Without Parole, victorious in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2018, arrived back at his birthplace of Newsells Park Stud in England on Tuesday night to begin his stallion career after racing in the U.S. for the past year.
Bred by John and Tanya Gunther, and born and raised at Newsells in Hertfordshire, where the Kentucky-based father and daughter, famous for breeding Triple Crown champion Justify, keep their European-based mares, Without Parole was treated to a warm homecoming, and owner-breeder Tanya Gunther, along with Newsells Park managing director Julian Dollar, took part in a webinar to launch his stud career organised by Great British Racing International.
“It is such a natural thing for him to come back here as a stallion,” said Tanya Gunther. “To have him come back to England, where his sire Frankel stands, and at the place where Without Parole was born and raised and where we have our mares, is such a natural step and we are excited about it.”
Successful in the listed Heron Stakes at three and third in three G1s over a mile, including last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile, the 5-year-old will stand at a fee of £10,000, with breeding rights available.
Fixing a price for his first season at stud was not a tricky decision, according to Dollar.
“We looked at the economic state of play and the Covid-19 effect, which I don’t think we yet know what it’s impact will be, but we did take that into consideration,” he says.
“The St James’s Palace Stakes traditionally is a stallion-making race. Without Parole was a brilliant 3-year-old and is by one of the best stallions in the world who has made an unbelievable start to his stud career and has a tremendous future. He has a wonderful pedigree with a lot of speed in it and, as we know, these U.S. pedigrees have been tremendously influential on the European breed and we think that’s important.
“Just as importantly he is a beautiful-looking horse and we felt that £10,000 was a very fair price and gives breeders an opportunity to make money.”
Without Parole’s older half-brother, Tamarkuz, has made an excellent start to his own stallion career in Kentucky, where the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner stands at Shadwell Farm. The son of Speightstown’s first crop of runners are just two, but his statistics from a small base are impressive; he has five winners from just 11 runners, headed by recent G3 Bob Hope Stakes winner Red Flag.
Key mare
The promising beginning of Tamarkuz bodes well for the stallion prospects of his younger sibling, who is inbred 5x4 to Mr Prospector and has three lines of Northern Dancer within five generations.
Gunther is looking to mares by Selkirk, Scat Daddy and Medagliad’Oro for Without Parole, with Dollar looking to breed back to Danehill, and also introducing mares by sires from the Oasis Dream and Shamardal lines and daughters of Pivotal.
Without Parole will receive strong support from both Newsells and the Gunther family, who aim to give him the best start possible in his stud career.
The Gunthers plan on sending a relation to Justify to visit him among the bluebloods at their Glennwood Farm in Kentucky destined for England.
“A key mare for us will be Mama Tembu, a Street Cry half-sister to Stage Magic, the dam of Justify,” she revealed. “She looks an exciting young mare for us, and her first foal was the most expensive yearling from the first crop of Tamarkuz. We shipped her to Newsells a couple of years ago and she has a filly foal by No Nay Never and is in foal to Kingman.”
Among the Newsells mares booked in to Without Parole are a trio with strong Frankel ties, says Dollar.
“Dynaforce has been a successful producer for us and she is the dam of Aljazeera, a listed-winning daughter of Frankel who was also second in the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes. She has a Cracksman foal and will be going to Without Parole, as will As Good As Gold, who is an Oasis Dream half-sister to Eminent, Frankel’s first-crop winner of the Craven Stakes.
“As Good As Gold’s yearling colt by Frankel made 480,000gns at Book 1 [of the Tattersalls October Sale]; he was a beautiful horse and she has a Frankel colt at foot who looks as nice, so I think she’ll be a good addition to Without Parole.”
Also under consideration for him are My Special J’s, a daughter of Harlan’s Holiday who won the G2 Debutante Stakes at the Curragh and has produced the listed-placed MainStreet.
Date With Destiny, the only foal sired by George Washington, could also be sent to Without Parole as she has produced the G3 winner Beautiful Morning to his grandsire, Galileo.
All going according to plan, the aim is to bring Without Parole to the National Stud in Newmarket next week where he will be available for breeders to inspect, alongside the National Stud’s own stallions.