Members enjoy trip to Whitsbury Manor Stud
On Tuesday 5 June, members from the West Region were treated to a behind-the-scenes visit to the beautiful Whitsbury Manor Stud.
The morning started with refreshments in the stud office, after which the group were taken to the view the four resident stallions with stud director, Ed Harper. The first to parade was the stud’s newest recruit Havana Grey, who covered his first book of mares this year. Showing himself impeccably to the guests, it was clear that the Group 1 winning son of Havana Gold had let himself down into an impressive looking sire. Members then had the chance to view Due Diligence, the first and only son of War Front to stand in GB. The Champion 3yo sprinter in Ireland, has had an encouraging start with his first runners including Good Vibes who was a winner of the Listed Marygate Fillies’ Stakes in May. Next up to parade in the sunshine was Adaay, who is a dual Group 2 winning son of Kodiac and had his first foals sell last year for an impressive average of £30,000 from just a £7,000 stud fee. Last but certainly not least to parade was Showcasing, who has gone from strength to strength since retiring to the stud in 2011 and last year he produced Group 1 winner, Advertise and his yearlings averaged £111,000 at the sales.
Throughout the parade, Ed gave a fascinating insight into the decision to stand each of the stallions and why he thinks they will be successful at stud, as well as giving an interesting insight into each of the stallions and the stud’s stallion management techniques.
Members were then given a tour of the covering shed, which was followed by an insightful talk by the stud’s vet, Charlie Pinkham of Pinkham Equine. Charlie spoke of the causes of Early Embryonic Loss in mares which included both extrinsic such as nutrition and disease and intrinsic factors such a hormonal abnormalities and foal heat.
Following on from this, members were treated to a look at some of the stud’s exciting youngstock including foals by Showcasing, Adaay and Due Diligence. The tour concluded at the yearling yard, which is located the other side of the stud and members were given a behind-the-scenes look at the yard and a parade of some of the stud’s yearlings. Thorough out the tour, Ed spoke of the techniques the stud uses during all stages of the youngstock’s development- from foaling to yearling preparation.
Members were then treated to a delicious lunch at the Cartwheel Pub located in Whitsbury village.
The TBA would like to thank the team at Whitsbury Stud and Pinkham Equine for providing such an interesting and insightful day for members.