With his first southern hemisphere conceived crop only a handful of weeks away from potentially burning up the tracks, reflecting on the successful start to his career in the northern hemisphere suggests that Henny Hughes’ first-crop could really be ones to watch.
Over a quarter of his first-crop are already named, and as they are in some of the country’s leading stables such as Gerald Ryan, Gai Waterhouse and Kris Lees, we wait with baited breath on the debut runs from the likes of the well-named juveniles Hughmidity (ex Sudden Storm), Medusa’s Miss (ex Cleopatra’s Girl) and Vision (ex Line Of Sight).
Siring more than 50 individual winners to date as well as seven Stakes horses, Henny Hughes ranks highly among the leading second-season sires in the USA. With winners not only in the USA, but Japan, Korea, Canada, Great Britain and Peru, Henny Hughes’s Stakes horses are led by the impressive G3 winner She Digs Me, a recent eight-length winner of the Sapling Stakes at Monmouth and Japanese G3 winner Henny Hound.
With both Midnight Visit and Fort Hughes successful at Listed level, Henny Hughe’s progeny are showing the same scintillating speed that their sire possessed on the track. Another horse of significant promise, although not a Stakes winner just yet, is the track record-breaker J C’s Pride.
A winner of his first three starts as a juvenile, including the G2 Saratoga Special, Henny Hughes went on to record three consecutive G1 second placing’s before being put away for his three-year-old campaign.
Resuming in the G3 Jersey Shore at Monmouth Park over 1200m, Henny Hughes once again showed brilliant acceleration to take the event. Stepping up to the 1400m of the G1 King’s Bishop Stakes at Saratoga, the chestnut colt was once again too good for his opposition, before going on to become the only three-year-old ever to win the King’s Bishop and then the G1 Vosburgh at his next start.
Retiring to stud as the winner of 6 starts and three second places from ten races Henny Hughes showed his brilliance on the track, but also gave the indication that he was capable of siring progeny who could get over a little more ground. Five-time winner Henny’s Hurricane is a prime example of this, winning over 1700m, while Peb Hughes has won over a mile – giving Australian breeders the confidence to know that the progeny of Henny Hughes can mix it as two-year-olds before joining the classic races as three-year-olds.
With only a few sons of Hennessy standing in Australia, Queensland-based All Bar One had his first-crop race last season, recording 8 individual winners, with no other stallion of that crop recording more winners. With a far superior race record than All Bar One, one can surmise that the progeny of Henny Hughes are sure to perform with success once they debut in the coming weeks.
Henny Hughes is standing the current season at Darley Kelvinside at a fee of $16,750 (inc GST) and if you require any further information on Henny Hughes, or any of the remainder of the 2011 Stallion Roster, please contact one of the Nomination Team members.