Epsom Handicap (G1) hero Ellsberg will stand at Murrulla Stud in New South Wales this season after officially being retired at the peak of his racetrack powers.
The Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou-trained entire, who turns 6 next week, was in career-best form last spring, stringing three wins together in succession which started with a dramatic dead-heat victory with Top Ranked in the Epsom, one of Australia’s premier handicap races, which is steeped in history.
Safe to say that @tabcomau Epsom will go down as one of the greats 🙏 A DEAD HEAT result for Top Ranked and Ellsberg. @ANeashamRacing @HugeBowman @GRyanRacing @brentonavdulla pic.twitter.com/cCHr6uYqAt
— Australian Turf Club (@aus_turf_club) October 1, 2022
Also the winner of the 2021 Festival Stakes (G3), 2022 Liverpool City Cup (G3), South Pacific Classic of 2021, and the AU$2 million Five Diamonds, which would turn out to be Ellsberg’s final race start after he suffered a leg injury early this year, he was put up for auction by his owners via Inglis Digital in March, but he was passed in with a reserve of AU$1 million without a deal being reached, leaving his immediate future unclear.
It was then that an owner of the stallion approached Murrulla Stud’s Tim Nolan about standing the son of the late Aquis Farm stallion Spill The Beans, who died prematurely in 2019 after four seasons at stud in Queensland.
Nolan was rapt to have Ellsberg on the Murrulla Stud roster alongside the veteran Charge Forward , believing his acquisition was a win against “the big boys”.
“We were approached by a mate of ours who is in the syndicate that owns him to see if we would be interested in standing him and we jumped at it,” Nolan told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“For us to stand a first-season sire who is a group 1 winner and who won AU$3.3 million, really, it is what we dream of. The big boys (commercial farms) are the ones who normally hunt horses like him down.
“There are a lot of horses standing for more than him, first- and second-season horses, who aren’t worth putting in the box beside him.”
Ellsberg will stand for an introductory service fee of AU$11,000 (inc GST).
Ryan, who also trained Ellsberg’s sire Spill The Beans to win three group races and his grandsire Snitzel to win at the highest level, said Murrulla’s new stallion: “(He was) tough, honest, and he never knew how to give up.
“He had a brilliant attitude and just the most kind nature of any horse I’ve had. Physically, he’s just outstanding—a big, strapping boy who was a pleasure to train the whole way through.”
A winner from 1,300 meters to 1,800 meters, Ellsberg is out of three-time winning mare Love Of Liberty who was equally as versatile, winning at 2 and scoring from 1,200 meters to 2,100 meters.
Nolan said: “Spill The Beans is a son of Snitzel and Ellsberg’s out of a General Nediym mare. I know he never started at 2, but you’d think that there’s a bit of early speed in the pedigree there that will come out in his progeny.”
The syndicate of owners has vowed to support Ellsberg at stud.
“We’ll support him with our own mares and Gerald’s got some mares booked to come to him,” Nolan said.
“We all know the game: the more mares the better. We just hope that he gets supported and that he’s fertile and that he keeps picking up mares all the way through (the season).
“He was only out of a place five times in 25 starts… it’s really exciting for us to have him.”
