Blue Gum Farm has stood Golden Slipper producing sire Manhattan Rain for the past three seasons and Phillip Campbell is on a mission is to resurrect the stallion’s name ahead of the 2020 yearling sales which will see his first Victorian bred offspring enter the sale ring.
“We knew it was going to be a little bit tough this year with his foal numbers with the two year-old crop and the three year-old crop currently racing and we were well aware of that when we took the horse on,” Campbell said of Manhattan Rain who produced two Group 1 winners in 2017.
She Will Reign won the Group 1 Golden Slipper as a two year-old and the Group 1 Moir Stakes at The Valley as a three year-old, while Whisky Baron was a Group I winner in south Africa.
“Manhattan Rain has got some really nice yearlings heading to the sales next year from his biggest numbers wise and quality wise,’’ Campbell said.
“And I would suggest his best book of mares which was on the back of Whisky Baron winning the Group 1 in South Africa and She Will Reign winning the Golden Slipper here.
“He has got a good book of mares that are just finishing foaling up now and he is covering good mares again this season and his fertility has always been fantastic.
“When Chris Kemp from our farm went up to collect Manhattan Rain form Arrowfield, the boys up there in the breeding shed said they don’t like to see the fertile ones leave.
“They gave him a great wrap for his fertility and that’s exactly how we found him too. We realise we have got to sort of resurrect him, but he has got good numbers coming through from quality mares and we are confident he will have some good young horses soon coming again through here.”
The sire of 13 individual stakes-winners, Manhattan Rain is a solid source of Black Type performers with 9% stakes horses to runners and 61% winners to runners.
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