Golden Rose breakthrough lifts Sword Of State

Sword Of State’s promising start at stud received a major boost last Saturday when Warwoven (Sword Of State) became his first Group One winner with victory in the Gr.1 Golden Rose (1400m).

The Cambridge Stud stallion has made an encouraging start with his first crop, which has already produced four stakes performers, headed by Warwoven and Listed Debutant Stakes (1000m) winner Torture.

Warwoven has led the charge, winning five races and more than A$1.16 million, including the Golden Rose, Gr.2 Run To The Rose (1200m) and Gr.3 Pago Pago Stakes (1200m).

Sword Of State’s early results prompted Cambridge Stud to lift his service fee from NZ$20,000 to NZ$50,000 plus GST for the 2026 breeding season, and Cambridge Stud chief executive Henry Plumptre believes Warwoven’s breakthrough is an important milestone.

“It’s the ultimate goal for any stallion to get a Group One winner in the spring with their first three-year-old crop. It’s incredibly important,” Plumptre said.

“They had a very frustrating season with Warwoven last year. He was scratched from the Magic Millions, then came down to Sydney and had a bit of bad luck in the lead-up to the Golden Slipper.

“He managed to win the Pago Pago, but then had to run in the Slipper a week later, which wasn’t ideal. But you could see he was a horse with plenty of promise.”

Plumptre believes the depth emerging among Sword Of State’s first crop is equally encouraging.

Along with Warwoven and Torture, State Of Valour finished third in the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m), while Sword Of Stars has also earned black-type.

“The more important thing is to look around at what other stock is coming through for the stallion, and there is considerable depth in his three-year-old crop,” Plumptre said.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if we got to Christmas and he had another two or three stakes winners to go alongside that Group One winner.”

Warwoven will have further opportunities to enhance his sire’s profile, with his connections indicating the Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) is next on the agenda, while the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) is also under consideration.

“That will keep Sword Of State fresh in everybody’s mind,” Plumptre said.

Cambridge Stud has deliberately managed Sword Of State’s books, preferring to focus on quality rather than chasing large numbers.

“His numbers are good. We keep his book tight because he wasn’t overly fertile in his first season, but he has improved every year,” Plumptre said.

“We don’t overtax him. We’re not tearing around trying to get to 200 mares or anything like that. That’s not our game anyway.

“On behalf of the shareholders we’ve got in the horse, it’s important that we’re not going to the sales with 30 or 40 of them and competing with our client base.

“I think it’s better to keep the numbers tight and keep the quality of the mares up.”

Plumptre said Cambridge Stud would also be reluctant to entertain approaches from Australian studs should Sword Of State’s profile continue to rise.

“It wouldn’t be an obvious choice for them to buy a horse out of New Zealand unless he had a record like Super Seth, who had three Group One winners in that first crop,” he said.

“You’ve got to amass that sort of CV to get someone interested in the horse. Would we sell him if we got an offer? I think it’s very unlikely.

“We’ve got a very loyal group of people who have supported Almanzor, Hello Youmzain, Sword Of State, Chaldean and Charyn. They’ve come into every single horse we’ve brought into New Zealand, and we owe it to them to look after them.

“What’s the point of selling a horse after the first crop of three-year-olds? You can have money in the bank forever, but it doesn’t get you a good racehorse.”

Cambridge Stud also has several Sword Of State youngsters it believes can add to his emerging record, including two-year-old Divine State and three-year-old Joyeuse, who was narrowly beaten on debut at Te Rapa.

“Divine State is a very smart, early type of filly,” Plumptre said.

“We’ve also got a very nice three-year-old filly called Joyeuse. She’s with Graham Richardson and ran very well at Te Rapa on debut.”

Plumptre also pointed to a pair of Sword Of State three-year-olds in the care of Lance Noble as horses capable of progressing through the grades.

“Lance has got a couple that will win races,” he said. “Whether they get to black type, I’m not sure, but I think they’ll be Saturday-class horses.”

Meanwhile, Cambridge Stud is preparing to commit its sale draft to next year’s New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Karaka rather than splitting its yearlings between New Zealand and Australia.

“Brendan and Jo are very patriotic about New Zealand,” Plumptre said.

“I’ve always said to them that with a thoroughbred country like New Zealand, you haven’t got a national identity if you don’t have a strong national sale.

“Of the 80 yearlings we could sell, we’re probably going to keep 12 or 15 for Brendan and Jo to race.

“We want our strongest draft of the year to be at Karaka. If we start taking horses to Magic Millions and Easter, we end up with a lukewarm offering for Karaka.

“That’s not what we’re about. We need to have a strong draft on home soil.”