Dual classic winner I'll Have Another is adjusting well to his new home at Big Red Farm in Japan, according to Terence Collier. Fasig-Tipton's director of marketing got a chance to visit the 3-year-old colt during a recent business trip to the Land of the Rising Sun, where I'll Have Another is scheduled to enter stud in 2013.
Owned by Shigeyuki Okada, Big Red Farm is located on the island of Hokkaido. Okada purchased I'll Have Another for $10 million as a stallion prospect after the colt was scratched from the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) in June because of an injury and was retired from racing.
Collier said he was treated to "a special presentation" of I'll Have Another Sept. 27 at Big Red.
"He came out of his stall and was paraded around on a very bright and beautiful day," Collier reported. "He looked like a horse that could have gone into training tomorrow except that he was carrying a few too many pounds (to be racing fit). He was the brightest, shiniest chestnut that you could ever see with a most attractive eye and a lovely head.
"He was obviously very comfortable in his new surroundings," Collier continued. "There was no distress or anything. He just walked out of his stall and posed in front of a beautiful, new stallion complex that they have there. He was very friendly and very approachable. You don't want to be foolish around horses like that, but this was not some sort of skittish, nervous, young stallion. He was just a very professional Thoroughbred in new surroundings and he looked wonderful."
While carrying the colors of Reddam Racing, I'll Have Another won five of his seven career races and finished second once. The son of Flower Alley captured the Kentucky Derby Presented By Yum! Brands (gr. I), Preakness (gr. I), Santa Anita Derby (gr. I), and Robert B. Lewis Stakes (gr. 2) during his 3-year-old campaign. He also finished second in the 2011 Bet Pal Stakes (gr. II).
"From the reports that I heard from the local bloodstock agents, he has been extremely well received by the local breeding community," Collier said. "He has been split up into a syndicate that is very broadly based amongst many of the smaller breeders on Hokkaido, and he is fully syndicated. From the syndicate alone and the amount of commitments they already have accepted, they anticipate breeding him to approximately 150 mares next year. But it depends on how he handles his first year at stud."
Bred by Harvey Clarke in Kentucky, I'll Have Another is out of the winning Arch mare Arch's Gal Edith. Doug O'Neill trained the colt.
Brookdale Sales, agent, is scheduled to offer Arch's Gal Edith during the Fasig-Tipton November select mixed sale in Lexington Nov. 5. She is in foal to Gio Ponti .
