just think of the stars and champions that carried this Volomite line in recent times.

Direct Scooter, Matts Scooter, Mach Three, Somebeachsomewhere and now Fly Like An Eagle is getting his shot with an impressive 102 services last year.

While it’s very easy to get lost in the sire line of a stallion, it’s also very important (if not more so) to look into the maternal family, in this case the N88 Family.

Horses like Changeover that won north of $2,300,000 who was a star of the track between 2006 and 2010 and Chokin ($1,801,685 ) who was sadly lost to the sport early was a true champion and also a very close family member to Fly Like An Eagle.

We also contacted a representative from Allwood Stud who said “What’s pleasing is that the horses loyal supporters (the breeders) look to be the big winners right now”

I’m of the view our sport will be in much stronger position going forward if the likes of our colonial stars such as Fly Like An Eagle get a fair go and can produce some elite horses in the years to come.