The Group I winning son of Nureyev has come over the border from Cornerstone
Stud and will now call trainer-breeder David Brideoake's Roycevale property at
Violet Town his home.Brideoake has certainly been on a 'good journey' with the stallion. He was the sire of the Mornington trainer's first Group 1 winner in Grand Journey; and he was also the sire of Brideoake's homebred Group 1 winning mare Griante.
"Good Journey has played a major part in my success as a trainer, and it's nice that I can thank him and bring him home to happily live out his days. He is basically retired from stud duties, but he has been a lovely stallion," Brideoake said.
"He will now only cover my private broodmares, while enjoying his retirement well-cared for and well-loved."
The regally bred Good Journey came to Australia having won the Group 1 Woodbine Mile, another three Group 2 races and was also placed in the Group 1 Breeders Cup Mile.
He is out of the multiple Group 1 winning mare Chimes of Freedom while his second dam Aviance is also a Group 1 winner. Good Journey's half-brother is Champion USA Sprinter, the triple Group 1 winner Aldebaran.
Good Journey began his Australian stud career Tim and Lisa Johnston's Ealing Park near Euroa where he stood for four seasons.
In 2007, he began shuttling between California's Magali Farms and Australia and, in 2008, Good Journey switched to South Australia's Lindsay Park Stud (now Cornerstone Stud).
Brideoake's relationship with Good Journey started when he bought a filly out of the 2006 Inglis Autumn Yearling Sale from the Ealing Park draft. Later named Grand Journey, she was an exceptional galloper that gave the trainer his first victory at the elite level.
"I sent Grand Journey over to Western Australia for a very successful campaign in Perth, where she won five races in a row including the Group 3 Western Australian Oaks and then backed up a week later and she won the Group 1 WATC Derby."
"After that, I remained loyal to Good Journey as a stallion and have sent a mare or two over to Sam Hayes' at Cornerstone each and every year. A couple of years later I was lucky to breed another Group 1 winner, my bonny mare Griante (winner of the 2016 ATC Galaxy)."
"Having now reached the grand age of 22, when the decision was made to no longer stand him as a commercial sire, I was delighted to offer to give Good Journey his final home at Roycevale, on my property at Violet Town."
"He is good to handle and beautifully bred, and personally as a sire, he has recorded exceptional figures on the board."
Grand Journey is the sire of 464 progeny to race, of which 311 are winners, giving him an strong strike rate of 67.0% winners to runners. His progeny have earnings of more than $31 million and they include 15 stakes winners and 11 stakes placegetters.
"Good Journey's stakes winners to runners percentage was around 5%, which puts him in the top league of stallions, and when you think of the mares he covered, not all being top shelf, and from limited numbers, he really punched well above his weight throughout his career to produce high-level quality horses," Brideoake said.
His leading progeny in the southern hemisphere have included three time Group 1 winner Happy Trails, the aforementioned Griante and Grand Journey, dual Group 2 winner and Group 1 performer Sound Journey, the black type winning grand campaigner Crafty Cruiser, dual listed-winner Lord Aspen and South African black-type winner Sensible Lover.
And no doubt more winners and black-type performers are still to come. In the past week alone, progeny of Good Journey have won in both Australia and back in the United States (he finished shuttling in 2014).
Brideoake said while Good Journey will largely be retired, he will still serve a few of the farm's own mares this breeding season.
"I have always liked the Nureyev line and have bought a few nice mares specifically to go to him. I'm hoping to get some fillies, so his bloodlines can continue on," Brideoake said.
"I think it's a lovely story that he has ended up with me, so that I can provide in the twilight of his career a few good opportunities, while he sees out his days happily on the farm."
