An enthusiastic owner breeder that has raced horses for 40 years and managed to keep his passion for thoroughbreds on the right side of the financial ledger has taken the plunge on a stallion prospect.
A fast sprinter miler that won a Group I in Japan at 1600m and is sired by a Japanese bred Australian Group I winner, Lauda Sion (Jpn) is new to Larneuk Stud this spring and is an intriguing prospect. His career highlight win came in the Group I NHK Mile Cup, a race won by Admire Mars (Jpn), who currently shuttles to Arrowfield and also Mikki Isle (Jpn), who also shuttled to Arrowfield leaving Australian stakes-winners Dragonstone and Katsu.
Lauda Sion is the best son of Deep Impact’s globe-trotting son Real Impact (Jpn) who came to Australia in 2015 and was an instant success winning the Group I ATC George Ryder Stakes at WFA beating Criterion and then finished second in the Group I ATC Doncaster Handicap to Kermadec, now a Group I producing sire himself.
As a result of his efforts, Real Impact shuttled to Arrowfield Stud for three seasons between 2016 and 2018 producing 218 foals.
Those three crops of foals with the youngest about to turn five have delivered 131 winners from 177 runners which is 74% winners to runners for his Aussie bred offspring!
Those winners include $2.6million earning Group II winner Count de Rupee, Group III WA Oaks winner Lunar Impact and $1.4million earning Group I placed stakes-winner Sky Lab, plus a further seven stakes-placed performers.
In Japan, the best performer for Real Impact has been Lauda Sion and he was brought to Australia by Yulong to join the Chris Waller stable with the intention of racing.
He had just the one unplaced start in Melbourne before he was retired due to injury and was offered by Yulong through Inglis Digital (click here to see his page) where he caught the eye of South Australian owner and breeder Luke Koumi who paid $150,000 to secure the stallion prospect.
Koumi approached Neville Murdoch to stand Lauda Sion at Larneuk Stud and his fee has been set at $11,000.
“He was a very good racehorse that won as a two year-old over 1200m and trained on to be a Group I winner at three,” said Neville Murdoch.
“Luke has mares of his own and has bought even more to go to this stallion, so we know he will cover a decent number to give him an opportunity to succeed.
“Japanese bloodlines are proven in elite races all over the world over and we’re delighted to add Lauda Sion to our line up.”
But what was it that attracted Luke Koumi to Lauda Sion?
“I love looking through the Inglis Digital sales and go through all of them,” Koumi revealed.
“When I saw Lauda Sion, a Japanese bred Group I winning stallion being offered by Yulong, I thought what is this? Why would they be selling a horse like that?
“So I delved into his race record, background and pedigree and discovered that it all checked out, so when he was later passed in I decided to ring them and see if I could buy him as it seemed cheap for a stallion with his credentials.
“So many of the stallions that go to stud now are precocious horses that were quite protected and didn’t train on very well and I like the idea of a horse with real toughness and longevity. A horse that won at two as Lauda Sion did, but also trained on at three, four and five and was able to win up to a mile.”
Koumi lives in South Australia and has been an owner/ breeder going back to1984 and has had much success with numerous stakes-winners over the years including Australian Horse of the Year Better Loosen Up and Adelaide Cup winner Rialya, so is hoping the Lauda Sion experiment will be a rewarding one.
“It’s a long road to stand a stallion and then have to wait for years to find out whether they are any good or not, but racing has been very good to me and I’m looking forward to it,” said Koumi, who was at one time President of the South Australian Racehorse Owners Association.
“I’ve been extremely lucky in racing the horses that I have with Better Loosen Up the best of them followed by plenty of other horses that have won Group and stakes races.
“I have kept all the stats from when I first started owning horses and overall I would be in front, but you don’t go into this to make money. It’s a fantastic sport if you treat it as a hobby and enjoy it.
“I always tell people the real beauty and the pull of racing is that a champion can come from anywhere.
“I don’t believe a lot of what people tell you about breeding horses.
“If the big commercial breeders and bloodstock agents really knew exactly what they were doing, they would breed and keep all the good horses and nobody else would have them, but that doesn’t happen!”
